Angry's Video Card testing list

[Angry_Games]

here are the video cards that we have tested in the lab that work very well with Titan Quest on any of these 3 types of systems:

AMD AthlonXP 2500+ (1.83Ghz)
2x512MB RAM


AMD Athlon64 3200+ (2.0Ghz)
2x512MB RAM


Intel Pentium4 2.4C Northwood (2.4Ghz, 800FSB)
2x512MB RAM



these are basically the minimum systems we have run the game on (these days the lab uses 2GB of RAM but I wanted to make sure the minimums would run with all of the video cards I am about to list that we have tested in each of these 3 setups).

All testing was done at stock speeds on the CPU, RAM, and video cards using the latest motherboard/chipset drivers and the latest official video drivers

ATI 6.5 Catalyst (have not tested the 6.6's yet except for one system) (http://www.atitech.ca)

Radeon Omega Drivers 3.8.252 (Catalyst 6.5) (http://www.omegadrivers.net/)

ForceWare Release 90 - Version: 91.31 (http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_91.31.html)

ForceWare 84.21 Win2000/XP WHQL (http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=1353)


Nvidia video cards:
Leadtek FX5950 256MB AGP
Chaintech 6600GT 128MB (single) PCI-E
Chaintech 6600GT 128MB SLI (2x) PCI-E
XFX 7800GT 256MB PCI-E
XFX 7800GTX 256MB PCI-E
eVGA 6800GT 256MB PCI-E
BFG 7900GT 256MB PCI-E


ATI Video Cards:
Sapphire Radeon 9500Non-Pro 128MB AGP (both as Non-Pro and with modded Omega drivers to make it a 9700Pro)
Sapphire Radeon 9700Pro 128MB AGP
ATI 9800XT 256MB AGP
ATI X800Pro 256MB AGP
ATI X800XT 256MB PCI-E
ATI X850XT PE 256MB PCI-E
ATI X1900XT 512MB PCI-E (single)
ATI X1900XT 512MB PCI-E (dual Crossfires)


these cards all work fine @ 1024x768 with low-to-medium graphics options (depending on the card itself, you may want to turn down or turn up certain graphics to suit your own level of visuals vs performance).


here is a list of cards that we have found to be UNACCEPTABLE for running this game:

Nvidia FX5200 128MB AGP
Nvidia FX5700 128MB AGP
ATI 8500LE 128MB AGP
ATI 9200 series AGP / PCI-E (one of each was tested)
ATI X300SE 128MB PCI-E
Intel 810i / 815i Integrated graphics (actually, ALL Intel and VIA/S3 Integrated graphics will not function with TQ)
ATI X300 Integrated graphics (Xpress 200 Radeon motherboards/chipsets)


now


of course this is not a be-all/end-all list

and I am not a know-it-all...I just have more systems than any 25 normal users will ever get a chance to play with, and part of my job is testing all these rigs for the ability to play the latest video games since that is why 80% of our customers purchase our motherboards and build their own gaming systems instead of relying on Dell/Gateway etc.

If you have an unacceptable video card and it works for you, then more power to you. But please understand that for a good TQ experience, these cards tested in our lab were unable to perform reasonably well and made for a bad gaming experience.

Also keep in mind that I've had a couple of friends and a neighborhood kid that loves vid games and mows our lawn over to help test because there is simply no way that I and my girlfriend (who has a full time job out of the home/lab lol) could even begin to test for more than 5 minutes at a time.

All of these video cards so far have been tested for a minimum of 15 minutes in and out of caves within the game. Most (all but 1 I think) have been tested for at least 30 minutes, and some we weren't sure about like the lower-end 9500 Non-Pro etc were tested for almost a full hour in various game situations to be able to form a good opinion (ie: if it is borderline...we play more...which is good because the game is great).

Also note that all machines have experienced regular and mostly frequent crashes that the rest of you are experiencing. Machines with and without Anti-Virus protection, machines with and without Daemon Tools virtual drive software, machines with and without the original retail DVD (ie we experimented to circumvent the SecureROM protection to see if it was why the game crashes regularly after 5 minutes).

The game seems to crash in any and all situations, as well as it will run for hours and hours without a single crash (though it tends to slow down after about 2 straight hours of playing lol...more than likely a very slow memory leak builds up).

I have faith that IronLore/THQ will resolve these problems quickly with necessary patches/fixes so my concern is not on the crashing problems, but more on the performance of the game for players that might be having issues.

Some performance issues are no doubt related to the state of the game and the crashes it experiences...but a lot of performance issues are going to be based mostly on the user's machine, his hardware, and how much 'junk' he has running (spyware, programs running in the background, etc).

As I get time to test more cards, I will post them.

Thank you for reading, and if you have anything to add, please let me know!

[Angry_Games]

ps: this is not meant as spam...I've already received a couple of PM's so instead of answering each one, I thought I would post what I posted at IGN's forum before I knew about TQ.net forums.

if the Mods or Devs want me to make a separate thread, or post in a specific thread, please let me know so I can be a good member lol







Date Posted: 6/28 3:19pm Subject: RE: Crashes? System Specs here please
ok, here are the systems the game crashes on in the lab:

System #1

DFI Lanparty CFX3200-DR (latest bios)
FX-60 dual-core AMD64 cpu (latest dual-core driver from AMD)
2x1GB OCZ PC4000 Platinum EB @ 3-3-8-2
Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS Platinum (latest drivers from Creative)
2x80GB Hitachi SATA II RAID-0
NEC 3550A DVD-RW
OCZ GamerXstream 700w psu
2x ATI Radeon X1900XT Crossfires (running in single-card mode at the moment with 6.5 CAT drivers)
DangerDen watercooling (both video cards and cpu)
Windows XP Service Pack 2
Norton Corporate Anti-Virus 10.1
Microsoft Office 2003 w/SP1


System #2

DFI Lanparty NF3 Ultra-D 939+AGP
2x1GB Corsair PC3500LL PRO
X2 4400+ dual-core AMD64 cpu (older AMD dual-core driver from AMD)
Turtle Beach Riviera 5.1 PCI sound card
36GB Western Digital Raptor 10,000RPM SATA hdd
NEC 3500 DVD-RW
OCZ Powerstream 520w psu
ATI Radeon X800 Pro AGP 256MB w/Arctic Silencer
DangerDen watercooling (cpu only)


System #3

Asus P5WD2-E Premium LGA775 motherboard (975X Intel chipset)
Pentium D 930 3.0Ghz 2MB L2 dual-core cpu (65nm)
2x1GB OCZ PC8500 DDR2-1000Mhz
SB Audigy1 (latest Creative drivers)
XFX 7800GTX 256MB (84.21 drivers, new 90xx WHQL drivers also)
2x80GB Hitachi SATA II hdd RAID-0
Enermax 600w Whisper psu
DangerDen watercooling (cpu + video card)
NEC 2500A DVD-RW


System #4

DFI Lanparty NF4 SLI-D
AMD64 4000+ San Diego (single core cpu)
2x1GB OCZ PC3200 2-3-5-2
XFX 7800GT 256MB (Arctic Silencer cooler) 84.23 drivers
2x80GB Hitachi SATA II RAID-0
NEC 3550G DVD-RW
Fortron BlueStorm 500w psu
SB Audigy2 ZS (latest Creative drivers)



System #5

DFI Lanparty NF4 "Expert" SLI-DR
2x1GB OCZ PC4000 Gold EL DDR
AMD64 3200+ Venice (single core)
ATI X1900XT Radeon w/CAT 6.6 drivers (released yesterday, also tried Omega's 6.5 CAT drivers)
onboard ALC850 Realtek integrated audio (latest driver update via WindowsUpdate.com)
OCZ Powerstream 600w psu
Maxtor 160GB IDE hdd
NEC 3500A DVD-RW






ok, those are the 5 systems so far. All are running latest Windows XP Professional w/SP2, and all have the latest DirectX 9.0c (some have even been updated with the 6/06/2006 update/release to test).

One problem is that once in a while the game still asks for the original dvd, which is in the drive.


Multiplayer

But the main problem is during multiplayer on the LAN, the game crashes the instant a third player joins. The server has a player (since there is no dedicated server), and it is always System #2 (which has the least amount of crashes). But the "server" never does anything but serve, so the player in the server just stands there at the beginning of the game.

Upon the third player entering the game, it will crash for that player. Within a minute the second player will crash to the desktop also.

There is no common crash other than 3 players in the game is almost always an instant crash. Even with just two players (ie System #1 I will play on and my gf or other friend will join from System #4 or System #5) and no third machine as a server means that the game will crash within 5-30 minutes. Again there is no common crash other than 5-30 minutes (usually within 5-10 minutes) the game will simply crash to the desktop.

There is no firewall blocking, there is no common software other than Norton Corporate Anti-Virus 10.1, Windows SP2, and MS Office 2003 with SP1.

Keep in mind that we regularly use all of these machines to play Battlefield2, F.E.A.R., Unreal Tournament 2004, Rise of Legends: Rise of Nations, Half Life 2 Deathmatch, Counter Strike Source, Day of Defeat Source, etc to play online or over the LAN, and all machines run Elder Scrolls: Oblivion and Eve-Online perfectly fine.

None of these games crash these systems. Ever (except BF2 which is still buggy as hell, but it only crashes every few days now lol).





Single player

Basically the same thing...except I have been able to play on System #1 for 2 days @ 5+ hours each sitting without a crash (though after about 4 hours it gets really really laggy which it shouldn't considering the horsepower....but this lag effects all the machines after a few hours of gaming).

The first day the game was really bad, and I got tired of waiting for the dvd check each time I had to restart (plus the fact that it would tell me 50% of the time that the original dvd was not in the drive when it damn well was). I've got two retail copies of the game and it matters not which dvd nor which install nor anything.


Within 5-30 minutes the game will crash on most machines. Yesterday System #1 played for 5+ hours and System #4 played for about 2 hours and my gf and I chose to stop playing, so no crashes. But the other machines were either being tested by me, or my two friends (who love nothing more than coming over to the lab and helping me test DFI motherboards by playing games on them for hours and hours and hours).


We finally decided that we were tired of waiting for the dvd check and downloaded the Reloaded no-dvd exe. While I know the risks of such software, I can assure you that it is reliable and is not infected in any way, and in no way is the problem with the system not being able to run the game.

I know this because once we applied the Reloaded no-dvd (backing up the original exe of course), two machines were stable in the game for 4+ hours each (system #5, system #3).

However, System #1 and System #4 continued to crash even with the Reloaded no-dvd.

System #2 seems to be the only odd system as it will crash, but usually only once after about 5 minutes, then restarting the game allows you to play as long as you can stand to sit in front of the monitor lol. This machine has worked this way with and without the original dvd (ie both using the original dvd and the Reloaded no-dvd exe seems to have zero effect)




I hope that this information is helpful to those who are tracking the problems to fix them. Please feel free to contact me if you need more information. I do have a wide range of systems that can be tested as I am the DFI Support Manager for North America and have about 16 different systems in the lab in various states of function (most just need either turned on or a video card or hdd added etc).

All but 3 systems can be reformatted and Windows re-installed from scratch at a moment's notice (3 of them are workstations or personal machines).

You can verify that I am not a rookie when it comes to computers or gaming by checking www.dfi-street.com (I am Happy_Games, the owner/admin of the site, as well as the DFI Support Manager). There are probably a few of us that would also be willing to pitch in and help test.

We (my girlfriend and I) are avid Diablo II players and we have been waiting for this game for quite a long time. We are very disappointed that the game doesn't function properly right out of the box but we are willing to work with THQ/Iron Lore to help get the game on track as we plan to play it...until Diablo III or TQ-2 etc comes out lol.

Travis Hill aka Happy_Games
www.dfi-street.com

[Psychade]

<} Angry... I watch all your vids off street :)

[Angry_Games]

bump for any new players that might want to see this list

[Angry_Games]

bump because the old link isn't working properly and new readers might be interested

[Batman]

Seeing as you bumped this, I will respond.

Check my sig and tell me why my notebook plays TQ fine at Low details and yet my desktop continually CTD's. Even at Low settings and 1024 x 768 resolution Windowed mode the game stops at intermittent intervals.

I counted my Crash reports earlier:-
Notebook crashes = 1
Desktop Crashes = 85

Using the most up to date ATI drivers available on both machines.

EDIT - In case anyone comes back to this page I have to say that I have recently got myself a new notebook, as can be seen in my revised sig.

[DirtySanchez]

Seeing as you bumped this, I will respond.

Check my sig and tell me why my notebook plays TQ fine at Low details and yet my desktop continually CTD's. Even at Low settings and 1024 x 768 resolution Windowed mode the game stops at intermittent intervals.

I counted my Crash reports earlier:-
Notebook crashes = 1
Desktop Crashes = 85

Using the most up to date ATI drivers available on both machines.
9Th wonder of the world right there.

[Roland]

Wow Angry...thanks for the list, I'm sure that took a lot of time and effort to put together.

Thought I'd mention my experience with TQ

When I 1st got the game I was running a 6600GT with 1g of ram. (on a Shuttle Ak-37 mobo)The game played pretty well except for the known slow downs near or in cave/tomb entrances. I ran the game @ 1024x768 on Med/High settings w/No V-sync or antialiasing, always have use the latest drivers for video and chipsets.

I also used the "Coolbits" registry tweak...which did wonders for the stuttering I was having from time to time.

The Guru of 3D Download Section (http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=815)

Though I had some initial sound issues (breaking up or stoping all together) the thing to note is I never had a CTD with this setup.

About 6 months ago I upgraded my mobo/cpu/ram/video card and used my hand-me-downs in my stepson's comp next to mine.

My new system in in my sig. I now run the game @ 1280x1024 High/Med setting...still get the occasional chop when hitting a tomb or cave, but the game runs great.

And again, I've never had a CTD with the new setup either.

Using the brand new Nvidia driver...I have McAfee firewall & Virus software installed on both machines...but with TQ.exe included in the Allowable programs lists.

I have no clue why my comps have never had crashing problems with TQ. I defrag both comps regularly. I run several virus and clean up programs as well.
Both have XP Pro with all SP/Updates...

Anyway there are enough out there who "are" having crashing issues that it appears there is (or sould be) a common problem.

Perhaps a mix of the usual suspects (heh great movie btw) like fragmented drives, improper driver installs (as in leftover older files), too low PS being used, and maybe comp/HDs completely stuffed with "crap" files (temp & such completely usless junk)

I would highly suggest that anyone with a comp use a program like CleanUp!
CleanUp! (http://www.stevengould.org/software/cleanup/)

This program is free, though the author asks for a PP donation in the amount you feel it's worth after you've used it a bit. Does a GREAT job that many others try to sell for $20-40

It's recovered about 26g of room on my main system over the last 6 months or so. And ALL my programs run faster and the system more stable. That and defraging and running virus and spyware scans (Ad-Aware & Ewido) do a TON to keep a comp and "games" running great :)

Lavasoft (http://www.lavasoftusa.com/products/ad-aware_se_personal.php)
ewido - anti-spyware and anti-malware solutions (http://www.ewido.net/en/)

Anyway...just my thoughts.

I hope that anyone who's having problems can get to the bottom of the cause/s and get their game/s running better!

Good Luck & Best Regards (and happy hunting heh)

[Angry_Games]

Seeing as you bumped this, I will respond.

Check my sig and tell me why my notebook plays TQ fine at Low details and yet my desktop continually CTD's. Even at Low settings and 1024 x 768 resolution Windowed mode the game stops at intermittent intervals.

I counted my Crash reports earlier:-
Notebook crashes = 1
Desktop Crashes = 85

Using the most up to date ATI drivers available on both machines.

probably has everything to do with how your desktop is loaded...spyware, virus, bloatware, who knows how or why your particular machine does what it does compared to your laptop. I can't say, I can only say that what I've tested in this thread and since this original post is valid though it may not be valid for everyone since I load my machines a certain way:

Video tutorial - Windows XP Tweak Guide (video) *update 6/28/2006* - DFI Forums (http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=34836)

[dentraxis]

hi i hope you dont mind me asking i am about to buy a new pc and i cant find out much about the graphics card, if someone could tell me please if this card will run titan quest reasonably efficiently please tyvm

512MB ATi Radeon X1600SE
any help will be gratefully received as i dont want to buy a pc that wont run TQ
thanks again

[DirtySanchez]

hi i hope you dont mind me asking i am about to buy a new pc and i cant find out much about the graphics card, if someone could tell me please if this card will run titan quest reasonably efficiently please tyvm

512MB ATi Radeon X1600SE
any help will be gratefully received as i dont want to buy a pc that wont run TQ
thanks again

At what resolution?

I had that card but an XT for like 3 hours. Ran TQ like crap at 1680 x 1050. Returned it for a 7800 GS.

[dentraxis]

i am not too worried about the look, i was happy with how diablo2 looked and that was 640-860 or something.
It is more about gameplay for me, so i just need to know if i can run TQ at a level where it will look no worse than D2 withot lag and freeze etc. i will eventually upgrade card but i cant afford it for a few weeks and i really want to play TQ.

[DirtySanchez]

I'd really just save and wait. No sense in buying a Vid card you are just gonne replace in a couple of weeks. It can play it but .......just not real well.

[dentraxis]

tyvm for advice.
The card is with a bundle which is ok bar the graphics card so i get bundle tomorrow and send off for a card.
thanks again
good hunting

[Ridlyn]

Im running this game at 1440*900 with medium to low setting with AA on. Very comfortably, i can run it higher, but when i do, the huge mobs make the game unplayable at higher settings.

[Vince]

"Angry Games," I wish I had heard about you one week earlier. I have a Pentium 4 with 1 gig of RAM, but with an integrated video card. Believe it or not, I could play TQ, but even at the lowest resolution, it would get choppy during big battles.

I bought a Nividia 7300 LE (I live in Mexico, so give me a break) with 256 megs of RAM. You might have noticed that all the cards you approved had 512 megs of RAM.

There is a noticeable improvement, but there are still occasional choppy scenes.

Researching on the web, I found that my video card is a low-end card not recommended for gamers. Still, it works. Hopefully, it will also work with Windows Vista.

Hope this helps, Vince

[DirtySanchez]

Hopefully, it will also work with Windows Vista.

Hope this helps, Vince

It will work fine with Vista, but to use DX10 you'll have to have a 8800 series card or the like from ATI.

[Angry_Games]

forget about DX10 for a while, and focus on getting a card that offers the most bang-for-the-buck as Vista and DX10 are a long ways off (games that utilize it fully that aren't backwards-compatible with dx9.0c)

the only real DX10 use is possibly Vista's themes which you'll want to disable right away unless you have a 3Ghz core2 cpu + 4GB RAM (Vista typically boots to the desktop using 700MB or so of RAM)

[DirtySanchez]

forget about DX10 for a while, and focus on getting a card that offers the most bang-for-the-buck as Vista and DX10 are a long ways off (games that utilize it fully that aren't backwards-compatible with dx9.0c)


The only one I know which will fully use DX10 at the moment is Crysis and will be able to run in either DX9 or 10 equally fine. Yeah Vista is a hog but it's really growing on me.

[Vince]

You know what really ticks me off? Before you buy any new hardware, it's a good idea to look it up on Google. Out of curiosity, I researched the video card that hadn't worked and the one I have that works adequately.

Both cards get raving reviews from the manufacturers. You would think they would be honest enought to say that these cards are fine for most users, but not for gamers. However, both cards get statements about how great they are for the latest games. Nothing about slowdowns, lockups, etc.

Hope this helps, Vince

[Vince]

Folks, after viewing some screen shots of a lovely but treacherous woman, I've fallen in love with her. That's right, I'm talking about Windows Vista.

Vista is designed to run DirectX10 as well as DX9. My recently-purchesed video card runs DX9. What happens if I install a second video card that runs DX10? I know that it will be able to handle DX9, but will my first video card be useless in a DX10 program?

[DirtySanchez]

Folks, after viewing some screen shots of a lovely but treacherous woman, I've fallen in love with her. That's right, I'm talking about Windows Vista.

Vista is designed to run DirectX10 as well as DX9. My recently-purchesed video card runs DX9. What happens if I install a second video card that runs DX10? I know that it will be able to handle DX9, but will my first video card be useless in a DX10 program?

Second as in SLI or just another card?

SLI will not work with different GPU's which no doubt they would be.

Vista is wonderful BTW. ;)

[Vince]

Thank you, Sanchez, but I might not understand your answer. Are you saying that the two cards would not be able to work together?

[DirtySanchez]

Thank you, Sanchez, but I might not understand your answer. Are you saying that the two cards would not be able to work together?

That is correct, if you are refering to SLi. Sli only works if you have 2 same GPUS. For example.....one 8800 GTS and 8800 GTX wont work in SLi. One 7950 GT and one 7800GTX wont work in SLI. You have to have the exact same cards for them to work together. They can be from different manufactures (evga, bfg, xfx, etc.) though.

[Vince]

Another bizarre piece of new knowledge. When I first got my video card, it improved the game heavily, but there were still problems. Yesterday, I noticed that I was getting very sharp graphics, and I was seeing details I had never seen before.

I understand that XP moves more frequently-used programs into more accessible locations. I am also wondering if the new card needed a lottle while to "fit in."

Anyway, the graphics are great.

Adios, Vince

[Ridlyn]

I'm buying a Core 2 Duo E4300 soon(just came out today), it's going to be great for overclocking with it's 9x multiplier and it starts off with only a 800FSB. But i found a good oc'ing mobo that uses DDR ram and AGP video card, so all ihave to buy is a mobo and CPU and RAM(my old ram is slow). I'll be able to increase settings now since the CPU i have now is holding me back.

I've looked into i will be able to make it 2.7ghz with it using a 3:2 memory ratio keeping my memory at stock settings, and a 300FSB.

[Infares]

I'm buying a Core 2 Duo E4300 soon(just came out today), it's going to be great for overclocking with it's 9x multiplier and it starts off with only a 800FSB. But i found a good oc'ing mobo that uses DDR ram and AGP video card, so all ihave to buy is a mobo and CPU and RAM(my old ram is slow). I'll be able to increase settings now since the CPU i have now is holding me back.

I've looked into i will be able to make it 2.7ghz with it using a 3:2 memory ratio keeping my memory at stock settings, and a 300FSB.

No PCI Express? D:!

[DirtySanchez]

No PCI Express? D:!
Ummm....Yeah.....Theres no way I'd upgrade all my shiat and stay with AGP.

[Ridlyn]

Ummm....Yeah.....Theres no way I'd upgrade all my shiat and stay with AGP.

I would never have the money. Seeing as i have college coming up, i won't be able to afford anything more expensive. Later on i might upgrade to a new mobo/ram/ and a 8600GT at the end of this year.

New Nvidia product speculated (http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=36963)

[DirtySanchez]

I would never have the money. Seeing as i have college coming up, i won't be able to afford anything more expensive. Later on i might upgrade to a new mobo/ram/ and a 8600GT at the end of this year.

New Nvidia product speculated (http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=36963)
It's not expensive as you might think. ;)

[Ridlyn]

It's not expensive as you might think. ;)

Ok.
This is the upgrade that i plan on doing in the at the end of the year.
Gigabyte DS3 - $134 or Equivelent
XMS2 2GB - $254
8600GT - $120
Core 2 Duo E4300 - $189
Antec Power Trio 550w - $99

Total : $796

My Upgrade

Mobo - $44
OCZ 2x512mb(2-3-2-6) $100
Core 2 Duo E4300 $189

Total $333.

No need for new PSU with this build.

I have car insurance on top of that, plus i'm saving up for college tuition, gas money, internet. It all adds up when your only getting $5.95/hr.

[Vince]

I subscribe to several technical e-mails, but I'm learning more on this thread than on al the e-mails combined.

But, what is a "mobo"?

Adios, Vince

[Ridlyn]

But, what is a "mobo"?


It's short of Motherboard.

[Vince]

Thank you.

Vince

[Vince]

Okay, here's another request for video card instruction.

My Pentium 4 has 3.2 gHz and 1 gigabyte of RAM. The integrated video card can borrow up to 64 megs of RAM, and it always worked fine. I bought Titan's Quest, and believe it or not, it worked, but there were frequent slowdowns, blurry images, etc. Also, I wouldn't be able to run Vista when it came out.

The computed store added a video card that is not Windows XP compatible. My rig still played Diablo 2 with no problem, but it locked up or crashed when I played TQ. The new dedicated 256 meg video card works fine, and it can borrow an additional 256 megs.

My questions: If I am playing an older game, does the integrated video card do all the work? Does my new card only kick in when the integrated card can't handle it? Do both cards work at the same time, or is it either/or? If the new card needs to start borrowing RAM, does the integrated card get priority?

Thanks, Vince

[DirtySanchez]

Only your new card works now, your integrated video is basically long longer there.

[Vince]

Okay, another technical question.

I downloaded Microsoft's Vista Readiness Test, and it recommended that I buy Home Basic (which does not have the dynamic graphics that I bought a new video card for).

After months of stating that you would need a 128 meg video card (I bought a 256 meg card) it is now required that your video card support Pixel Shader 2. The test pointed out that I might have a problem with this.

My Nividia 7300 LE supports DirectX9 Vertex Shader 2. The manufacturer's website states that the GeoForce 7 Series (which includes my card) suppports DirectX9 Pixel Shader 3. I cannot find any mention of Pixel Shader 2 on the site. The site also says that the GeoForce 7 Series supports Windows Vista.

Does anybody know if this card supports Pixel Shader 2?

Thank you, Vince

[Angry_Games]

Ok.
This is the upgrade that i plan on doing in the at the end of the year.
Gigabyte DS3 - $134 or Equivelent
XMS2 2GB - $254
8600GT - $120
Core 2 Duo E4300 - $189
Antec Power Trio 550w - $99

Total : $796

My Upgrade

Mobo - $44
OCZ 2x512mb(2-3-2-6) $100
Core 2 Duo E4300 $189

Total $333.

No need for new PSU with this build.

I have car insurance on top of that, plus i'm saving up for college tuition, gas money, internet. It all adds up when your only getting $5.95/hr.

here's an alternative to that mobo if you don't need dual pci-e slots (especially if you have an X1900XT, which is still the best bang-for-the-buck video card onthe market, or even better, an 8800 series card)

DIY-Street Forums - View Single Post - Socket LGA775 Overclocking Database (http://www.diy-street.com/forum/showpost.php?p=688586&postcount=46)

Thats the Gigabyte GA-965P-S3 that only costs $109 @ Newegg.com, and does 400x8 (3200Mhz) on the lower-end E6400 (2.13Ghz stock, $189 @ newegg) cpu without a single voltage increase to the cpu.

The Antec Trio 550w is a great psu for sure (we've been testing the Trio 550 and 650 for a couple months, and they work just fine in overclocked COre2 systems with 8800GTX vid cards)

[Angry_Games]

also I urge you to really read up on Vista before you rush out and buy it. I can tell you that an entire tech forum (most of us anyway lol) is under agreement that Vista is not a worthy upgrade. MS is not telling the whole truth about DX10 (game devs are, and they are saying there's no need for it...look at Quake4, Gears of War, Rainbow Six: Vegas, etc, games that have no need for DX10 and look awesome. The Unreal3 engine that powers Gears of War and RS: Vegas and the upcoming SquareSoft games is only DX9.0c...but there's more reasons than this, just read around)

So you think you want to go Vista, eh? (http://www.diy-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=72311)

John Carmack (Id Software, Quake, Doom, etc) Speaks Out On Vista (http://www.diy-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=73145)

plus there's google...

[Angry_Games]

Okay, another technical question.

I downloaded Microsoft's Vista Readiness Test, and it recommended that I buy Home Basic (which does not have the dynamic graphics that I bought a new video card for).

After months of stating that you would need a 128 meg video card (I bought a 256 meg card) it is now required that your video card support Pixel Shader 2. The test pointed out that I might have a problem with this.

My Nividia 7300 LE supports DirectX9 Vertex Shader 2. The manufacturer's website states that the GeoForce 7 Series (which includes my card) suppports DirectX9 Pixel Shader 3. I cannot find any mention of Pixel Shader 2 on the site. The site also says that the GeoForce 7 Series supports Windows Vista.

Does anybody know if this card supports Pixel Shader 2?

Thank you, Vince

any card that will do Pixel Shader 3 will also do Pixel Shader 2 (ie: it cannot do PS3 without being able to do PS2)

[Vince]

Thank you, Angry Games. A lot of my problem is emotional: I'm in love with a lovely but treacherous woman--Windows Vista. I've seen the screen shots, and her beauty has entrapped me.

My first computer had Windows 3.11. There were some heated arguements at work when I maintained that Windows 95 would be a valuable computing tool. I went through 95, 98, SE, ME, and XP with no trouble. I started with Explorer 2, and I have never had a problem upgrading all the way to Explorer 7. I have gone through a variety of Norton Anti-Viruses, Quickens, Microsoft Money, etc., with no problems. Add in my wife's computers, and I've been through a lot of upgrades.

Believe it or not, though, I still use Microsoft Works for Windows 3.1--it has far less problems than the various versions of Microsoft Word, Word Perfect, and Lotus that have come with different computers.

Vista worries me, though. There are too may driver problems, too many complaints from anti-virus companies, and too many hardware problems.

But when you're in love, you can't think straight.

Adios, Vince

[Angry_Games]

here's the rule I and most of us live by:

never upgrade to an new operating system until 90 days after Service Pack 1


the software and drivers are usually crap until Service Pack 1 (as are most functions)

but then it takes up to 90 days after a Service Pack is released for all the software to begin working again (remember SP1 and SP2 for XP? almost every game and application was 'broken' after the update for 30-90 days...now SP2 is all we need, its as good as any MS OS has ever been)

[Vince]

The Vista Readiness Advisor says that I should use Home Basic, not Home Premium (which is what I bought my video card for). I posted a description of my rig on a Vista forum, pointing out that I meet or exceed all Home Premium requirements. So why can't I run Home Premium?

I got a reply stating that although a Nividia 7300 LE with 256 megs of RAM is indeed "Vista Ready," it is not "Aero Ready."

Microsoft uses the phrase "Vista Ready" for their Home Basic, and "Premium Ready" for Home Premium. But since my card has double the minimum required RAM, and everything else on my computer is fine, why can't I use HOme Premium?