Searching for another new gaming rig

[DrSpike]

It's all about option values.

[Jon Miller]

The newest (? I bought it in May, so this might have changed) Intel Graphics runs Civ4 Standard just fine (well, until the modern era). Then it can slow down when a lot of troops get on the screen. It also plays HL2, but not CS:S for some reason.

JM

[DrSpike]

HL2? I'm a little surprised.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Jon Miller
The newest (? I bought it in May, so this might have changed) Intel Graphics runs Civ4 Standard just fine (well, until the modern era). Then it can slow down when a lot of troops get on the screen. It also plays HL2, but not CS:S for some reason.

JM

i believe it the Intel Media Accelerator 9000, or something like that. I doubt theyve done another full gen of IG after Intel Extreme.

[Quillan]

Counter Strike: Source includes HDR lighting, I think. That's probably why.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Quillan
Counter Strike: Source includes HDR lighting, I think. That's probably why.

not a problem for me

[pg]

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=3674

[DrSpike]

Originally posted by lord of the mark


not a problem for me

Well you have to think to the future - you may want to pwn some noobs later down the line.

[Snotty]

Try and get a motherboard that has an AGP slot on it. thats a specialized graphic card slot, and you can get cheaper powerful graphics cards to fit in it

[Solver]

Not true for the latest graphics cards. They aren't making AGP cards anymore, and the AGP versions of cards from the last generation are more expensive than PCI-E. Say, a GeForce 7600 is more expensive on AGP than PCI-E.

[Snotty]

As it happens I just learnt about PCI-express today when I was looking up info about my new dual nvidea SLI graphics card

I mention the AGP because my desktop has an old AGP slot sapphire radeon 9250 256mb card which costs around £30 now and has enough oomph for civ 4, and even FPS games like doom 3 on low settings (enough to kick arse at multiplayer anyway)

I challenge people here to find the lotM a similarly cheap and versatile card

[Spaced Cowboy]

No AGP is a bad idea at this point. The upgrade path will not be available.

I found 55 pci-e cards on newegg for $25-50.

Including a nice selection of ATI cards that were about 50% faster than you card, support direct X 9, are Vista ready, and were only about $40.

[Snotty]

you win

[lord of the mark]

i checked out the build it for you shop this weekend, and their cheapest advertised special is well more expensive than the better deals from the name brand manufacturers, for no better specs. I may need to take some time to compare parts.

Most of the machines with a slot have PCI-E, but I saw at least one with AGP, so thanks for the heads up.

[DrSpike]

Maybe you should just download a 'build it yourself' guide from the web FOR FREE. That would save you

That's what I'd do. It's really very easy, as long as you can follow simple instructions.