Author Topic: What is minimum videocard for AH ? (Read 1019 times)

Stone · « **on:** July 07, 2005, 07:24:52 AM »

My PC is a AMD XP2800 with 512MB RAM.

I have problems with my NVidia GF 5950ultra video card.
I bought a new cooler for it (Zalman ZM80D) because I cant stand the noice from the video card.

But some how I cant get the zalman ZM80D to cool the vid card, it idles at 87 degrees celcius, and goes over 100 degrees celcius if I try to run a game.

But I recall that some one wrote that AH2 does not need a fancy vid card.

Can some one say what would be a good enough cheep video card that AH2 will run on ok ?

I want to find one without a fan.
I am looking at a "Connect3D Radeon 9600 256MB DDR AGP8X ", would that be fast enough for AH2?

PS.
Looking at bechmarks at tomshardware.com, I wonder wich match most with AH2:

3DMark 2003
AquaMark 3
Unreal Tournament 2004
Call Of Duty
Doom3 - High Quality
FarCry - Very High
Flight Simulator 2004
Joint Operations
Battlefield Vietnam
(DTM) Race Driver 2

JTs · « **Reply #1 on:** July 07, 2005, 09:49:53 AM »

Stone;
you might want to try this cooler and add another 512 stick of ram

http://www.arctic-cooling.com/vga2.php?idx=56

whels · « **Reply #2 on:** July 07, 2005, 10:54:40 AM »

really depends on how much u wana spend or can.
if your wanting to be under $100 then 9600 probably best bet. if you can spend alittle more, then 9800 would be alot better choice.

if you want to stay with Nvidia, go with a 6600 or 6600 GT(faster).

if your running win XP, you really need another 512 ram, might not improve fps much but would make your whole system run better/faster.

all these vieo cards fit your CPU best.

whels

Stone · « **Reply #3 on:** July 07, 2005, 02:38:53 PM »

Thx guys.

I got realy frustated with the Zalman ZM80D, but as all the reviews say it a great product I gave it one more try.

This time I removed the shim, or what ever the metall thing on top of the GPU is called, and installed the Zalman ZM80D.

Now my idle temperature went down to 53 degree celcius

This is great, as it seems that my GeForce FX5950Ultra is not that slow.

I have yet to test it with AH2, hope it wont over heat...

Tarmac · « **Reply #4 on:** July 07, 2005, 10:35:57 PM »

I still play on a GF4 ti4200 (athlon XP 2200). I get around 30 FPS, so any of those cards will be fine.

Siaf__csf · « **Reply #5 on:** July 08, 2005, 03:38:41 AM »

The FX-series were not called hoovers for nothing. It's a crappy design and requires an unreal amount of cooling.

If you want to keep using it I recommend you install water cooling on it - it will be one of the only ways to handle the amount of heat it pushes.

Stone · « **Reply #6 on:** July 08, 2005, 04:02:15 AM »

Well, I have not installed AH2 yet, but I hope the Zalman keeps it cool enough.

Is the new cards cooler than FX ?

Schutt · « **Reply #7 on:** July 08, 2005, 04:14:38 AM »

Wasnt there a driver problem where the driver would make the graphic card fan spin at to low rpms?

Think SoA2 reported it... try a fan speed utility and see if you can rev up the graphics fan.

whels · « **Reply #8 on:** July 08, 2005, 08:53:06 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Stone
Well, I have not installed AH2 yet, but I hope the Zalman keeps it cool enough.

Is the new cards cooler than FX ?

my 6800 ultra OCed, runs 60 idle 68 in ah2, stock air.
max limit is 135

whels

Stone · « **Reply #9 on:** July 08, 2005, 10:58:12 AM »

The Zalman ZM80D came without a fan, so I put a normal fan over it.

It is so quiet I cant hear it at all

Now when I removed the chim, things are lookin real good.
53 degrees celcius in windows, and the whole system is so quiet I cant belive its even on

I hope the system can take a 6+ hours game sessions, when I get AH2 upp and running.

ebgb · « **Reply #10 on:** July 10, 2005, 11:13:37 AM »

zm80d on all but the bargain brand cards requires a fan.
the heat pipe works well, but not well enough for a decent
card like your ultra.

Stone · « **Reply #11 on:** July 10, 2005, 04:58:28 PM »

I did not buy the fan, but I put a very guiet slow fan on top of the video card, and now temps are looking good.

I dont know how hot it get during games, but allways when im back in windowz, it is 53 celcius.

I recomend zalman to anyone who wants to buil a quiet pc.

Siaf__csf · « **Reply #12 on:** July 11, 2005, 05:25:43 AM »

I recomend watercooling to anyone who seriously wants to build a quiet and cool pc.

Although any mistakes can be very expensive. Destroyed one mobo/cpu by turning the waterblock too tight (or a defect in socket) anyway the socket bent during a few months so much that the waterblock became loose. Resulting to a fried CPU and a damaged socket

Another goofy moment was when I bought a brand new Asetek Waterchill package. Tested for leaks etc. all was fine. Then when I changed displaycards it seems I bent one of the tubes a tad too much and one of those fancy push-on-lock connectors started a drip leak which I noticed when my spanking new displaycard froze and burned from the water.

So expensive but so cool.

RTSigma · « **Reply #13 on:** July 11, 2005, 06:26:59 AM »

My FX5500 runs AH2 in the 30's during combat, around 40-50 normally flying. I got it originally at 110 bucks about 8 months ago.

It sucks though for other games though. My system itself is still decent, 1 gig of RAM, 2.0 Ghz, etc.

Gonna upgrade to a 6600 GT once the paycheck comes!

RTO · « **Reply #14 on:** July 13, 2005, 10:51:04 AM »

basic system requirements to play the game are listed on HTC's home page. 32MB vidcard is "all" that is required.

This is an article I came across that should clear things up.

November 16, 2004
"Aces High II" Announced
A new version of HiTech's online WWII flight sim game, Aces High, has been released. Upgrades include three new units and graphical improvements."Aces High II" can be downloaded at the official website and includes a 2 week trial. A monthly subscription costs $14.95.

The Press Release:

HiTech Creations, producer of the award winning online WWII combat simulation Aces High, has released a new version of its massively multiplayer flight simulator.

The new version 2.01 continues the tradition of continuously upgrading and expanding the most popular massively multiplayer online flight simulator in the world. Aces High, first introduced in 2000, has continuously expanded through 14 different versions. Each version added new features such as integrated voice communications, expansion into land and sea combat, a combat film recorder, a terrain editor, and an ever-expanding assortment of combat equipment that grew from 15 units to nearly 80 planes, vehicles, and boats.

Version 2.01 adds three new combat units showcasing a stunning new level of graphical detail. The new units are the Consolidated B-24J Liberator, the Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate, and the Russian T-34 medium tank. The Liberator was the workhorse heavy bomber of the U.S. Army Air Corps and remains the most produced multi-engine plane in history. The Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate was considered the best fighter of the Imperial Japanese Army. The T-34 was a revolution in tank design that came as a surprise to the Germans when they first encountered it.

Despite new graphical upgrades in this version, system requirements were lowered to allow Aces High to be run on even the most basic of graphics adapters.

"We are making a strong development effort towards visually upgrading Aces High to further enhance the online experience,” says company CEO, Dale Addink. "It’s important for us to make these advances while keeping our system requirements low. Aces High transcends the normal computer gaming market and appeals to a much broader audience than just those people who enjoy computer games. We are very pleased that Version 2.01 makes Aces High more accessible to people with basic computer systems without compromising our high-end capabilities."