HL2 DX6, DX7, DX8, DX9 feature comparison.

[Moridin]

I found this interesting. It outlines what features people with older cards will loose out on.

http://www.planetdescent.com/lyris/hl2_mpc.html

[Johnmcl7]

It's an interesting description, I look forward to seeing something similar with screenshots to highlight the differences. However, near the bottom I would say there's a bit of a mistake:

A DX8 video card won't give you all of the game's visual treats but you'll get most of the big ones. Upgrading to something newer will you at least $200, and depending on what card you have now, a video card upgrade may not be faster, just more fully featured. That said, the Radeon 9600 and 9800 cards, and the GeForce FX 5600 and 5900 are great upgrades.

Judging from recent performance articles on HL2, it would seem a 5600 is not a worthy upgrade over a DX8 card.

John

[Daywalker]

I don't think a 9600 Pro ande a 5600 Ultra are that far apart in performance. Could be wrong.

[Captain Iglo]

Originally posted by Daywalker
... Could be wrong.

http://www.tech-report.com/etc/2003q...h/index.x?pg=2


you guessed right...

[Chuck232]

Wha??? From the looks of it, the R9600Pro equals or beats the FX5900 Ultra when it's run at full DX9. And it equals it when it's running under "FX" mode. (guessing combination of 32, 24, and 16bit precision)

[Elink7]

It will be interesting to see what Nvidia's new det drivers will do to increase their performance, though I find it odd that Valve won't let anybody use them for test HL2 and publishing results. Does this bother anyone else? Even though I currently have an 9700pro, I still like Nvidia and hoping for a better card in the future (whenver budget allows ). Sorry Moridin, I don't mean to steal your thread.

[crashed13]

Looks like people with fast DX8 cards like the GF4 Ti's will still enjoy the game in DX8 mode and it well still look great also.

[Terry]

Noo, my GF4MX is only DX7!

It's gonna look ugly!!!!

Nooooooooooox100000

[Un4given]

Originally posted by Elink7
It will be interesting to see what Nvidia's new det drivers will do to increase their performance, though I find it odd that Valve won't let anybody use them for test HL2 and publishing results. Does this bother anyone else? Even though I currently have an 9700pro, I still like Nvidia and hoping for a better card in the future (whenver budget allows ). Sorry Moridin, I don't mean to steal your thread.

The drivers in their current state won't render fog, and Gabe Newell hinted heavily that the drivers might have other unacceptable optimizations, ala 3DMark 03 tricks.

[Chuck232]

Originally posted by Terry
Noo, my GF4MX is only DX7!

It's gonna look ugly!!!!

Nooooooooooox100000

And probably wont run the game well even at 640x480..

[Asrale]

Hey where'd you find that link, on the VUG Forums? I own that hosted site.

[Terry]

Originally posted by Chuck232
And probably wont run the game well even at 640x480..

Do they offer 320x240?
If DX6 cards are able to play, then I should be able to

[Chuck232]

I know UT2003 offers lower than 640x480, but it's not even worth playing. I tried it on a friend's comp and damn it was horrible. People were basically just blobs lol..

[Terry]

Aren'y blobs easier to hit?

[melee]

I am gonna start crying if my 9000m runs better than my 4400 in HL2.

Is the 9000 Dx 8 or 8.1?

Looks like it will look fine on an DX8 card, maybe I will save the upgrade for DX15.

EDIT: look at this:

As for recommended CPU requirements, Valve had no comment, but we'll hazard that anything able to meet or beat the performance of a 2.5GHz Pentium 4 will be just dandy.

finnally something that sticks with me, CPUs have only gone up 200mhz since I bought it, Its still great. Thats one thing I like recently CPu speeds have remained the same over the last year. Now my 4400 is another matter, then again i got it the day the 9700 came out, if only I knew...