Recommend low end card for Battlefield 2142

[milkydoo]

This was so much easier when I read tech articles everyday and kept up. Now it's a pain in the butt. So I need to pick everyone's brain here.

Battlefield 2142. Right now I'm running it on my notebook: Sempron 3200, 512Mb, ATI Radeon Xpress 200 128Mb (PCI Xpress) with (I think...) 128bit bus.

http://ati.amd.com/products/radeonxpress200m/specs.html

It IS playable, but it's rough, ranging from 5 to 12 FPS on the lowest settings.

I'm going to build a new system with a 7600GT or better, but that may be 2 to 3 months off, so what I want to do is bump my FPS up by 10 frames, and I can survive. Yes, that's right. I only need 10 extra frames to make it easier on the eyes. EDIT: But I'll take as much as I can get for $100.

I'm willing to spend up to $100 at this point. ALSO, it will be going in a different, lesser system.

It's going to go in a:

Shuttle AK38N
Athlon XP 1800+ (I'll overclock to 2000 if necessary, but I don't want to push it too far)
512Mb DDR 333
AGP 4x v3.0 1.5V support

I've already tried the game on that system with the Radeon 9000 64Mb and I get a whopping ONE FPS. Overclocking the card and CPU gives me 3 FPS!

I've got a search page here on Newegg for AGP 4x 128Mb cards:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi...609639&Submit=ENE&Nty=1&SubCategory=48

There are lots of choices, starting at an Asus 6200 64bit w/4 PP for $38, a Saphire 9800 128bit with 8 PP for $60 and an ATI 9800PRO 128bit w/8 PP for $70. Those are 3 that look promising to me.

So, what do you recommend as a match for my OLD 1800 system that will beat my Radeon 200's 12fps by at least 10fps? Any help is appreciated.

 

[Conky]

This is a tip you should remember if you are into the "Battlefield" scene....

You will need RAM. At least 2 gigs. The videocard and all that is important too but playing this game online and being competitive requires at least 2 gigs of RAM.

I get huge framerates with my current system but since I only have a gig of system RAM the levels take forever to load and by the time I enter the game I am already behind. I will remedy this as soon as I can afford new RAM which is way expensive right now.

 

[milkydoo]

I appreciate the tip, but here's the way I see it: 512Mb is getting me by well enough, all things considered. Yeah, it takes probably 90 seconds for me to load a map and spawn, but I'm living with that. And yeah, there's some heavy lag at times that is obviously due to my poor specs, but I'm living with that too.

Btw, the BF2142 optimal specs only list 1.5Gb..............which is still triple what I've got, I know.

I know I'm suffering from a rather large bottleneck on RAM, but I MUST have that Vid card first, and then I'll see about bumping up the RAM.

I'm desperate! heh. I just need that "get me by" 10 additional fps and I'll be able to play without having a seisure!

I was going to consider a CPU bump too. I thought to myself, "well, the XP's have been gone for awhile now, dual core is replacing them, they're bound to be dirt cheap.............."

Yeah right! They're still selling XP 2500's for the same price of an X2 4200! $180! Holy Smokes! What's up with that? So there went that idea. I could build a cheap single core combo, mainB/CPU/Ram, for roughly the same price as the darn XP by itself!

 

[Conky]

Originally posted by: milkydoo
I appreciate the tip, but here's the way I see it: 512Mb is getting me by well enough, all things considered. Yeah, it takes probably 90 seconds for me to load a map and spawn, but I'm living with that. And yeah, there's some heavy lag at times that is obviously due to my poor specs, but I'm living with that too.

Btw, the BF2142 optimal specs only list 1.5Gb..............which is still triple what I've got, I know.

I know I'm suffering from a rather large bottleneck on RAM, but I MUST have that Vid card first, and then I'll see about bumping up the RAM.

I'm desperate! heh. I just need that "get me by" 10 additional fps and I'll be able to play without having a seisure!

I was going to consider a CPU bump too. I thought to myself, "well, the XP's have been gone for awhile now, dual core is replacing them, they're bound to be dirt cheap.............."

Yeah right! They're still selling XP 2500's for the same price of an X2 4200! $180! Holy Smokes! What's up with that? So there went that idea. I could build a cheap single core combo, mainB/CPU/Ram, for roughly the same price as the darn XP by itself!

Here's the deal...

Everything you think you know about computers is poop at this point. Can't think of any way to make it clear to you other than that.

AMD cpu's have plummetted in price because of the cheaper Intel Core 2 Duo cpu's. Get one.

Second, get a decent videocard. One from the last year or so.

You are still gonna need 2 gigs of RAM to play this game right. I know... I have a bitching system that only has a gig of RAM and while all other games play fine, BF2 is slow to load and then it plays fine. All of my buds that have more RAM have the game load quicker. You can't argue against people who know and are there on the map before you when your system is faster, lol.

Listen or don't.

 

[hans007]

if you just need a temporary solution for that agp based system, just buy a radeon 9800 or something. make sure to get 256bit.

or an agp x700.

 

[sbuckler]

If you just want the minimum to tide you over until you buy a new machine (which should be an intel core 2 one, not a A64 these days) get a geforce 6200.

 

[Roguestar]

Get a radeon 9800Pro.

And to be honest I don't see you playing BF2142 with any kind of fun on a system with those specs. You'll take so long to load everyone will have a head start, when you do load it'll look like crap and your view distance will suffer so that you get sniped before you can see the enemies.

 

[akshayt]

Anything below a 6600GT with 1GB RAM, I doubt will cut this game. Even with all this you may not get anything more than 10x7 low to med provided that the CPU doesn't act as a very big bottleneck, hopefully any AMD 64 or Intel 2.8GHz should cut it for these settings.

 

[evolucion8]

If you play the game at low settings, not neccesarily more ram will improve performance, since is using low resolutions textures. So If you just want to pump up the frame rate using the same low quality settings, a 9800 PRO, or X700 will do fine. But once you buy them and you increase the image quality of the game, will become very choppy because of the low amount of RAM.

 

[tuteja1986]

BF2 : X800GTO/6600GT , 1GB , AMD XP 2400+ = play happy


look in this form : http://forums.anandtech.com/categories.aspx?catid=45&flcache=6180355&entercat=y

Search for AGP 9800XT AGP , 6600GT AGP , X800 AGP + card

 

[imported_Truenofan]

i can vouch for the whole, fast cpu, fast video card, but still take forever to load. bf2 used to load faster on my athlon system, because i had 2gb of ram.

edit: and i also had everything on max, i mean everything. now i gotta run med, otherwise it chops.

 

[Jodiuh]

20 frames...that's ok for you? Are you not sensitive to light either?

It bugs me to have anything less than 45 in that game. But I've got a couple buds that have no issues as long as it's >30. Interesting to see such an array of folk's vision req's.

As for your card, there's a 6800XT on the egg for $100.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814141038

 

[milkydoo]

Thanks for all the replies.

Beachboy: haha! If I had the money right now I'd love to build a system that would get me minimum 30fps at max settings, but cash is the problem.

And like I said, I AM currently playing the game, and believe it or not, having fun most of the time, with 5-12fps on the lowest settings. 10 more fps will just make it easier on my eyes and I also might be able to kill somebody once in awhile too! heh.

I'll check out the cards and links you guys listed. Sounds like the 9800pro might serve my purposes for now.

Ftr, if I were building now, what I had planned to get was:

* Athlon 64X2 4200 65W AM2
* 1 or 2 Gb of Corsair XMS2 CL4 dual channel
* Evga 7600GT
* WD 74Gb Raptor 10K 16Mb
* Undecided on mainboard, but $100 or less

 

[milkydoo]

Originally posted by: Jodiuh
20 frames...that's ok for you? Are you not sensitive to light either?

It bugs me to have anything less than 45 in that game. But I've got a couple buds that have no issues as long as it's >30. Interesting to see such an array of folk's vision req's.

As for your card, there's a 6800XT on the egg for $100.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814141038

Well, I've always played on low fps........that's all I could ever afford, so I'm used to it. Now, I have no doubt that if I build a system that gets me into the 40+ area, I'll have a REAL HARD TIME going back down again.

It's dangerous to spoil yourself like that!

But yeah, the difference between 10 and 20 fps is very significant for me when it comes to eye strain and targeting, so I can live with it. EDIT: I used to get in the 20's playing Tribes 2 with low settings so I know what it looks like.

Thanks for the link. Looks promising.

 

[Kromis]

This is a hilarious thread!

 

[milkydoo]

Originally posted by: Kromis
This is a hilarious thread!

Hey! I'm on a budget here! A budget so tight it makes Richard Simmons' spandex look like Eskimo winter wear.

I'm definitely jealous of all you guys with the rockin' systems, but I've at least gotta set enough aside to keep me in Ramen noodles and hand-me-down tube socks for the winter.

 

[Kromis]

Yumm....Ramen noodles...the food of choice for a slacker (no offense, I'm not saying you're a slacker but I believe Michael Moore said something like that)...

 

[imported_Truenofan]

hell yeah, korea for a year, you get used to those noodles man.

 

[redbox]

Just what is your budget? I almost suggest getting a console. Not the brand spanken new ones mind you, but a console none the less.

 

[milkydoo]

Originally posted by: redbox
Just what is your budget? I almost suggest getting a console. Not the brand spanken new ones mind you, but a console none the less.

Ah, I don't wanna go back to consoles.

I'm between jobs right now so I've gotta cap it at $100, but as soon as I can, I'm gonna put about $800-900 into a new box. Already have a 22" widescreen LCD!

 

[Vinnybcfc]

Originally posted by: milkydoo
Ftr, if I were building now, what I had planned to get was:

* Athlon 64X2 4200 65W AM2
* 1 or 2 Gb of Corsair XMS2 CL4 dual channel
* Evga 7600GT
* WD 74Gb Raptor 10K 16Mb
* Undecided on mainboard, but $100 or less

Look into Core 2 Duos I wouldnt really buy a AM2 cpu

 

[TanisHalfElven]

Originally posted by: milkydoo

Originally posted by: Kromis
This is a hilarious thread!

Hey! I'm on a budget here! A budget so tight it makes Richard Simmons' spandex look like Eskimo winter wear.

I'm definitely jealous of all you guys with the rockin' systems, but I've at least gotta set enough aside to keep me in Ramen noodles and hand-me-down tube socks for the winter.

the trick is to avoid playing games with hefty reqs. my system (or my internet) does not handle bf2(or oblivion,fear or basically ANY GAME THAT LOOKS GOOD) well .so i switched to guild wars. i consistently get above 60 fps now with all settings maxed out.

 

[TanisHalfElven]

Originally posted by: milkydoo

Originally posted by: redbox
Just what is your budget? I almost suggest getting a console. Not the brand spanken new ones mind you, but a console none the less.

Ah, I don't wanna go back to consoles.

I'm between jobs right now so I've gotta cap it at $100, but as soon as I can, I'm gonna put about $800-900 into a new box. Already have a 22" widescreen LCD!

i would recommend getting a ds lite. its 129 so its in your budget and even that games are cheaper.