New Format for 'What you'll need' Section

You may have noticed tables like this one popping up around the blog.

They are intended to make it easier to determine if your netbook can handle a game at a glance. In case you're unsure of what some information means, I've explained it all below.



Platforms

Don't know which platform your netbook is built on? All you need to know is which GPU you have.



GMA 950 = Diamondville

GMA 3150 = Pineview

GMA 36x0 = Cedar Trail

Radeon HD 62x0/72x0 = Ontario

Radeon HD 63x0/73x0 = Zacate

ION & ION 2: self-explanatory

Colors

It's easy enough to tell the difference between red and green, but what about the different shades, and what do they mean?

Red - You can't play the game on this platform.

Orange - There's a chance you can play the game with some overclocking (mainly on Diamondville netbooks); in the case of Cedar Trail, it means the hardware is theoretically capable of playing the game, but is being held back by Intel's atrocious driver.

Yellow - Cedar Trail only. It means the game will theoretically work, but hasn't been tested.

Light Green - With exceptions, the platform can handle the game well. These exceptions are specified in the Notes.

Green - Think of this as a 'Gaming with Netbooks Seal of Approval'. The game will run on all processor/graphics configurations in that platform (with enough RAM, that is). For Cedar Trail, it means the game has been tested and runs with a satisfactory framerate.

I've only prepared tables for games that only work on more powerful netbooks. In other words, if a featured game is headed by 'Recommended: Depends', then there'll be a table. Games with 'Recommended: YES' or 'NO' don't need one, for obvious reasons. Games like StarCraft 2 that fall under the questionable category will be explained with text, rather than a table.

An Introduction to the 1st Generation Intel Atom Processors

If your netbook sports this sticker, it uses a Diamondville CPU

The first Intel Atom processors designed for netbooks were released in 2008 and 2009, under the codename "Diamondville". The first, the Atom N270, featured a single-core CPU clocked at 1.6 GHz and a worst-case power consumption of 2.5 W. It offered performance equal to or slightly greater than a Williamette Pentium 4 of the same clock speed. 8 months later, the N280 was released, which was slightly faster than the N270. The graphics processor was not included on the Atom, but instead included with the chipset. It was named the GMA 950, offering performance inferior to Nvidia's GeForce 3 series in most applications. It could access 256 MB of system memory and partially accelerate MPEG-2 video, the format used in DVD video. If you own a netbook with either of these processors, you will have to compromise with your choice of games, as your netbook will not be able to handle the demands of newer games. Look for titles released in the mid-2000's. They will most likely run smoothly enough on your netbook. Happy gaming!