The "Would my PC be able to run M2TW?" thread (all such queries here pls)

[Incongruous]

This should do it.

7900GT

2 GIG of Ram

and well

AMD 3800+

[Bob the Insane]

Well, seeing as we are showing off the first bits of my new PC arrived this morning...

CPU INTEL|C2D X6800 2.93G 775 4M R
CPU COOLER ZALMAN|9700 LED
MEM 1Gx2|COR 240P TWIN2X2048-6400C4
MB GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 P965 775
HD 500G|WD 7K 16M SATA2 WD5000KS
SNDCD CREATIVE|70SB046A00000 Fatality X-Fi
CASE ANTEC|P180B BLACK
DVD-ROM SONY 16X DDU1615/B2s

Still to arrive is the 650watt PSU and the sweetest piece of all...

The BFG 8800GTX...

Hopefully on Wednesday it will all be here...

[PwnageBot2000]

Hey guys, sorry about the new post, but the other one was getting crowded and it got to a point that no one would respond.


Anyway, my question is: How does the CPU as opposed to your graphics card affect gameplay. IF I did get a nVidia GeForce 7900 GS SLI and (Socket AM2) AMD Athlon 64 x2 3800 + Dual Core CPU w/HyperTransport Technology, how would gameplay hold up? If not the 3800 then what about the 4200?

Thanks, PwnageBot2000

[AlJabberwock]

Chopa,
YEAH! great dude, you've got most of the goods now. Won't be all on max, but should run considerably better. Run the gold demo and let me know? If you have cash left and want more upgrades, go for an AGP Geforce 6600... You can find them at newegg.com very reasonably... $100 to 120 US. (If you had a new mobo you could get a PCIex16 GeForce 7600 for $143, but, oh well!).

BFG rules Bob!
Good on ya. Your Sys is an Intel version very similar to an AMD dual core, SLI sys I built for my middle kid down to the Zalman! (Those things look so COOL with the green LED when they're running! I had to send the first one back to Newegg since one of the fan fins had drooped in their molding of it, but got its replacement right away). Same Corsair mem, but I had to buy the Pro as they were out of the regular, though that has LEDs along the top that look wicked in operation. I am interested in your PSU, which model and mfgr? Hope you checked for your +12v reqs! Baby loves 12v
Cheers!

Bopa,
Yeah dude, you're well over the average and most things will run on max and little to no sweat... Using a single 7900gtx oc (from BFG!!) the gold demo is smooth as silk with everything on max. Fraps will give you a bad rating on your frame rate, but my advice is to ignore it. Looks like 7th gen GeForce cards in the upper end like yours get bad numbers, and yet the game runs fantastically, and the frame rate reported doesn't change no matter what eye candy you turn off or on... (No, I had v-synch turned off!) Running twin 7900gtx oc's in SLI was even smoother, and stupid fraps reported the same frame rate- I suspect some tech artifact is returning false data. I will look at some 3d mark 2005 readings for comparison.

Scourge,
I sure know about the limitations parents put on ya! (I'm a parent, and sometimes I hate me!). On the other hand, without them, you wouldn't have a machine at all! I'll tell ya what though, if you give me your mobo model, I'll bet we can come up with a few things that might make your machine run better, if only a little bit, and possibly we can find a place where very very cheap upgrades are possible... Heck, I can send you a 5500 for free (which isn't much help as its barely better than a 5200).

Here's an example... most folks use the cheap ata cables that came in the last generation of mobos (those without PCIex, without hyper transports, and limited or no sata2, vid power hook ups and so forth...). IN these cases, many people will hook up their legacy devices (like older HDs or CD/DVD drives) and their HD on the same cable... The legacy device will slow down access times to your HD by as much as 10% creating significant slowdown in game performance and some other potential problems...

Matty,
Your CPU is ok, its the Ram that comes to mind as the worst offender. This is the bare minimum to get the game to run. You should at least double it. I always prefer overkill in the Ram dept. as it is much cheaper than going to a better system altogether... If you like crackpot analogies, the Mobo can be likened to the human body where the CPU is the brain, the Ram is the muscle, arms and legs, and all the things that go in PCI, AGP and PCIex slots are your senses (hearing, sight, touch, etc). YOu have a good mind there, but its a little bit like Johnny Bravo with his giant head running along on teensy tiny legs. The 9200 vid card comes in an AGP AND a PCI version...more on this in a minute. Your vid card is an ATI , and as an avowed NVidia junky, I am not as qualified to speak on it as many others here, but with 4 pixel pipelines, you are at least doing better than the FX 5000-series owners but you will also probably have to turn off a lot of the eye candy to get decent playing smoothness... Lose shadows first as these are the least needed no matter how cool you think they are. Trust me that from the moment the first exploding shell shakes your view as the armored french cavalry charges straight into your face as you try to stand fast with the pikes of your Landsknecht outstretched, you will never notice the fine detail of shadows under your nemesis as he rides crunchingly over your mangled corpse!
One note of caution on the assumption of your video card being 'marginally ok'. If this is the PCI version of this card, it is possible the CARD not the RAM is the worst bottleneck. The old PCI bus is at best giving half or less of the bandwidth of the AGP slot in your machine. There are a couple of ways of determining whether you have the PCI or the AGP version of the Sapphire 9200 (or 9250). The most straightforward is to simply look in your case and see if it is sitting in one of the lighter colored PCI bus interface slots (there will be anywhere from two to 5 of these altogether by the out slots on the back of your computer). If its in the darker and slightly offset AGP slot nearer to the top of the board (closer to the CPU), you are fortunate and have the AGP version. If its in the PCI slot... I would ditch this card. It is the main reason anything of any size will become so lagged you can hardly wait for it to end. Before the Prophet I must humble myself by stating I once bought this card years ago before I knew any better. I was so appalled by what it would not do, and that I had bought it in my ignorance, that I spent the next two to three years studying everything I could get my hands on in my spare time to never, NEVER do such a thing again, and to pledge myself to prevent others from being in such a state to be duped by the knowledgeable.

Folks, if you want to play games, do not think about old PCI, LE, SE and 'turbo charged' memory versions of video cards. They are bywords for the 'The cheap, the bad, and the ugly'! Matty, after you have had a look at your machine, let me know what you find?

Al Jabberwock

[PaulTa]

Hey Al, good to see that this is more than a pissing contest.

Maybe you could offer some advice on what I should upgrade next, aside from my obviously lacking power supply (only 300 watt). (By the way, if anyone wants to donate an old power supply that is PCI E capable and is above 300 watt, I can probably scrounge up a few bucks to send back to ya. Please, try and make sure that it actually works though)

I have a 2.8 gig intel processor
X800 GTO from connect3D
1 gig of DDR2 RAM (four 256 pieces actually :P)

I was thinking about trying to rob a bank and get enough money for the 7600GT on newegg for 143 bucks, but that would also require a power supply update, since my 300 watter ain't gonna cut it. (Damned dell shipping bare bone minimum parts with their PCs)

Also, I don't know how you are on hardware, but the fan quit out on my X800. Being the avid gamer that I am, even if I could find proof of purchase for the card (got it on newegg) I probably couldn't bear the wait of having it gone for a few weeks while they tink at it. Basically, the fan starts up after I fiddle with it a bit, but there is apparently some friction between the fan blades and where it sits, because it makes a chirping noise that indicates that it's rubbing up against something with it's high speed turns. Thankfully, the rather large heatsink coupled with a box fan blowing in the general direction of my PC is keeping the temperatures down (I average around 35 C idle, and max 45 C while gaming), but that's only CPU temperature, as my card doesn't have the hardware to monitor heat output.

I'm starting to get artifacts after prolonged gaming on graphics intensive games like FEAR, which I'm betting is a result of overheating. On occasion, my computer has decided to black screen, which is probably a bad indicator. Poor X800 is dying.

If it helps, the X800 isn't being overclocked at all, and I've made sure to discharge any static on my persons before handling the card with a large dose of TLC when trying to clean it and fix the fan.

Any comments, suggestions, or donations are welcome. :P

Thanks in advance,
Paul


P.S. If the help is really profound, we'll have to keep in touch and I'll show my gratitude when I graduate college and start making around 100k a year.

[AlJabberwock]

Thanks for the kind words Paul.

Sorry to hear about the nasty squeak on the Vid card, and boy do I know that one. Wasn't that long ago that I had a few best Data GeForce 2 Mx 400s (yeah THOSE peices of junk!). I had built a few machines for fun to help out at work and also built two basic machines for my house using similar parts since there were few graphic demands on those machines in those days. After a year or so, one and then both of the cards developed the squeak. Like the coughing of a TB victim, it is possibly terminal if you do not do something, and sometimes, its terminal even if you do.

I will ask this question... you already have a number of juice hogs on your machine, what is the mobo, and what other peripherals and add in cards do you have? Do you have an audio and or physx card? Lan or other? What is the 12v rating on your PSU? (you will have to look on the card on the PSU under the +12v listing to see how many amps it has on the 12v rail).

The problem on your fan could be any of several problems: not properly balanced, not centered, bent pin, needs cleaning, lubricant, heat...
If you feel like tinkering and have no cash at all, you can take a chance on operating now, or wait for your card to die, which it will. Unfortunately, with only a 300 w PSU with probably borderline 12v, it may not matter as you are probably slowly frying your card and maybe your mobo anyway. I have frequently stated that underpowering your system will possibly cause artifacts, black screening, and worse, possibly no visible probelm at all (at least at first) while you slowly fry your components until you DO see problems...

The X800 GTO is a decent card, and it would be a shame to have to pitch it. I am going to take a look to see if I can find a decently sized and resolution picture of it. If the fan is soldered to it, it might get messy, but it is entirely possible to put another fan on there. On the other hand, if the power is too low or insufficient on the 12v, you're treating the symptom and not the cause. "Rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic" as someone has said.

By The Prophet I am going to take a look and get back.

Al Jabberwock

[big_boss120]

I got a really out of date system:

P4 1.8Ghz
512 RDRAM clocked around 400Mhz
ASUS ATI Radeon 9550GE 256MB (OC'ed to 450/260)

In the gold demo with exception of beginning of Otumba, everything runs kinda good when set everything low except unit detail(medium) and texture(medium).

I pretty much shut off almost half of useless windows services and keep almost to zero unessential background applications...do I have a chance running the game at normal unit size or do I need to settle for low just for insurance (kinda afraid the city battle will lag...)

[AlJabberwock]

Paul,
Ok, I found a decent picture of the card at Tiger Direct... (3d Connect didn't have one of their own card or at least I couldn't find it!)

Having had a better look at the specs I really hate the thought of tossing the bugger. Sure you don't have any papers or proof even old e mails from Newegg? Those guys are famous for doing almost anything with hardly any stuff if you can just explain it to them... If they can't do anything, they will at lest tell you in detail what you might get form the manufacturer (and if they give you no joy, Newegg will take that into account when next they look at customer preferences for whose stuff they will sell...)

Because it has that enclosed plastic case for airflow, you would have to be kind of careful with any replacement operation, and my thought of worst case scenario where you would be putting a cage or "squirrel" fan on the card would have to take account of the heatsink that is under that plastic cover... I would still be tempted to give it a go even if I couldn't find a way to use a conventional fan in that plastic case and had to go with the worst case scenario if there is no way at all Newegg will refund the bugger.

Again, not knowing your cash situation, if you can't bear the thought of the wait beause you could just buy another one, then there is little sense in discussing an operation (which without a better power source might not help you much or at all anyway, and power fluctuations and "brownouts" are at least partially responsible for your trouble anyway...) Let me know on your other add ins and PSU specs. BTW I have a 450 w cheapo LC my middle son got with his cool Gladiator case from Newegg, but it really is so terrible I don't even think it has enough connectors for the most basic machine and is only rated 18 amps in the +12v...

If it makes you feel any better, the x800 gto is a nice card if it lives and should run the game quite well with much of the detail on high in selected areas...(nice AA- 6x!, 12 pipes, Shader 2, and decent bitrate and speed) The rest of the sys is adequate to not trip up the card.

Get me those details!

Big Boss,
Yeah, you have a situation similar to the upper FX and lower GeForce 6 guys. You can run the game stably with the detail at low or lowest with shadows and or AA off, and a few other things limited... I do not have the game until tomorrow like the rest of North America, but it has been indicated the full game is slightly more optimized than the demo, so what the effects on unit size will be for you I cannot tell without knowing what was optimized (and how). Best bet is that your Ram is woefully limiting and if you can do anything at all, fix that problem... Double it if you can. Guess we will all know tomorrow!

Good luck!

Cheers

Al Jabberwock

[Rex_Pelasgorum]

Processor : AMD Sempron 2600 (1,71 Ghz)
Card: NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200
Ram: 512mb Ram

RTW with huge units, and high details, runs ok....

Is it worth to get MTW 2, considering the fact that due to some reasons, i wont be able to make upgrades at the PC very soon (maybe upgrading the Ram to 768, but no more, as my budget is quite tight...)? Will it run on the lowest settings ?

[PaulTa]

I am one of those poor college student types. When I figured that I could sell my accounting books back with just enough to afford a graphics card, I picked a card that I really really loved compared to everything else on the market, and I got it with my X800 GTO.

it actually doesn't have a plastic encasing, it's a big mother of a metal heatsink. I don't know the power rating for my PSU, but it's the standard Dell Dimension 4700 ship PSU, so I bet I might be able to find specs on the internet somewhere.

I'm thinking that I might, in the near future, try to get enough money together to replace the power supply and upgrade my X800 to a 7600GT off of newegg. Problem is, I need around 200 bucks to do it all, and I have pocket lint and I owe myself's in my pockets right now. I'm banking on christmas cards and finding money on the ground.

I'd appreciate it if you'd go into a bit more detail about this "ruining your computer" thing. I'm scared shitless as you can imagine, because my only real pride and joy in my life (aside from my girlfriend) is my trusty gaming PC. I only seem to get graphics artifacts on games like FEAR, but I've played all of Farcry and never gotten any, and I've played Rome on beefy settings and haven't had any. I got a few on the Gold demo for MTW2, but I updated the ol' graphics drivers and not only did the FPS kick up by about 10, but I haven't seen an artifact yet.

The ol' box fan solution isn't going to work for long, but it keeps me good to go while I wait for A) Money bags being dropped off at my house, or B) Bill Gates, after coming back from the future, realizes that in a few years I'm going to inadvertantly cure cancer and gives me a million dollars.

Come to think of it, my X800 GTO is the first graphics card that I have ever owned... wow... I'm going to have to frame it when I get rid of it.


Let me once again remind the community that a donation of an old PCI E compatable power supply above 350 watts would not only be greatly appreciated, but I would be more than interested in reimbursing for shipping and other expenses.

[AlJabberwock]

Processor : AMD Sempron 2600 (1,71 Ghz)
Card: NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200
Ram: 512mb Ram

RTW with huge units, and high details, runs ok....

Is it worth to get MTW 2, considering the fact that due to some reasons, i wont be able to make upgrades at the PC very soon (maybe upgrading the Ram to 768, but no more, as my budget is quite tight...)? Will it run on the lowest settings ?

It will run well on lowest settings most likely with shadows, AA , AF, and grass off, and small to normal units... however, this is based on running a 5500 and looking at the similarities between that card and yours. I would also say I am rather surprised you would say you were running largest units with high details in a smooth manner with RTW. In testing, we ran a GEForce FX5500, 1.8 Sempron juiced to 2.0, with 1.5 gigs of 266ddr with RTW and could run on high only in settings with normal unit size. Going to large or huge occasionally caused noticeable lagging with anything larger than half a stack, or if any city was in the view of the camera. Only with turning down many items were we able to achieve completely smooth play with the largest unit settings. [shrug] Although your specs show woefully limiting card and ram, (your CPU should be borderline ok) with your results in RTW, perhaps for whatever reason you can do better than I think you can. On the other hand, ten more hours or less, and we will all know for sure, ay?!

Good luck!

Al Jabberwock

[AlJabberwock]

Aye, the trick is PCI E capable. The LC I have doesn't even have a PCI power connector for the vid card. Pathetic, this is a power supply that came with a upper end case in something like March of this year...

Looking at my explanation below, it would be made WAAAY easier for you if you could be looking at the info that is supposed to be on the side or bottom of all power units when you are looking at my expo. If yours really doesn't have one, please sue Dell, but in the meantime, log on to Newegg, find a power unit and look at the blown up picture of the energy pacard on the unit as you read the below... You will see that all the ranges are indicatred and what the wattage or amperage is in each range... Now, read on!

The power thing is this. Most cards (like yours) will have specs that indicate the minimum wattage output that the PSu should be capable of in the system they will be in. There will also usually be indications that if you have many items in your system, you will need to go above the minimum wattage named since these items all suck energy and will compete for the energy if there is not enough to go around. Furhther, your vid card draws uniquely its power from the +12 volt range. Now this would be fine , except this is also the range from which your mobo draws too... Now most mobos will draw between 10 and 12 amps from the +12v rail, with anything left over having to be sufficient for the Card. If you have something like, say, 12 or 14 amps from the +12v on that 300 watt, you might have the problem of competition for insufficient resources in the specific 12 v range even if the overall rating of 300 watts is enough for your system (doubtful, but we'll get to that later).

This is why I want to know what is the exact spec for the PSU, and what add ons you have in your case. Once you get to midrange cards like yours, you can usually depend on them to need a few amps... chances are anything less than 16 is not enough, and probably 18 would be the minimum...

NOw here's the real fun part. "PFC" is power fluctuation control. PSUS have eiether a passive or an active PFC. This usually means there isn't much control at all if it is passive. It also means that there must be a reason there is such a thing as a PFC... Well this is, predictably because the power you receive and your unit gives out, AND your system uses, ALL fluctuate. If you do not have active PFC, firstly, the chances that the rise and fall of the power fluctuation will occasionally cause one or more of your units to not receive the amount of energy they were needing which can cause, artifacts as I described, black screening as I described, or simply a slow burn out of the device (just as your AC unit or anything else can burn out if it receives an incorrect amount of energy to function properly). For componenets in specific ranges of usage of energy there is the added possibility that just that range fluctuation (say in the 12v )will cause the amount of amperage in the 12v range to be unsufficient, and cause the same sort of "brownout" damage to your unit. It can be catastrophic all at once, or cumulative over time. I therefor always get a PSU with active PFC, and aim for those that are at least 50% above what I will need with minimum add ons...

As cards climb the scale of power, they need more energy, and particularly more 12v. It also means that fluctuation is more dangerous the closer to the minimum your system puts out max. Further, wattage and ammmperage numbers are "max", it doesn't mean "steady" or even "usual" output, so always get more than you need.

Here is an example (albeit a bit more extreme than the needs of an x800). A Ge Force 7900gtx requires a power source with at least 400 watts, but moreover AT LEAST 26 amps in the +12v range! Between 10 and 12 go to the mobo, the rest to the card and the like... I am not familiar with anything in that wattage range with that type of amperage in the 12v in the first place, and even if I did, I would be looking for 5 to 600 watts and 36 amps in the 12v. A SLI set up for 7900gtxs (two linked together in one board) would require a minimum of 36, with 500 watts, so I would be looking for a 750 w with 54 amps in the 12v). I would look up the power requirements of the 800. I doubt it is less than say 4 or 5 amps and could be 6.

Artifacts that show up in one game alone could be due to the pressure it puts on the card, the power needed to process that game as opposed to the others (RTW is not that demanding, really), certain techniques used in the graphics that are not supported by the vid card, a setting issue that needs to be changed for that one game, a specific profile needed which might be on your vid card already and just needs to be switched, could be a driver problem, or a host of other things - like heat. If you can't touch the card without pulling your finger away, its too hot and is being damaged. You could also have more than one problem. Heat will kill your card way faster than a low energy issue, but a low energy issue could also be creating some of the problems that lead to the demise of your fan...

I know you don't have the cashola, but replacing the power system would be the first thing would do, and mucking with the fan second, if I couldn't talk those nice Newegg folks into helping you out...

Al Jabberwock

[PaulTa]

Thanks much Al. I owe you quite a bit for the tech advice.

I'm going to go see if I can find enough change under the couch to maybe afford a better power supply.

Have a good one mate, and thanks again for the tips.

[AlJabberwock]

I'm going to go see if I can find enough change under the couch to maybe afford a better power supply.
Have a good one mate, and thanks again for the tips.

Sorry I can't type at 3 in the morning, and probably not explain all that cogently either for that matter...

Good luck, PSUs have gone through the roof (as you go through the cushions). However, I also have no idea what kind of visitors sit on your couch...

Good luck!!

Al Jabberwock

[Matty]

Matty, after you have had a look at your machine, let me know what you find?

Al Jabberwock

Wow, seriously impressive response. Many thanks.

With some trepidation I've take the side off the machine. It didn't explode or electrocute me, which was a plus. By a process of elimination I think I've identified the video card (I note the lack of any evidence like 'video card' or 'video card goes here'). Terrifying logic deduces that its probably the bit that the monitor connects to.

It seems I have 6 horizontal white slots near the bottom of the box, all empty. Just above this is a shorter dark slot into which the video card is placed. there is a sticker on it saying Radeon 9200 64MB DDR V/D/VO. Hopefully all of this is good news.

If I want more RAM do I just buy it and stick it in one of the two spare slots next to the existing RAM?

My incompetence leaves me feeling deeply inadequate....

EDIT: So I slung another 512 of RAM in and it made almost no difference (I did check that its working), especially on the sieges. The buildings seem to blow its mind. Should I get more RAM??
EDIT 2: Another 1 GIG of RAM and its better but still way from good for the sieges. That's it, I spend no more!

[Bob the Insane]

Chopa,
BFG rules Bob!
Good on ya. Your Sys is an Intel version very similar to an AMD dual core, SLI sys I built for my middle kid down to the Zalman! (Those things look so COOL with the green LED when they're running! I had to send the first one back to Newegg since one of the fan fins had drooped in their molding of it, but got its replacement right away). Same Corsair mem, but I had to buy the Pro as they were out of the regular, though that has LEDs along the top that look wicked in operation. I am interested in your PSU, which model and mfgr? Hope you checked for your +12v reqs! Baby loves 12v
Cheers!

Thanks for that, I am seriously over excited at the moment...

PSU is:

Antec True Power Trio TP3-650 ATX12V 650W Power Supply with Three 12V Rails (SLI certified) Plus it has PCI-e connectors...

Thanks for all the advice...

[vikrant1986]

my specs
p4 3.00 ghz
2 x 512 mb ram 400 mhz
GF6600 256 ddr3
intel 945 mobo

so ?? will it run

[PhakeDC]

Of course it will run, just how good someone here will tell you. I would love to read the replies above, but I am asking this for a friend. He has an Athlon XP 1500+ plus a GeForce 5900, so will he be able to run the game without SSE2? And is medium details at 20-30 fps possible, without shadows and AA that is? Cheers for any help.

[Garnier]

AMD Athlon 64 FX 55 2.6ghz
2 GB Ram
ATI Radeon X850

So I have the game, but it runs pretty bad(12-20fps) in normal battles (2000-4000 troops). I have units quality and textures on medium, vegetation and grass on low, no shadows reflections or bloom,(but I have shader 2 for blood), 1280x1024. Also AAx2, and no AF.
I wonder about vertical sync, Ive read that it helps performance and Ive read that it hurts performance. Which is true?

[unknown_user]

Alright guys, enough showing off your specs. I've got a real doozy of a question for ya.

Here's what I'm running:

P4 1.8 GHz
768 MB RAM
256MB ATI X800

Will it run it?

Now, I'm not asking for any amount of detail or such. I just want to be able to run it, perhaps on the lowest of the low settings. If it helps at all, I was able to run the demo, with a bit of lag on the two scenarios (not too much, but some.)

[gunslinger]

Just a warning for anyone out shopping for agp video cards. I picked up the x1300 xge at Best Buy for $140. It's factory overclocked to 600mhz and has 512mb of onboard RAM, but it won't run MTW2. Ok, it will run it, but it's a slideshow even at low settings. I know this doesn't make sense, since it's a generation beyond the x800s and x850s, but, believe me, this card just isn't worth having.

Just because I know someone will ask, I have a 2.8ghz Intel processor with Hyperthreading and 512 RAM.

[Rex_Pelasgorum]

Thank you very much , Al Jaberwock ! I will attempt to run it even at the lowest settings

[scourgeofrome]

Scourge,
I sure know about the limitations parents put on ya! (I'm a parent, and sometimes I hate me!). On the other hand, without them, you wouldn't have a machine at all! I'll tell ya what though, if you give me your mobo model, I'll bet we can come up with a few things that might make your machine run better, if only a little bit, and possibly we can find a place where very very cheap upgrades are possible... Heck, I can send you a 5500 for free (which isn't much help as its barely better than a 5200).

Here's an example... most folks use the cheap ata cables that came in the last generation of mobos (those without PCIex, without hyper transports, and limited or no sata2, vid power hook ups and so forth...). IN these cases, many people will hook up their legacy devices (like older HDs or CD/DVD drives) and their HD on the same cable... The legacy device will slow down access times to your HD by as much as 10% creating significant slowdown in game performance and some other potential problems...

Truth,I don't know a word you said (not computer literate).And for making it run better,I can live with it moving a little slow and having to turn down the graphics a bit.I don't need pretty grass and clouds to kill little virtual people.Besdies,I autocalulate battles quiete often (yes,I'm lazy.Only fight real important ones,have lost often using autocal.,or just got bored).

[PwnageBot2000]

Hey guys, how does a computer's CPU opposed to it's graphics card have an affect on gameplay?
So, IF I were to have a nVidia GeForce 7900 SLI and an AMD Athlon 64 x2 3800+CPU w/hypertransport technology, how would M2TW's gameplay hold up?
If anyone has any suggestions please know that I'm going for the AMD Athlon 64x2 4200+Dual-Core w/Hypertransport technology as the highest.

[Maxfu]

Just a warning for anyone out shopping for agp video cards. I picked up the x1300 xge at Best Buy for $140. It's factory overclocked to 600mhz and has 512mb of onboard RAM, but it won't run MTW2. Ok, it will run it, but it's a slideshow even at low settings. I know this doesn't make sense, since it's a generation beyond the x800s and x850s, but, believe me, this card just isn't worth having.

Just because I know someone will ask, I have a 2.8ghz Intel processor with Hyperthreading and 512 RAM.

Do you think your problems could be due to the fact that you are only running the min RAM requirment? I only ask because I was about to go out and opurchase a ATI Radeon® X1600 Pro 512MB Video Card and now you have mw worried.

[AlJabberwock]

Since I found the game last night at 8pm (was looking most of the day) I have answered no posts since early early am Wednesday. I will troll back and do the best I can.

PWnage,
Yeah my middle son has that system with the 3800 x2 and SLi 7900gtx OCs from BFG. The game plays like a dream on all max with ONE card... and is even nicer a picture with the two (you want to use the alternating frames method) but it is barely perceptible. A snowbound battle for Zagreb in the evening was ... breathtaking. I nearly cried.

You can get the 4200, but the 3800 is already almost asleep playing M2TW which will not test even the middle levels of this chip's capacity. One 7900GT would probably also be good enough, or nearly. Make sure you have 2 gigs or more of memory for your cooking system... Your a lucky man. Go over to http://www.slizone.com and look for the "Is your PC Optimized for SLI..." link. Everything you want to know is there... Let me know if I can help with SLI questions if you can't find it there (but its a pretty good site). We used the Foxcon CX51... Really stable, reliable board with really cool features... Sexy to pimp out since it and its cords are all black... Good muscle board if you like tweaking, but also really good right out of the box with epp and the works.

Max,
I agree his ram is too low. Unfortunately, the 1300 is also limited in a few ways the 800 was not: a comparison on ATI (well, now AMD.ATI -sheesh) shows the x800 has 12 pixel pipelines, and the 1300 has only 4!!! The x800 has a 256 bit interface, while the x1300 has only 128, and the g.pixel rate for the 800 is between 2.5 and 3.5 times higher than the various versions of the 1300 as well... The engine and clock speeds are similar and in general, on the face of it, the cards look like the 1300 is a budget card perhaps with just the api's updated... The x1600 for your information has 12 pixel pipelines, at least, and the clock and engine speeds are at least not worse. Some information is not available on the official site, so I cannot absolutely make a determination on what the comparison is , although you can go to a few places like Ajit's Corner, and Firing Squad which are online sites likely to have done benchmarking tests on the cards. Just google or do an msn search on these.

Gunslinger,
Buy some ram. There is also a possibility that a newer catalyst driver will greatly improve your results. If not, it is probably that the bottlenecks that the PCI ex interface solve have been substituted for by putting bottlenecks right on the card! See if you can return it and get something else.
I need to repeat here that I am not an expert in the ATI products (although with the merging of ATI with AMD, it appears I will have to be soon- sigh). I prefer NVidia cards (so I know considerably more about them) even though it is clear that ATI products have the clear edge in some graphical areas. On the other hand, I would also say that if you spend wisely with either company, you will get a very kick-butt result and be happy. Your CPU is the only thing that looks like a no problem component at this point. Get at least another 512 of ram, makr sure it is compatible (the same as what you have already).

Folks,

DONT buy vid cards that say "turbo charged", "SE, LE" "low profile" or have the OLD PCI bus interface type (not to be confused with the new, faster, sexy PCI E which clearly make you look taller and more attractive to women... unless-you're a woman - never mind, you know what I mean).

DO look to see how many pixel pipelines, what the bit rate is for the memory interface, and the pixel fill rates... AND look at engine (core) and clock rates. You may not know what they are exactly, but in each of these cases, bigger nimbers are better. Ram size above 256 won't make much difference unless you are planning on using more than one monitor OR a very large monitor (say, above 24") with the more exotic stratospheric resolutions. Not always are newer cards better (see above for example), because some may be intended for business use or other budget, or energy conservative applications...

Read online accounts or comparisons at online sites like PC magazine, byte, Ajits, Firing Squad, Hard OCP and the like. Look at the forums on official sites to see what people are complaining about... Unless the guy at the store is you PERSONAL LIFETIME friend and has a certified card as a GEEK, YOU are the best weapon you have to figure out what is NOT a rip off. Don't believe NVidia or ATI or any other marketing trash. Upper bound cards are good, really good - but do the research yourself, or ask someone you trust whose hands in which you don't mind putting your future happiness if they're wrong!

Al Jabberwock

[Bob the Insane]

Yeah, I have always liked the reviews on HardOCP...

Nothing beats a little reading and educating yourself on the subject...

I got my new machine up and running last night... Blood, sweat and tears it took... Well just blood actually, those Zalaman CPU Fans should be labeled as dangerous, those blades are sharp!!

The 8800GTX, well I can't say that much yet as by the time I had the machine all setup and then installed and tried M2TW out for a couple of hours it was OMG in the morning...

But I do have the graphics setting at max (resolultion is limited to 1280x1024 because of my aging but still very nice LCD monitor), I mean x8AA, x16AF, HIGH or HIGHEST settings as applicable and EXTREME shadows, all settings maxed...

I set huge units and had a x2 full stack peasant battle (6000 men total) and it worked just fine and was smooth (though I still got the excessive number of men warning at around 4000)...

I then leapt into the tutorial and the main campaign as the English... Campaign map is smooth and battles all smooth so far...

I will try the FRAPs thing tonight to get FPS...

[Maxfu]

Running 3.0Ghz P4, 1.5 Gb RAm, GF7600 AGP 256Mb DDR2 RAM, 500W Power Supply. Resolution set 1280 x 1024. I could probably go higher but have not tried yet. All settings at max, including bloom and shadows. Everything is running great, no lag at all. The graphics really are unbelievable. Now I need to start my campaign.

[gardibolt]

Well, amazingly enough I was able to run the game problem-free on all settings low, Shader 1 with the following setup:

P4 3.0
2 GB RAM
FX 5200 card

I was going to upgrade the video card, but after all the talk about needing to upgrade the power supply too and not having the first idea what connectors are correct for doing that I've chucked that idea. I'll just play it looking crappy.

[Maxfu]

Im thinking about buying a whole new system. AGP cards suck. I hate my radeon 9800 card. I hate it! PUKE PUKE..

im gonna buy new motherboard and new videocard. my budget is about 700 euros. any suggests?

also how much does a processor cost. I have 2.66 ghz now. Wanna upgrade that mofo.

I would suggest you that it is your ATI card that sucks not AGP cards on a whole. I'm running a GF 7600 GS AGP 256mb card and have all settings maxed. No lag at all, graphics look awesome.

I think your CPU is pretty good as far as speed, what amount of RAM are you running?