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3d card question
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 Re: 3d card question
Posted by Yak_Fighter on Sat Jul 10th at 8:18am 2004

I've been thinking about my computer and it's possible inability to play HL2 (or Doom3 for that matter, but I'm thinking that's not going to happen). I've got a p4 1.7Ghz and 512 megs ram, so I'll be in the middle range for HL2. However, I have a GeForce2Go, which uses AGP 4X and has 32 megs onboard memory. It sucks, but whatever, I had no choice in the matter. All of the minimum specs I have found for HL2 say that a directX 7 compatible 3d card is required, and I am having a hell of a time figuring out if this card can handle directX 7. I could upgrade, but since I use a laptop that'd require buying a whole new desktop computer, which I'd rather avoid doing.

The last games I've bought are Morrowind and BF1942, and those ran fine and like crap respectively, while the last demos I've bothered with were Halo, Tron 2.0, and UT2004, which all ran at least. At this point all I want is for HL2 to run, I don't care about how pretty it'll look.

for anyone who may be interested:

HL2 System Requirements
Min:
1.2 GHz Processor
256MB RAM
DirectX 7 graphics card
Windows 2000/XP/ME/98
Mouse
Keyboard

Preferred:
2.4 GHz Processor
512MB RAM
DirectX 9 graphics card
Windows 2000/XP
Mouse
Keyboard





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 Re: 3d card question
Posted by $loth on Sat Jul 10th at 9:23am 2004

Hmmm........how much have you got to spend on a graphics card? I would reccomend a radeon 9600xt/pro, it costs about ?90-?100 [ you do the translation].

[edit] my bad, i thought you were asking which graphics card you should buy.

[addsig]



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 Re: 3d card question
Posted by JFry on Sat Jul 10th at 9:29am 2004

I'm certainly no video card expert but I'm pretty sure it'll run. I've got a 16mb Nvidia Riva TNT and it is running directX 9.0. Not sure about newer OS's but in windows 98 you can click on start/run and type in 'dxdiag' and it'll tell you what version of directX you have.



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 Re: 3d card question
Posted by Yak_Fighter on Sat Jul 10th at 9:42am 2004

no no, I know I have directX 9 installed, but that doesn't matter if my card can't handle it's advanced features. A directX 7 compatible card can run all the features of directX 7, and I want to know if my card is directX 7 compatible. I'm guessing its directX 6...

And I know what card I'd buy, the one that would come with my new computer should it come to that





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 Re: 3d card question
Posted by beer hunter on Sat Jul 10th at 10:21am 2004

Can't remember if the GF2go is DX6 or DX7. The GPU in some newer laptops can be upgraded and if you could get a GF4go then this is DX7 compatible and should run HL2.



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 Re: 3d card question
Posted by Leperous on Sat Jul 10th at 10:24am 2004

Apparently they're going to release some "new" HL2 specs "soon" (unless they're already out? says my PC Gamer magazine) so wait for those and see what they say, before buying...



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 Re: 3d card question
Posted by Crono on Sat Jul 10th at 11:02am 2004

Yak, speaking from personal opinion and experience, you'll most likely just have to upgrade your video card and be able to play Doom 3 and HL2 on fairly high settings.

I know what the specs say, but frankly they're wrong. Since they don't test the game on every possibly configuration.

My system to many games is classified as a "low-medium" end system, yet I can run every game that is currently out on their highest settings with no problems.
My specs are not much higher then yours, except for the video card, which is now almost 2 years old.

Specs from game companies is not a real indication of what system you'll need, they're always overshot.

And ... on a (as Orph would say) taboo copy of D3 it runs beautifully.

I've got: Athlon which runs at about 1.9-2.0 ghz (don't really focus on CPU speed when considering games, since it mostly effects FPS. Unless the games you play drop to noticeably laggy levels, like 12 fps, then a new cpu might be in order ... but then again, some games just lag *cough* Moh *cough*)
Also, your cache sizes matter too, as for your bus speeds.

512 Mb ram (400)
GeForce 4 Ti4200 (MSI if you were wondering)
My board just has a VIA KT400A chipset (shut up, Jeff ) and as many times as I've heard arguments against it being helpful, an 8X agp port.

But, honestly, the thing that will boost performance the most is your video card (obviously), after that, memory sizes/speeds, so on and so forth.

Sadly, right now graphics cards are in an 'in between' phase. Which means you'll get screwed up the ass if you buy a card right now. Wait until like September (at the earliest) to go card shopping. Other then that, if you find a cheap deal for a new p4 (we're talking 40 - 50 bucks), go for it, it wont hurt, but isn't needed.

Mixing all this together, you'll probably suffer long load times, and fairly smooth gameplay on anything (it usually gets smoother the longer and more often you play)

Hope that all helps.

[EDIT]
HL2 will run at like the lowest setting on your computer, simply because of your video card. (I'm sure it can go even lower)

How well, I have no idea. But you have a while until you have to make a decision
(September 1st my ass, EBgames!)
[/EDIT] [addsig]



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 Re: 3d card question
Posted by fraggard on Sat Jul 10th at 11:06am 2004

? posted by Yak_Fighter

I've been thinking about my computer and it's possible inability to play HL2 (or Doom3 for that matter, but I'm thinking that's not going to happen). I've got a p4 1.7Ghz and 512 megs ram, so I'll be in the middle range for HL2. However, I have a GeForce2Go, which uses AGP 4X and has 32 megs onboard memory. It sucks, but whatever, I had no choice in the matter. All of the minimum specs I have found for HL2 say that a directX 7 compatible 3d card is required, and I am having a hell of a time figuring out if this card can handle directX 7. I could upgrade, but since I use a laptop that'd require buying a whole new desktop computer, which I'd rather avoid doing.

At the nvidia site for the gf2, the spec sheet is there at the bottom left corner, direct link. Anyway, it supports "Directx 7 and lower" to quote. So yes, it is DX7.





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 Re: 3d card question
Posted by G.Ballblue on Sat Jul 10th at 3:30pm 2004

Reccomended computer stats would be somethign my dad would know but --

Half-Life2 requries directX9, which most of us probably havecan get -- the card in my computer can handle that, but not HL2's use of X9. Because it uses super shadow shading, and even the most powerful card in your computer now can't handle it. You have to upgrade to "the next generation" of cards to be able to take a2 to full tilt.

[addsig]



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 Re: 3d card question
Posted by $loth on Sat Jul 10th at 4:55pm 2004

Crono, whats wrong with having a via chipset? I have one on my asus a7v8x-x mobo, i've had it for about half a year and had no probs.
Well, if this is a thread to post yours specs:

AMD 2500+, GF4 MX440 64mb[ OC'ed], 512 PC2700 ram and a new dvd drive

[addsig]



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 Re: 3d card question
Posted by Wild Card on Sat Jul 10th at 5:41pm 2004

? quote:
AMD 2500+, GF4 MX440 64mb[ OC'ed], 512 PC2700 ram and a new dvd drive

Your kidding... lol.. Thats the same as me, 'cept I always had the DVD drive

[addsig]



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 Re: 3d card question
Posted by $loth on Sat Jul 10th at 6:25pm 2004

? posted by Wild Card

? quote:
AMD 2500+, GF4 MX440 64mb[ OC'ed], 512 PC2700 ram and a new dvd drive

Your kidding... lol.. Thats the same as me, 'cept I always had the DVD drive

no kiddin, just recently OC'ed my GF4, and i got the dvd drive about a month ago.

[addsig]



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 Re: 3d card question
Posted by Crono on Sat Jul 10th at 9:23pm 2004

Nothing, sloth, You obviously didn't read what I wrote properly.

Jeff doesn't like VIA, thus my joking remark. I have no problem with VIA, personally. (Not to mention, its a real challenge to find a AMD board, that is fairly cheap without a VIA chipset. You can find the occasional nvidia chipset board, but, they're usually more expensive.)

G.B, what are you blathering about?
That's simply not true. and the name for the shading renders they use are the pixel shader registers 2.0 and Vertex shaders (the current generation of cards).

At all the E3 showings Valve showed HL2 with a 9800XT or something like that, and that's the current generation so, what are you talking about?
If you saw this somewhere, like, you're quoting valve or something like that, give us a link, other then that, I highly doubt it, since you can turn shadows off, the game will "run" on the lowest of low machines. [addsig]



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 Re: 3d card question
Posted by Yak_Fighter on Sun Jul 11th at 6:51am 2004

? posted by fraggard

At the nvidia site for the gf2, the spec sheet is there at the bottom left corner, direct link. Anyway, it supports "Directx 7 and lower" to quote. So yes, it is DX7.

thanks fraggard, you made my day

? posted by G.Ballblue

Reccomended computer stats would be somethign my dad would know but --

Half-Life2 requries directX9, which most of us probably havecan get -- the card in my computer can handle that, but not HL2's use of X9. Because it uses super shadow shading, and even the most powerful card in your computer now can't handle it. You have to upgrade to "the next generation" of cards to be able to take a2 to full tilt.

The source engine isn't pulling any doom3 lighting crap, so directx 9 isn't required. obviously to get the best graphical performance it is, but to just run HL2 no.

FYI the specs I was going on were apparently posted by Gabe on some hl2 fansite, so I would be led to believe that they are close enough to the mark.





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 Re: 3d card question
Posted by Yak_Fighter on Sun Jul 11th at 6:54am 2004

[edit]oops... and here i thought we could delete posts...





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 Re: 3d card question
Posted by $loth on Sun Jul 11th at 7:01am 2004

Ahhhh, okies then crono *gives evils to jeff* You saying my Mobo is sh*t!

/jking

[addsig]



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 Re: 3d card question
Posted by Crono on Sun Jul 11th at 7:08am 2004

? quote:

directx 9 isn't required


Yes it is.
You just don't need a DX9 video card.

? quote:

FYI the specs I was going on were apparently posted by Gabe on some hl2 fansite, so I would be led to believe that they are close enough to the mark.

And? Game's 'specs' are way off.
Such as, the specs they put with the game telling you what they need to run the game (under recommended hardware), is rubbish. Things do not need to be that high to play on the highest settings of the game. (I'm mostly talking about CPU speed) [addsig]



Quote
 Re: 3d card question
Posted by Yak_Fighter on Sun Jul 11th at 7:15am 2004

? posted by Crono
? quote:

directx 9 isn't required


Yes it is.
You just don't need a DX9 video card.

? quote:

FYI the specs I was going on were apparently posted by Gabe on some hl2 fansite, so I would be led to believe that they are close enough to the mark.

And? Game's 'specs' are way off.
Such as, the specs they put with the game telling you what they need to run the game (under recommended hardware), is rubbish. Things do not need to be that high to play on the highest settings of the game. (I'm mostly talking about CPU speed)

Point 1: Let's split some more hairs, shall we? When someone says directx 9 is required, that means that your card needs to be able to run all the bells and whistles included with that version. At least to me, anyways

Point 2: and? I'm talking about the lowest rung here, what I would need to get the damn thing to run (aka minimum hardware). I don't really give a f**k about how overstated the recommended specs are. Whatever my computer can handle beyond 32bit colors and 800x600 resolution is just icing.





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 Re: 3d card question
Posted by Crono on Sun Jul 11th at 8:14am 2004

Wow, you missed my point.

? quote:

I'm talking about the lowest rung here, what I would need to get the damn thing to run (aka minimum hardware). I don't really give a f**k about how overstated the recommended specs are. Whatever my computer can handle beyond 32bit colors and 800x600 resolution is just icing.


I know. Meaning, you shouldn't go off of their specs to know what you need or don't need to update for it to just run. I thought that would have been fairly obvious.

Is there some problem with the way I state things? It seems I hit a nurve almost any time I try to give advise on this f**king site. [addsig]



Quote
 Re: 3d card question
Posted by Yak_Fighter on Sun Jul 11th at 8:46am 2004

? posted by Crono
Wow, you missed my point.

? quote:

I'm talking about the lowest rung here, what I would need to get the damn thing to run (aka minimum hardware). I don't really give a f**k about how overstated the recommended specs are. Whatever my computer can handle beyond 32bit colors and 800x600 resolution is just icing.


I know. Meaning, you shouldn't go off of their specs to know what you need or don't need to update for it to just run. I thought that would have been fairly obvious.

Is there some problem with the way I state things? It seems I hit a nurve almost any time I try to give advise on this f**king site.

It's not obvious. I was looking at those as ball park specs, where my computer falls generally in the good area. Of course worrying if a 1.2Ghz cpu will be required is stupid, because things are liable to change and you wouldn't know until you tried to run it anyways.

However, I think its safe to presume that a 3d card will be necessary for this game. Will a 3dFX Voodoo 2 card work for it? Hell no, because Valve has been coding an engine using some base requirements for the card, such as it being directX 7 capable. I highly doubt that you will be able to force a card that's only directX 6 capable to run features it wasn't designed for. And I doubt this far along in development they are suddenly going to switch to a different base version. DirectX 7 capable card requirement has been given by Valve since 2003, so I would suppose it's been set in stone by their coding, which would make sense since directX is only a graphics API which is used as the base for the rest of the code, as I understand it.

Perhaps if you actually read my question you'd understand that all I was asking was if my 3d card was directX 7 compatible, not if or what I should upgrade to get my computer to run a game that hasn't been released yet. As to why you somehow always manage to be in the middle of a s**tstorm? Dunno, I'm not going to fall into that trap!






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