 Originally Posted by Neil
Wonder what it would be like on my:-
P4 3Ghz@3.2
ATI XT800 overclocked
2Gb ram
That's a lower spec' than yours ain't it?
Umm, just a tad, yes, but not by much I don't think. You have more RAM than me, which is going to help a LOT in this game, but I've never looked at the specs of the ATI XT800 card, so I can't comment on that one just yet. Need to do some research. If the card is pretty up there in ATI's line of cards (like one of the top 2 or 3 generations of cards) you will probably be in the same boat as me - but again, i don't know the exact specs of your vid card, so I can't say 100%. 
Originally Posted by MinionZombie
Hmmm ... I played the MP Beta Demo on my rig, which is definitely "minimum specs"  for this game, and it ran quite well, some lag on some parts, but certainly no crawl ... it wasn't standard lag either, almost like a slower refresh rate to the image ... if that makes any sense.
MZ - remember, I had graphics on medium, but textures, shadows, and special fx cranked or damn close to it (that's the default for "medium" settings). Even though I backed those 3 settings off a bit and it ran smoother, it definitely brought my system to it's knees in certain intense parts before I lowered them. So much so I had to back off the graphics a bit to get smoother gameplay. I will say this: all I did was back off the texture quality a notch, turned off 'high quality shadows' (is that really a necessary option!?) and backed off the FX a bit. That's all. Once I did that it ran smoothly, but I full well expected my 7900GS to not even BLINK during this game.
Consider this: I play Quake 4, BF2, FarCry, and UT2k4 with the graphics cranked on MAX, and I still get incredible framerates.
Obviously I had to dial the graphics down a bit for it in some respects, but they weren't crash-bottom either ... besides, STALKER apparently has the ability to be jigged about a lot in the settings, and can go all the way down to DirectX 8, perhaps even 7, can't remember. But I'm rocking 9.0c ... so I think I'll be fine for STALKER (I F*CKING WELL HOPE SO OR I'M GOING POSTAL ON YOU ALL!!! ... unless you all buy me a monster gaming rig...then I'll just flick you or pinch you on the arm...  ) ... and I'll be fine for the coming final episodes of HL2, the only thing that slowed me down there was the HDR lighting, and even then I still played through Ep1 twice with it enabled, so it wasn't all bad - I've played at worse levels of speed (e.g. Max Payne 2 on my laptop back in the day, lol ... oh that wasn't good ).
This may very well be true. I don't know - like I said, I only messed with it for 45 minutes and that was it, and from what I saw, this is probably the most graphic-intense game i've ever seen, and I play a boatload of games as you know. There are LOTS of ways to tweak the graphics in Stalker, but as I said, the default "medium" killed my machine in a few spots. That, to me, is friggin' INSANE. I could understand if it was set on "HIGH" or "REALLY HIGH" settings - I would expected it to be bumpy in certain spots, but on MEDIUM? My video card should've tore through it faster than Michael Jackson going through kids at a daycare center. (sorry, I couldn't think of a better anaolgy)
See, a new gaming rig - too expensive for me, I'd have to overhaul my existing PC, but I'd rather spend less and get a console and not have to worry about upgrading ... in a few years, at most when Xbox360 etc are being replaced, then I'll get jiggy with the PC again ... and take a step back in time with all the games I'll probably end up skipping on, and be able to rock all their cocks at full speed, haha!
MZ - the line of price difference between the new console gaming systems and computers is being blurred every day. That rig I listed on the previous page? The case, motherboard, CPU chip, heatsink & fan (a Zalmon, not the standard stock AMD heatsinks) and power supply was only $700 USD for me. That, if you ask me, ain't bad when you take into consideration what the price of a PS3 or Xbox360 w/external HD-DVD drive. All you'd need then is a good card (my 7900GS only cost me $169 after a $20 rebate from newegg.com). I used the RAM from my previous machine, as well as the hard drives and optical drives - so basically, I got that rig for $869. That is actually a killer deal, considering the CPU chip alone (the FX-60) was selling for $500 on newegg when I bought this barebones system. 
I'm not saying people with lesser systems won't be able to play it - I just wanted ya'll to know that you're going to have to back off the graphics settings BIG TIME to get it to run smoothly. This game is so friggin' processor and graphic card processor intensive, it's insane.
Just expect to have to bump them settings back a bit to get it to run smoothly.
LC
***edited to add:
Intel is the processor to get at the moment though if you can by the looks of it!
*grabs a newspaper and smacks neil with it*
BAD Neil, BAD! Don't tell him that!
I couldn't resist, sorry.. I'm a proponent of AMD and have been for many many years, and with good reason. They've always been more efficient chips than Intel (it takes less instructions on an AMD chip to process info than an Intel - which equates out to more efficieny and more speed) however, the AMD/Intel debate is almost as inane as the Chevy/Ford debate - know what I mean? Having said that, Intel is indeed closing the gap on AMD again. They were ahead, then AMD surpassed them, now they're trying for the lead again.
Seriously, even though I personally dig AMD the best, I don't think it's the best for everyone. My advice to someone buying a new computer is: research, read, know everything about everything on the market today, and buy the system that best suits your needs and the best system you can afford. If you do that, you'll be happy with your purchase.
Just had to mess with ya about the Intel/AMD thing.
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