framerates

[Bizman]

CAP1, the main reason for the drop in your frame rates is that your card, the GTX9800, has been told to be as the minimum for the new version. AH3 will likely be much more dependent on the video card than AH2, whereas the load on the processor will diminish. I have an E8500 (overclocked to 3.8) with a newer video card and my frame rate is fairly good even in the Alpha. Bus as has been said, your experience with your current setup is what counts the most. The alpha is a work in progress, so anything can still happen. Don't rush! Except for installing SP2 to your Vista.

As for the vid mem output, it apparently still doesn't show any correct numbers due to Microsoft.

[Skuzzy]

The video memory numbers, in the Alpha, are correct, but they only show what the Alpha is using and not what other software may have allocated from video memory.

The total available memory should be the physical amount of RAM the video card has.

[bustr]

This is a free application.

Download GPU-Z and run it while you play the game. Click on the sensors tab before starting the game. After you have the game up, tab out and look at the sensor for "Memory Usage (dynamic)". That amount is not being used in the game. This is the reason you are not seeing 512 for the full amount of video memory detected. You will get a better outcome with a GDDR5 card.

http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/

You can set this to log to a file.

[Chilli]

It doesn't seem to be an upgrade at gtx740  Edit:  There are 2 separate and very different GTX 740 cards. Green highlight in attached image is DDR5 and is indeed an upgrade, whereas the red highlight shows the DDR3 "superclocked card that is not an upgrade (for AH3), but still about the same pricing. Note specifications 400 watt PSU required.

A few more dollars and he might find an entire systems with OS included.

Sorry, just shows how important it is to check things out thoroughly.

[CAP1]

this is why i came here before deciding on a plan. from the tiny bit i saw in offline, this may just get my skinny lazy bellybutton back into the game. but i gotta upgrade first, lol