b_have Posted December 28, 2005 Share Posted December 28, 2005 Just got Halflife 2 (yeah I know...) but my graphics card isn't up to it. Anyone know what the best card to go for (at reasonable£)? There's loads on E-Bay, but not sure what I need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixelfill Posted December 28, 2005 Share Posted December 28, 2005 An nvidia 5200 will run it, but not at the highest quality. a 6800GT should hack the full quality (standard game) and a 6800 Ultra does perform admirably with the Lost Coast HDR map. I know that Valve initially optimised HL2 for ATI cards, but I know nothing of their product line. as a rule though if you have AGP you won't get better (nvidia) than a 6800Ultra. though it's debatable what benefit this has over a GT (particularly if it's clocked) If you have PCI-Express steer clear of the 6800's as they were never designed for PCI-E and have a bridge (READ AS BOTTLENECK) to interpret between the standards. you would be better getting a 7800 based card. or as a cheaper option a 6600 card EDIT: as an aside, higher end GFX cards typically place a big power demand on your PSU, if you go high end, you might need to upgrade your PSU to cope with the extra power requirements. 6800Ultra in particular is very power hungry and has specific requirements (mine requires 2 12v supplies from different power rails) I think that the more recent 7800 and 6600 cards aren't as greedy. but it's worth doing your homework in advance, otherwise you might have to budget a further 50-80 quid on a new PSU. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitesupraboy2 Posted December 28, 2005 Share Posted December 28, 2005 Charlie dont skimp as urs is going on to a big TV, so youll want top graphics to appreciate that TV (damn u ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixelfill Posted December 28, 2005 Share Posted December 28, 2005 is the telly HD or just a big screen PAL. If HD and you have a HDMI or DVI input then you'll want better than a 6600. i.e 6800 series AGP, or 7800 series PCI-E (again there are ATI equivalents but no idea what is what) if PAL it won't make that much difference what card you get. a cheapo 5200 should hack maximum detail at 800x600. but as WSB2 says don't scrimp get the best you can afford. otherwise you'll get left behind whe HL2 aftermath comes out. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b_have Posted December 28, 2005 Author Share Posted December 28, 2005 Thanks guys (feel dizzy now) Oh its a 42" plasma (PAL) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitesupraboy2 Posted December 28, 2005 Share Posted December 28, 2005 if u need one fitting or have probs charlie give me a bell. Regarding cards, Pixel on top of that advice lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixelfill Posted December 28, 2005 Share Posted December 28, 2005 editted above with PSU info. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b_have Posted December 28, 2005 Author Share Posted December 28, 2005 Chears James just looking at this one: Ati Radeon 9800 XT 256MB AGP8X. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixelfill Posted December 28, 2005 Share Posted December 28, 2005 that looks to be a fine card for halflife 2 Comparisons Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b_have Posted December 28, 2005 Author Share Posted December 28, 2005 Thanks Pixelfil, much appreciated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbeh Posted December 28, 2005 Share Posted December 28, 2005 Anything Radeon 9800 XT + or Geforce 6800GT would be great for this game and newer titles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr keef Posted December 28, 2005 Share Posted December 28, 2005 Charlie what ever ya do mate dont play counterstrike source!!!!the game you get with half life 2....i'v just started playing it,and i can honestly say,days have went missing out of my life!! (its fekin great mate) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b_have Posted December 29, 2005 Author Share Posted December 29, 2005 Charlie what ever ya do mate dont play counterstrike source!!!!the game you get with half life 2....i'v just started playing it,and i can honestly say,days have went missing out of my life!! (its fekin great mate) Cant wait! Pissed off working every night on the AbFlump! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
China Man Posted December 29, 2005 Share Posted December 29, 2005 If you want someone to play CSS with then give me a shout, I love that game Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Branners Posted December 29, 2005 Share Posted December 29, 2005 I was very disappointed with Half Life 2, not even close to the original. If you want serious game play then get Far Cry, with a decent graphics card its amazing. JB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr keef Posted December 29, 2005 Share Posted December 29, 2005 I was very disappointed with Half Life 2, not even close to the original. If you want serious game play then get Far Cry, with a decent graphics card its amazing. JB Yea mate Far cry is an fantastic game!the graphics blew me away! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbeh Posted December 29, 2005 Share Posted December 29, 2005 Far Cry was great, still is a good game but its out of date (graphically) now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shovels Posted December 29, 2005 Share Posted December 29, 2005 TBH anything around £100 will run HL2 well. I had a Athlon XP 2700 and ATI 9800 Pro and it ran sweet as a nut. ATI X800 GTO's are supposed to be good for the money or a Nvidia 6600GT. Far Cry is one of those games that is more processor hungry then Video Card - A mate runs and old ATI 9500 Pro (clocked to a 9700 Pro) and it runs as well as my 7800GT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Branners Posted December 29, 2005 Share Posted December 29, 2005 Far Cry was great, still is a good game but its out of date (graphically) now. I saw Fary Cry instincts on the XBox the other day, graphics are a step up but still not a major change so not missing much there... If they ever build Far Cry for the 360 then thats going to be amazing. Sorry for the thread hijack. JB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbeh Posted December 29, 2005 Share Posted December 29, 2005 They'll need to resdesign the graphics engine to really take advantage of the new features that the X-Box 360 and other new graphics cards support. Its still a fantastic looking game even by todays standards, but a lot of newer titles include many discernable graphics touches and effects that are often missed but take a lot of processing power to produce. I have been playing COD2, thats a superb game, in some parts the graphics are great and run so well (mainly the town maps), but other levels (open areas) run ok-ish and this slows my pc in areas even in 800x600 mode! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkyJawa Posted December 29, 2005 Share Posted December 29, 2005 IMHO you'll be fine with a 6600GT or above. I have a 6600GT that I bought for 120 a few months back. 256Mb DDR3 AGP card. It plays CoD with everything full, Half Life 2 runs like a dream, CoD2 runs nice and smooth too. Though smoke is a big FPS killer on CoD2. I output using DVI. My system is a P4 2.6 o/c'd to 2.9 and 1 Gig RAM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbeh Posted December 29, 2005 Share Posted December 29, 2005 Funny thing is battlefield 2 runs better than COD. I'm on a 3.2 P4 with soon to have 2 gigs of ram (1 gig currently), and the Radeon 9800XT which still runs nice considering I bought it 2 years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dash Rendar Posted December 29, 2005 Share Posted December 29, 2005 I recently bought an ATI X800 GTO and it really is impressive... Much better than I expected. I reckon this can't wont be obsolete for 12-18 months!! I started doing some performance benchmarks with 3DMark 2005 on my forum here, and the X800 GTO is clearly whipping the 6600GT. (The good thing about this benchmark is that the 3DMark results are almost totally dependent on the graphics card; the contribution of the CPU is minor.) If anyone else wants to contribute some scores, please feel free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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