Doom 3 video probs

[Scarface523]

I just bought a Geforce fx 5500 256mb DDR and now I can't play doom 3. I get a gray screen at doom startup and it never goes away. I can hear music in the backgrnd but all I see is the gray screen. It ran fine before with a geforce 4 ti4200. Any help is appreciated.

 

[BrandtP]

Pardon me if this seems too obvious, but are you using the latest drivers from Nvidia? For others to help, it would also be good to post your system specs.

 

[Scarface523]

Yes I have the latest drivers from nvida. I have an Athlon xp 1600+ ; 512 mb ram ; geforce fx 5500 256 mb agp video.

 

[jammydodger]

What motherboard are you using?

 

[pauldh]

Easiest solution, go back to the Ti4200 as it is a faster card. You went from a faster DX8 card to a slower DX9 card. A FX5500 is basically a slightly overclocked 128-bit FX5200, and too slow to really enjoy anything DX9 will add to your gaming experience.

I can understand wanting to solve that problem with the FX5500, but honestly you downgraded. If you get frustrated, just go back to the GF4Ti4200.


ABIT IS7, P4 2.6C, 1GB Corsair XMS 4000 Pro Series, Radeon 9800 Pro, Santa Cruz, TruePower 430watt

 

[Scarface523]

what video card under $200 would you recomend? I'm also getting the same problem with star wars battlefront game. I bought the 5500 because it had 256mb of DDR, where as the ti4200 only has 64mb. doom 3 ran pretty slow with it so i do need a new one. let me know what you recomend. thanks.

 

[Mr5oh]

Many people forget that the TI4200/4400/4600 were incredible cards. Yours only being 64 MB was holding you back a little.

Now I have always owned Nvidia, but in the sub $200 dollar catagory, your best bet is the 9600XT or 9800 PRO (9800 Pro, sits between 190-220). Either would be good choices.

Also keep in mind that many of the 256 MB video cards, don't have as good of RAM as the 128 MB versions, so you may want to keep that in mind if you plan on doing any overclocking.

I had a TI4400, 128MB version for a quite a while (ordered it when it first came out), Here recently when I went to upgrade, I really found that nothing short of a 9800 series ATI, or 5900 GeForce, was truely an upgrade. I ended up purchasing a 6800, which doesn't quite fit your $200 budget.

Anyways, look more towards, a 9800 Pro, or 9600XT, they are ATI, but are your best choices for lower end stuff (Well if you can call those cards low-end?).

My Desktop: <A HREF="http://Mr5oh.tripod.com/pc.html" target="_new">http://Mr5oh.tripod.com/pc.html</A>

 

[jammydodger]

It is a common error to base your descision on a graphics card based on the ammount of memory it comes with. You have to look at the whole set up, the primary concern is the GPU its speed a features (is it DX9 compliant? How many pixel pipelines does it have? etc.) next important is the speed of the memory (Mhz? Memory bus size 128bit or 256bit?) then its the size of the memory.

 

[Coyote]

For $200 you can get a 9800 pro 128MB card. maybe even a little less. Look for sales etc. It'll be a BIG improvement over the other cards you mention.

If you can wait a while, I hear the 6600GT will be out for about $200. Could be a couple of months though.


Mobile XP 2600+ (11X200)
Abit NF7-S v 2.0
Maxtor 60GB ATA 133 7200RPM
512MB Corsair Twinx 3200LL
BBA 9800 Pro
Enermax Noisetaker 420 watts
Win98SE

 

[pauldh]

I too would definately recommend a 256-bit 128MB Radeon 9800 Pro. Outpost.com has a retail box Built By ATI (BBA) with 3 year warranty for $180 + $5-$10 shipping. Hard to beat that, especially for a BBA retail box.

If Doom 3 is really your thing, maybe waiting for a 6600GT or stepping up to a 6800 NU is worth it. Other games won't show the same performance gain as in Doom 3. But Problem is, personally I doubt the 6600GT will be available in AGP much before the holiday season, and the 6800 NU is more money. The 6800 NU has been $250 at outpost, but is $300 now.

I hate to think what that FX5500 256MB cost you. Some places charge $150 for that card, which could buy you a R9600XT or even the crippled 128-bit version of the R9800 Pro. Good luck and keep us informed. Also, if you do get a R9800 Pro, make sure you take the steps to uninstall those NV driver nasties. Use Add/remove programs and a driver cleaner utility like Detonator RIP.


ABIT IS7, P4 2.6C, 1GB Corsair XMS 4000 Pro Series, Radeon 9800 Pro, Santa Cruz, TruePower 430watt