help me with graphics card please :)

[Guffrie]

Oke, basically I'll explain first and foremost, I'm a broke student studying A levels at school. No job etc.

Here's the problem: I've been told that some new games coming out use DX9 technology, and older cards (such as my GF3 ti200) won't run the game properly, if at all. First of all I'd like to know if they will run it or not? (ie, halo on 10th october, should I buy it or not?)

Secondly, if I'm going to upgrade my graphics card, to one that supports dx9 tech, what card should I get? I have around £50, and saw a GeForceFX 5200 128MB DDR AGP @ £50 - is that worth getting ? IE: will I notice an improvement from my GF3 or not?

thx

guff

 

[Embattle]

Fear not, the games will still run but you just won't see some of the top end effects which a DX9 card might be able to show.

I personally don't reckon the GFFX5200 is a worthwhile upgrade for yourself.

 

[Xavier]

Performance wise, you can relegate the 5200's to the same levels as the GeForce 4 MXs, albeit with a DirectX9 featureset...

If I were you, wait, save and get yourself a 9600Pro or similar later down the line.

Xav

 

[flownalk]

halo runs fine on my geforce2 gts... settings are low/medium.. course I dont get all the bells and whistles of a DX9 card but the game is playable

THe current crop of Nv cards dont really do DX9 so stay clear of them.. go for ATI 9600 and upwards

me im saving for a 9800xt... might take me a while but Ill get there

 

[Guffrie]

didn't think halo was out yet

anyhow, I have no idea what the hell is wrong, but I cant play RVS due to a hardware acceleration problem!?

"A problem occured initialising Direct3D. Hardware acceleration maybe disabled, please run DXDIAG."

Machine info: 1500mhz, 256mb, 64M nVidia GeForce3 Ti200 (0x0201).


thats the error box I get - is there a solution ?

 

[Embattle]

Have you actually checked what it asked you too?

 

[(Shovel)]

Indeed, run DirectX Diagnostic:

This is done by going to "Run" and typing:

dxdiag

If you're an XP user you may get asked a WHQL signiture question first, I doubt this is essential to resolving your problem, but it probably wont hurt to get it all checked and updated.

There is a dedicated Direct3D test built in, alongside various reports about your hardware configuration.

If that doesn't show up any issues, update to the latest nVidia Detonator drivers (if you've not done so already). Go to the driver control panel (Control Panel -> Desktop -> Settings -> Advanced -> Geforce 3 Ti200). On each menu item on here there is a "Reset to Defaults" option (I can't find a "Reset all", but there could be one hiding). Anyhow, if anything shines out there that needs resetting, try it

 

[Guffrie]

yep, it said that maybe my hardware acceleration was disabled. Dxdiag says nothing is wrong with my Direct3D settings - and hardware acceleration was at full. I've tried each of the 4 settings for HW Accel but get the same problem each time..

 

[(Shovel)]

Did it used to work? Or has it been that way since you installed it? Does it have a graphics setup of its own (separate to the main executable/launch shortcut)? Does it have a "Safe Mode" you can try?