system requirements

[Gmeister]

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?"

You're the one pushing the issue on me. All I did was answer that person's question regarding if the game would run on their system. I wasn't trying to be a salesman on the same post. I was answering their question, not trying to open up a can of worms like you.

 

[Shuzer]

You're the one pushing the issue on me. All I did was answer that person's question regarding if the game would run on their system. I wasn't trying to be a salesman on the same post. I was answering their question, not trying to open up a can of worms like you.

I'm not trying to open a can of worms, but it seemed like you were trying to get him to get a radeon 9800 pro 256mb? I may have read your sentence wrong, but you specifically mention the 256MB version

 

[poseyjmac]

shuzer, unlike other games, we know that halflife2 will eventually take advantage of a 256mb card, so its actually not a bad buy if you are a fan of hl2, and want to be able to use valve's 2048x2048 textures in the future.

 

[Darkknighttt]

around what fps will i get with:
Radeon 9800 Pro 128 MB
768 MB RAM
P4 1.80 GHZ

 

[poseyjmac]

darkknighttt, you'll get satisfactory fps, but not great, and every resolution you try will probably give you very similar FPS, but you'll be able to pull of eye candy just fine, but your framerate would be not great. and it would make me sad to know you are going to run halflife2 like that.

because the truth is, your cpu is inferior to your video card, you would get a dramatic increase in framerate with an adequate cpu. im talking at least 2500+ to pair with your video card. just imagine a 3 legged race, with your video card and cpu. your video card is an olympic sprinter, but your cpu is a car salesman.

 

[Shuzer]

shuzer, unlike other games, we know that halflife2 will eventually take advantage of a 256mb card, so its actually not a bad buy if you are a fan of hl2, and want to be able to use valve's 2048x2048 textures in the future.

Right, I said that in a post further up, I was just trying to understand why he insisted on the 256MB version of the card, that's all

 

[Darkknighttt]

damn might upgrade my cpu then to(havent even bought video card or RAM.) i dont want to get an Athlon, wanna get a pentium, what speed, and how much do you think itll cost to upgrade.(just reccomend a speed.)

 

[Doldreaht]

Do you think my system can handle HL2 with all settings turned up?

Pentium 233 mhz
32 megs SD ram
12 Gig HD
Geforce MX200, upgrading to MX400(yesss!!!!!!)
windows 95

what do ya think?

 

[Tadashi]

That wouldn't even handle HL with a high resolution^^;;;

And no "Oh, i'm just so funny* posts...

 

[poseyjmac]

damn might upgrade my cpu then to(havent even bought video card or RAM.) i dont want to get an Athlon, wanna get a pentium, what speed, and how much do you think itll cost to upgrade.(just reccomend a speed.)

depends on your pricerange, and since you are blindly excluding AMD from the picture, its going to cost you a lot more to get a good cpu and motherboard. my $77 amd cpu is faster than a p4 3.2ghz.

 

[Darkknighttt]

depends on your pricerange, and since you are blindly excluding AMD from the picture, its going to cost you a lot more to get a good cpu and motherboard. my $77 amd cpu is faster than a p4 3.2ghz.

Are you serious! HOOK ME UP! couldi buy it fro ma certain stoe or order it online?!

 

[poseyjmac]

Are you serious! HOOK ME UP! couldi buy it fro ma certain stoe or order it online?!

heres what i did. its an AMD mobile 2400+ cpu i got from newegg for $77. this is clocked at 1.8ghz. i got an abit nf7-s motherboard to go along with it for $100 at newegg as well, you could get a regular nf7 with less features for around $65, same overclockability. i brought this cpu to 2.5ghz, which is like a pr rating of somewhere between 3800-3900+. can't really tell for sure, but its fast, i used an sp-97 heatsink with a tornado fan, which is loud, but with cooling not as good, you could still probably make it to at least 2.3ghz. nice thing about these processors is that they are unlocked, meaning you dont have to have high quality ram to achieve high clock speeds.

but also keep in mind there is some knowledge required for overclocking, its not difficult by any means, but it needs to be learned if you are to be successful.

 

[Doldreaht]

I always shop newegg, they have great deals. Pricewatch is good too, check there.


By the way, I was just being a jackass earlier. Here are my real specs


athlon XP2000, upgrading to 2800
768 DDR Ram
40 Gig HD
ATI Radeon 9700pro

Think it will run around 60 fps on full settings with the new processor?

 

[RakuraiTenjin]

darkknighttt, you'll get satisfactory fps, but not great, and every resolution you try will probably give you very similar FPS, but you'll be able to pull of eye candy just fine, but your framerate would be not great. and it would make me sad to know you are going to run halflife2 like that.

because the truth is, your cpu is inferior to your video card, you would get a dramatic increase in framerate with an adequate cpu. im talking at least 2500+ to pair with your video card. just imagine a 3 legged race, with your video card and cpu. your video card is an olympic sprinter, but your cpu is a car salesman.

I have a similiar setup with a 2.0ghz and a 9800pro

Now when you say a lower FPS, about what range are you saying? If it's choppy and noticeable to the point where if I look around I can see the individual frames themselves I'll upgrade.

If it's gonna be high enough to run "smoothly and fluid" the entire game, even it's not the max my card could do, I'll be satisfied until later when I can upgrade for the best possible cpu

 

[shapeshifter]

I'll be running pretty by the time Its out (If all goes to plan)

Xp-M 2500+ (oc to 2.5ghz)
sp-97 w/ 92mm fan
Abit NF7-s
Samsung pc3200 ram 1gb (2x512mb) dual channel
Western digital 80gb hd
panasonic 12x dvd (for my speical edition )
AIW 9800pro With (Vga silencer rev3, OCZ copper ramsinks) Oced to 9800xt specs.

 

[poseyjmac]

I have a similiar setup with a 2.0ghz and a 9800pro

Now when you say a lower FPS, about what range are you saying? If it's choppy and noticeable to the point where if I look around I can see the individual frames themselves I'll upgrade.

If it's gonna be high enough to run "smoothly and fluid" the entire game, even it's not the max my card could do, I'll be satisfied until later when I can upgrade for the best possible cpu

its all about personal taste. some are content with 40fps, but 40fps is dramatically different to 80fps with a good eye. with a low end cpu, you most likely wont consistenly be getting up to 60fps+ at highest detail. of course its speculation still. but better cpus are going to get higher framerate

 

[RakuraiTenjin]

its all about personal taste. some are content with 40fps, but 40fps is dramatically different to 80fps with a good eye. with a low end cpu, you most likely wont consistenly be getting up to 60fps+ at highest detail. of course its speculation still. but better cpus are going to get higher framerate

Oh whew. I'm not much of a computer expert so when you were talking about the bottleneck I was getting I was thinking like.. 13 fps or something

Sounds good.

 

[CrazyHarij]

I really hope the Source engine will be one of those really scalable and smooth systems, like the Max Payne 2 and Ground Control 2 engines.

 

[Plug]

i have an amd 3000+ cpu, 1gb dual ddr ram (two 512's doubled up together), an audigy 2 sound card, and i'm going to purchase a radeon 9800 pro 256mb soon... I'm a little annoyed that ati's x800 cards are coming out though, or are they out now?
Well either way, it sucks for me because they're not out in Australia yet (that i've seen) and they'll cost an absolute fortune for a while... i don't have that kind of money =(

looks like it's a 9800 for me!

 

[m33p]

I'd just like to say... for thos of you that got 9800 pro/XT is stupid to upgrade..... why not just wait it out and save your money build a new system and start running a PCI express video card.... least wait til the end of the year... if you get sick of waiting..... then go ahead and do so..... and keep in mind... HL2 isn't ganna require a whole lot.... its a very good engine... its not like far cry where the thing lags on everything out... just WAIT.... wait for HL2 to come out if it runs like shit they start upgrading...

 

[A True Canadian]

This thread is giving me some great info.

My Specs:

P4 2.4 Ghz
512 Mb RAM
ATI 9100 Radeon

The video card looks to be my only downside as it has vanished from memory. No one, not even ATI have any information, patches, drivers for this thing that aren't at least 1 1/2 years old.
Don't get me wrong, the card has been good to me (only giving me problems in FAR CRY, but everyone seems to be having problems with that game).

I'll probably wait until I'm out of school before I start looking into higher cards.
(Lucky Americans; us Canadians aren't out until the end of June)

 

[shapeshifter]

This thread is giving me some great info.

My Specs:

P4 2.4 Ghz
512 Mb RAM
ATI 9100 Radeon

The video card looks to be my only downside as it has vanished from memory. No one, not even ATI have any information, patches, drivers for this thing that aren't at least 1 1/2 years old.
Don't get me wrong, the card has been good to me (only giving me problems in FAR CRY, but everyone seems to be having problems with that game).

I'll probably wait until I'm out of school before I start looking into higher cards.
(Lucky Americans; us Canadians aren't out until the end of June)

Uhhhhhh the CATALYST drivers cover all cards from 7500 and up. there are no single drivers for specific cards, they are unified. you just download the newest CATALYST for your version of windows and install

A faster card and another 512mb of ram would really help for dx9 games.

 

[poseyjmac]

Uhhhhhh the CATALYST drivers cover all cards from 7500 and up. there are no single drivers for specific cards, they are unified. you just download the newest CATALYST for your version of windows and install

A faster card and another 512mb of ram would really help for dx9 games.

no need to be a d1ck about it dude. some people just dont know, no need to roll eyes. btw 512mb of ram does nothing for dx9 games. concerning games, it only helps with load times, initial stutter.

 

[A True Canadian]

I know of the CATALYST drivers and recently upgraded to 4.3 (a while ago).
those were probably bad examples, but whenever I try to find information on the card I come up with nothing. They are still doing things for the 8500...

I don't know why I'm complaining, for I'll probably get a 9800 PRO or XT around Half-Life 2's release. Thanks for the heads upp on the RAM, i'll consider it.

EDIT: Thanks for the update Poseyjmac

 

[shapeshifter]

I know of the CATALYST drivers and recently upgraded to 4.3 (a while ago).
those were probably bad examples, but whenever I try to find information on the card I come up with nothing. They are still doing things for the 8500...

I don't know why I'm complaining, for I'll probably get a 9800 PRO or XT around Half-Life 2's release. Thanks for the heads upp on the RAM, i'll consider it.

the 9100 basicaly is a 8500. and what do you mean by they are still doing "things for the 8500" ???

 

[A True Canadian]

They're creating patches for recent games that have come out. I think HALO was one of the recent ones.
Rumor has it that UBISOFT and Cryteck are coming out with patches for Far Cry to fix the graphical problems (i.e. dynamic lighting) for 9000, 9200, 9500, etc... however nothing for my card. It's "invisible" is what I'm getting at.

 

[shapeshifter]

They're creating patches for recent games that have come out. I think HALO was one of the recent ones.
Rumor has it that UBISOFT and Cryteck are coming out with patches for Far Cry to fix the graphical problems (i.e. dynamic lighting) for 9000, 9200, 9500, etc... however nothing for my card. It's "invisible" is what I'm getting at.

sigh, the 9100 and the 9000 and the 9200 are all pretty much the same card, said patch for anything involing the 8500 will work for it.

 

[A True Canadian]

Thanks for the clarification (i think). I'm somewhat computer illiterate so bare with me. Anyway a newer video card should take care of everything.

PS. does anyone know if there is a difference in the Radeon Saphire 9800 PRO, Radeon Hurcules 9800 PRO, etc., other than the name?

 

[poseyjmac]

Thanks for the clarification (i think). I'm somewhat computer illiterate so bare with me. Anyway a newer video card should take care of everything.

PS. does anyone know if there is a difference in the Radeon Saphire 9800 PRO, Radeon Hurcules 9800 PRO, etc., other than the name?

some makes of certain brands are better overclockers than others, because some have better hs/fans than others. if heat is an issue in your case then you might want to shop around. best thing to do is read reviews and check out hardware site forums for advice. although hercules has always been great, albeit a bit more expensive than others.

 

[A True Canadian]

It don't think that heat is an issue with my PC (I should probably check into that properly). As with the different brands, if they offer what is essentially the same thing (minus the fans and such), getting the one that is $50 less might be a good investment. On the other hand...

 

[poseyjmac]

yea, thats what i did, i got a sapphire radeon9700 because it was the cheapest, and it got good reviews, didnt have heat problems. so i flashed it with a 9700pro bios and overclocked to radeon9700pro speeds too, been running for over a year without a problem.

 

[Compman2000]

I'll be trying to play on a new laptop:

Pentium M 1.6GHz
512MB RAM
128MB Radeon 9600 Pro Turbo Mobility

 

[B_MAN]

mmmmm half life 2 on a laptop

 

[scarecrow1]

Anyone know if Halflife2 will take advantage of 64bit cpus?

 

[Darkknighttt]

i dont know

 

[Shuzer]

Anyone know if Halflife2 will take advantage of 64bit cpus?

A 64 bit client is planned

 

[shapeshifter]

A 64 bit client is planned

It may help some what with fps, but I doubt it. We won't start to see any sort of advantage from 64bit games untill such time that developers no longer make a 32bit one and then add 64bit. When they start to JUST make 64bit clients then that will be good.

*but the way intel is going it doesn't seem like they want to do so* they just want to keep riding the 32bit cpu scene as long as they can.

 

[jonesey2k]

I hope I can run it maxed out on 1024*768 on my system with 4aa/8af
Specs. Athlon Xp2400 @ 200*11
9800NP @ 435/650mhz
1gb DDR400
I can play FarCry On Very High settings with 4aa/8af with decent frames.
Hope HL2 is the same.

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

I will be running max settings @ 1024x768....
Specs: Xp 2600+ @ 2.1ghz
X800 Pro
1gb Pc2700

I think I could run 4aa/and 8af without a problem, I could prob go higher than that, but I have never really had aa and af on before....so it will still own to me

 

[poseyjmac]

you could run 1280x1024 really nicely too