Graphics and Upgrades

[damodee]

Hi guys,

Being one of the oldest members here no doubt I was just woundering if you guys could post your age if you think you are the oldest one playing, at 24 I feel I am too old to play this now!

My main question is that I will be building a new Computer soon as mine is now 3 years old. My graphics card is a Geforce 4 Ti4400 and cost roughly £300 new, my question is this, in a new computer would this graphics card be fast enough to play RCT 3? My computer currently plays the game but as soon as I add one coaster it slows down, I belive the main culprit is my cpu which is a XP 1400.

Or is it a case of this game being too complex for even the most high end of Systems?

Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks

Damo

[Silkius]

Well damodee

being 42 myself - i can probably claim the crown of oldest git on the boards - who is also a regular gamer and has been since PC's came with no hard drive, 2x floppys and 640k of RAM was considered an expensive upgrade.
(Actually I was also building mainframes when a hard disk was literaly a hard disk - about 2ft accross and was screwed onto a drive bigger than a coffee table) & I've been building my own (on & off) since the 286/12

In answer to your question -the ti4400 was a very good card and 'should still handle RCT3 albiet probably not on the highest settings - the latest nvidia drivers should help a little too (check oout the Frontier FAQ - the link is posted a couple of times)

To be honest the diference between low and high gfx memory (32mb - 256) is still only 192mb which is not a lot in comparrison to the rest of the PC and some of this games problems is the bottleneck it generates between GFX and AGP buffer .

Yes the game is ahead of its time - but it was built that way on purpose - with no limits - so the game engine should be able to run for some time to come. Unfortunatly that is at the cost to our PC's at the moment - where tech is stil catching up.

Basically I guess it depends how much your spending on the rest or the components.
But I would personally think that your card should hold 'for now' if you want to spend the rest on other hardware resources as long as you make sure the drivers are upto date (might want to check out whether the video bios needs flashing to a more current one as well).

It also depends what kind of motherboard your intending to get - i.e. AGP 8x or even a PCI express - if you are possibly looking for the latter - check out the long term possibility for nvidia's SLI dual GFX tech (where you can run 2x PCI express GFX cards to double the power of your gfx rendiering - I would love to see how that handles RCT3) - i.e. the availabilty of 2x pci express slots over an AGP one - and whether you can afford the rest + something like a 6600GT (which is cheaper than he latest card - but in the long run 2x 6600's would be faster than a 6800 and give nearly 512mb GFX ram)
To cut my long winded post down to size - I would either stick to AGP - and spend the GFX money on better CPU/More RAM/SATA drives etc., and keep my Ti4400 for now (ir at least untill I spot a worthy upgrade going at a decent price) Or I would bite the bullet - go PCI express and the best GFX card my pocket could afford (that would be SLI compatible) - with the intension of getting another or 2x another later - the advantage of self build is that abiltity (within reason) to leave scope for some reasonable upgrading.

And no you're not too old to play this game (or any other) it all depends whether you like that format. RCT has and always will be (I hope) a game that is fun - even my wife enjoys it. I like many games - but I am too old to work out/learn complex key press routines to play some silly FPS/Platform game that has no lasting quality.

[damodee]

Thank you for your help, very much appreciated.

Im glad Im not the oldest, only joking!

It looks like this christmas will be sent building my new computer, and for me its not the computer you end up with thats fun, its building and knowing its all your hard work that pays off.

Thanks again

Damo

[Justy]

I wish I was still 24! I can give you another 10 years on that! Enjoying gaming doesn't end with your twenties you know :D

[Fluxx]

Originally posted by Silkius


being 42 myself - i can probably claim the crown of oldest git on the boards -



Hahahahahahahahah............if only you knew.......:dark:

I think Warspite outguns you on that one......:tup:


And 24?.......Too old?........Yeah right.......:frownblue


(You should join us 'old folks' on a Sunday night in UT2004........then we'd show you whipper-snappers a thing or two....;) )

And Silkius.....have you checked your pm's?

[tenebra_uk]

Warspite is 59, no? :biggringr

*I guess he won't be sending me a Christmas card this year :lolblue: *

[Fluxx]

Aw.......you probably wouldnt have wanted one......:)


At his age it's bound to be a personalised one, with a photo of him and Mrs W. sitting in front of a roaring log fire, in smoking jacket and ballgown, drinking snifters of brandy and quaffing mince pies, with their faithful hound, Jasper, curled up at their feet.

At the top it probably reads 'Merry Christmas from the Warspite Family'....;)


And you wouldnt want any of your 'real' friends to see that, would you? :lightbulb

[Silkius]

Originally posted by Fluxx
Hahahahahahahahah............if only you knew.......:dark:

I think Warspite outguns you on that one......:tup:


And 24?.......Too old?........Yeah right.......:frownblue


(You should join us 'old folks' on a Sunday night in UT2004........then we'd show you whipper-snappers a thing or two....;) )

And Silkius.....have you checked your pm's?

Okay, glad to know I aint the grandaddy here then ..... and in between smoking my pipe, wearing slippers and eating werthers old originals - (just to give the young-uns some sterotypes to work on) I don't play UT - but I do slice and dice pretty neatly with a lightsabre (Dark Forces 2 to Jedi Acadamey) single/twin or staff. But generally fps is not my style of gaming. If I am not playing tycoon games (from RCT to Patrician 3 ) I tend to head for CRPG's (Baldurs, NWN KOTR etc.,)


And yes I have checked my messages (now I know I had some)

[Fluxx]

Hmmm.......Jedi Acacdemy..........Oh no........I got rid of it.......still got JK2 Outcast though.....:tup: