daredevil

hi..........

i just wanted to ask whether this pc configuration is enough for playing games like doom3 , battlefield2 , splinter cell with a detail of 800X600

P4 2.4 GHZ
512 MB RAM (DDR SD)
MSI Nvidia Geforce FX5700LE (256MB) ----> (((( with latest driver ))))
16bit sound card. (VIA '97)
windows xp professional
40 GB hard disk space.

Compumaniac12

P4 2.4 GHZ - good enough (i have the same)
512 MB RAM (DDR SD) - get more... this will run games, but it will be the main source of your lag.
MSI Nvidia Geforce FX5700LE (256MB) ----> (((( with latest driver )))) - good enough for low settings
16bit sound card. (VIA '97) - good enough for low medium sound, i have it to... kinda sucks
windows xp professional - good
40 GB hard disk space - plenty


on bf2, you could run low settings with some cache lag probably, more ram would be the first upgrade.

daredevil

ok................

so will the games i listed run smoothly at least in 800X600 setting .

if no..... then what is missing in my computer

if yes..... then thanx for making me happy

Andrew0987

It will probably run them fine, but I disagree with the other poster, if you do expereince lag it will probably be your video card.

ebackhus

More RAM and a better video card.

DavidHenry

ASFAIK, BF2 needs 2 gigs of ram to be lag free, and this assumes the rest of the system is equally well equiped.
Doom 3 will also need a gig of ram for lag free gameplay, and TBH, the 5700 is not going to produce a great image.

This is for anyone interested...
IMO, a D3 box capable of high settings at 10x7 will be a AMD 3000, I gig ram and either 6600GT/X800GT{but GTO is better value, ie, X800GTO 12 pipe}, having said that, FEAR, Q4, STALKER, SS2 are just around the corner, and these games could all be good-great, and they are demanding.

Proper FEAR, Q4 box should be AMD 3500 939, 2 gig DDR400, X800XL 256mb....this will enable the above games to run at 10x7 with IQ settings at high and some at maximum, of course, if you're serious, you'd get a 7800GT and you'd have a powerful well matched gamers box.

AMD 3500 is at a great price point and is still powerful, 2 gigs is becoming necessary like it or not, and the 7800GT is the hardcore gamers choice, a great card by all acounts.

-=carlos=-

I'd say your main holdback there is the amount of ram you have. Get say another 512MB of it and there's no reason you wont be able to play those games listed at the low resolution of 800x600.

BF2 is one helluva hardware hog but if you set your textures to medium you will get away with lag free gaming with a 1GB of memory. textures is the main hog btw...lighting is cheap, shadows you would be advised to switch off. Then, and only then would you be able to play BF2.

Do however remember that the 5700 isnt exactly a great card but it should suffice.

Andrew0987

That is a load of crap. Most average users will need no more than 512mb of ram and most gamers will not need over a gig of good ram provided the rest of their hardware is up to date. Even if you wanted to play the latest games at the highest settings ypu will rarely need over a gig of ram to play lag free. To say that a two gigabytes of ram is necessary is utter bu11$h!t. I am sure there are plenty of bf2 users out there who play lag free with less than two gigs of ram.

DavidHenry

Ladies and Gentlemen, young Andrew has just spoken **** as we say in Australia.
Now here are the facts.
Firstly we need to agree upon a gaming standard, and I consider 10x7 at high-max settings to typically offer a great compromise of smooth gameplay and great visuals, eg, D3, HL2 and Far Cry all look good at 10x7 maxed, and the system I have as described in my profile covers that.

HAHAHAAHAHAHAHHA, thanks, that's hilarious, I'm sure people will be looking to you for advice in the future with that nonsense....as we have BF2, FEAR and presumably Q4 and Stalker more than likely needing 2 gigs to achieve lag free gameplay.

FEAR is a RAM hog, it lags at 680x480 on my system, and I have I gig of ram, thus the idea that you could play it at 10x7 with high settings without 2 gigs is ludicrious, what's also ludicrious is that D3 doesn't need a gig of ram....in fact, D3 looks awful with lowish settings and will still lag with settings on low unless you have the 1 gig.

So Andrew you go back to lag and stutter, and look forward to some terrific lag and stutter when the blockbusters start hitting the shelves.

If a FPSer fan wanted to build a box today, then he would be advised to get this as the entry level spec to enable FEAR, Q4, STALKER, SS2, Just Cause to run at no lower than 10x7 with all settings and aa/af maxed...
AMD 3500 or higher, 2 gig of DDR400 ram, X850XT PE-7800GT or higher, although a AMD 3500, 2 gig, 7800GT will hit the spot, you won't be dissappointed with the grunt or image quality that produces.

Compumaniac12

quite a war going on here... apparently people see things differently, it depends how much money you got to spend on looks, and how much time you got to spend on it, i myself think that 15fps in a movie is fine and 30 is enough to play a game. I run my bf2 at low so theres no cache lag... still looks amazing to me, yes ive turned it up to max, but i dont enjoy it anymore...

-=carlos=-

Although imo DavidHenry over rated what is required to play BF2, Andrew similarly under rated it. 512MB will never be enough to play BF2 as Dice say that the game files alone take up around 1GB...add that to windows system files and you're using the pagefile. You can however limit the damage by having your textures either on medium (recommended for 1GB) or low if you're struggling. The textures are generated on first run and cached...they are by far the thing that sets performance levels in the game.

I recently upgraded from 1GB to 2GB thinking that i would be able to set the textures to high...i still can't as it stutters a little. Only slightly but for me, that's enough...i like very high frame rates at the expense of visuals because i'm an infantryman and make most kills with the assault rifle.

My previous system was my P4 at 3GHz, 1GB of 500MHz DDR ram and a 5950 ultra at 1280x1024...and i just (and only just) got away with medium settings. It's all guesswork, but 800x600 is an extremely low resolution, and with everything on low? I think you'd do it, but only with a gig (or more) of ram...

DavidHenry

Carlos and world.
The difference in cost between 1 gig of ram{the absolute minimum for demanding games, ie FPSers} and 2 gig is a pittance, and being that FEAR, BF2, Q4, STALKER and "perhaps" most games released in 2006 may want 2 gig of ram, it would seem sensible to get the 2 gig, ideally as 2 x1024 sticks.

My AMD 3200, I gig, X800GT lags in FEAR, but a 2 gig 6800GT box doesn't lag, now granted the 6800GT is more powerful than a X800GT, the 800 does suit DX9 games, and I dropped the resolution to 640x480 and it still lagged, so It's RAM, the only solution is BIG RAM.

As for stuttering, that's down to the CPU and GPU.{edit}, actually Carlos, your PC specs are virtually identical to the P4 3ghz, 2 gig, 6800GT machine that doesn't lag, but DID stutter at 10x7 maxed for FEAR.
FYI, I'll be able to see both FEAR and Q4 run on more powerful machines than mine, and depending on how thrilled I am, I'll be upgrading to 2 gig and probably a 7800GT, unless I see some silly prices on X850XT/6800GT.

Andrew0987

What are the rest of you system specs? What is the latency on your memory and what speed does it run at? I'd bet you have some craptacular "value ram" module in your system.

-=carlos=-

You're not saying anything that people don't already likely know...I however was answering the original posters question, specifically regarding the resolution he quoted. If he'd wanted lessons on future proofing, high end fps specs or anything like that, your information would be useful...but he didn't.

The difference between a gig and 2 gig of super shite value crap ram is pittence, the difference between it for my ram is just shy of a hundred quid. btw, what is this 10x7 you keep quoting?

Fr4665

hey David dont just attack people about random crap 512mb is enough to run BF2 if you want a hate thread against andrew have one somewhere else but not here. And you might want to watch what you say. And who are you any ways 5 posts and already dissing people come on

To david and his big ego, with AMD rigs its the cpu that bottlenecks the video card. Only if you over clock your CPU you will achieve better fluent play and no lagg. 2 gigs is plenty to run anything out these days and the 800GT is a x800 just with a changed name. You can run freaking doom3 with a p3 and a voodoo5 on medium settings just that bf2 is anal about cards and system specs

To daredevil, yes those system specs are enough to run the games you posted but wont run them spectacular. Doom3 will run at 800x600 and battlefield should work fine too with 800x600 make sure you dont have the shades and stuff turned up. Also make sure you have the latest nvidia driver. Splintercell will run fine also with even a higher resolution i ran it at 1024x786 with my 9500 which is equivalent to a 5700.

i believe he means AA and AF but thats impossible to run AA at 10 and AF at 7 the max you could set AA to is 6 and AF to is 16 so something might be out of line or he means something different

DavidHenry

Oh golly gee, aren't you just the superhero, and btw, knock off the BS about people already knowing this or that....the FACT is, many people don't know how to build/component match a PC or a gaming PC.

DavidHenry

The FACT is, 512mb isn't enough to run DOOM3{august 2004}properly, so please ease the BS as well huh!

Get back to me when your focus is comprehension.

I'll let intelligent and reasonable people decide what's what, afterall, I've given examples of various configurations and have isolated the ram as the culprit in FEAR, and I reiterate that Stalker will probably need 2 gigs as well, and who knows what Q4 requires, IOW, it's much smarter to get 2 gigs if you're building a gaming rig.

Well priced, component matched and powerful gaming PC=AMD 3500, 2 gigs ram, and 7800GT.

Andrew0987

I had doom 3 running on medium settings at 1024x768 at over 20fps on my old computer which had 512 mb of ram and a Geforce 6800.

DavidHenry

Yep, yep, yep, and only students or the stingy tolerate such mediocrity.
Don't forget that I said "run properly"....and that's usually understood as no lag and minimal{ideally none} stutter, also D3 on low-medium settings compared to high settings is almost chalk and cheese.

I'm here on behalf of those who can afford a proper gaming experience.....if I have a slow computer relative to any software, I either make the upgrade or wait till it's reasonable to do so, I don't play games with top notch graphics at dismal resolutions and IQ settings, nor do I tell people that it will run without qualifying how poor the gaming experience will be.

I tell the truth at all times, there's no downside to TRUTH.

Andrew0987

The video game runs properly. Anything above 20fps is smooth enough to where there wont be any noticible lag and doom 3 looks fine on medium. *cough*graphics wh0r3*cough*