When's the time that you realized you REALLY need to upgrade

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Kasey Chang
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When's the time that you realized you REALLY need to upgrade

Post by Kasey Chang »

When you can't even play the budget game you bought.

Bought NOLF2 after having a blast in NOLF. Then I read the hardware requirements... 3D card with TnL is required. That...I don't have. (I have one but that's going into my interim rig, which has yet to be built).

I know I can't run Max Payne 2 yet but for $10 I bought it any way as I know I'm getting a new rig soon.

That's 2 for 2... can't run them. Guess it's really time for upgrade...
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Ranulf
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Post by Ranulf »

Geez, no TnL? Geforce1 cards had that! What vid card are you running?
MeSlayer
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Post by MeSlayer »

Yeah my poor gf2 crapped itself on a bunch of recent demos ive downloaded ...

I think its tied somehow to the T&L requirements - but I'm not sure

Maybe they just hate me : (
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Post by hitbyambulance »

Yeah my poor gf2 crapped itself on a bunch of recent demos ive downloaded ...

I think its tied somehow to the T&L requirements - but I'm not sure
that would be the 'pixel shader' requirement, which Geforce 3 cards (and up) have.... i had a GF 2 up to late last year - then i found out i couldn't play the Deus Ex: Invisible War and Prince of Persia: Sands of Time demos because of that. which leads me to the point of this thread - finally, i knew i had to upgrade, cuz i really wanted to play Deus Ex, so i got a Radeon 9700. still haven't purchased DE, tho.
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Asharak
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Re: When's the time that you realized you REALLY need to upg

Post by Asharak »

Kasey Chang wrote:I have one but that's going into my interim rig, which has yet to be built
Well, if it's yet to be built, just swap out the cards until you a) finish NOLF2, or b) build the rig - whichever comes first.

- Ash
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The Meal
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Post by The Meal »

Off to General PC Gaming Discussion with you, little thread!

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Post by Dirt »

Ultima 6.
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Post by Biyobi »

Kohan 2 makes my machine (Athlon 1.4Ghz, GF2Ultra) cry like a little bitch. I was planning on upgrading since I'm actually a productive member of society again (employed) but this game made me focus on getting parts in ASAP. CounterStrike: Source, though surprisingly playable on my rig, makes me yearn for all they eye candy that will be available in Half-Life 2. I also want to play through Far Cry, which I played for a bit on a friend's machine and was amazed.
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Eel Snave
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Post by Eel Snave »

When I realized that I had to play Half-Life in 320x240 to get a decent framerate.
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Post by Gromit »

It was when IL-2: Forgotten Battles had a framerate of about 3.
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Jolor
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Post by Jolor »

A couple of years ago, I was waiting 'for a better rig' so that I could play NWN and Morrowing; this was compounded by the fact that even Rune was beyond my capabilities.
So, I blew the budget and upgraded.
Thumbs up to my take-no-prisoners-rig-purchasing powers.
Then I installed KotOR and was 'informed' by the installation wizard that my 64Mb graphics card was passable at best.

I now hang my head in shame ... until I can justify the upgrade. Hello, Santa!
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Post by Jeff V »

The last time I waited too long to upgrade, my CPU was a 386.

I recently bought a new video card, not because my current one was under-performing, but just so I could hand it down to my nephews and they can play some better games than they have been.
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Post by RookieCAF »

Gromit wrote:It was when IL-2: Forgotten Battles had a framerate of about 3.
What He Said...
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Defiant
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Post by Defiant »

Its getting that way for me too. I bought Sherlock Holmes and the Case Of the Silver Earings, a $20 game, and while parts of the game plays, parts break (I can't access the inventory screen).

OTOH, Sims 2 and Evil Genius seem to work, despite requiring T&L.

I'm currently using my (3? 4? year old) Radeon 32 MB All-In-Wonder.

I'll probably upgrade my card to a Radeon 9800(?) All-in-wonder, in the next few months. Probably my system as well.
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Post by martindemon »

I had a 5950ultra and I had some troubles with anti aliasing in recent games at 1280x1024 with max details. I reverted to ATI 9700pro until I got my 6800 ultra, which is barely enough right now. I can't wait for a dual PCI-Express motherboard that has two 16x Pci-Express ports and two graphic cards in SLI :)
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KingB
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Post by KingB »

Most of my games run ok. KOTOR,Battlefield Vietnam, and Need for Speed Underground Demo and so on.

But I might have to give up the ol computer to the bankruptcy court(since I have to list all of my property). :cry:
I still have a lot of crap to go through with all this. So, if that happens I will have to get by on a piece of crap and then someday go all out when I have saved enough money.
Currently thinking of something clever.........
Zathras
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Post by Zathras »

I think that it was Wing Commander 3 that first convinced me that I really needed to upgrade my computer at the time. I forget what it was, but I had to get that game running better than it did when I started playing it.
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Post by Ibby »

It was Wing Commander 3 for me. My machine didn't have a cdrom, and my roomate (who worked for an advertising company that used only Macs) borrowed his company's new top of the line Pentium PC to do some work on.

The first thing we did was go out and get Wing Commander 3 and played through it in 2 days. When he had to take the PC back to work the next monday, I was stuck with a game I couldn't play. I resigned myself to the fact that my 486 25mhz tower of power just wasn't going to cut it any longer.

Long live the 486dx motherboard and 4 megs of ram that cost me almost $600!!
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JSHAW
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Post by JSHAW »

You know it's time for an upgrade when your machine runs DOOM3 at 3-5 frames per second, making the game unplayable.

Not my current machine but on a Pentium3 machine that I still have I ran the leaked DOOM3 demo that I obtained from another trader and the demo ran like molasses mixed with concrete, REALLY REALLY REALLY SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW.

:shock:
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Post by Kratz »

Yesterday I learned that my Athlon XP 2000+ and Radeon 9700 can't hack the fancy water in Pacific Fighters. At least not at 1024 with 4x AA and 8x AF... I think those are more important than the fancy water, sadly.
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Post by Default »

rm -rf
Last edited by Default on Sat Dec 13, 2008 12:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Faldarian
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Post by Faldarian »

Here's the trick that worked for me. YMMV.

1.) First of all, you need a wife. This can be easy or difficult depending on your financial situation/looks/decoration of parent's basement. Either way, this scenario only works once you have one.

It's generally a good idea to make sure that your computer is a beast by this point; start with as good of a system as you can afford. Make sure you have the shittiest looking case for it that still functions 100%; this makes it much easier when begging for upgrade cash.

2.) Next, you need to get her a game she likes to play. I've had excellent luck with MMO games, but you may do ok with games like the Sims. Be absolutely sure to start with the Sims 1 first.

3.) Now that she's hooked, make sure she sees you playing some games on your computer. Bragging about silky-smooth framerates sometimes helps her appreciate that she needs hardware as good as yours. If she controls your finances, tell her the framerates are as silky-smooth as her hair or skin or something.

4.) Buy her a newer generation game with hefty upgrades required that will still run great on your system. Sims 2, etc. are good choices. She will be upset about her computer that can't run things as well as yours.

5.) Showtime. Buy some spiffy new gear for your computer and put your old components in the box. Upgrade her system with your old gear; if you've been successful with dishonesty to this point it's probably not going to hurt to mention that you're just upgrading it because you love her and want to play games with her or something like that. She'll think you're sweet, and you get the bonus of both new hardware and a wife that thinks you bought her a gift!

6.) A good backup plan is necessary if you try this. Extra blankets on the couch and a clear escape route from your computer area are imperative in case something goes wrong.



:D
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Post by Tony »

When I attempted to play Aliens Vs. Predator on a Voodoo 2. Yeesh, that was painful!
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Post by Ibby »

Ok, it's official.

Faldarian knows his stuff.
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