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#1
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Will GeForce6800 be ok for my older PC?
Hi
I want to get doom3 to experience those amazing graphics but know that my system wont really show it to its full (see system details below). I'm not really that well informed on PC hardware and wondered if someone could please advise me. I'm not sure what motherboard would be in my system, so dont know what extra ram i could put in it yet. I also want to purchase a new graphics card, possibly a BFGtech GeForce 6800 Ultra but can someone tell me, 1. would it simply slot into my system or would i need a new motherboard? Someone told me i'd need a water cooling system! 2. Would it be a waste of money because my processor wouldnt be able to keep up with the graphics card?! 3. Does anyone know a good online store to order such a graphics card? i'm in the UK 4. What RAM is the best to buy? 5. Will Half life 2 be better graphics/gameplay? Also, does anyone know any software online that can tell me exactly whats inside my PC without me having to open the box? My system is a Compaq Presario 6540 uk AMD athlon XP - 2600+ (2.13Ghz) 512mb ddr-sdram 80gb ultra dma hard drive ATI Radeon 9000 64 mb dedicated video memory ----------------- The system is about 18 months old Many thanks for your help |
#2
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Doom 3 requires a powerful cpu as well as a high quality video card to run well.
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets...spx?i=2149&p=7 The Athlon XP chips aren't so great for Doom 3. The Athlon 64 chips are superb for Doom. You might be able to boost the performance a bit if you buy a better video card, however your processor and ram will definitely hold you back. Buying a very expensive video card for your system is a waste. You might want to buy a new system with an Athlon 64 processor and a high end video card. James wrote: Hi I want to get doom3 to experience those amazing graphics but know that my system wont really show it to its full (see system details below). I'm not really that well informed on PC hardware and wondered if someone could please advise me. I'm not sure what motherboard would be in my system, so dont know what extra ram i could put in it yet. I also want to purchase a new graphics card, possibly a BFGtech GeForce 6800 Ultra but can someone tell me, 1. would it simply slot into my system or would i need a new motherboard? Someone told me i'd need a water cooling system! 2. Would it be a waste of money because my processor wouldnt be able to keep up with the graphics card?! 3. Does anyone know a good online store to order such a graphics card? i'm in the UK 4. What RAM is the best to buy? 5. Will Half life 2 be better graphics/gameplay? Also, does anyone know any software online that can tell me exactly whats inside my PC without me having to open the box? My system is a Compaq Presario 6540 uk AMD athlon XP - 2600+ (2.13Ghz) 512mb ddr-sdram 80gb ultra dma hard drive ATI Radeon 9000 64 mb dedicated video memory ----------------- The system is about 18 months old Many thanks for your help |
#3
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JK wrote:
Doom 3 requires a powerful cpu as well as a high quality video card to run well. http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets...spx?i=2149&p=7 The Athlon XP chips aren't so great for Doom 3. They aren't that bad either. I have a couple fo friends who have been running it on XP's. One just upgraded his graphics card yesterday and said it made a huge difference and that the game doen't seem to be CPU-bound (in his case). He's running a Barton 2500+. If you have a reasonably modern Athlon XP (2100+ upwards, 2500+ upwards is better) you should be fine. Sure, the FX 53 will give you massive frame-rates but the XP2000 gives you 46.1 FPS at 1280 x 1084, high quality. (According to that link) Plenty fast enough. People get too carried away by the latest and greatest, often overlooking the fact that 46 FPS is more than adequate. -- ~misfit~ The Athlon 64 chips are superb for Doom. You might be able to boost the performance a bit if you buy a better video card, however your processor and ram will definitely hold you back. Buying a very expensive video card for your system is a waste. You might want to buy a new system with an Athlon 64 processor and a high end video card. James wrote: Hi I want to get doom3 to experience those amazing graphics but know that my system wont really show it to its full (see system details below). I'm not really that well informed on PC hardware and wondered if someone could please advise me. I'm not sure what motherboard would be in my system, so dont know what extra ram i could put in it yet. I also want to purchase a new graphics card, possibly a BFGtech GeForce 6800 Ultra but can someone tell me, 1. would it simply slot into my system or would i need a new motherboard? Someone told me i'd need a water cooling system! 2. Would it be a waste of money because my processor wouldnt be able to keep up with the graphics card?! 3. Does anyone know a good online store to order such a graphics card? i'm in the UK 4. What RAM is the best to buy? 5. Will Half life 2 be better graphics/gameplay? Also, does anyone know any software online that can tell me exactly whats inside my PC without me having to open the box? My system is a Compaq Presario 6540 uk AMD athlon XP - 2600+ (2.13Ghz) 512mb ddr-sdram 80gb ultra dma hard drive ATI Radeon 9000 64 mb dedicated video memory ----------------- The system is about 18 months old Many thanks for your help |
#4
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"James" said:
I also want to purchase a new graphics card, possibly a BFGtech GeForce 6800 Ultra but can someone tell me, 1. would it simply slot into my system yes Someone told me i'd need a water cooling system! no 2. Would it be a waste of money because my processor wouldnt be able to keep up with the graphics card?! hmmm, probably not http://www.anandtech.com/ 4. What RAM is the best to buy? Mushkin 5. Will Half life 2 be better graphics/gameplay? The gameplay is certain to be better. Graphics aren't everything. Doom3 has superior graphics and 1987 gameplay, IMO it is a waste of money to upgrade for Doom3. I would play it on what you have and wait a little while and base your upgrades on HL2. -- Mac Cool |
#5
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On Fri, 6 Aug 2004 13:54:57 +1200, "~misfit~"
wrote: People get too carried away by the latest and greatest, often overlooking the fact that 46 FPS is more than adequate. I think Im going game crazy. Ive been fairly uninterested in playing games generally the last few years and actually only was interested in the design aspects. Ive always pretty much lagged in my video card buying etc because of it. I thought anyone who would spend more than 150-200 for a card must be rich or insane. But after trying out Doom , Im actually considering a better card than my 9800. Maybe the 800 Pro or the 6800GT or something a bit later when the price comes down. Strangely enough - DOOM III is very very playable with my 3200xp + 9800 setup even though measuring with FRAPS an app that shows the framerates on screen - it often dips in the 30-40s from the 50-60s. And thats at 640x480 which the prog autosenses and adjusts. It has this thing that autodetects your hardware and then sets the settings and mine was set at 640x480 medium no FSAA. Actually it looks fine and works fine at that setting though theres obviously some noticeable jaggies. At higher settings I get some lags, Still might be able to improve it with some tweaks to get it at higher res settings. Still since Ive been such a cheapskate and finally bought the 9800 I was expecting more high end performance so eventhough in real world terms I probably wouldnt notice all that much difference with a better card - strangely enough Ive begun to want one. If they drop a bit in price - it does give you that much more headroom for all the games that will be out and are out - Far Cry , HalfLife 2 and the raft of games that will be using their engines in the next 2 years. After all the hype I was expecting to be stunned. Then as I finally tried it - it seemed a bit disappointing , the graphics not as startling with all the leaks and stuff as I worked through the slow beginning part. Now I just started the action part and it really is addictive , immersive despite the smattering of negative reviews by consumers already who prefer Far Cry or are already looking past it to Half Life 2. |
#6
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" wrote in message ... On Fri, 6 Aug 2004 13:54:57 +1200, "~misfit~" wrote: People get too carried away by the latest and greatest, often overlooking the fact that 46 FPS is more than adequate. I think Im going game crazy. Ive been fairly uninterested in playing games generally the last few years and actually only was interested in the design aspects. Ive always pretty much lagged in my video card buying etc because of it. I thought anyone who would spend more than 150-200 for a card must be rich or insane. But after trying out Doom , Im actually considering a better card than my 9800. Maybe the 800 Pro or the 6800GT or something a bit later when the price comes down. I still consider anyone who pays may than £200 pounds for a card mad as a hatter. I what really annoys me is that games makers can't develop games that run on reasonably systems. I have a system that is similar to the OPs and if I can't play Doom III on it then I won't buy it. Far Cry is fine so why not Doom III? |
#7
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Jabba wrote:
I still consider anyone who pays may than £200 pounds for a card mad as a hatter. I what really annoys me is that games makers can't develop games that run on reasonably systems. I have a system that is similar to the OPs and if I can't play Doom III on it then I won't buy it. Far Cry is fine so why not Doom III? I've seen it running on a GF4 MX with quite respoectable fps (on low texture detail, which still looks great and with all the nice bumpmapping etc. stuff on). Also once you have seen and played in the kind of environment doom3 provides you won't be asking why farcry runs and not doom3 (ironically on my system it is farcry that wont run properly, while doom3 runs great). -Steve |
#8
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I'm not sure if its already been said, but that computer wouldn't have
a power supply powerful enough anyway, They say you must have a 480watt power supply and I wouldn't be supprised if you had a 300 or 350, that won't cut it. I used to have a compaq and I can tell you, their power supplies are notoriously weak. ============== Posted through www.HowToFixComputers.com/bb - free access to hardware troubleshooting newsgroups. |
#9
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SNIP
I still consider anyone who pays may than £200 pounds for a card mad as a hatter. I what really annoys me is that games makers can't develop games that run on reasonably systems. I have a system that is similar to the OPs and if I can't play Doom III on it then I won't buy it. Lol all I can think about this comment is "Well if my Geo Metro won't go as fast as Porsche then I guess I just won't buy a car." The fact of the matter is that Doom 3 will run just fine on resonable Systems that aren't the "latest greatest". You have to take into consideration that they don't just whip these game in 3-4 months. So number one they are projecting the game to play on what they *think* the hardware should be at when they release the game. Because, lets face it if you picked up the ewest game and saw that it recommended a P3 500 with 128Mb ram, you wouldn't be thinking very highly of this game now would ya? Also people constantly want a better looking more interactive experience. Lets think about this, better looking= more polygons and rendering, which in turns means you need a better video card to do that. Then more interactive = better unscripted AI. Better unscripted AI = more work per cycle. More work per cylce = more processing power needed. So you are gonna need a better processor to get the full extent of the AI. Thats not even factoring in the dynamic enviroments, sounds, calculations for weapons fire and so on. -Chris |
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