Half life 2 with ti 4200?

[James Muehlner]

Anyone have experience playing Half Life 2 with a ti 4200 64 mb or the like? I would really like to play this game, but I don't really have enough money for a new graphics card, so I'll have to wait a while. If only there was a demo... Anyway, I don't need super fancy anti-aliasing and other effects, I rarely notice them, but I would like to be able to play with a decent resolution (say 1024x768), and still have a semi-decent framerate (say 40 fps or greater). If this is not possible, and it probably isn't, what graphics card would you reccomend for playing this game? (One that plays it decently but doesn't cost a lot would be good) Also, on Ut2004 the framerate is fine for smaller maps, but big CTF stuff brings it down to ~20.

I have a Althon xp 2200 with 512 mb ram and windows XP.

 

[FoxholeAtheist]

I'm playing with an Athlon 2500+ and a GeForce 3ti 200. I'm not getting great resolution, but the game is certainly playable. For best play, you probably want one of the ATI 9800 series cards. (looks great on my dad's computer with his) For HL2, I hear they blow away Nvidia offerings.

 

[James Muehlner]

I'd really like a card like that but they are soo expensive. I guess I will have to watch ebay and other places for a good card. There goes my knife and flashlight money.

 

[FoxholeAtheist]

You can get an ATI 9800PRO with 128MB of RAM on Newegg.com for around $150. Not dirt cheap, but not terribly expensive any more.

 

[Gabe Newell]

James, what's the CPU in your machine?

 

[James Muehlner]

It's an athlon XP 2200+. Will I be able to experience your game in all its glory with this CPU?

 

[faramir]

CPU makes less of a difference (in terms of FPS) than your graphics card does in mos first-person shooters (trying to avoid using "FPS" for a different thing again). Obviously the faster CPU speeds things up but a cost-effective middle-range CPU (nowadays that'd be something along the lines of 3500+ Athlon, at least over here) will do wonders with a good graphics card and a top-of-the-line CPU with same graphics card won't really be all tha better, especially not if you take into account the difference in price.

 

[FoxholeAtheist]

I'm sure Gabe will let me know if I have this wrong ( ) but I think that a slow CPU speed would mainly show itself in situations where lots of physics objects are flying around... like when you throw a grenade into an office and desks, computers, chairs, pictures, etc go flying. I get some lag in those situations with my Athlon 2500+ system. Pretty darn soon I'm going to be getting an ATI X700 PRO card (xmas gift), so I'll be able to directly compare performance with this system and two different video cards.

As an aside, if you get HL2 (which you should, it's AWESOME), you should find and download the latest version of the JB Mod (currently .5). This mod lets you use a modified manipulator gun to weld stuff together and construct... well, stuff. I built a catapult yesterday out of shipping pallets and large crates. Others have built suspension bridges and working (but not really controllable) aircraft!

 

[Gabe Newell]

With a 2200+, you'd see a good improvement with a 9800 Pro with 128 MB as FoxholeAtheist suggested. The lowest price I found was $135 by using PriceWatch.com (that's the place we use when purchasing components). I wouldn't try to pair a faster graphics card with that CPU as you are going to be CPU limited for a lot of games. I have a 9800 Pro in my home machine.

One reason to go with a DX9 capable part is that it actually reduces the load on the CPU versus a DX8 or lower graphics chip.

I'm not sure which socket the 2200+ uses, so I can't suggest a CPU upgrade option or compare the price/performance gain of a CPU upgrade versus a graphics card upgrade.

We're going to release an update with some changes Jay Stelly has made (one of the engineers) that should get us another 20-30% framerate improvements, and we'll continue to tinker with optimizations.

 

[wolfmann601]

I am playing HL2 using a 9800 and the gameplay is awesome.

I am not addicted to the game however, I only play eight hours a night, every night

I am traveling Highway 17 and.............................

 

[Steven Roos]

I have an Athlon XP 1800+ and a Ti4200...no HL2 for me.

I really need a new computer!

 

[faramir]

LOL, i have a notebook with P4M 1.7 (slow as hell) and one of the oldest Radeon Mobility chipsets (even worse than 7500). With heaps of patience i can actually play some FPS games.

For all you realism freaks out there i'd recommend America's Army - it lags as hell on occassions (when lots of cheaters come up and PB doesn't do its job)but hey, you get what you pay for - and more - at the price of $0 (direct price that is, let's not get into what everybody contributes towards US Army recruitment budget). http://www.americasarmy.com

 

[James Muehlner]

Alright, It looks like a 128 mb 9800 pro is on my list now, as well as HL2. Just need to save up for a bit. Thanks everyone for their help. I don't think I will be upgrading my processor any time soon. I'd have to change motherboards, and that would probably kill windows XP, and in general it'd just be a mess.