Computer to reduce lag

[Saint Andrew 6]

Hey everyone, I've used the forum search function to find info on this but I guess it would be easier to just post the exact specs because answers I found are either old or contradicting.

 

I've found a nice deal on a new laptop that is way better than what I have now but I was hoping to get your opinion on it, to make sure it would run the game (with 3GB of plugins) smoothly and with little to no lag:

 

Intel Core i5 4200U 1.6 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 2.6 GHz

8 GB RAM

Intel HD Graphics 4400, up to 1792 MB Dynamic Video Memory

 

So I know the RAM is great, but a bit more worried about the processor... is it enough to make sure it doesn't lag?

 

Currently I have a 7 year old laptop and playing the game is unbearable everything lags (opening a city, zooming, just moving the cursor) and obviously upgrading to the new laptop will be better but will it still lag a lot? 

 

BTW I know very little about PCs, I've been told i5 is pretty decent but it seems 1.6GHz is low? 

 

What kind of performance do you think I can get from this system? 

 

Thanks a lot everyone, appreciate it!!

[rsc204 21,804]

If you want to use DirectX Hardware rendering (you do if you use HD mods) then you'll need to think again as the Intel on-board graphics have terrible driver support for SC4. You'll need a laptop with a discreet GPU, I'd recommend an Nvidia one personally.

 

I wouldn't worry about the rest of the specs, you'd have more than enough RAM and whilst 1.6 Ghz may sound slow, I doubt you'd notice a difference between it and a more expensive processor. If you are using a 7 year old laptop now, a new one should give vastly improved performance, just avoid the Intel integrated graphics - see the various threads in this forum for many examples of the problem.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Bearing in mind that you have to run with a single processor core only, you will eventually run into the so-called lag.  I prefer to call it processor dearth when there are not enough processor cycles to manage the simulation smoothly.  This happens when the number of objects being simulated including trees reaches the threshold where the main loop can no longer be completed in time for the data rendezvous to update the screen, causing a drop in frame rate.

 

In this kind of simulation, the response curve for the simulation is a hyperbola with the X-axis the number of objects (universe of discourse).  As you get further to the right from the origin, you get closer and closer to the knee of this curve which then takes off very nearly vertically towards infinity.  The Y-axis is the number of CPU cycles to complete one round of the simulation.  If your city ever got big enough to stop the frame rate entirely, the program could be described as failed.

 

No currently available consumer processor is fast enough to avoid this problem.  My system starts to get slow at around 200,000 Sims + supporting objects.  I am running an AMD Athlon X2 II 245 at 800 MHz.  The GPU is an AMD780 chip set.  I do have one city with over a million Sims, and it runs rotten.

 

The previous poster is correct about the Intel Graphics chips.  You need an extra GPU for your hardware rendering to work.  The bigger and meaner the better.  It should have its own memory of about 2GB.

 

If you follow my rule of thumb for PCs, you should have 2GB per core of the fastest memory you can afford.  However, 8GB is plenty considering that SC4, even with the 64-bit fix in the NAM will never use more than 3GB due to address bandwidth considerations.  The extra memory will accommodate all the bloatware that comes with Windoze.

 

The current style of using the Intel Graphics chip set is driven by the economics.  They are cheaper than an off-board GPU and save one slot at the expense of not supporting legacy items like SC4.  Are you sure you really need a portable machine for gaming?  You would save a bundle with a desktop.