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is this pc good?

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First post, by matthi321

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hello would this 98 pc be able to play games up to 2002 in 60fps high detail settings max resolution 1024x768?

Intel Pentium 4 1800MHz
512MB Ram
IBM Deskstar 30GB HD
g force 4 mx440
Soltek SL-85DRV3

Reply 1 of 59, by Shagittarius

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I don't think so, I don't think that PC would be strong enough to even play games from 1999 maxed out at 1024x768. The CPU is going to hold back a video card which would be capable and the gforce 4mx card is not beefy enough to handle that order. You'll be lucky to hit 30 FPS with the more demanding games of 2000 with that machine at your targeted settings/requirements.

Reply 2 of 59, by debs3759

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The graphics card was first released in 2002, and socket 478 the same year. They are not high end for the platform though, so I would guess not. I'm no gaming expert though 😀

Last edited by debs3759 on 2020-10-02, 17:47. Edited 1 time in total.

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Reply 3 of 59, by wiretap

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Based on benchmarks I see from 2002 on Techreport for very similar setups, no, depending on the game. The games from 2001-2002 and beyond will struggle at 1024x768 with everything cranked up to high quality. For example Comanche 4 will only get around 30fps.

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Reply 5 of 59, by Errius

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The GeForce4 MX440 had about half the performance of the GeForce3. What a swindle that was.

In answer to the OP, NO, that rig is no good for high performance gaming.

Is this too much voodoo?

Reply 6 of 59, by matthi321

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so the gpu is the only thing holding that build back? i dont have a clue what gpu to buy tho. maybe one of you guys could help me find a gpu on this site that would fit on the motherboard and their are still drivers for it? its in danish tho but in most of the descriptions there are the names of the gpu.

https://www.dba.dk/computer-og-spilleko ... )&per=alle

Reply 7 of 59, by kolderman

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matthi321 wrote on 2020-10-03, 09:18:

so the gpu is the only thing holding that build back? i dont have a clue what gpu to buy tho. maybe one of you guys could help me find a gpu on this site that would fit on the motherboard and their are still drivers for it? its in danish tho but in most of the descriptions there are the names of the gpu.

https://www.dba.dk/computer-og-spilleko ... )&per=alle

Not at all. The MX440 is a great budget gpu and pairs well with the cpu. Of course there are much more powerful gpus out there, but for early 2000s gaming it holds up well.

Reply 9 of 59, by kolderman

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matthi321 wrote on 2020-10-03, 10:30:

well thats not what the others have told in this thread. do you have any benchmarks of the cards from the early 2000s?

They are being overly harsh. The MX440 is around as fast as a gf2 Ultra which is fine for early 2k gaming. If you just search for "geforce mx440 review" you will find plenty of pages with benchmarks. Just make sure it is not the MX440SE which has a smaller memory bus.

Reply 11 of 59, by Warlord

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I also don't think so, there is a big difference between game made in march 2000 and 2002 gaming. I know thats hard for some people to understand but its the way it is. Especially a 440mx is only a DX7 card, and 2000-2002 games are direct x 8 so I can't think anyways a MX440 is good. Dont listen to anyone recommending a MX440 to play a DX8 game for 2000-2002.

Reply 14 of 59, by leileilol

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I'd think the possible Willamette (late 2000-early2001 P4 cpu) is holding it back the most... I've seen a similar rig but with a GF3TI struggle at Morrowind in '02.

I'd say live with the period correctness and don't go for the 60fps entitlement. If you want to 60fps some of those 2002 games (which were doing heavy things like big 1024x1024 compressed textures in DXT1 AND DXT3, HW T&L for all that skinned weighting, because future polygons, and of course pixel shaders for a cubemap to warp on to look like a reflection) then you're looking at a Geforce6 or Radeon9800 on an AthlonXP 2600+/P4 2.8 at the least.

Last edited by leileilol on 2020-10-03, 12:40. Edited 2 times in total.

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Reply 16 of 59, by Errius

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The OP's rig is similar to the setup I had in 2001, but with a 2.0 GHz Willamette, 1 GB RAM and GeForce3. RTCW, Battlefield 1942 and Warcraft III all ran very well on it.

However a couple of years later the GF3 was really struggling.

Is this too much voodoo?

Reply 17 of 59, by Jorpho

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Normally I would say that whether or not the PC is "good" depends entirely on what games you specifically want to play and there is no point in worrying about what it does with some game out there that you either had no interest in playing or could play much more easily on a modern PC.

... But no, I agree with the above sentiments: the Geforce4 MX is not a good card.

May I suggest the contemporary version of Tom's VGA Charts?
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/vga-char … -iii,730-6.html

Reply 18 of 59, by Joseph_Joestar

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Jorpho wrote on 2020-10-03, 18:15:

... But no, I agree with the above sentiments: the Geforce4 MX is not a good card.

I would say that depends on the use case. It's a perfectly valid card if you want to play Win9x games up to the year 2000 at the 1024x768 resolution or lower, without AA and AF. This is fine for gaming on a CRT monitor and will give you 60+ FPS in the vast majority of the games.

However, if you want to use a higher resolution and fully max out AA and AF, then yes, you will need a more powerful card. Also, as others have said, you need a DX 8.1 card for games made after the year 2000 if you want those pixel shader effects e.g. shiny water in Morrowind and such.

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Reply 19 of 59, by aha2940

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Errius wrote on 2020-10-03, 15:30:

The OP's rig is similar to the setup I had in 2001, but with a 2.0 GHz Willamette, 1 GB RAM and GeForce3. RTCW, Battlefield 1942 and Warcraft III all ran very well on it.

However a couple of years later the GF3 was really struggling.

I currently have a pentium 4 2.4, 512MB RAM, Geforce 2MX400 64MB, Windows ME and it happily runs RTCW at 1024x768, no problems at all.