Author Topic: Vid card upgrade question (Read 380 times)

deSelys · « **on:** May 20, 2004, 03:34:55 PM »

Ok this is what I use to play AH right now:

PIII 866 on ASUS CUS-L2C
512 MB PC 133
Creative GeForce II MX200 32MB
Creative SB 512 PCI
Win 98 SE (ultra-clean, i use it only to play AH, I have Win 2k on dual boot for work, mail, web browsing, pr0n....err officially not

...)
DirectX 8.1b

This system is really stable for AH1 (it gives me better results than my work laptop P4 1.4 GHz 256 MB WinXP Pro with ATI Radeon Mobility 32 MB and DirectX 9.0b) but I fear that the vid card will fall short with AH2. I don't want to try before i'm obliged to, because I know that the detonator drivers for the MX200 under DirectX9.0b aren't very good, and I don't want to risk a loss of FPS or other nasty effect in AH1 just to try AH2.

However, when AH2 will replace AH1, I'll of course have to install DirectX9.

3 Possibilities:

a) AH2 runs decently enough....no worries then. But the probabilities are very low IMO.

b) AH2 is a slide show... so I'll just have to wait until october, the UPGRADE month allowed by the wifey! The use of big capitals is no accident as I plan to build a very decent system with a good ATI card.

c) AH2 is a slide show...and I try to improve it to be able to hold until october. I have the opportunity to buy a Creative 3D Blaster FX 5600 XT 256MB DDR for around 80$. I'm sure that things would improve but would it be enough to play AH2?? Otherwise I would just waste the money.

Your feelings about this? Any experience with this card?

Thanks.

Ghosth · « **Reply #1 on:** May 21, 2004, 07:55:19 AM »

Holding on the video question for a minute, the p3 866 is going to have it tough in there.

Your right at/below the min specs, so its going to be TOUGH sledding.

June, July, Augest, Sept, Oct, hmmm thats 4 plus months.

One possibilty would be to buy a better video card now. One that would also work with your upgraded machine when it comes in oct.

You won't see astounding fps on that machine, but chances are it will run.
You'd at least have the options of bombing, tanking goon flying while your waiting.

ATI 9600's are a great value for a very good card right now. (aprox 135$)

MOSQ · « **Reply #2 on:** May 21, 2004, 11:08:09 AM »

deselys,

See this thread:Hardware and Software

deSelys · « **Reply #3 on:** May 21, 2004, 12:32:50 PM »

Ghosth, MOSQ, Thanks.

I'll buy a new vid card when AHII rolls out. Maybe I'll directly buy the ATI 9600 XT.

AKWarp · « **Reply #4 on:** May 25, 2004, 07:24:03 PM »

Something else to consider.....MOST flight sim games are heavily dependent on the CPU as well as the vid card. In other words, that PIII 866 isn't going to drive things very well, so even if you do get a better video card, you probably won't see huge frame rate increases. You will need to upgrade your CPU as well as the video card......you need a new computer.