NFB Doom 3

[DJ Taso]

I got it. I posted impressions and screenshots of it at a game forum where I'm a member at,

http://discuss.futuremark.com/forum/...fpart=all&vc=1

[Aaron4TAMU]

I'm drooling.....

[paxton350]

already d/l it

ive already downloaded the alpha leak and played 3 levels. its a extremely good game ill actually buy this instead of ripping it by the way you dont play on the zdaemon circuits do you?

[Aaron4TAMU]

Guess I'm a little slow...I'm still downloading it But, like you said....this is definately one game that I will buy.

[Formulaboy95]

Nice! Always been a Doom fan, although I got hooked on Unreal Tournament. Hopefully if I am not too overworked this week, I will try and pick up a copy. (Supposed to be studying for more cisco certs on my own time )

[Aaron4TAMU]

Well, I finally finished downloading it and tried to run it on my current system....just ain't workin.... Good thing my new puter will be here by Wednesday (main reason I bought it was to play D3).

[Formulaboy95]

DJ Taso, I finally got it... Looks like I am going to need a better AGP card to run it, it's pretty choppy. I bought an ATI Radeon 9200 (8x) awhile back when I had some problems (turned out to be memory). Opinions on what video card to get. Current system is:

ASUS A7N8X-E deluxe
AMD Athlon XP 3200+
(2) 512Mb DDR 400
(2) SATA HD's (no raid)
ATI Radeon 9200
TTake PS
Blue Xoxide Alic case

[Louer Adun]

you WILL need a fast processor to run this game. It is not reccomended it is REQUIRED. I have an athlon 2200+ and a radeon 9800 PRO. In 640x480 on low quality it runs as fast as it can in dark places and in hallways. As soon as you enter into a large room or lgihted room thoguh, it goes to about 5 FPS. In 1280x960 with ultra high settings and 2x AA it runs EXACTLY the same. HMMM shouldnt they have an option for less physics calculations or something... Because my video board can handle anything thrown at it... I was absolutely uphauled when i saw the framerate considering i can run far in 1280x960 with all the options very smoothly.
All im saying is that its in serious need of some speed enhancements for people with mid-high end processors cause they just cant handle it.
*mutters insults* and the only reason i bought this video board was for doom 3 annd Half Life 2... apparently i should have got a new processor instead... at least then it would have ran smoothly is 640x480.

[DJ Taso]

DJ Taso, I finally got it... Looks like I am going to need a better AGP card to run it, it's pretty choppy. I bought an ATI Radeon 9200 (8x) awhile back when I had some problems (turned out to be memory). Opinions on what video card to get. Current system is:

ASUS A7N8X-E deluxe
AMD Athlon XP 3200+
(2) 512Mb DDR 400
(2) SATA HD's (no raid)
ATI Radeon 9200
TTake PS
Blue Xoxide Alic case

Looks like your video card is the bottleneck, other than that you have a great rig. Stick with ATi. I switched from Nvidia to ATi and I love it.

If you're going to stick with ATi aim for a 9600 or above. Stay away from the X800's, they're over priced. Dumping over $500.00 more for a video card that will only give you 5 more frames per second is just ridiculous to me.

If you're going with Nvidia, aim for an FX5700 or higher. The 6800 is not bad for under $300.00. Stay away from the 6800 GT & the Ultra versions. Again they too are over priced and require 400+ watt power supplys to run those monsters! Just wait 3 more months until the prices drop if you do decide to go with any of the X800's or 6800's.

If I were you I would get the ATi Radeon 9800 Pro 128, but here's the story: The original price for the 9800 Pro was $249.99, but last month Best Buy was having a sale on that card. It was originally $249.99, but the sale included a $20.00 instant rebate and a $50.00 mail in rebate which came out to $170.00. When I heard about the sale, I immediatey jumped all over it. Switching from a Ti4600 to a 9800 Pro was a huge difference! Unfortunately, the sale ended for that card and it is now back up to it's original price - $249.99. I think the $50.00 mail in rebate is still there though. You might want to ask.

Which ever video card company you go with, make sure it is a Direct X 9 video card! Doom 3 offers new Direct X 9 technology effects which no game offers yet! With a Direct X 9 card, you can see the new "heat wave" technology. You see the heat wave trails from a fire ball, plasma waves from a plasma gun, and even down to the monster's breath coming out of it's noise!

My setup consists:

P4 2.6 @ 3.12GHz
Asus P4P 800 mobo
1 gig PC3200 DDR 400MHz ram
Ati 9800 Pro 128

I run the game on 1280 x 1024 resolution with max detail and high settings. I average 40 - 50 fps, but it does drop in the high teens/middle twenty's during fire fights, but it's very unoticeable. Also, if you don't have a 5.1 sound system I highly recommend you get it! Doom 3 has the best sound I've ever heard in a game. I've been playing the game since July 31st and I'm not even close to beating it. I play on Veteran difficult settings and only play it during the night for 1 - 2 hours. I find it better to wait to play it at night, the scare factor increases by 90%.

Good luck, and let me know which card you do decide on buying or PM me.

[Mr Nice Guy]

Jeez

All that just to play one game. Seems like you have to spend a fortune in upgrades just to play the newest games. I guess this why I gave up on My PC as a gaming machine a long time ago and bought a playstation and now an XBox. New games always work with your hardware, no spending hours trying to figure out why the game won't work or spending hundreds of dollars on new hardware everytime the new Doom comes out. Maybe I'm just lazy BTW I was hooked on Wolfenstien 3d(the first one) when it first came out and the original Doom as well. Anybody remember Heretic....I thought that one was really cool too. Well now I'm a Halo addict and I can't wait till november for Halo 2. That being said Doom3 does look SWEET! Have fun.....Later

[DJ Taso]

All that just to play one game. Seems like you have to spend a fortune in upgrades just to play the newest games.

I totally agree, but there's going to be a time when you need to upgrade. This is the time. With Doom 3 and Far Cry already out, and games such as Half Life 2, Quake 4 and S.T.A.L.K.E.R coming out, now is the time to upgrade. These games have all new different engines which will be around for a long time. New engines means better/faster video cards and processors....or you could always play on the minimum settings.

Computers are like cars - there's going to be some point in time when you need to upgrade it or get a new one.

[Formulaboy95]

Thanks DJTaso, I am looking at the Radeon 9800's/X800's. Too many bills to pay to go fer the X800. So it's probably gonna be the 9800. Gonna do some looking untill payday on friday.
The 9200 I have is 8x, 128MB DDR & 9.0 compliant. I guess the bottleneck is cheaper memory, smaller pipelines.

My Thermaltake Purepower powersupply is rated at 420W. Also, the MB has the 5.1 audio onboard, and I got the Creative 7.1 surround setup. It definately makes the gaming experience better.
Thanks for the help.

[Louer Adun]

One thing you could look into is a Powercolor Radeon 9800 SE from Newegg.com. It is easily softmoddable to a Radeon 9800 Pro with a little luck and about a 60% or 70% chance it seems. And even if it doesnt the 9800 SE perfrorms quite well for about 125 bucks.

[Aaron4TAMU]

One thing you could look into is a Powercolor Radeon 9800 SE from Newegg.com. It is easily softmoddable to a Radeon 9800 Pro with a little luck and about a 60% or 70% chance it seems. And even if it doesnt the 9800 SE perfrorms quite well for about 125 bucks.

You could also take the route I took...get the 9800pro 128mb and softmod it to the xt. The one I bought was 240 bucks, but they can be had for around 170. The reason I got the more expensive one is because it had beefed up cooling (arctic cooling vga silencer & ramsinks) and you don't have to worry about voiding the warrantee (although I guess moding it to the xt will void it anyway ). That means you have a better chance of overclocking it.