Is this enough power for D3?

[bcoupland]

Hi, I'm planning on this config for my next system that I'm building myself.
These are the (relevant) specs:
Athlon 64 S939 3500+
ASUS A8V Deluxe
Corsair TwinX-1024Mb 3200 2-3-3-6
Ati Radeon 9800 Pro*

Will this config be able to run D3 at an acceptable framerate (24fps and up)?
I will run at 1280x1024 (because that's my LCD's native res) with settings fully
maxed except AA will be off and AF will be at 8x

*I got a 9800 pro for a really good deal (299$ Canadian) because vid cards are criminally expensive
in Canada. (Eg. a 6800 Ultra is $841 and a X800 XT is about $800, the X800 pros and GT's hover around
600 bux.)

 

[DAPUNISHER]

The res you are planning on may prove too much but beyond that you will be fine.

 

[beatle]

Nobody knows how the game will run except id. That's a fast system... hopefully it'd be fast enough for D3, but nobody here will be able to tell you for sure.

 

[Sam1230]

It's unlikely you'll be able to run it at 1280 especially with AF at 8x. You should get a socket 754 chip and mobo and spend the rest of your money on an X800.

 

[Trey22]

Beefy system should have a beefy graphics card.

With all the eye candy turned on, I'd doubt that 9800 Pro will be able to push that res... could be wrong though.

But with all the next-gen games coming out, futureproof yourself with a 6800 or x800. My $0.02's.

 

[Tostada]

I seriously doubt 1280x1024 will be any problem on an X800, even with all options (except AA) enabled. And if you're only looking for 24FPS, there's no way it'd be a problem.

I don't see where people get these ideas that you need a 6800GT to run modern games above 1024x768. I get an average of over 60FPS playing FarCry at 1024x768 on an old XP1600+ Palomino with a GeForce Ti 4200. Obviously the options are turned down pretty low, but it's perfectly smooth and playable.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: Tostada
I seriously doubt 1280x1024 will be any problem on an X800, even with all options (except AA) enabled. And if you're only looking for 24FPS, there's no way it'd be a problem.

I don't see where people get these ideas that you need a 6800GT to run modern games above 1024x768. I get an average of over 60FPS playing FarCry at 1024x768 on an old XP1600+ Palomino with a GeForce Ti 4200. Obviously the options are turned down pretty low, but it's perfectly smooth and playable.

He is asking about a 9800p not x800, and your card uses a lower shader path in farcry so it doesn't get bonked like a PS2 card can when that shader path is used. Certainly he will be able to play it, but the res. and eye candy will be a case of where it looks less than what you'd want from D3 I'd wager, unless it's only about game play for you. For myself, I want it to look the way it can look, which is cutting edge awesome evidently.

 

[Krk3561]

To run at what you want, you would probably need a 6800 Ultra Extreme or X800 XT PE

 

[bcoupland]

I don't plan on getting a new card for a year because I stated before, Video cards are criminaly expensive
in Canada. What I want to know is if this will be okay for a while. Thanks for all your replies.

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: Tostada

I get an average of over 60FPS playing FarCry at 1024x768 on an old XP1600+ Palomino with a GeForce Ti 4200. Obviously the options are turned down pretty low, but it's perfectly smooth and playable.

YEAH RIGHT...and a Ford Focus is just as fast as a Viper......

Considering the geforce 4 4200 gets an average of 37.8fps @ 800x600 and only 27.5fps @ 1024x768 on an A64 3400+ which is at least 100% faster than your 1600+ xp, you don't need to exaggerate THAT much.

Unless you have EVERYTHING set to VERY LOW and 16-bit colour, disabled trilinear, then maybe you'll get 60FPS (Max) not average; but no one would call this playable.

"the ability to play Doom 3 with all its visual magic maxed out is really a good excuse to trade up. A P4 3GHzwith a Georce 5950- class card will see u through okay. One of our test systems had a geforce 6800 ultra and ran flawlessly at 1024x 768 with high detail. (A higher level of quality and resolution is available , but the PC to run it well isnt)" - PC Gamer

So it is probably possible to play doom 3 at 1024x768 but that will have to be without AA/AF I imagine on a 9800Pro. Of course how much trust can we put into PC Gamer's evaluation is another story but I highly doubt you'll be able to play with AF enabled. In your case, it would probably make more sense to buy A64 3000+ or 3200+ and take the savings from 3500+ and socket 939 platform and transfer them into a new videocard. Chances are that by the time you need to replace your cpu, you'll buy a new motherboard anyway. Spending $200US extra on a barely faster cpu is not reasonable when you want to game, esp. if your rig would benefit much more with a slightly slower cpu and a much faster Videocard.

Remember you are buying an all around rig if you want it for gaming so even if you have to spend $500 on a videocard, but other components don't suffer as much, it really makes no difference if you spend $700 on a cpu and 300 on a videocard or vice versa (because it is still hypothetical $1000); performance balance is what matters the most.

 

[ROcHE]

If this system is not sufficient to play Doom3 with all the eye candy it's a freaking joke.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: Krk3561
To run at what you want, you would probably need a 6800 Ultra Extreme or X800 XT PE

or maybe an X-box

:roll:

No one know absolutely for sure - except id - yet - but it looks like your system will do fine . . .

the 9800Pro should be OK . . . and you can upgrade in the next few months (when you visit US or) when prices settle on the new cards. . . . However, i doubt the 9800Pro will handle AA/AF TOgether with EVerYthing 'hi" and 'maxed' @ your monitor's res (IF it were 1024x768, you have a better chance).

 

[DarkAmeba]

Originally posted by: ROcHE
If this system is not sufficient to play Doom3 with all the eye candy it's a freaking joke.

I have to agree there. My monitors native res is 1600x1200, and my 9700 pro has had no problem running ANY game yet very smoothly with details on medium or high. I don't really wanna upgrade till cycle 2 of the current card generation... I hope my 9700pro can hold me till then.

 

[magomago]

Originally posted by: DarkAmeba

Originally posted by: ROcHE
If this system is not sufficient to play Doom3 with all the eye candy it's a freaking joke.

I have to agree there. My monitors native res is 1600x1200, and my 9700 pro has had no problem running ANY game yet very smoothly with details on medium or high. I don't really wanna upgrade till cycle 2 of the current card generation... I hope my 9700pro can hold me till then.

Hrmm...but looking at that review it showed a 6800 ultra paired with a 3.0C doing full detail at 1024~~ defnitely shows the game is extremely intensive graphically. I think if anything would be "holding back" full detail would be the videocard. Even the 6800 Ultra was playing at high detail- not max details, so take that into consideration

So while he'll probably easily be able to get medium to high settings (my guess atleast), I think it'll take a NV45 to really start showing off the game, and NV50 before we can start jacking up AA and AF with all the eye candy already enabled....

but taht is just what I Think and i'm sitting here realizing how "fun" it'll be on my mx420

 

[bcoupland]

Got an Xbox

 

[bcoupland]

While I realize that I could get an S754 A64 3000+ and a better video card, I know I will be kicking myself for not getting S939
in 3-5 months. (If I got S754, that is)

 

[Sam1230]

Why will you be kicking yourself? By the time you're ready to upgrade to Socket 939 CPU, new motherboards will be out anyway (NForce 4). Screwed if you do, screwed if you don't.

 

[howdyduty]

Just do it!

Let us know how it works. We all are wondering similar.

 

[PricklyPete]

Originally posted by: Sam1230
Why will you be kicking yourself? By the time you're ready to upgrade to Socket 939 CPU, new motherboards will be out anyway (NForce 4). Screwed if you do, screwed if you don't.

This is very very true...at least in my case. While I always think I need to buy a motherboard that will be "future proof", I always end up replacing my motherboard for a new one when I replace my CPU.

What are you going to do in a year when you want to buy the newest PCI express video card and it is not supported on your Socket 939 board?

Also, reviews that I have read do not convince me (or the reviewer) that the extra speed found by the dual channel capabilities of the s939 offer any reason to pay all that extra money.

Right now the value to performance ration seems best to go with a s754 and Ahtlon 3200+. Gets 1GB of decent memory and a 6800GT. That extra performance in the video card should surely help you out a lot more than the negligible difference in CPUs.

 

[Oyeve]

I have an ATI 9800 Pro, a p4 3ghz, 1.5 gig of pc 2700 anf I run UT2004 at 1600x1400 with EVERYTHING turn up high. and the game runs like butter. I doubt D3 will be that much technically demanding. Even if its twice as needy as UT2004 I could cut the res down to 1024x768 and I bet it will run great.

 

[Regs]

200 dollars for a 9800 pro? Why not just get a 3000 A64 with a 6800 GT? Save around 150+ on the cpu and spend it on a 6800 GT. The makers of D3 themselves said it will depend more on the video card. And a A64 3000 will run a 6800GT beautifuly. I know, I run one.

 

[Regs]

Originally posted by: Oyeve
I have an ATI 9800 Pro, a p4 3ghz, 1.5 gig of pc 2700 anf I run UT2004 at 1600x1400 with EVERYTHING turn up high. and the game runs like butter. I doubt D3 will be that much technically demanding. Even if its twice as needy as UT2004 I could cut the res down to 1024x768 and I bet it will run great.

Time will tell, but I don't think you can pin-up UT2k4's empty environments against D3's detailed environments. It looks like Far Cry indoors.

 

[Oyeve]

Originally posted by: Regs

Originally posted by: Oyeve
I have an ATI 9800 Pro, a p4 3ghz, 1.5 gig of pc 2700 anf I run UT2004 at 1600x1400 with EVERYTHING turn up high. and the game runs like butter. I doubt D3 will be that much technically demanding. Even if its twice as needy as UT2004 I could cut the res down to 1024x768 and I bet it will run great.

Time will tell, but I don't think you can pin-up UT2k4's empty environments against D3's detailed environments. It looks like Far Cry indoors.

I personally thought Far cry looked pathetic (IMO). But thats just me.

 

[alexquick]

Originally posted by: Oyeve

Originally posted by: Regs

Originally posted by: Oyeve
I have an ATI 9800 Pro, a p4 3ghz, 1.5 gig of pc 2700 anf I run UT2004 at 1600x1400 with EVERYTHING turn up high. and the game runs like butter. I doubt D3 will be that much technically demanding. Even if its twice as needy as UT2004 I could cut the res down to 1024x768 and I bet it will run great.

Time will tell, but I don't think you can pin-up UT2k4's empty environments against D3's detailed environments. It looks like Far Cry indoors.

I personally thought Far cry looked pathetic (IMO). But thats just me.

ok maybe you are blind then?

 

[Oyeve]

No, I am not blind, I am an avid gamer and Far cry failed to impress me both graphically and gameplay. Its my opinion. Im sure there are people who dont like this game.