Half Life 2

swatcatpettus

swatcatpettus

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 18, 2005
Messages
133
Could anyone reccomend a cheap but very good graphics card that would get me through half life 2 at its highest settings smoothly?
 
9600? 9800Pro? 6600GT?
Any of those cards will run it fine with very high settings.
 
9600 will not suck in HL1 or HL2. It wont run HL2 with Full AA or AF but it will run it great non the less. What was your friends system?
 
HL2 looks beautiful regardless of the card you have (usually :rolleyes: )

Unless your card sucks balls...

------------

Probably a good rule of thumb: Always upgrade to the most bang for your buck! Think quality not quantity. Reviews and [H]ard|OCP help a lot when making these big decisions.
 
the answer is 42!

(If it doesn't make sense, then you haven't read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - :D )
 
buddy has a 9600 and it sucks balls. Even in HL 1
Click to expand...

Well your buddy needs to either Fix his computer Check to see if the cards not faulty or You need computer lessons badly lmfao.
9600 runs HL1 AND HL2 very good? Got a 9600XT sitting in a friends computer right hear and at 1024X768 with 2XAA it pulling very playable Framerates?

To Topic if you can afford 200+ then the 6600GT is the card you want But if money is tight then the 9600 is still a very good card for DX9 titles on a budget.
 
aNtHrAx323 said:
My buddy has a 9600 and it sucks balls. Even in HL 1. Go for a 6600.
Click to expand...

Integrated graphics can run HL1 man...

I'm running Halflife 2 with a 9600 XT 256MB DDR and it runs great and looks beautiful.
Click to expand...

That's more expensive than the 6600 GT... and personally I'd prefer the 6600 GT.
 
Thunder888 said:
the answer is 42!

(If it doesn't make sense, then you haven't read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - :D )
Click to expand...
I still dont get that whole book :confused:
 
chisaipete said:
HL2 looks beautiful regardless of the card you have (usually :rolleyes: )
Click to expand...

He's right. I just spent the weekend with my in-laws, and my wife's brother was playing the half-life 2 demo on a P4 3ghz with a geforce4 mx 440. He had most setting at medium, and the res at 800x600, and it runs at directx 7 level, but it still looks absolutely amazing. I was totally blown away with how well the game scales with hardware. This engine has got to be a developers dream come true.
 
swatcatpettus said:
Could anyone reccomend a cheap but very good graphics card that would get me through half life 2 at its highest settings smoothly?
Click to expand...

HIGHEST settings?

Then plan on gettinging something expensive. From what ive seen a 6800GT wont even get you highest settings.

I use a PNY geforce 5200 ultra (350/770) and i get about 60 fps on:800x 600, 16x AF, 2x AA, and high textures & models.
 
swatcatpettus said:
Could anyone reccomend a cheap but very good graphics card that would get me through half life 2 at its highest settings smoothly?
Click to expand...

Strapped for cash? 9600xt will work well for you.

Otherwise, 6600gt is really where the bang for buck is today.
 
polydiol said:
I was ableto run it with my old 9800 pro with everything turned on
Click to expand...
ya, HL2 rules for old hardware.
I played it maxed +16AF at 1024 with an 8500 and 2500+
30-45~fps avg.
Doom 3 got 15-25 fps, usally around 20 :cool:
 
6800GT will run it very smoothly if you have a decent CPU. I have a 3500+ with a 6800GT and it runs 85fps (limited by VSync) @ 1280x1024 2x AA, 2x AF. I couldn't get the benchmarks to run but I have the framerate turned on and it's pretty solid. I've never seen it go below 45fps.
 
FaultySanity said:
HIGHEST settings?

Then plan on gettinging something expensive. From what ive seen a 6800GT wont even get you highest settings.

I use a PNY geforce 5200 ultra (350/770) and i get about 60 fps on:800x 600, 16x AF, 2x AA, and high textures & models.
Click to expand...

Dude, my 5900 got through fine on highest settings, even after I forced dx9. And my new 6800gt, rest of specs in sig, you see that my CPU ain't all that amazing. I get through 1280 x 1024, HIGHEST EVERYTHING, and never drop below 50FPS. Anywho, I would suggest a 6600gt.
 
If I were you, I would not spend .01 on a 128bit memory card (9600, 6600GT) as it is a large waste of money. I'd go with a plain 6800.
 
Sp33dFr33k said:
6800GT will run it very smoothly if you have a decent CPU. I have a 3500+ with a 6800GT and it runs 85fps (limited by VSync) @ 1280x1024 2x AA, 2x AF. I couldn't get the benchmarks to run but I have the framerate turned on and it's pretty solid. I've never seen it go below 45fps.
Click to expand...

Why 2xaa 2xaf? Your system will run easily at 4xaa 8xaf. Plus that's the default setting for that setup.
 
Thunder888 said:
the answer is 42!

(If it doesn't make sense, then you haven't read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - :D )
Click to expand...

the answer is always 42, my friend, you are very wise
 
I played it through on a Geforce3 Ti200 and it played damn smooth with damn decent quality .... of course I had a A64 3500+ along with it .... :)
 
sarbz said:
He's right. I just spent the weekend with my in-laws, and my wife's brother was playing the half-life 2 demo on a P4 3ghz with a geforce4 mx 440. He had most setting at medium, and the res at 800x600, and it runs at directx 7 level, but it still looks absolutely amazing. I was totally blown away with how well the game scales with hardware. This engine has got to be a developers dream come true.
Click to expand...

HL2 looks terrible with texture settings on medium and low. Absolutely terrible. Not only are the textures HL quality (sometimes worse, actually) on medium, the faces and clothing of almost all the people become blotches. No details left.

The only way to get a decent visual experience is with high details on models and textures. Resolution doesn't matter so much, though Source engine games really do need some AA at a minimum because the jaggies are worse than in any other engine in recent memory.

Doom 3 may or may not scale as well in terms of performance, but the medium and low quality modes aren't "everything is so blotchy i should jump off a cliff" bad


As for the original post, see if you can get a 9700pro if you don't want to spend 200 dollars. Ati hardware runs the game smoothly.
 
Honestly I think some peoples' perception of quality is somewhat off. Maybe I am just spoiled at 1920x1200 2xAA 16xAF w/all high and reflect world pulling 100+ fps most of the time.
 
ohnnyj said:
Honestly I think some peoples' perception of quality is somewhat off.
Click to expand...

I have a 6800GT and play at 1280x1024 with everything maxed, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. But I'm telling you, the demo didn't look that bad on that 440mx! It was definately playable, and the lighting, and the detailed environment (not textures) made up for the blurry textures and jaggies (which weren't really that bad). They also have a 19" LCD that has a slow response time, so that might have created a "smoother" illusion. It's hard to tell fps and texture detail when the monitor ghosts. We were also playing a lot of xbox, so maybe I was subconciously making the comparison to that :D
 
Anyone run HL2 with a Geforce Ti4200? I have a friend with one, but he doesn't have HL2. He plays a lot of other newer games just fine though. You can pick those up for under $50 on ebay. It won't run in dx9, but it should still run smoothly with details cranked at a lower res.
 
sarbz said:
I have a 6800GT and play at 1280x1024 with everything maxed, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. But I'm telling you, the demo didn't look that bad on that 440mx! It was definately playable, and the lighting, and the detailed environment (not textures) made up for the blurry textures and jaggies (which weren't really that bad). They also have a 19" LCD that has a slow response time, so that might have created a "smoother" illusion. It's hard to tell fps and texture detail when the monitor ghosts. We were also playing a lot of xbox, so maybe I was subconciously making the comparison to that :D
Click to expand...
It did look bad since it wasn't doing anything special for effects.
It looked like quake 3 or something right?
http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2281&p=9
 
Moloch said:
It did look bad since it wasn't doing anything special for effects.
It looked like quake 3 or something right?
http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2281&p=9
Click to expand...

Better than quake 3 because they did a better job with the textures and lighting. But you're right about the effects. It doesn't look nearly as shiny, bumpy, or "touchable" as it does on my 6800gt. But it still looks good even without all that stuff. You have to see it to believe it. I'll get a screenshot.
 
Btw, is anyone still having stuttering problems with the high texture details and resolution ??
 
ech3lon9 said:
Btw, is anyone still having stuttering problems with the high texture details and resolution ??
Click to expand...

Mine still studders a little when I save a game. Other than that, it runs great!

Ax
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top