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Oh yes, the beast is born!
All parts arrived ontime and intact (thanks E***er) and so I set to the mammoth task of building her yesterday! :D Specs are as follows:
Athlon XP Barton 2800+
1024mb ddr pc2700 (Crucial RAM)
Leaktek 5600FX 256MB
Seagate Barracuda 60gig
GNR 17inch TFT
Windows XP Pro
Neon lighting, loads of fans and extra goodies besides...
Well, still got a few teething problems (monitor and floppy drive), but the system is up and running and in a fit state to play games, which is all that matters. :)
So, installed UT2003 last night, and the game automatically set video and details settings to maximum. Loaded up a tasty outdoor map and got fraggin'. Needless to say the game looks absolutely stunning and runs like a greased-up rat through a drain pipe. :D
And that's in standard spec...wait till I start tuning her...
3dMark results to come soon(ish).
All parts arrived ontime and intact (thanks E***er) and so I set to the mammoth task of building her yesterday! :D Specs are as follows:
Athlon XP Barton 2800+
1024mb ddr pc2700 (Crucial RAM)
Leaktek 5600FX 256MB
Seagate Barracuda 60gig
GNR 17inch TFT
Windows XP Pro
Neon lighting, loads of fans and extra goodies besides...
Well, still got a few teething problems (monitor and floppy drive), but the system is up and running and in a fit state to play games, which is all that matters. :)
So, installed UT2003 last night, and the game automatically set video and details settings to maximum. Loaded up a tasty outdoor map and got fraggin'. Needless to say the game looks absolutely stunning and runs like a greased-up rat through a drain pipe. :D
And that's in standard spec...wait till I start tuning her...
3dMark results to come soon(ish).
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adrian wrote:
> Practical Magic wrote:
> Gah ! Apparently the new Radeon's need to be set a certain way to
> make
> them work properly with 3D Mark 2003, and I'm not messing around
> with
> the settings. It plays Raven Shield and Vice City on full settings
> with no flaws so I'm happy.
>
> I didnt need to set anything up. The only thing you need is Direct X 9
> installed.
I read on another forum you have to turn off full screen AA and the ansiotropic filtering thing ? I'll try it and see what I get.
My system spec is
Pentium 4 2.6 GHZ - incidentally does anyone know whether I should leae hyperthreading always on or off, will it impact on peformance if left on permanently ??? 800MHZ Front side bus (?)
512mb DDR RAM running at 400mhz
80GB Hard drive
Soundblaster Live 5.1
ATI Radeon 9800 with 128mb memory
If I post a score can anyone tell me if it is good or bad ?
Also, Adrian, sounds like you have a Radeon 9800, what kind of settings do you use for it - for Direct 3d/Open GL etc ?
> Practical Magic wrote:
> Gah ! Apparently the new Radeon's need to be set a certain way to
> make
> them work properly with 3D Mark 2003, and I'm not messing around
> with
> the settings. It plays Raven Shield and Vice City on full settings
> with no flaws so I'm happy.
>
> I didnt need to set anything up. The only thing you need is Direct X 9
> installed.
I read on another forum you have to turn off full screen AA and the ansiotropic filtering thing ? I'll try it and see what I get.
My system spec is
Pentium 4 2.6 GHZ - incidentally does anyone know whether I should leae hyperthreading always on or off, will it impact on peformance if left on permanently ??? 800MHZ Front side bus (?)
512mb DDR RAM running at 400mhz
80GB Hard drive
Soundblaster Live 5.1
ATI Radeon 9800 with 128mb memory
If I post a score can anyone tell me if it is good or bad ?
Also, Adrian, sounds like you have a Radeon 9800, what kind of settings do you use for it - for Direct 3d/Open GL etc ?
EL Robin wrote:
> Wo that is one powerfull machine, almost as good as mine...
> Not quite though...
> I have 120GB...
His machine ain't powerful. My new one will blow the specs to dust!
> Wo that is one powerfull machine, almost as good as mine...
> Not quite though...
> I have 120GB...
His machine ain't powerful. My new one will blow the specs to dust!
I like your beast Uncle Albert.
Cheers for the info mate :)
Cheers for the info mate :)
EL Robin wrote:
> Wo that is one powerfull machine, almost as good as mine...
> Not quite though...
> I have 120GB...
Opted for the 60gig drive because...
A) I'll struggle to fill evne that amount of space.
B) Generally, the larger the drive, the slower your comp gets.
> Wo that is one powerfull machine, almost as good as mine...
> Not quite though...
> I have 120GB...
Opted for the 60gig drive because...
A) I'll struggle to fill evne that amount of space.
B) Generally, the larger the drive, the slower your comp gets.
Yes, and I have got more, but the drives go down to J:/ because of the number of hard disks and drivesr.
Wo that is one powerfull machine, almost as good as mine...
Not quite though...
I have 120GB...
Not quite though...
I have 120GB...
Practical Magic wrote:
> Gah ! Apparently the new Radeon's need to be set a certain way to make
> them work properly with 3D Mark 2003, and I'm not messing around with
> the settings. It plays Raven Shield and Vice City on full settings
> with no flaws so I'm happy.
I didnt need to set anything up. The only thing you need is Direct X 9 installed.
> Gah ! Apparently the new Radeon's need to be set a certain way to make
> them work properly with 3D Mark 2003, and I'm not messing around with
> the settings. It plays Raven Shield and Vice City on full settings
> with no flaws so I'm happy.
I didnt need to set anything up. The only thing you need is Direct X 9 installed.
Gah ! Apparently the new Radeon's need to be set a certain way to make them work properly with 3D Mark 2003, and I'm not messing around with the settings. It plays Raven Shield and Vice City on full settings with no flaws so I'm happy.
Uncle Albert wrote:
> Your video card is waaaay better than mine Adrian. I reckon my FX5600
> must be the bottleneck in my system. Might well get a top of the range
> jobby at Christmas, see how if runs the likes of Half-Life 2 first. :)
Yes I think so as well. I remember when I got my old PC I bought a cheap Geforce 2 MX200 for £60 and it was a major bottle neck. I had 3dmark2000 and it didnt get too much. I expected about 4 times what I actually got. So this time I thought that I will spend more money than I was going to and get a top notch system in all respects. Plus I want to play Doom 3 and Halflife 2 so having a Radeon 9800 Pro will certainly keep my system in playing these games in high detail. Run Unreal 2 smoothly with everything pumped to the Max and at 1600x1200, also runs smooth with 16x AA and 6 x FSAA. Can't complain about that as Unreal 2 is probably the most graphical game around at the moment.
Havent got 3dmark2001 or 2003 installed but I remember that 3dmark2001 is something like 15600 and 3dmark2003 is 5600.
> Your video card is waaaay better than mine Adrian. I reckon my FX5600
> must be the bottleneck in my system. Might well get a top of the range
> jobby at Christmas, see how if runs the likes of Half-Life 2 first. :)
Yes I think so as well. I remember when I got my old PC I bought a cheap Geforce 2 MX200 for £60 and it was a major bottle neck. I had 3dmark2000 and it didnt get too much. I expected about 4 times what I actually got. So this time I thought that I will spend more money than I was going to and get a top notch system in all respects. Plus I want to play Doom 3 and Halflife 2 so having a Radeon 9800 Pro will certainly keep my system in playing these games in high detail. Run Unreal 2 smoothly with everything pumped to the Max and at 1600x1200, also runs smooth with 16x AA and 6 x FSAA. Can't complain about that as Unreal 2 is probably the most graphical game around at the moment.
Havent got 3dmark2001 or 2003 installed but I remember that 3dmark2001 is something like 15600 and 3dmark2003 is 5600.
Practical Magic wrote:
> I'm downloading 3dmark right now, it's the version for Direct X9 so
> I'll be interested to know what it scores.
>
> On another note, I suspect the the difference between an ATI Radeon
> 9800 and a Pro is very little, I know I ordered a plain 9800 but
> everything on this machine says it's a Pro inside.
What on the actual card? If its just says it in Windows then it may be the drivers just saying its 9800 Pro.
I suspect there is a difference between the Pro and non-Pro. I havent been able to find the memory speeds but there probably is a difference. Other cards in the Radeon series have different performances from Pro to non-Pro. You might be able to over clock the card to get the same sort of performance.
> I'm downloading 3dmark right now, it's the version for Direct X9 so
> I'll be interested to know what it scores.
>
> On another note, I suspect the the difference between an ATI Radeon
> 9800 and a Pro is very little, I know I ordered a plain 9800 but
> everything on this machine says it's a Pro inside.
What on the actual card? If its just says it in Windows then it may be the drivers just saying its 9800 Pro.
I suspect there is a difference between the Pro and non-Pro. I havent been able to find the memory speeds but there probably is a difference. Other cards in the Radeon series have different performances from Pro to non-Pro. You might be able to over clock the card to get the same sort of performance.
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