Gaming is possible

Who would have thought right?  After running some tests, and installing a game or two, it is possible to run games on a UMPC.  Using my Samsung Q1, I put it through several tests, all of which came out to be satisfactory.  The tests that I ran were 3dMark 2001se, 3dMark 2003, and then I decided to go ahead and try several different games.

Starting with 3dMark 2001se, the frames that I was getting were right around the 30fps mark.  Though this is acceptable, its not great.  Some of the more graphical intensive tests, really pushed my Q1 to its limits.  The score that I managed to get was not bad however:

As you can see from this, 3051 3DMarks!  This is using DX 8.1 technology though.  So if you have some older games you want to try and throw on here, they will work just fine!

Using 3d Mark2003, the scores that I got were not as good.  The ability of this machine to run games that use DX9.0, is not as good.  You can see this from the scores:

The FPS for most of the tests were extremly low.  Trying to run this benchmark on high showed where this system is lagging.

Now, for those of you who want a little nastgalia in your life…forget it.  DOS Based games will not work on this machine.  I think this might be due to a resolution switching issue.  Same goes for a few other games I tried to throw at this.  Even on my main machine, I wasn’t able to get those old DOS based games to run properly due to issues with device drivers.

What I was able to do was to create an ISO of MegaMan X8 (2Disk), using Alchohol 120%, and move the images to my Q1.  Doing so I was able to install them using a virtual drive.  I was worried about whether or not the Q1 would be able to handle the game as the requirements called for a 1GHz PIII, 256MB RAM, and a 64MB 3D Card.  I gave it a go anyway…

As you can see…I got the game to run.  Surprisingly enough it worked great!  Just as good as it does on my main machine.  What is the catch?

At first I used my Logitech dual action game pad.  Game play was smooth, and easy.  What is my problem with this?  Its not really a truly portable solution.  I went ahead and remapped the controls to work using the buttons on the Q1.  Sadly, there are not enough controls for this game to work to its fullest.  So advancing to the higher levels will be almost impossible…

Here is a link to a video of MegaMan X8 in action on a Samsung Q1.

If you purchase a ultra mobile PC that has more buttons then what is on the Q1, then gaming can become more of a reality.

Final Verdict:

Although gaming on a ultra mobile PC is possible, it is just not probable.  Without the use of added accesories such as a USB game pad, or a mouse and keyboard, I just do not see it as becoming a reality.  I would also like to note that games were not designed to run at these resolutions, and they were not designed to be run on a UMPC.  The hardware is almost there to run some games, however not all.  Modern games could probably be run on a higher end UMPC, though very laggy.  I have seen WarCraft III being played on these though the frame rates were not there to make the game enjoyable.