Quake Wars or UT3 for low end PC?

[ixelion]

A friend is inheriting my 8800GTS 640 to stick in his old A64 3500+ rig with what will eventually be 2GB ram.

We are looking to play one of these games multiplayer to show off his spanky "new" card, but also for some descent FPS gameplay. I am sure he would enjoy both games equally, but we are primarily concerned with frame rates. Which game will run better? I hear the UT3 engine is pretty forgiving on modest systems?

Yes I know there are other games, but these are the two we have narrowed it down to.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

I'm guessing UT3 would run fine on it. Same for Quake Wars. The video card is fine, it's the CPU I'd be concerned about. Shouldn't be a big problem if other programs are closed. If that's a Socket 939, has he considered upgrading the CPU to a dual core?

 

[minmaster]

card is more than adequate, but your RAM is lacking. i like to have at least 3gb.

 

[dguy6789]

UT3 is pretty demanding in the cpu department, it even shows benefits of using a quad over a dual. I have no idea how well it would run on a single core.

 

[gszx1337]

Quake Wars would be less taxing on the system.

 

[ixelion]

[q]If that's a Socket 939, has he considered upgrading the CPU to a dual core?[/q]

It's an AM2, would you recommend I swap it for a cheap dual core? Is UT3 even multi threaded?

 

[dguy6789]

UT3 is very multi threaded. Any cheap dual core would probably perform better than even the highest end single cores in UT3.

 

[ixelion]

He can actually play COD 4 on that machine fairly well, UT3 may be comparable so I think it will work ok. If we can get a DC cheap ($60-$70) then I'll try to convince him.

 

[zerocool84]

He can actually play COD 4 on that machine fairly well, UT3 may be comparable so I think it will work ok. If we can get a DC cheap ($60-$70) then I'll try to convince him.

CoD4 doesn't max out my 2 cores on my cpu, UT3 does. That processor is ancient. Yes I know they're the same engine but UT3 is more demanding.

 

[nemesismk2]

I've always found UT3 to perform better with low spec computer than Quake Wars.

 

[GullyFoyle]

CoD4 doesn't max out my 2 cores on my cpu, UT3 does. That processor is ancient. Yes I know they're the same engine but UT3 is more demanding.

Sorry, CoD 4 is based on the Quake 3 engine, not Unreal Engine 3.

 

[ixelion]

In that case then COD 4 should be a rough representation of Quake Wars, since I think QW and Quake 4 use the same engine.

This is like that celebrity connection game, but a nerdier one.

Now who can think of a game that uses the quake 4 engine

 

[GullyFoyle]

ID Tech 4 OIC - Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (2007)

 

[wrbt]

They'll both run fine with that video card and 2 gigs. No problems at all.

 

[soccerballtux]

In that case then COD 4 should be a rough representation of Quake Wars, since I think QW and Quake 4 use the same engine.

This is like that celebrity connection game, but a nerdier one.

Now who can think of a game that uses the quake 4 engine

Quake 4 uses the Doom 3 engine
QW:ET is also Doom 3 engine, but much more intensive.

I doubt his CPU will be able to handle either of these games nicely at all. Even Changing my quad from 2.2Ghz to 3.5Ghz makes a difference. It's less about how many cores I have available and more the turnaround time on data fed into the pipeline it seems.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Not sure if Quake or UT3 would run better, but I do know that Nexuiz will run great, and give probably very fast paced and fun FPS action. It compares a lot in gameplay to Quake 3 Arena, or a bit like original Quake ....

Awesomely fun, instant action ....
Free game as well ....

http://www.alientrap.org/nexuiz/


Anyhow ... it's not the best to show off fancy graphics, but it doesn't look bad, and maybe the smoothness of a nice framerate will look nice to your friend

 

[ixelion]

Not sure if Quake or UT3 would run better, but I do know that Nexuiz will run great, and give probably very fast paced and fun FPS action. It compares a lot in gameplay to Quake 3 Arena, or a bit like original Quake ....

Awesomely fun, instant action ....
Free game as well ....

http://www.alientrap.org/nexuiz/


Anyhow ... it's not the best to show off fancy graphics, but it doesn't look bad, and maybe the smoothness of a nice framerate will look nice to your friend

Thanks I'll check it out, I hated quake wars demo BF2 was far better.