Screen freeze, can't move, then crash..

[*POTS*]

OK I did some extra testing on my new laptop, here are the specs:

OS: Windows 7 Home Premium x64
CPU: Intel Core i3-330M @ 2.13GHz
GPU: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 w/ 512 MB dedicated memory (supports DirectX 11, Shader Model 5.0 and OpenGL 3.2)
RAM: 4 GB DDR3
HDD: 320 GB

Tested UT GOTY patched up to version 436 with all bonus packs with the following renderers:

original D3D (D3D7 I suppose)
D3D8r14 (you can find it HERE)
D3D9r13 (you can find it HERE)
OpenGLr36 (you can find it HERE)

I did also some benchmarking with that CityIntro map with all of the above, and I got the best results using OpenGL.
D3D7 is really slow at start-up and buggy so I don't recommend it
D3D8 is a noticeable improvement over D3D7 but you should prefer OpenGL if possible, unless you experience driver issues or problems
D3D9 for some obscure reason (not-so-good-card? crap drivers? bad settings?) doesn't work as good as the latest OpenGL (I've noticed framedrops that do not occur with OpenGL)

I tried also installing D3D10 but UT complains about some missing drivers. I know I could download those from the Microsoft website but I don't feel like messing with this laptop since I've heard driver installations may give you hard times, plus I'm not a tech savvy.

So my final response is:

1 - OpenGL
2 - D3D8

On a side note, since I started using OpenGL I'm no longer getting those annoying General Protection Fault errors. This doesn't mean my UT no longer crashes, but it happens way less often than before.

P.S. About the Dual Core issue, open Task Manager, select the Tasks tab, find UT.exe, right click on it and set the Affinity to use one core.

[shadow_knight]

there is acualy a fix for the dual core on the DOCclan forums so you dont have to do that each time it will do it for you on start up of the game

[David]

With the AMD Dual-Core Optimizer that I have installed, I am able to play UT and other games that would normally have issue with the dual core. Once I installed the optimizer, I have no need to do anything, it allows to play without adjusting anything.

[Hook]

Now that "AMD Dual-Core Optimizer" sounds like the best thing.