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advice on games.

#62
I did a little test on my computer because I am convinced that system requirements are often greatly exaggerated and if you perform some simple tasks you can get a lot more out of your hardware.

My system is 3 years old and was good, but not top of the line when I got it.
1.333GHz AMD processor
256MB RAM
32MB GeForce 2 MX (stripped down version)

Now, most people would laugh if I mentioned trying to run Doom 3 with this system. The official Doom 3 min requirements are:
1.5GHz processor
384MB RAM
64MB video card

I fall short in every major category.

Now, I don't have Doom 3 because I don't want to buy a game that likely wont run on my computer so I'm waiting to test the demo. Oddly enough though, these hardware requirements are not anything more than other recent games. The game Painkiller has the exact same listed minimum requirements. So, I downloaded the demo. When I installed it gave me a warning message basically saying that my computer was not good enough and recommended that I not play the game. I installed it anyway. The game started up fine. Expecting the worst I set the game to low graphic settings - very smooth frame rate, even with many monsters on screen. So I set the game to medium settings and I still got very nice results. Every now and then the game stuttered briefly, but overall it was very playable. In light of these results I would not be the least bit surprised to find that my system runs Doom 3.

I think a major factor in this was that I still run Windows 98, not XP. XP seems to drain a lot more system resources. I recently cleaned up the startup menu in msconfig. I also keep my system clean by regularly using anti-virus software, along with spybot and adaware. I also periodically defragment my hard drive although it has been quite a while now. My system may even run slightly better after I do that. Another thing I do before attempted to run a demanding program - restart my computer. That really helps and often bumps up my available system resources by up to 30%. The settings on graphics cards can also be manually adjusted to allow for greater quality/performance. Mine are not set for the best quality, but not for the best performance either. For a really demanding program I could get a few fps more by adjusted this.

I am no computer expert by any stretch of the imagination. However, I'm not rich so I like to get the most out of what I buy.
 
#66
Groovecenter,

I play as Hu Jian and I usually just go to whatever server has a good ping and between 13 and 18 or so people currently playing on it. That's just about the size that I like to play with. I'll look for those two servers and try to get on.

brad cook
 
#67
awsome Brad, I love enemy territory. Im a pretty sick medic, usually averaging around ten deaths and 40 kills a map, but I love all the classes. Those two servers vary greatly on the number of people based on what time you play. Goats is also an all custom map rotation and rarely do they do any of the six standard maps. I think I've seen the name Hu Jian before, do you have any colors or clan affiliations? We should start a talkbass clan, that would be crazy.
 
#68
Groove,

I'm not in a clan. I just play whenever. I'm not all that great. I'm not bad but not fantastic. I usually do OK. I'm probably best as an engineer and normally get some good kills with mines and I stay busy doing the engineering stuff. My second choice is usually field ops and 3rd is medic. I usually look at the team and see what is needed the most of those 3. I'm not all that strong in gunfights but I have my good days. I try to play a smart game.

brad cook
 
#69
Ívar Þórólfsson said:
Crap, I lost it today!

My current computer is a P3 1Ghz machine with 512mb of memory and GeForce 4 64mb. I´ve delayed upgrading this machine for a long time but I just could not hold it in any more, especially since Doom 3 is out and Half-Life 2 is coming out in september.

So, I went out and bought myself a:
  • Pentium 4 3Ghz cpu
  • Gigabyte GA-PE1000PRO2 - 2004 GT edition motherboard
  • ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 256mb graphics card
  • 1Gb ram
  • 200Gb Seagate Barracuda hdd
  • A new computer case

I´ll use the sound card, monitor, cd drive and dvd writer from my old comp. I won´t get the motherboard until tomorrow so I´m twiddling my thumbs right now, well, not exactly, I just got Office Space on DVD delivered an hour ago :hyper:

Damn I´m looking forward to try out Doom3 and Half-Life 2 etc.

I considered the ATI x800 and the Nvidia 6800 cards, but they are way to friggin´ expensive right now...

Can´t wait until tomorrow!!! :hyper:
Click to expand...

Is that the Gigabyte mobo with the nForce3 chipset? If so, EXTREMELY good choice :D

I'm waiting until the 6800 ultra goes down in price myself, it's the best investment video card out right now.
 
#70
Lloyd Christmas said:
I did a little test on my computer because I am convinced that system requirements are often greatly exaggerated and if you perform some simple tasks you can get a lot more out of your hardware.

My system is 3 years old and was good, but not top of the line when I got it.
1.333GHz AMD processor
256MB RAM
32MB GeForce 2 MX (stripped down version)

Now, most people would laugh if I mentioned trying to run Doom 3 with this system. The official Doom 3 min requirements are:
1.5GHz processor
384MB RAM
64MB video card

I fall short in every major category.

Now, I don't have Doom 3 because I don't want to buy a game that likely wont run on my computer so I'm waiting to test the demo. Oddly enough though, these hardware requirements are not anything more than other recent games. The game Painkiller has the exact same listed minimum requirements. So, I downloaded the demo. When I installed it gave me a warning message basically saying that my computer was not good enough and recommended that I not play the game. I installed it anyway. The game started up fine. Expecting the worst I set the game to low graphic settings - very smooth frame rate, even with many monsters on screen. So I set the game to medium settings and I still got very nice results. Every now and then the game stuttered briefly, but overall it was very playable. In light of these results I would not be the least bit surprised to find that my system runs Doom 3.

I think a major factor in this was that I still run Windows 98, not XP. XP seems to drain a lot more system resources. I recently cleaned up the startup menu in msconfig. I also keep my system clean by regularly using anti-virus software, along with spybot and adaware. I also periodically defragment my hard drive although it has been quite a while now. My system may even run slightly better after I do that. Another thing I do before attempted to run a demanding program - restart my computer. That really helps and often bumps up my available system resources by up to 30%. The settings on graphics cards can also be manually adjusted to allow for greater quality/performance. Mine are not set for the best quality, but not for the best performance either. For a really demanding program I could get a few fps more by adjusted this.

I am no computer expert by any stretch of the imagination. However, I'm not rich so I like to get the most out of what I buy.
Click to expand...

Painkiller and Doom3 are extremely different graphics-wise. A 1.3ghz would probably be decent for Doom3, but the game really needs a good graphics card. I'm actually guessing that Doom3 won't even support a 32mb graphics card (honestly). What kind of FPS are you getting in PK?
 
#71
For those that play ET:

I play as "-NULL-R92-Zirc" or if you need the color scheme, "^7-^4NULL^7-^1R92^7-Zirc"

I only play on ETPro servers with professional match settings. Shrub and ETmain are pretty much filled with amateurs, so no one is going to get any better playing on those.

Here's a list of my favorite servers:
^0|^?EC^0|^nPublic Purgatory|46ms|69.56.199.162:27960
^3=^4S**t Storm^3=^1II|48ms|69.31.6.173:27960
^/Triple^9(^g><^9)^/Xploit|50ms|69.56.200.130:27960
^4NULL^f's ET Public Server|51ms|204.157.6.18:27960
^y>^4QD^y|^4Server^y< ^410 Maps|52ms|64.246.56.6:27963
^7*^4=^7DCM^4=^7* ^4Death ^7Factory|52ms|66.235.185.125:27960
^9p^?^^9w^zn^7a^zg^9e ^dPublic etpro 3.1|53ms|67.18.62.50:27960
^2.:^7Fragger Force Clan^2:.|53ms|67.18.125.7:27960
^1!^2DM^1!^3Clan Server (ETPro)|54ms|67.18.169.115:27960
^1COMBAT^3// RECRUITING|54ms|69.31.6.128:27960
[-SS-] ^2BEHIND ENEMY LINES|54ms|69.56.246.138:22000
^1XtremeWarfare|54ms|207.44.172.61:27999
^7Locked Box East ^3)^1x^3(^7 @ ET-Center.com|56ms|66.55.137.74:27960

For those that play, what is your SMG accuracy? Bind a key to +stats if you don't know how to find out. Also, regular accuracy is NOT the same because it accounts for panzers, flamethrowers, and mines that hit multiple targets with one shot.

My SMG accuracy is usually around 30-35% depending on how good / horrible the people I'm playing against are.

Also, railgun is a horrible horrible map.
 
#72
Lefty Punk Bass said:
Here's a list of my favorite servers:
^0|^?EC^0|^nPublic Purgatory|46ms|69.56.199.162:27960
^3=^4S**t Storm^3=^1II|48ms|69.31.6.173:27960
^/Triple^9(^g><^9)^/Xploit|50ms|69.56.200.130:27960
^4NULL^f's ET Public Server|51ms|204.157.6.18:27960
^y>^4QD^y|^4Server^y< ^410 Maps|52ms|64.246.56.6:27963
^7*^4=^7DCM^4=^7* ^4Death ^7Factory|52ms|66.235.185.125:27960
^9p^?^^9w^zn^7a^zg^9e ^dPublic etpro 3.1|53ms|67.18.62.50:27960
^2.:^7Fragger Force Clan^2:.|53ms|67.18.125.7:27960
^1!^2DM^1!^3Clan Server (ETPro)|54ms|67.18.169.115:27960
^1COMBAT^3// RECRUITING|54ms|69.31.6.128:27960
[-SS-] ^2BEHIND ENEMY LINES|54ms|69.56.246.138:22000
^1XtremeWarfare|54ms|207.44.172.61:27999
^7Locked Box East ^3)^1x^3(^7 @ ET-Center.com|56ms|66.55.137.74:27960
Click to expand...


OMG are you kidding me?!?! Those are all MY favorite servers too!!!
 
#78
Lefty Punk Bass said:
Painkiller and Doom3 are extremely different graphics-wise. A 1.3ghz would probably be decent for Doom3, but the game really needs a good graphics card. I'm actually guessing that Doom3 won't even support a 32mb graphics card (honestly). What kind of FPS are you getting in PK?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't be surprised if Doom 3 doesn't support my graphics card, yet I thought it was interesting that the minimum system requirements for both games were exactly the same and I was able to run PK with no problems. I'm not sure of the exact fps I am getting, how do I measure this? All I know is that it runs smoothly.

Edit: According to the website, Painkiller does not support my graphics card either, but the game runs...quite well. I did another test and progressively set the graphics higher and higher. I set all of the special features (like dynamic lighting, character shadows, and about 5 others) to ON or HIGH; the resolution which can go as low as 640X480 I set to 1024X768; and the texture details which can set to very low, low, medium, or high, I set to medium. At this point the game is still playable even though the graphic settings are quite high and my system doesn't nearly meet the requirements. The game is a little sluggish and I would set the graphics lower if I were actually playing, but it is not what I would call choppy at all. I still don't know how to test the exact framerate (the command I found on the internet didn't work) but I'm sure it would be quite high on the lowest settings.
 

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