Will a new video card help with higher resolutions?

[sep]

I'm going to be upgrading my system in the near future, but currently want to crank out some higher resolutions in RTCW. I currently have a G2 and don't think I could squease out any more FPS with a higher resolution (1280x1024x32 Max Details). I'm okay at 1024x768x32 at Max Resolutions.

Will I be able to reach these goals with the existing hardware and one of the following video cards:
Radeon 8500 (ATI Retail) under $100
Gainward Ti4200 128MB GoldenSampe under $210

Also, which will take advantage of my next upgrade (P4-1.8a, PC1066 RDRAM, P4T533-C)?

OR will upgrading to the CPU, MEM and MB get me there?

Thanks all.

 

[jcmkk]

It should help. It is still really hard to get RTCW to play liquid smooth on any machine at 1600x1200 with max details. Pesonally I would either get the Radeon or a Ti4400. The Ti4200's really aren't a deal considering the fact that you can get a Ti4400 for a couple dollars more. As a rule of thumb, if it's an older game it will be CPU limited. If it's a new game, it will most likely be GPU limited.

 

[sep]

Looking at the price of these cards I could get a MSI 64MB Ti4200 for $144 shipped or a Chaintech for $166 shipped. Will I get the 1280x1024x32bit resolution without slow frames on my current 1g rig? Also, I'll be upgrading to a P4 soon and want to take advantage of the card then. Will this card be okay?

Games Playing now and future:
UT
RTCW
UT2003
DOOMIII

Thanks all.
-JC

 

[Mavrick007]

The upgrade of the video card from a GF2 Pro to a Radeon 8500 or GF4 Ti4200 should take you to a better resolution but you are also going to be limited with the pc133 ram on your board when using these DDR cards. The cards that you have listed should be good on present games but the future games like Unreal 2/Unreal Tournament 2003, and Doom 3 will take more texture memory and therefore a 64meg card might become a faster bottleneck than you expect.

The upgrade to a P4 1.8a, rimms and a new mobo would be nice on the present games and the card you have now if you overclock the P4 but as well it will be really gpu bottlenecked with anything coming out as well as most of the games from early 2002 on. If you know that you are going to upgrade to the P4, I might go with that sooner and then the prices of vid cards should be down when you are ready to get a bit more out of your machine.

The resolutions you want to get should be achieveable on either upgrade path, but I wouldn't expect to get max details out of it unless you have a very hefty vid card as well as a fast cpu and ram.

 

[mikiegringo]

sep
just a wee slightly off-topic point
why get a P4T533-C
when u can get a P4T533 which uses the latest 32bit flavour of RDRAM
seems a shame to buy old tech

mikie

 

[nichomach]

Cause getting hold of 32-bit RDRAM requires sacrificing a chicken at full moon on a cloudless night in a stone circle surrounded by druids?

The boards are shipping w/256MB and that's all yer going to see for a while

 

[sep]

Mavrick007:
I agree that the price of video cards will come down, but so will the other parts. It's cheaper to spend $166 now than $450 to get these resolutions. Also, the card shouldn't drop that much!

mikiegringo:
Just looked at Asus's website. I didn't even know the NON -C was out. Don't you hate it when they make motherboard and the memory for the board isn't out yet (public wide)?

nichomach:
I can't even find one of these. What's the cost and where?

Anyone want to recommend an Intel 845e Chipset motherboard and RAM?

 

[Mikki]

Hey sep, you've probably already checked it out, but I thought I'd bring it up anyway, make sure your monitor is capable of handling the high res's at a decent refresh rate.

Stickin my nose in again.........

 

[sep]

KDS VS-195e

It looks like 1280x1024 will refresh at 85. That's okay for me. Does this look a problem?

 

[mrman3k]

I have a similar setup, 1.1GHz T-bird PC133 memory and used to have a Radeon 32MB DDR (Geforce 2 GTS equivalent) and recently upgraded to the MSI GF4 TI4400, I have buttery smooth frames with everything maxed out, 4XAA, 8X Anistotropic. at 1280X1024. I was worried I would be CPU and memory limited, but it was not a problem. I am sure if I had a newer system it would be much faster, but the human eye cannot detect the difference between 70fps and 90fps

 

[Mikki]

Originally posted by: sep
KDS VS-195e

It looks like 1280x1024 will refresh at 85. That's okay for me. Does this look a problem?

No, that's great!

 

[sep]

Originally posted by: mrman3k
I have a similar setup, 1.1GHz T-bird PC133 memory and used to have a Radeon 32MB DDR (Geforce 2 GTS equivalent) and recently upgraded to the MSI GF4 TI4400, I have buttery smooth frames with everything maxed out, 4XAA, 8X Anistotropic. at 1280X1024. I was worried I would be CPU and memory limited, but it was not a problem. I am sure if I had a newer system it would be much faster, but the human eye cannot detect the difference between 70fps and 90fps

Is this in RTCW or another Q3 Engine? What FSB are you running at, just curious?

70FPS + would be good at 1280x1024x32@85...Yahoo!

 

[nichomach]

Originally posted by: sep
Mavrick007:
I agree that the price of video cards will come down, but so will the other parts. It's cheaper to spend $166 now than $450 to get these resolutions. Also, the card shouldn't drop that much!

mikiegringo:
Just looked at Asus's website. I didn't even know the NON -C was out. Don't you hate it when they make motherboard and the memory for the board isn't out yet (public wide)?

nichomach:
I can't even find one of these. What's the cost and where?

Anyone want to recommend an Intel 845e Chipset motherboard and RAM?

Good question; I know that Kingston are shipping their PC1066 modules, but as far as I am aware, they are 16-bit, which would make them a good bet for the P4T533-C. I've not found anyone in the UK shipping the 32 bit parts, or the P4T533 board that supports them.

Sorry.

 

[gtd2000]

I am sure if I had a newer system it would be much faster, but the human eye cannot detect the difference between 70fps and 90fps

This comes up time and time again - this is correct for a "2D" image that you are "observing" perhaps.

HOWEVER

In a (fast?) moving "3D" environment where you are interacting with the scenery you will more than likely "feel" the difference between 70fps and 90fps.

The higher FPS is not how you "see" the images - it is how you "feel" the movement - as in the "fluidity" of the motion when turning around etc etc.

OK rant over

70fps is normally plenty fast though But CS at 100fps vs 72fps certainly "feels" smoother to me

 

[TechMasterChen]

Quote Nichomach

"Cause getting hold of 32-bit RDRAM requires sacrificing a chicken at full moon on a cloudless night in a stone circle surrounded by druids?"

It's got to be druids? I've been using amazon women dancing around nakkid....