Video card woes / Upgrading advice

[Mikeweiser]

2 Questions:

1) I recently upgraded my video card to better enjoy this game. I got rid of my Geforce 4 Ti 4600 (128 mb) for a Geforce FX 5700 LE (256 mb). I first noticed that HL2 will not allow me to change hardware support from DX8.1 to 9. Doesn't all FX cards support DX9? How much better of an upgrade was this even?

2) I am now at a upgrading fork in the road, and I am wondering where I should I work next in regards to these 3 key items:

CPU: P4 2ghz (Max 3.06 - this is in the process of being changed)
Ram: 1 GB 2100 DDR (Max 3 GB)
Video: FX 5700 LE (256 mb)

 

[Mikeweiser]

Bump for advice

 

[Messermeier]

the fx cards do support dx9, but valve handles them as dx8 devices, otherwhise the game will slow down to a crawl - at least that is what they say.

there are some workarounds to force an fx card to run dx9 mode, but using them will most likely get you loads of glitches. i tried it and wasn't very happy with the results .. :|

gf6 + all modern atis will run dx9.