video cards and shaders

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Raz

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I'm sorry for this question, but I couldn't find any answers, but anyway:

What shader technology does M&B use (eg. 2.0/3.0); And what kind of
video card do I need (at minimum) for it to work?; atleast the shineyness..
Another question, how many of you have the shineyness on the armour,
and what kind of video card do you use? And how expensive was it? (yes
I'm lazy)

You can lock this post if you like when all my questions are answered

Thanks =)
 
I'm not entirely sure that there has been any type of minimum requirements released for the game yet. It would be hard to do so, considering noone knows for sure what differences will be made between now and version 1.0.

The video card that I use on this computer is an ATI 9800xt. It was around $350 (I believe) the last time I checked ... although that might be way off.

No idea what shader technology ...

No need to lock this thread when everything is answered, as it is directly related to M&B and it might end up containing good information.

Narcissus
 
Ahh yes thanks :smile: that's a reasonable price.. what fps do you usually have?

edit: I'm guessing some kind of shader 2.x ?
 
150 (locked at this) is my norm ... although in really big battles it sometimes drops to around 70 - 80 (when facing the largest concentration of troops).

Truthfully, I think that M&B uses more processing power than anything else, as when I run applications in the background ... it really hurts the frames per second.

Narcissus
 
Ahh sweet.. do you use the hardclyff battle size changer?

Yes I know.. I always close explorer to ensure a 'decent' framerate of max 50 :razz:
 
How do you close explorer? I thought it just popped up again before you got back in the game? I also thought it didn't use any processing power when you weren't on the desktop?
*frazzled*
 
It does, actually :wink: But before you close explorer you have to start M&B, because the sound won't work if you don't

So for closing explorer:
Press ctrl+alt+delete
Select the tab 'processes', then select explorer, press delete (it only closes) and then enter.
congrats, your memory usage has just been cut in half =)
 
Actually, i seem to recall Armagan stating the minimum specs. Don't feel like searching for the thread, but if i remember correctly they are as follows:
800mgz processor (p3 or greater)
128mb RAM
32MB video card

Now, with alot of older games, and those with lesser graphics (like M&B), the type of video card you use has a very small impact on performance, provided its not ancient. I'm not sure exactly what type of card you have to have for the pixel shader support, but anything made in the last 3 years would probably suffice. I'm running a radeon 9800pro, and even that is overkill for this game. Also, my old card was a GeForce3, and on Morrowind i could enable the pixel shading support to see the water do its perdy shiny thing...so i would assume that a similar card would allow that feature on M&B (and a Geforce3 is something like, 5 years old). I posted this recently in another section, but i'll state these results again. I recently upgraded from 512mb of memory to 1gig, and only notice about a +10-15% increase in fps, if that. Then, i threw in another 512 chip totaling 1.5 gig, and noticed no increase in performance whatsoever. Not only on M&B, but on any new game, including Battlefield 2, Farcry, Doom3, F.E.A.R, and Starship Troopers.
 
Ahh.. thanks for the info.. but I don't think a geforce 3 willdo, cuz a friend of mine played it with a 4, and he can't play with bump maps and shaders.. so I guess I'll be buying a 6+ then :smile:

how expensive was the memory upgrade?

edit: And how new's the radeon you have.. and how expensive is that one? :razz:
And does it perform with those new games BF2/FEAR etc?

Sorry for all my questions, but it takes ages to get all of that information from the net, might of just aks em now.. :smile:
 
No problem at all, glad to help. Well, i purchased 1gig of ddr 400 pc3200 memory for $90 a little over a month ago. Now, as far as my card goes, yes, i can run Battlefield 2 flawlessly on medium settings with 6x AA, and 16x AF (i'm a little limited by only having 128mb video memory though). So i can run any game ever made very well, usually on medium settings or higher with my card. I just looked up some prices on www.newegg.com and my card is going for around $130 right now. The radeon 9800XT (256mb video memory version of mine) runs for a little under $200, but if you wanted the extra memory you'd be better off with the X800, as it's faster and about the same price. The radeon 9600pro, which is a bit slower but would run M&B and equivalent games just the same costs around $70, if you're not a very serious gamer looking to save money (great card for the price). Personally, i would stick with ATI video cards, as they seem more reliable, and have better drivers/more frequent driver updates.
 
Hmm, it's been my experience that between the two ATI tends to make slightly superior hardware with somewhat poor driver and software support, while nVidia does a pretty consistent good job with drivers.
I wonder why ATI seems to have fallen so far behind on the latest generation? Seems to be a first for them. All they've managed so far is a paper launch. Probably catch back up with the next generation.

As far as drivers, nVidia has always been very quick about fixes for specific games throughout the 4 cards of theirs I've owned. The two ATI cards, on the other hand... The first one I had was a few years ago, when ATI's drivers were absolutely horrible. For every bug they fixed, they seemed to break something else or unfix something. Then, with the drivers still broken, they dropped support for the card and no longer updated drivers. So, I didn't like ATI too much. Admittedly their drivers have come a long way from how the used to be.
A while back, when the Radeon 9700 was fairly new, I relented and bought one of those, since I'd seen so many good framerate tests and such. Switched from my older Geforce card, and the Radeon driver installation process came up with an error message and crashed partway through. Tried again, it would crash in the same place. Apparently not an uncommon problem, from checking online. Since the installation had added the driver files, I was able to manually install them without another problem. I forget what game I tried first, but I do remember it had some graphical corruption bug and that the game randomly crashed. The graphic glitch was apprently known by ATI and they eventually fixed it. Turns out the crashing was a bug with the game, but at the time I was quite willing to blame the card. Took the video card back to the store and got another Geforce instead after having those problems. Everything was great then.
I think ATI has further improved their drivers, and their antialising is better in some respects, but they've sufficiently ticked me off so that I'm not buying an ATI card again.
So to sum it up for me, ATI=good hardware, nVidia=stable drivers;nVidia=winner.
[/tired ramble]

BTW, good pick with NewEgg, it rules them all. I wuv NewEgg. :smile:
 
So if I get this right.. ati is radeon and nvidia geforce..? Thanks for all the info guys.. So you recommend a geforce.. what kind of? 6/7/8?
But can you install all of those cards mentioned on every computer? Or do you need a specific motherboard and amount of ram etc?

Because I have a crappy dell dimension 8100 geforce 2 256 ram if I'm correct ( :oops: ).. the graphics card isn't 'baked' on the motherboard.

I'm a serious gamer, and I usually play on xbox, but it's getting a little out-dated now.. so wich upgrades do you recommend?
I'd very like to play games like FEAR or B&W2 or Battlefield 2..
Not neccisarily on best graphics, but with a decent framerate I guess.. And I have a budget of about $400.. I'm looking for a card, not neccesarily the best performance, but as long as it plays most games ánd is compatible with my comp..

(Or should I just bring it to a company who installs all of that :roll:
OR should I just buy a whole new processor :shock: )
 
I would go with Radeon over nvidia, theyre cheaper and better in the mid range. anything over a radeon 9500 will run this like a dream (as the game is now anyway). Stay clear of any of the geforce 5 range, the shaders are ****e.
Dont think the game uses pixelshaders as it is anyway


Take a look on ebuyer.com for graphics cards, they are the cheapest Ive seen.
 
Ah thanks :grin:
But I'm also talking about games in general.. the newest ones.. works radeon well with those?

edit: and it uses pixelshaders, look at the rocks and armour
 
Raz,

The ongoing war between Ati fans and Nvidia fans is a tough battle to jump in on. Simply put ... any mid-range newer graphics card by either of these two companies would work well for you.

I think that Ati is better for mid-range systems (which seems what you are looking for) because of cost.
 
Sweet. That's just the advice what I wanted to hear :smile:
But my main question now is: Are they compatible with my pc? because it's an old one, and I think I don't have any PCI-E and stuff..
And do they run most games?
 
I have an Ati 9800pro and 9800xt ... both of them run new games quite well. Not the top end of performance, but they get the job done for now.

Both of them are AGP cards so you shouldn't have any problem there. :wink:
 
Yess :grin: I think I'll be buying one of those then.. or atleast in that direction.
Do you recommend upgrading my Ram too? (256 mb) Or doens't that matter when playing games..

edit: do you have two video cards on 1 pc?!
 
No, I own several computers.

256 mb of ram? Ack! I would go with 512 minimum ...

Anyone else want to offer suggestions and helpful hints as it seems Raz and I are just chatting away. :razz:
 
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