THE SITE Main Page News Archive Submit News Search Site Discussion Rules IRC Chat Contact Staff Poll Archive  FEATURES Articles Interviews Mailbags Comics  HL2 GUIDE Walkthrough Secrets & Cheats General Strategy Story Characters Enemies Weapons HL2: Deathmatch  HL2 RESOURCES Overview Media FAQ Review List Press Links Purchase Options Site Links  EPISODIC CONTENT Episode One Screenshots Videos  CS:Source @ CS-Nation Overview FAQ  HOSTED  AFFILIATES Link to us   Home » Features » Guides » HL2 Hardware Q&A » Pages: 1 - 2 - 3 Guide: HL2 Hardware Q&A Author: Richie P Feedback: Comments/Discussion Date Added: July 9th, 2004 Print: Printable B&W Version It seems that a lot of people are worried about whether or not they need to upgrade for Half-Life 2 and, if so, what to buy. I've decided to write a small article answering the most commonly asked questions. I will also try to give people a rough outline of what to buy. However, in the end it's up to you to research any particular product that you are considering buying and compare to other products in its price range. I will just point you in the right direction. This Q&A is aimed at gamers wanting to put together their own system (or upgrade parts) but have little experience in the hardware field and need some sense made of all these GeForces, Radeons and xWhatevers. The first thing you should do is compare any proposed system to the minimum requirements. According to a Gabe Newell forum post, HL2 requires a semi-recent PC. Minimum Requirements 1.2 GHz Processor 256MB RAM DirectX 7 level graphics card Windows 2000/XP/ME/98 Mouse Keyboard Preferred System 2.4 GHz Processor 512MB RAM DirectX 9 level graphics card Windows 2000/XP Mouse Keyboard Q: Will my graphics card run HL2? Half-Life 2 will run on DX7 hardware and above, an example of DX7 hardware is a GeForce 2 or a GeForce 4 MX (really just a glorified GF2). It won't run very fast, though, and without any of the fancy effects. If you have hardware this old then you really do need to upgrade if you want to experience HL2's graphics anywhere near its potential. Likewise, if you have an integrated solution then you need to buy something new. If you have slightly newer hardware in the DX8 category like the GeForce4 Ti or Radeon 8500+, then HL2 should run pretty well and with some of the shader effects. However, you may still want to upgrade if you have the money and it's definitely a good idea for owners of low end GeForceFX cards. The GeForceFX 5200 is barely capable of rendering a scene using DX9 technology and has been know to go slower than a GeForce4 Ti. ATI's very low end offerings are much better either and can subsequently be treated like a DX8 card. Generally speaking, if you have a Radeon 9600 or above then HL2 will run pretty well. If you have a GeForceFX then HL2 won't run so well. Keep in mind that the graphics card, while having the biggest impact in 3D games, is only one component. The other parts (CPU, RAM etc.) need to be in the same ballpark of performance to avoid bottlenecking the system. There's no use having a V8 ready to hit 200kph with tyres that won't go the distance. In particular, your CPU needs to be modern enough to handle HL2's complex physics and AI calculations. Q: Which graphics card should I buy? The first thing to remember when buying a graphics card is the bottom line. Realistically speaking, you're not going to get a decent card for under £100 inc. VAT ($120 USD). If it costs less than that then either it's either out-dated technology or you've scored yourself one sweet deal. Every time I have spent less than £120 on a graphics card I've been severely disappointed. Side by side comparisons are the only sure way to compare the myriad of cards and models. Secondly, if it's in the GeForce FX 5xxx series, it's really not going to perform as well in HL2 as an "equivalent" ATI card. Valve have not specifically optimized HL2 for ATI cards, it's just a result of the way the cards work the DX9 and the Source code paths. If you look at the early performance of any FX card in Far Cry (or any shader benchmark) and at the image quality you will see Valve's concerns with this particular line of NVIDIA cards. Valve have repeatedly said that these FX cards will really not do the job well. This has nothing to do with "fanboyisms", it's just down to the simple fact that FX 5xxx cards have issues with SM2.0. NVIDIA have done their best to increase performance on these cards, but this has often led to decreases in image quality. If you're short on cash then you may want to consider a Radeon 9600XT or a 9800pro (not SE), the 9800Pro costs a bit more but is significantly faster. The 9800XT is a bit faster than a 9800Pro but not really worth the extra cash. Anything slower/cheaper than that is going to be dodgy — it's not going to last very long and soon you will be upgrading again, it won't run HL2 at or close to the highest settings either. If you have wads of cash and are looking for a long term upgrade then you have a hard choice ahead of you. NVIDIA have come back on form with the 6800 series and ATI have kept up with the x800s. Although ATI's new cards will be faster in HL2 (unless Gabe Newell is a filthy liar) they may not beat NV in other games, especially Doom III and possibly S.T.A.L.K.E.R which will apparently take advantage of SM3.0 (shader model 3.0). Another point to consider is the API support. The 6800's seem to outperform ATI's new cards quite markedly in OpenGL games (e.g. Doom III). HL2 is DirectX only, so it's a moot point in that regard. The x800s do not have support for the full SM3.0 feature set which won't cause them to lose any image quality in SM3.0 games, but may give NVIDIA a speed advantage. This has yet to be proven*. The x800s have something called 3Dc which will help boost performance in games that support it. One of which should be Half-Life 2. For a complete listing of nearly all modern video cards and their features, I recommend taking a look at The Desktop Graphics Card Comparison Guide. The new NVIDIA cards eat up more power and twice the space of the x800 (thanks FS). If you can't decide which one to get then take into consideration heat, power requirements and size. The x800 seems to come out on top in all these areas. On the other hand, if money is no object and you've got a beefy power supply and case, it might be best to wait for actual benchmarks of HL2 (not from the HL2 leak) and Doom III. Even if you're not going to buy D3, you will likely end up playing a game based on the D3 engine. *It has been tested in FarCry and there was some improvement, however it's early days yet. Q: Do I need PCI-Express? No. Should you get a PCIe motherboard? Not unless the graphics card you're buying requires it or if you plan to upgrade your graphics card, but not your motherboard in over a year's time. Early results seem to show that PCI Express isn't giving much of a performance boost at all (at least in this generation of video cards). In addition, only a couple of the most recent cards (the PCIe flavours of the X800 and 6800 chips) actually use PCI Express at the moment.   Next Page »   MODS HEADLINES Eternal Silence:.. Empires 2.21 Upda.. NeoTokyo Media Re.. ModDB 2008 MOTY A.. Black Mesa Develo.. Enterprise: TCW M.. LATEST FILES Half-Life: Decay.. Sourceforts v1.94 Modular Combat V1.. Left 4 Dead E3 Pr.. Left 4 Dead E3 Tr.. 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