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is that a good video card??
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 Re: is that a good video card??
Posted by Nanni on Sat Jan 22nd at 12:02am 2005

hi...i just buied a new video card...the radeon x800 pro i know that isn't a bad video card but when i play hl2 with the details set to high and the resolution to 1024x768(with all the filters like antialiasing set to off) the game goes very low...i wait 1.5 minutes during any loading...i mean is not a good performance........it's strange becouse i know that one of my friends play hl2 with radeon x300 with all details and goes very well ah...my pc configuration is P4 2.8 Ghz 512 mb ram (i've also downloaded all the last drivers for my video card ) Can someone help me PLEASE??? and sorry for my so so so bad english...



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 Re: is that a good video card??
Posted by Orpheus on Sat Jan 22nd at 12:12am 2005

did you bother to edit your bios to handle such a massive card?

that particular card comes highly recommended. the fault is prolly operator error.

[addsig]



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 Re: is that a good video card??
Posted by Nanni on Sat Jan 22nd at 12:17am 2005

i'm not good on operating with bios.....but i'm going crazy....there is some other way to fix this problem?????



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 Re: is that a good video card??
Posted by Jinx on Sat Jan 22nd at 11:50am 2005

is it just the load time that is slow? you probably just need to defrag your hard drive.

if in-game performance is bad, I'm not sure what the issue is. could be a driver conflict, maybe? and what size power supply do you have, is the card getting enough juice?





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 Re: is that a good video card??
Posted by Myrk- on Sat Jan 22nd at 12:18pm 2005

I'd set the AGP aparture to however much RAM the Graphics card has (it can be found in the bios). Also might be a good idea to post your motherboard type/number as it could be a s**t one. [addsig]



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 Re: is that a good video card??
Posted by Gorbachev on Sat Jan 22nd at 9:38pm 2005

Load time isn't determined by your video card. Everyone I know has a fair wait with HL2 loading times.
[addsig]



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 Re: is that a good video card??
Posted by omegaslayer on Sun Jan 23rd at 12:11am 2005

You could also get some more RAM to lower those load times . And BTW your gfx card is only as powerful as your processor, while 2.8 is nice, you wont be able to bring out it full potential (so dont expect to run it at the highest settings )
[addsig]



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 Re: is that a good video card??
Posted by Crono on Sun Jan 23rd at 1:18am 2005

Omega, that isn't true. Your video card runs all the visual calculations on it's own. If there are too many for it to handle then it may send calculations back to the CPU (which means you should probably upgrade).

The only thing the processor has to do with when regarding rendering a game visually is that the information goes through the processor (it calls a ?memory store command? in whatever location in memory, then the ChipSet sees that location is assigned to the graphics card and sends the data on over for computations [all other devices in your computer work the same way. At least with x86]). So, really only the BUS comes into play in that scenario, since the CPU isn't calculating any of that data ... just sending a write command (although it will also sit and wait for a confirmation from the ChipSet once it sends the command). But, obviously, the CPU could be backed up with AI computations, so it could effect it, but not the way you're implying.

Just to confirm, or give proof, for this situation: My processor runs at about 1.9Ghz, 512Mb of 400Mgz ram, GeForce 4 card. I run HL2 at 1600x1200 with everything maxed (except AA and AF, I can max those as well, but it doesn't run smooth, and it's maxed as far as my settings allow). Of course, there are several effects not being rendered, since it is a DX8 card. But, there's still an ample amount of proof to prove my point.

Nanni, you have to remember: Texture detail means compression level of the textures (higher the detail, the less amount of compression = bigger sizes. Orph should learn this side of image size bitching too ). I'm only using that as an example, because it's one of the BIGGEST performance hogs in HL2 (or any game, sometimes, shadow calculations have terrible algorithms though). If your video card ram can't hold all the visual information and the textures it will lag out the system, because the textures that don't fit would have to be stored in system ram, this means going across the BUS (and possibly through the processor). As I explained in the previous paragraphs: that = slow.
Load times also have to do with the speed of your HDD, it IS getting that information out of the GCF files and loading it into ram. Not to mention, if you have other programs running HL2 is probably trying to find some contiguous memory for large things that need that sort of set up ...

I know that's a lot of writing ... but it's warranted (and general case scenarios, so don't come bitching back to me with other ways things can happen, because: I Know). [addsig]



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 Re: is that a good video card??
Posted by Myrk- on Sun Jan 23rd at 1:24am 2005

I think he is talking in terms of FSB... if the processor isn't great then it's not gunna be as good at handling FSB- kinda like RAM I suppose, 256mb unnamed isn't as good as 256mb Corsair or some other good make. [addsig]



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 Re: is that a good video card??
Posted by Crono on Sun Jan 23rd at 1:29am 2005

I've never used "unnamed" ram. I also doubt ANYONE has ever used "unnamed" ram. Since most for the most part unnamed ram has reliable chips, but is manufactured (put together) by some company you've never heard of. So, it doesn't really matter. I don't think it's worth buying some other brand's ram just because you've heard of them before. You'd be paying a ridiculous amount of money for a name. Most all ram works the same, you just need to make sure it has a warranty and you're good to go.

Also, I was talking about bus issues mostly ... [addsig]




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