system requirements

[matzie]

can someone please answer.

Hey how should we know!!!

:bounce:

 

[Vegeta897]

Hey how should we know!!!

:bounce:

HAHAHA yeah really!

 

[Sai]

are nvidia cards going to honestly be really bad on hl2, or are valve just advertising for ati?

 

[Shuzer]

are nvidia cards going to honestly be really bad on hl2, or are valve just advertising for ati?

Anything below the FX5700 will struggle in DX9, I'd say

 

[Sai]

Anything below the FX5700 will struggle in DX9, I'd say

well, low end nvidia cards, like as low as the 5200 have complete dx9 support, but low end ati cards, such as the 5200's best competitor; the 9200, only support dx8.

in that situation what would bet the better card to get for hl2?

 

[blahblahblah]

are nvidia cards going to honestly be really bad on hl2, or are valve just advertising for ati?

Only the FX series of cards will be really bad on HL2. The problem lies in how the FX cards do shaders. Anyways, every Geforce card, except the FX series should run HL2.

 

[Shuzer]

well, low end nvidia cards, like as low as the 5200 have complete dx9 support, but low end ati cards, such as the 5200's best competitor; the 9200, only support dx8.

in that situation what would bet the better card to get for hl2?

The 9200 has more power than a 5200 (talking standard versions here, not the 9200SE vs the 5200 ultra), and even though the 5200 fully supports DX9, it can't run it at an acceptable framerate. Speaking strictly DX8.1/DX7 codepath on the two cards, I'd say the 9200 would run better

The FX5200 Ultra would be better, though

 

[Sai]

Only the FX series of cards will be really bad on HL2. The problem lies in how the FX cards do shaders. Anyways, every Geforce card, except the FX series should run HL2.

SHIT!
i just recently bought a geforce fx 5200, as opposed to the ati 9200 b/c of the dx9 support of the 5200, so what your telling me is i'm ****ed

EDIT: that's just great, two people now warn me about my mistake, well another thing i found more alluring about the 5200 was that how more games seem to support nvidia more than ati now, i dunno it just seems that way, like ut2004, and far cry, and doom3, and splinter cell pa, and the list goes on........

 

[Shuzer]

SHIT!
i just recently bought a geforce fx 5200, as opposed to the ati 9200 b/c of the dx9 support of the 5200, so what your telling me is i'm ****ed

You're not screwed, the game will run alright, just chances are you'll have to run it in DX8.1. You might be able to squeeze some DX9 features out of the card with tweaking the settings (ie. higher water settings, lower shader settings), but no one knows the exact numbers for the cards anymore.

Bring on the benchmark!

 

[blahblahblah]

well, low end nvidia cards, like as low as the 5200 have complete dx9 support, but low end ati cards, such as the 5200's best competitor; the 9200, only support dx8.

in that situation what would bet the better card to get for hl2?

Here is a link talking about the various budget cards available today.

[Edit]: The 5200 Ultra looks like it does a respectable job on DX 8.1 games for a budget priced card.

 

[Sai]

Here is a link talking about the various budget cards available today.

ok, WOW, that seriously helps a lot, thanks a lot man! i mean it

 

[Sai]

well, blahblahblah, the site that you gave me highly suggested against buying the 9200 and totally went for the 5200, it even compared it way more to the 9600 than the 9200, which is kinda wierd b/c that totally goes against you and shuzer's advice........well now i take it back YES! I'M GLAD I PURCHASED THE 5200 NOW!

and yes shuzer, totally agree, i am dieing for a benchmark

 

[Shuzer]

well, blahblahblah, the site that you gave me highly suggested against buying the 9200 and totally went for the 5200, it even compared it way more to the 9600 than the 9200, which is kinda wierd b/c that totally goes against you and shuzer's advice........well now i take it back YES! I'M GLAD I PURCHASED THE 5200 NOW!

and yes shuzer, totally agree, i am dieing for a benchmark

It goes against the 9200 when compared to the 5200 ultra
Are you running a 5200, or a 5200 ultra?

 

[Sai]

It goes against the 9200 when compared to the 5200 ultra
Are you running a 5200, or a 5200 ultra?

well, that'd have to be the ultra, isn't that still fx series though?

 

[Shuzer]

well, that'd have to be the ultra, isn't that still fx series though?

If you're running an ultra, you're fine. The 5200 is a toned-down version of the 5200 Ultra, and yes, they're both the FX series.

I wouldn't worry about HL2's performance, it scales back as far as DX7 cards

 

[Sai]

If you're running an ultra, you're fine. The 5200 is a toned-down version of the 5200 Ultra, and yes, they're both the FX series.

I wouldn't worry about HL2's performance, it scales back as far as DX7 cards

so could you may be be more specific, like if i had no aa on and left the detail on high would i still get the 30-40 fps that i'd need?

 

[blahblahblah]

so could you may be be more specific, like if i had no aa on and left the detail on high would i still get the 30-40 fps that i'd need?

Its impossible to tell. My guess is you would run at 1024*768 with medium detail using the DX8.1 path. No AA and AF.

Remember, Valve is trying to make this game run on as many computers as possible. Having a 5200 run a game like Doom 3 would be like suicide. But, Valve wants to have every computer released in the past 4 years to run HL2. So I wouldn't worry to much about performance.

 

[Ateoto]

P4 2.4GHz HT (800Mhz FSB)
Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB
1GB PC3200 (Dual Channel Mode)
Way too much Hard Drive space

Im thinking about upgrading my P4, I got a crappy one, cant overclock the darn thing even a MHz.

But Im also saving for a new laptop....sooo I may just live with the P4 2.4GHz

 

[Sai]

thanks for the reassurment guys!
now all we'll have to do is wait and hope on the false release dates set by wal-mart and eb games

 

[dassbaba]

man, my radeon 9800 pro 256mb is out of date already, lol.

 

[Sai]

man, my radeon 9800 pro 256mb is out of date already, lol.

that's one of the reasons i am annoyed by computer hardware, by the time you update your already downgraded

 

[Shuzer]

man, my radeon 9800 pro 256mb is out of date already, lol.

No it isn't. 9800 pro is still a great card, it's in the top 5 best cards still

 

[Gmeister]

well, blahblahblah, the site that you gave me highly suggested against buying the 9200 and totally went for the 5200, it even compared it way more to the 9600 than the 9200, which is kinda wierd b/c that totally goes against you and shuzer's advice........well now i take it back YES! I'M GLAD I PURCHASED THE 5200 NOW!

and yes shuzer, totally agree, i am dieing for a benchmark

You buy a POS graphics card and you're not surprised that a game like HL2 might not run with it well. It might run but with everything on low. You get what you paid for. Remember the next time you go buy something for a computer. If you want to cut a corner in pricing, you need to do research and find out where you can get a steal of a deal on a midrange to high-end card. The 5200 is a low end card when it came out and is a POS now. Sorry, the truth hurts.

 

[Shuzer]

You buy a POS graphics card and you're not surprised that a game like HL2 run with it well. It might run with everything on low. You get what you paid for. Remeber the next time you go buy something for a computer. If you want to cut a corner in pricing, you need to do research and find out where you can get a steal of a deal on a midrange to high-end card. The 5200 is a low end card when it came out and is a POS now. Sorry, the truth hurts.

Wow. Don't be such a jerk. As far as you know, he's stuck with PCI, in which case he got what he could get.

Not everyone can afford computer upgrades, and the 5200 is a *very* cheap card, some people buy it because it's better than say, their GF2MX, and want to spend very little.

 

[Sai]

Wow. Don't be such a jerk. As far as you know, he's stuck with PCI, in which case he got what he could get.

Not everyone can afford computer upgrades, and the 5200 is a *very* cheap card, some people buy it because it's better than say, their GF2MX, and want to spend very little.

yes, and yes, gmiester don't be such a piss ant
and yes shuzer my cpu only has pci slots in it, so in a sense i bought the best card available

 

[Darkknighttt]

P4 1.80 GHZ
256MB RAM(maybe 768 ,might upgrade depending on what setting i can play it on.)
Radeon 9800 Pro 128 MB

What setting can i play this on with 256MB RAM, and if I upgrade what setting with 768 MB RAM?!

I know that noone knows for sure, but can I just get some guesses, causei have to upgrade by June 6th. Thanks.

 

[Sai]

uh..even if you don't upgrade you can probably expect it to run perfectly on very high settings

 

[poseyjmac]

your video card is good dark, but you could use 512 ram, and a better cpu if you want to be happy at higher settings.

'perfect' is subjective. perfect to me when would be 85fps constant. and you wont see that with a 1.8ghz cpu at high settings.

 

[Brazooka]

I'm a total hardware noob, I've just finished reading all the 13 pages of posts in this thread and my noob conclusion is that in this machine of mine,

P4 2,0Ghz
512Mb RAM
40 GB HD
9800 pro 256Mb (still need to buy it)

I will be able to run the game in medium to high settings with a 40 to 60fps? Is that right, or absolutly wrong? +/- 50fps is a good rate? Is it really necessary for me to get a new CPU?

 

[poseyjmac]

there can really be no conclusions till the game comes out.

your system is OK, but your cpu is the bottleneck, there would be hardly a reason to get such a good video card if you are going to stick with that cpu, as it wont break a sweat.(unless you care about eyecandy most of all and not Framerate so much)

i recommened a 2.5ghz+, otherwise what you might see is that you get very similar framerate at every resolution, which is a sign that your video card is doing well, but your cpu is failing to keep up.

if you are in the US. look at pricewatch.com you can get an AMD 2800+ with cheap motherboard(with agp) for $109. not much flexibility and upgradeability but a cheap upgrade that will do you well.

the key is to have your video card and cpu be on the same level so to speak or else one will bottleneck the other and you wont reap the benefits ingame of getting one better component. but if you dont care about framerate as much as you do eye candy, then, the system you described will be fine for you.

 

[Brazooka]

there can really be no conclusions till the game comes out.

your system is OK, but your cpu is the bottleneck, there would be hardly a reason to get such a good video card if you are going to stick with that cpu, as it wont break a sweat.(unless you care about eyecandy most of all and not Framerate so much)

i recommened a 2.5ghz+, otherwise what you might see is that you get very similar framerate at every resolution, which is a sign that your video card is doing well, but your cpu is failing to keep up.

if you are in the US. look at pricewatch.com you can get an AMD 2800+ with cheap motherboard(with agp) for $109. not much flexibility and upgradeability but a cheap upgrade that will do you well.

the key is to have your video card and cpu be on the same level so to speak or else one will bottleneck the other and you wont reap the benefits ingame of getting one better component. but if you dont care about framerate as much as you do eye candy, then, the system you described will be fine for you.

Well, the thing is I'm from Brazil and hardware can get really expensive here(since everything is imported from US), but I"m going to Canada next week and I have about USD$ 400,00 that I'm saving to buy any upgrades. Do you think that with that money I can buy a new card and a better cpu? I will need a new MoBo too, right?

 

[Darkknighttt]

all i know is dont really care about FPS i want good graphics. i cant only upgrade one thing, and its gonna have to be the RAM, thats what im mostly struggling on.

 

[Gmeister]

I'm a total hardware noob, I've just finished reading all the 13 pages of posts in this thread and my noob conclusion is that in this machine of mine,

P4 2,0Ghz
512Mb RAM
40 GB HD
9800 pro 256Mb (still need to buy it)

I will be able to run the game in medium to high settings with a 40 to 60fps? Is that right, or absolutly wrong? +/- 50fps is a good rate? Is it really necessary for me to get a new CPU?

Your computer is going to run the game just fine by my "guesstimation" assuming you get the 9800pro 256mb although I would hold off till june or july since you'll find the 9800Xt for the current 9800pro 256mb prices.

 

[Gmeister]

all i know is dont really care about FPS i want good graphics. i cant only upgrade one thing, and its gonna have to be the RAM, thats what im mostly struggling on.

the frames per second is more important than eye candy in terms of playability. You can have all the eye candy in the world, but if it runs like crap, you're not going to enjoy the game at all.

 

[=1nfiltrat0r=]

see this is why consoles are better than pcs.

 

[Gmeister]

see this is why consoles are better than pcs.

You're on the forum for a game that makes PCs worthwhile. Half Life 2 will probably make people upgrade full systems just to play it in its full glory. All the great games have that effect.

 

[poseyjmac]

Well, the thing is I'm from Brazil and hardware can get really expensive here(since everything is imported from US), but I"m going to Canada next week and I have about USD$ 400,00 that I'm saving to buy any upgrades. Do you think that with that money I can buy a new card and a better cpu? I will need a new MoBo too, right?

US $400 is plenty for a great video card and AMD cpu/mb upgrade. if i was to make the best rig possible with $400 knowing the prices as they are today, i would split it half and half. i see an ATI 9800 pro 128 for $170 on pricewatch with shipping. then with the other $200 i would get a 3000-3200xp cpu with good board and nice and quiet cooling. of course this is what i would do if i didn't overclock. still though thats a very fast system. some vendors on pricewatch do ship to canada too so check em out.

personally what i did in the last couple months is bought an Abit nf7(great overclockers board) + a mobile athlon xp mobile 2400+. i overclocked this cpu at 1.8ghz default to 2.5ghz. so now this cpu is right up their with the performance of an athlon 64 3200 proc, and a 3.2 p4. different applications vary of course. the board is around $65 now, cpu is $77 at www.newegg.com. but you'll need some nice air cooling to get that high and a little luck and tweaking skill, i used the best thermalight heatsink, an sp-97 and tornado fan. computers loud, but its fast, and its in my closet

 

[Shuzer]

Your computer is going to run the game just fine by my "guesstimation" assuming you get the 9800pro 256mb although I would hold off till june or july since you'll find the 9800Xt for the current 9800pro 256mb prices.

Please, don't make stuff up. The performance gain from 128MB to 256MB RAM on the 9800 Pro is absolutely neglible.. all the extra RAM will really help with is higher resolution texture processing in future patches

 

[Gmeister]

Please, don't make stuff up. The performance gain from 128MB to 256MB RAM on the 9800 Pro is absolutely neglible.. all the extra RAM will really help with is higher resolution texture processing in future patches

WTF, I'm not making stuff up. The 9800pro's are going to be phazed out. The 9800xt will take it's place in pricing. This has been rumoured and ati has already said that 9800pro 128mbs are not being produced anymore so prices are not going further down. It doesn't matter what you think about performance of 256mb not being much better because it is, but no by much. The point is that a 9800Xt 256mb will be $200 or less in 1 or 2 months.

 

[Shuzer]

WTF, I'm not making stuff up. The 9800pro's are going to be phazed out. The 9800xt will take it's place in pricing. This has been rumoured and ati has already said that 9800pro 128mbs are not being produced anymore so prices are not going further down. It doesn't matter what you think about performance of 256mb not being much better because it is, but no by much. The point is that a 9800Xt 256mb will be $200 or less in 1 or 2 months.

I'm not arguing with the fact that the 9800 pro will be phased out, but why did you make mention of the 9800 pro 256MB version? The performance difference between the 128MB and 256MB is barely worth mentioning, in some cases the 9800 pro 256MB is slower than the 128MB.

I'm not arguing with the fact that the 9800XT is better than the Pro, I just don't know why you pushed the "9800 pro 256mb?"