Will Your System Run Half-life 2?

[lePobz]

If I were you i'd consider upgrading motherboard before getting a graphics card.

 

[bosox188]

If I were you i'd consider upgrading motherboard before getting a graphics card.

I know, but will a new one work with my Dell?

 

[lePobz]

Well you can't get a decent graphics card to work with your Dell if it has no AGP port, so you'd need a new motherboard anyway. Just make sure the motherboard you get is compatible with the RAM and CPU and you should be fine. Oh yeah, make sure it has an AGP port too!

 

[Shuzer]

You'll also have to get a new case if you get a new motherboard..

They make prebuilts (particularly Dell) incredibly hard to upgrade manually, just to offset the end user from doing so, in hopes of the said party to buy another system from them

 

[bosox188]

Why would I need a new case? And is there any way to find out what PSU I have? I don't think Dell would put too low of a psu in there, but I'd hate to find out I only have like 250 watts if I want a 9800 pro.

 

[Shuzer]

Why would I need a new case? And is there any way to find out what PSU I have? I don't think Dell would put too low of a psu in there, but I'd hate to find out I only have like 250 watts if I want a 9800 pro.

250 watts is enough to run a 9800 Pro with normal system components

Should be, anyway

ANYHOW! You'll have to get a new case if you get a new motherboard, because Dell/prebuilt systems don't use form factor motherboards, so the case won't fit a standard motherboard

Of course, there's nothing stopping you from modifying the case to fit

 

[Daegon]

I wouldn't try to run a high end video card like that on a 250 watter. Actually, dell (after 2001 or so) have used something very close to ATX standard. So... you may have to play with the cooling setup, but any ATX board /should/ fit in your current case.

 

[gulo]

wohoo !
I just ordered Athlon 64 3200+ today
I'm selling my P4 3.0HT to a friend or highest bidder heh
my video card is old, but I am buying x800 pro the day Doom 3 comes out (sorry, I believe D3 will be out before HL2)

 

[wayne white]

hey i play morrowind at high res with pixel shader on my crappy 5200.

 

[lePobz]

I think you misunderstand the differences between Morrowind and Half-Life 2.

They use a different engine. :/

 

[Kyorisu]

hey i play morrowind at high res with pixel shader on my crappy 5200.

What res?

I force Morrowind up to 1600x1200 with double the normal view distance. Thankyou Morrowind FPS optimizer.

 

[bosox188]

hey i play morrowind at high res with pixel shader on my crappy 5200.

Ummm... I've played Morrowind with my 5200, and it doesn't look anywhere near as good as it's supposed to. The water is horribly ugly, and it just doesn't look like when I played it on Xbox. Is it a dx9 game?

 

[joule]

Is it a dx9 game?

No, it is a DirectX8.1 game.

 

[Eejit]

Heh, my 5200 was part of an otherwise pretty good package. I might upgrade once I get some money when I get a job this summer.
I'm not too fussed about not getting amazing detail, I haven't played a fps newer than HL1 so the graphics will probably be quite satisfying for me anyway - at least till I buy a new card.

 

[bosox188]

Uh if Morrowind is dx8.1 then shouldn't my 5200 at least make it look as good as Xbox, if not run as smooth? But where do I configure the video settings, all I really saw in the game was shadows, resolution, and that's really it I think.

 

[bosox188]

won't let me edit my message so I gotta double post. Morrowind won't let me run in 1208x1024, I only have the option of 1280x960 as the highest res. My monitor doesn't support 1600x1200 but I have used 1280x1024 and it's fine, but it runs slow with the card. Does Morrowind not support it? By the way, I just found out I had pixel shading turned off in the launcher, so now the graphics are much better, love the water.

 

[Eejit]

With the newest 5200 drivers you're able to set some global driver settings for individual programs. I'm not much of a graphics buff, but maybe that will help with the video settings.

 

[bosox188]

Just got the newest drivers, it'll let me set aa and af but I don't know what it'll do with anything else.

 

[Kyorisu]

Nvidia drivers have pretty much allways let you adjust af/aa I would know becuase my second ever video card was a GF2. MY first was a vodoo 2 and now I have my 9600pro.

BTW by defualt Morrowind won't let you go up too 1600x1200 I used Morrowind FPS optimizer to tweak all my settings ie I have a 110 degree view instead of the deault 90 and my view distance is DOUBLED

/edit bosox188 you have a pci 5200 ouch.

 

[bosox188]

/edit bosox188 you have a pci 5200 ouch.

Yeah, big ouch. No Agp slot.