PC graphics cards and games

Haven't played a game on my PC for ages - last time was when I finished "Splinter Cell" (which is awesome btw) and so I've been looking forward to the sequel to be release in a couple of weeks: "Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow".

What's depressing is wheras my PC comfortably met the recommended requirements for the first game it doesn't even meet the minimum requirements now

On processor speed (933Mhz PIII, min req. is 1Ghz PIII) I should be OK but for the graphics card they say:

64MB video card, ATI 8500 (or higher), GeForce 3 (or higher) and.
Supported chipsets: ATI 8500/9000/9500/9700, Nvidia GeForce3 family.

Does that mean that my "pathetic" 64Mb GeForce DDR won't cut the mustard? Will the game even play on my PC?

It's absurd that my PC should meet the recommended requirements for a game but barely meet the minimum for it's sequel only a couple of years later. At least the console users don't have to buy a new one for each game

Michael.

 

sounds like it.
i think u can upgrade on the (relative) cheap:
radeon 9200 64 meg is £30 ish
geforce 5600xt 128 meg £ high 60's
no need for a radeon 9800 pro or whatever just yet

 

Funny old game

Tom has a shed load of reviews, guides and links that relate to Graphics cards and games although this might be of more use when looking for bang for the buck.

Auric

PS Do not confuse Tom of Finland with Tom's hardware guide

 

Michael, thats the main reason I use consoles.

The Xbox I have now for example cost.... 150? I think they are about 100 now.

I get games from amazon marketplace for about a tenner each.

Every game running properly, no glitches, no errors, no problems.

The math just seemed better than paying to keep my PC up to speed.

Roll on 'Halo 2'

 

nearly the same here too...

me bemoaning the lack of good driving games on the pc, except for gta vice city (which is more story based, anyway, although tweaking cars via the hacks is fun) lead me to buy an xbox too, complete with Project Gotham Racing 2 for £128. Fantastic game-looking forward to gettomg Need 4 Speed Underground and ordering Driver 3 soon too. Plus i've just managed to get 5.1 sound out of it, and through an S-Video feed, looks very respectable too

 

Michael,

My bro recently bought a geforce 4MX card from PC world for £20. It shouldnt cost you much to get your card updated.

 

I think I'll go for a new graphics card. The trouble I have with consoles is that the games are invariably poor relations of the PC versions (if there is a PC version). In the case of Splinter Cell the PS/2 version was utter shite compared to the PC version, not to mention that you can't save the game during a mission except for a few hard wired points so if you die en-route you have to start the whole thing from the beginning again :inferno:

I have a PSX (original PlayStation) which I bought soley to play Gran Turismo 2 on and it was a waste of money. GT2 is utterly unplayable. I later found a PSX emulator for the PC which let me play GT2 in much higher res graphics with my PC steering wheel and pedals and that was actually quite a lot of fun!

Michael.

 

sounds like you have all the bits for the PC already.... steering wheel etc..

I suppose in my defence of the wonderful X-box - its got inbuilt memory to save hundreds of game positions, and its performance (IMHO) isnt a poor PC relation, being a lot better than a PS2... although Im not up to speed with the latest PC games, so perhaps Im out of touch.

Did Halo come out on the PC by the way? - Rory, if you havent got it, its highly reccomended...

NB
I wonder if Im the only person playing an X-box through a SET amp?

 

I've never used an x-box but I imagine they'd be better in many respects than the PS/2 - they are afterall basically just a games PC in a nice box with some extra graphics horsepower.

On the PS/2 games the lack of being able to save games whenever you want to (nearly always available on PC games) is a major turn off and reason alone for me not buying one. As I don't have 16 hours a day to dedicate to gaming I find the current crop of games difficult enough without the extra handicap of not being able to save your position immediately after a tricky section!

I believe Halo is available in a PC version. Apart from the new Splinter Cell the other game I'm eagerly awaiting is HalfLife2. Checked on Amazon and found it's only due for release in November . No doubt by then any graphics card I buy now will be hopelessly out of date

Michael.

 

Any chance of a hint where i can get a ps/one emulator and GT2 from Michael?

Gt2 remains one of my favorite games, and my origional Playstation broke! Can't wait for GT4

 

angi73, a good place to start would be www.retrogames.com , a large news site with forums dedicated to the emulation scene.

As for an emulator, you could try ePsxe ( http://www.epsxe.com/news.php ). Though bear in mind you will need a BIOS image, which is of course illegal. But there are ways and means to get hold of one. As for GT2, your best bet would be to hunt around in the used game section of your local games retailer or somewhere like ebay.

Update: For more emulation info try http://www.ngemu.com/

Hope this helps.

BL21DE3

 

For PSX emulation I initially used Bleem! which is now sadly defunct. IMO it was the best PSX emu out there but people didn't like it because it was a commercial product and then they had all kinds of legal issues with Sony and then lost their way with their PSX emu for Dreamcast which never really worked. I still have a working copy of Bleem! but it only runs on Windows 98/Me. I couldn't justify a separate WinME partition on my disk just for Bleem! so it's now gathering dust.

I later moved onto ePSXe which I haven't used for ages though. It's also pretty quirky to setup and I never got it 100% right but GT2 was pretty good on it. It runs on XP AFAIK and is a freeware product with quite a lot of support.

PSX BIOS ROM images are easy to find if you search on the net.

The emus use the original PSX "black" CDs (just stick them in your CD-ROM drive) so if you still have your GT2 CD that's all you need.

Michael.

 

Yep, Halo is definately out on PC......cos I've got it. (I'm crap at it and don't find much time to play it but there you go)

 

Yeah... I got Halo on the PC...xcellent!!!... although I had to change the Graphics card to make the game run. I had a Hercules 3D Prophet and it would NOT run at all so swopped it for an MX400 and everything is working now. Maybe I will caress it with a bit of Snake Oil and the Anti-Vibration box and it's sure to work better

Regards

 

:lol:

John - no hard feelings about my thread...I didn't know you were involved with Vertex AQ. Are they bringing anything to Heathrow Aprril 3/4 ? If so will take the opportunity to listen without prejudice

Michael.

 

Michael,

Absolutely no offence taken.... we will not be at the H/row show, we did that one last time it was on, good show mind you. We will be doing the Serpentember..oohh sorry the SEPTEMBER one...if you are going to be there, wander in and be as happy as you were the last time you came into our room be prepared for even more BST though... .

truly, born in the year of the Snake..1953

As I used to keep a large variety of Reptiles I suppose i am a Bizzare Serpent tweaker

Vivarium..... well it's hot and bright here....

Regards