Upgrades for Doom3?

[pHaestus]

So with all the hype surrounding the August 3 release of Doom 3 I thought it'd be interesting to have a poll. Id software games seem to have a special ability to make me spend $$$ on hardware. I remember clearly upgrading to a Geforce1 just for Q3test/Quake3, and Quake1 was the reason I got a 3dfx Voodoo1 card. Anyway, it's that magical time again when benchmarks of Id's new game flood the market and geeks get lust for new hardware. What about you guys?


Also, if you want, respond with your system specs and planned upgrades. We might as well make this a proper e-penis thread

[pHaestus]

I am going to get another 512MB ram to go up to a GB. My system SHOULD run Doom3 at medium quality reasonably well:

AMD Barton @ ~2400MHz
Asus NForce2 mobo
ATI 9700 nonpro

I'm also going to (gasp) format and reinstall Windows for the first time in over a year and hopefully get my nonpro to overclock up to Pro speeds. And I plan to get my gaming box properly bling'd out and watercooled on CPU and gfx before the game comes out too.

[Joe]

I am unsure... all depends how baddly it runs on my system

Dual AMD Barton @ 2Ghz
1GB ram
SCSI
GF4 Ti4600 GS

Unfortunately I got expensive tastes And I want to wait till a good PCIe AMD implentation comes out. so I can get a PCIe 6800Ultra w/ A64 goodness and fast ram action hehe

[leejsmith]

This is not just for doom3 but i have found some games i have are suffering with my 512mb ram like star wars galaxies everquest and istaria.

I have 2 x 256mb corsair xms 3200 cl2 chips in at the moment but they are not a matched pair. I do have a 512mb stick also corsair xms 3200 cl2 in a 2nd pc. I think getting a 2nd 512 chip would be better than running 4 x 256 (if thats possible) but would perfer a matched 1g pair so i can push the memory speeds higher as the non matched pair is stopping me at a fsb of 250 at cl2.

edit: just won a 1gig xms 3200c2 twinx pair on ebay so thats the ram sorted

Next is a external box for the water cooling and a 2nd loop for gpu and chipset this should allow me to run the fans lower on each loop than i do at the moment plus i dont have the chipset plumed in yet. I would realy like a full gpu cooler for ram and gpu but dont have the time to make one at the moment

current machine spec.

asus p4p800
p4 2.8C running at 3.5ghz fsb 250 at 1.52 volts
fx5900se 128mb overclocked to full fx5900 speed
soundblaster audigy
cascade cpu cooler
DD gpu cooler
hydor l30 pump
thermochill 120.2 rad

Hardocp have some benchmarks on doom3 here http://www2.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NjQy

[firtol88]

Just the vid card, waiting for the 6800GTs to level off in price.

edit- I'll probably need a new PSU with the 6800...

[TerraMex]

No upgrades here.
At least not scheduled ones.
my current machine will have to do.

2500+@2400mhz
9700np@pro
Dfi Lanparty II Rev B
Mushkin Enhaced pc3200 bh-6
Audigy
WW+MCP600+Heatercore+2 Sunon

[BalefireX]

Doom3 is coming out too early in my opinion (along with HL2)

Yes, I realize that they're a year late, and that their "revalation" status is under threat from games like Farcry, STALKER, FEAR, etc. but after hearing that testing has been cut short and some features have been stripped from both Doom3 and HL2 to be first to market suggests to me that we're going to be in a "Doom3 Ships, first patch released" scenario, with full playability coming some time after purchase. I'd rather have a full polished game on the shelf, rather than a late beta.

Of course, maybe I'm just complaining because the hardware I want isn't out yet... it seems that the only 6800 with Dual DVI will be the Ultra, so I'm waiting for nForce4 (SLI enabled) to see if you can actually use all 4 DVI outs and the 2 TV outs (Hopefully you can - have 3 LCDs)

[Nightfall]

What no option to vote for i'm going to OC the hell outta my video card ;-) I'm a few gens behind with my Radeon 9600 but I plan on OCing it ASAP (vmod and some extreme passive cooling) Other than that my A64 3000+, 1Gb Mushkin PC3200 2-2-2, and SB Audigy will have to suffice :-D

[Etacovda]

I'll probably have to retire the old Ti4200, i think; probably going the cheap ATi 9800 pro route for now, as I'm lucky enough to know someone who can get me wholesale parts

2500+ @ 2550mhz
1024 ddr 2700@ 190fsb
Abit NF7-S

Stalker looks particularly interesting; i enjoyed farcry, and stalker looks like a better graphics engine with good gameplay (at a glance)

[mikoto]

9800pro 128
xp1700+ @ 2320Mhz
512 RAM
So I'm thinking 1Gb RAM and I'll be good to go and if not screw id

[SlaterSpeed]

Humm ive thought about a few upgrades but not specificly for Doom more because the general standard of games has risen and therfore i would need more power.

I have a 9600pro w. a high overclock atm. I would like to get one of the new generation radeons but its pci-x that worrys me (dont want to spend £300 on a card only to find i have to spend £300 again in under a years time when i upgrade mob and cpu)

Im looking more seriously at getting some more ram. I have 512mb pc3200 atm. Looking to get some faster ram relly so i can up the fsb a bit but at the same time i would have to get 1gig for fear of it being out of date when i get the next mobo (im confident my next system will still be DDR1 and will not require uber fast ram that is not avalible yet)

I will be upgrading my mobo and cpu in under a year but im upgrading as i want to switch to a sff shuttle type setup not because my 2500mhz athlon and nf7-s cant cut it.

[jaydee]

Well my current game system consists of:

GF440MX 64meg
XP1700+@1800mhz
256megs Kingston PC2700
20gig Maxtor 7200RPM IDE HD

That got me through UT2003 just peachy. Doubt I could even load Doom3 though. Can't afford to upgrade at the moment. To much unwilling time off lately from work. The proper upgrades would cost over $500. To much to just play a game.

Seems to me ID is going to pull a UT2003 though. Promise all this great stuff, hack out half of it and sell it as UT2003. Then a year or so later add everything they promised in UT2003 and sell it as UT2004 making everyone buy it again. Still don't know how they get away with that bait and switch bull shit.

[killernoodle]

2500+M @ 2.63ghz
1gb Adata Vitesta ram
DFI Infinity
9800 Pro flashed to XT

That should run things smoothly. If not, it would be a new video card though.

If anyone upgrades anything though, you should consider ram if you only have 512. BF: Vietnam and a few other games I own crawl with only one stick in there, by simply adding another 512 I get much smoother play.

[warpath]

I just want cheap 939 goddamnit.

[jaydee]

Originally Posted by warpath

I just want cheap 939 goddamnit.

I want a cheap everything goddamnit!

[ymboc]

Sigh... being hooked on games as I am... I feel I'm going to be forced to upgrade before long - but I am not happy about it seeing as how videocards dont ever seem to come down in price significantly anymore... My 9600 is almost the same price it was a year ago when I bought it thinking halflife was going to come out by the end of the summer.... and to top it off, if the benchmarks are any indication the 9600 isn't even close to being fast enough.

[Chew_Toy]

Well I think either of my systems will be fine.
p4c 2.4 @ 3600 or 3500
ATI 9800AIW or 9700AIW
512 meg 4200el or 1gig 4400 gold

[firtol88]

This might help in making an informed decision http://www2.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NjQ0

[Brians256]

Needs another option:

Current system will run Doom3 at mediocre quality, and am too poor to upgrade.

[pHaestus]

nah Brian because the hype surrounding this game will make "too poor to upgrade" not an option

[psychofunk]

Upgrade?

My girlfriend to a sugermama, so I can afford to upgrade....


naaa, gonna get another stick of ram and a new vid card.

[ymboc]

yeah... I'm going to have to go with brian on this one.... This poll is definetly missing that option.... not enough money is still not enough money... despite the best upgrade intentions

[jhurliman]

I'm keeping my computer hardware, but adding a phase change cooling system and turning up the CPU and gfx card a few notches

[MadHacker]

My TI4200 just isn't guna cut it...
but i think i'll wait 2-3 months before buying a video card...
let prices drop a little bit...

[SlaterSpeed]

So whos got it then?

Im definatly gonna need some more ram i think. Graphicly my 9600pro is running it very well on 1024/768 on high settings but i get BIG lag when moving into differant sections of the game and when entering a new room etc. (when the game has to load new data into the ram) so im guessing the ram is to blame for that. (either that or a faster hdd)

Awsome game tho