Got the 'Upgrade Itch' again...

[ChipDeath]

I've just bought Halo, and I get weird mouse control issues when I run it with high details (it's really odd, like the mouse is really laggy, or set to high accelleration, but the display still looks smooth?).. It's annoying being unable to play it well at above 800x600. Does anyone have any thoughts/experience on this issue? My Rig:
XP1700+ @ 2.25Ghz 512Mb CorsairLL @ 196Mhz, GeforceTi4600 GPU.
I find it hard to believe that I can't run Halo (which was, after all, designed around a PIII700 w/ a Geforce3) at any reasonable resolution on my system...

But all the same, it got me thinking about upgrading my Gfx card - mostly because it would be nice to run with AA/AF going, and my GF4 gets really unhappy if I crank those up :frown:

So I was browsing around, and found I can get:
a 'DabsValue' Radeon 9600Pro 128Mb for £120(w/ DVI),
a gigabyte version for £122 (w/ NO DVI or anything),
or a sapphire Atlantis version('FireBlade' edition) for ~ £128.

So my questions Are:
a) Would more GPU power solve my Halo problem? (I don't think so myself - I shouldn't have this problem should I?)
a) Do you guys think It's worth upgrading from my Ti4600 to a 9600Pro?
b) would I be better off NOT buying the 'el cheapo' dabsvalue one, as I'm <i>definitely</i> going to O/C the card, and they might have cheaper RAM etc which won't go so far. (I reckon It'll probably be worth the extra $)

N.B. for you USA guys to get a price reference (as the exchange rate ain't always the best measure) from the sites I'm looking at here's some example prices:
Sapphire 'Ultimate edition' 9800 Pro 256Mb - £400(highest 9800Pro w/256Mb)
'PowerColour' 9800 Pro 256Mb - £327 (lowest)
Creative 3dBlaster Geforce FX5900 Ultra - £342 (highest)
Gainward FX5900 Ultra - £329 (lowest)



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[RCPilot]

Man, I don't think you'd gain much over what your running.

What about your monitor. How old is it? That might be some of the problem.



Dazzle them with Brilliance, or Baffle them with BS!

 

[speeduk]

I used to have that problem with unreal 2 at 4x anti and 8x ani. I turned them down a bit and it ran fine. Halo does dip in framerate quite a bit. A worth while upgrade would be a 9800pro 128mb. No need for 256mb. If you want a 256mb card, then wait until the next gen cards come out because they will make better use of it.

You should be getting about 40fps average on that card, which shouldnt be too bad. I run halo on my 9700p clocked at 9800p speeds and sometimes I still get slowdown where the mouse takes longer to move. Its just a badly coded game tbh.

My system spec: Fast PC<A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7000747" target="_new"> 3D-2001 </A>
"It's not the spoon that bends, it's only yourself."

 

[speeduk]

Look at it like this. Half life 2 should run better than what halo does!

My system spec: Fast PC<A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7000747" target="_new"> 3D-2001 </A>
"It's not the spoon that bends, it's only yourself."

 

[ChipDeath]

That's what I was thinking - all the HL2 tech demos seem fine on my system... (I've run them on my brother's TNT2 Ultra system... I'm estimating ~ 0.5FPS sometimes :lol: )

I'm still tempted to get something with (useable) DX9 capabilities though... Plus playable w/ AA & AF would be nice (even System Shock 2 jerks around w/ both of them going, and that's <i>old</i>)

Do you reckon upgrading my Version of intellipoint & Patching Halo up as high as possible might help? or is just the usual 'Console Conversion' Illness? (although of course Vice City was a noteable example of being 'cured')

Maybe they took shortcuts converting 'Analogue stick' code into 'Move the Mouse' code? Dissapointing, either way. I'll have to play Max Payne 2 instead - that seems to have been written by people who know what they're doing.

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[Fallen]

If I'm not mistaken, VSync is enabled by default also. Disabling that should help because I'm not sure that you are topping 30fps @ 60hz. VSync will keep the screen from tearing, but can be really taxing on your GPU.

 

[ChipDeath]

Nah, I've fiddled with all the Vsynch options (both in Halo and in display properties) - I thought that myself.. no effect sadly :frown:

<b>RcPilot:</b>
My monitor is 17" Sony AMD220 (or something similar?) It's a pure-flat trinitron thingy. nice monitor (although I wouldn't recommend it myself, it's overpriced and only does ~65Hz @ 1280x1024, but Games look nice @ 1152x864 (80Hz ish) - it was a birthday present IIRC) My inability to run at >1152x864 is part of what makes me want Decent AA you see...


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[RCPilot]

I got it. Yea, I run 1280 x 1024 @ 75 hz myself on my ViewSonic. You'd be surprised at how many over look their monitor.



Dazzle them with Brilliance, or Baffle them with BS!

 

[ChipDeath]

You'd be surprised at how many over look their monitor.

Yeah... A Friend asked me to build them a system, but he already had a monitor...

So now he has a reasonably kick-ass System 2Ghz AXP (Oced 1800+), 512Mb 180Mhz Dual DDR on a nforce2 Ultra mobo, Geforce4Ti4800, and <i>a crap old monitor that <b>cannot</b> go above 800x600</i>...

I coulda cried :frown: .. I still can't convince him of just how much better it'll be if he just gets a cheap(ish) Hansol 17" monitor or something... ah well. He also already had a keyboard.. on which a few keys are a bit dodgy, and the left-hand ctrl key doesn't work (which is a bit irritating, as that's the one I always use for copy/paste, 'crouch' in games, etc, etc)

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[speeduk]

I just fired up halo and still notice slowdown and mouse lagging. Its just a poo conversion. Have you tried forcing PS 1.4 or 1.1 or whatever?

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Halo\halo.exe" -use14 "

Does your mouse lag in other games?


My system spec: Fast PC<A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7000747" target="_new"> 3D-2001 </A>
"It's not the spoon that bends, it's only yourself."

 

[ChipDeath]

It is a bit crap, considering how close to PC hardware the Xbox is. :frown:

I hadn't tried forcing PS1.4/1.1, I'll give it a go tonite hopefully (but I have a pool match & drinking to do, so it might have to wait)

would I be right in assuming then that -use11 would use 1.1 shaders?

Thanks mate, I'll let you know how I get on.

I have noticed the mouse thing in a couple of other games, but mostly they're fine. (e.g. Vice City is absolutely great) It just seems to be the odd bit of dodgy coding I guess.

Incidentally - I'm guessing that you live in the UK for obvious reasons - do you know any good uk-based sites for buying hardware stuff. Particularly ATM stuff like converters for sticking 92/120mm fans on smaller heatsinks (I wouldn't mind reducing my TT Volcano 7+ noise a little). I use Komplett.co.uk a lot, but they don't stock stuff like that.

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