It's not so much your athlon, it's your 3d card, it's weak and it's crap(no offence). You will run Doom3 but shitty. Not only that, your 3d card doesn't have pixelshaders, that means you won't see many effects, instead you will see some other crappy low quality effects. This will increase your performace though, cards that have no PS don't have to deal with pixelshading.

You need to upgrade your graphics card it wont run doom 3 with the one you have, it needs to be fully directX 9, the card you have doesn't even run directX 8 fully, also it needs as mentioned pixel shading options and it wont work properly without them it could cause your system to crash. I would reccommend the Radeon 9600 pro 256mb it's not that exspensive and it's what i have and it meets the specs required. your CPU is on the slow side but you have enough RAM so that may not be to much of a problem.

has far as i know you need a 3ghz processor(that is recommanded)2ghz at the least.

hhmm... alright thank you guys (and I'm not offended... thats why I asked... to see how well my laptop was).

So anyways... its my NVIDIA thats the main problem? How can I replace that with a Radeon 9600 pro 256mb? Do I need something installed into my laptop... or can I just use a CD? I checked out ebay and see that I would have to put it into my laptop... but I've never taken apart those before. Or are there some graphic cards that are designed to just simply slide into a slot for laptops?

Oh and can I upgrade anything that I can just install from the internet (pretty much... free)?

While I'm at it... I own an actual computer. The specs on that is...

-e-machine T2885 intel
-Celeron CPU 2.80 GHz
-504 MB of Ram

any better than my laptop?

It runs on a Geforce 4 MX440 just peachily, and his card is probably about "Mid-Goodness, for Doom 3". You're fine buddy. 2 Ghz is recommended, so 3 is more than enough. The game doesn't really rely on CPU as much as it does GPU. It was played on a 1.5 Ghz-GF MX440-rig, and it's still "very" enjoyable. My biggest advice is not to go ATi, since the game doesn't support them as "The way it's meant to be played", and has been coded to run less efficiently on those cards because of *that* company leaking the demo.

Here's the requirements for GPUs:
Geforce 4 MX440
Geforce 3
Geforce 4 Ti
Geforce FX Series
Geforce 6 Series


CPU Speeds Range From: 1.5-3.4 Ghz RAM Storage Ranges From: 512-2GB RAM HD Space: 4 GB (I think)

alright cool... and you were talking about my E-Machine computer and not my laptop (right?). I wanted to play the game on my laptop, because thats whats in my room... and the e-machine comp is the family comp (damn).

but anyways... I wanna go back to my laptop again. Ignoring the specs for now... lets just say my laptop can run Halo and GTA 3 smoothly (or to the point where I don't notice any slow downs or major graphic decreases)... does this mean Doom 3 won't be a problem? Or is Doom 3 a completly different story when comparing it to Halo and GTA3?

NeedlesKane Wrote: It runs on a Geforce 4 MX440 just peachily, and his card is probably about "Mid-Goodness, for Doom 3". You're fine buddy. 2 Ghz is recommended, so 3 is more than enough. The game doesn't really rely on CPU as much as it does GPU. It was played on a 1.5 Ghz-GF MX440-rig, and it's still "very" enjoyable. My biggest advice is not to go ATi, since the game doesn't support them as "The way it's meant to be played", and has been coded to run less efficiently on those cards because of *that* company leaking the demo. Here's the requirements for GPUs: Geforce 4 MX440 Geforce 3 Geforce 4 Ti Geforce FX Series Geforce 6 Series CPU Speeds Range From: 1.5-3.4 Ghz RAM Storage Ranges From: 512-2GB RAM HD Space: 4 GB (I think)

It will run crap on the MX 440, let me tell you what you will get with the MX 440,

- The lowest settings, this applies also for the resolution.

- No pixelshaders, so you wont see alot of effects, and that's a god damn shame in this game.

- Crappy FPS, that means the game wont run smooth.

In other words play Doom3 with an MX 440 is like playing Quake3.

If you want to enjoy this game in it's full potential like it was made to be played, you need atleast a Radeon 9800 XT. I myself have AMD athlon 64 3200 and a 9800 pro, and i don't think i will be able to play well on high.

Alot of people are underestemating how heavy this game will be, don't, i read alot of benchmarks, and it's going to drop horribly on your PC, very hard, like a 2 ton stone.

It would be cheaper and better for you to buy an XBOX and Doom3 along with it, then upgrade your system to a level where you will enjoy the game at it's maximum. But the XBOX uses a GF3 chip, the GF3 only has directx 8.1 capabilities, this is sad, and outdated when it comes to effects so you won't see the beautiful things, that you will see on the full potential on the PC. (Note that directX8.1 cards also for the PC, support Doom3, unlike terranova stated) the textures are watered down as well. But you will play much better then on your laptop.

NeedlesKane Wrote: The game doesn't really rely on CPU as much as it does GPU.

Actually the only game that is really GPU heavy is Far Cry. I've heard developers are realizing that it's just too much of a burden, and too much of a hit on a PC to do everything through the GPU, so developers are starting to kick things back to to the CPU. I honestly doubt that id especially Carmac is dumb enough to program the game to do most of the work through the GPU when they've realized it too much of a hit.

I've also heard from one of the member of the developement team said in an interview that when Carmac designed the Doom 3 engine he had similar hardware specs to the xbox in mind. So I doubt that the Xbox version will be much different than the PC. They both are only shipping with 4 player multi-player support, and the screen from the Xbox version look pretty identical to the PC's.

I've got one question though I got a G-Force FX 5200 card, which is pretty low end for running Far Cry, I was thinking of upgrading it for Doom 3, but I don't really know what to get. I would like to upgrade to the X800 but I think it a little out of my price range. What else can anyone recomend for a $200 price range? I have a 3.2Ghz P4, and 512mbz of ram.

Don't "assume", I wouldn't say that unless I had seen it on my card. I *have* seen it on my card, and I must say that I am very much impressed.

Another thing, I know that it will depend on your GPU more than your CPU, because John Carmack "The Engine Designer(Since the first game)" said so. What I said in my earlier replies was based on what *he said.

kabal20 Wrote: I've also heard from one of the member of the developement team said in an interview that when Carmac designed the Doom 3 engine he had similar hardware specs to the xbox in mind. So I doubt that the Xbox version will be much different than the PC. They both are only shipping with 4 player multi-player support, and the screen from the Xbox version look pretty identical to the PC's. I've got one question though I got a G-Force FX 5200 card, which is pretty low end for running Far Cry, I was thinking of upgrading it for Doom 3, but I don't really know what to get. I would like to upgrade to the X800 but I think it a little out of my price range. What else can anyone recomend for a $200 price range? I have a 3.2Ghz P4, and 512mbz of ram.

I've read nearly every interview about D3, and let me tell you something, you shouldn't believe everything they say, coz they want the XBOX version to sell just as well. Spec- wise the XBOX failes miserably to the PC. Do you know what DirectX is? The XBOX has directX 8.1 and the GF3 is a 5 year old card. Do you really expect this old technology to really show a game far ahead of it's day in the kind of quality you will see on the PC with the best 3d gear on the world? Doom3 on the PC has directX9.0b effects, look at it this way if effects were bolts and directx was a wrench you could see it as the 8.1 wrench is too small for the 9.0 bolt so they need a smaller bolt which is of less quality. Not only that but the best settings they could configure for the XBOX are low - medium for the PC, on a much much lower resolution, lower then 800x600. and although it still looks good, it doesn't even come near to what the PC can do.

As for the 3d card, best thing you can get for 200 is the 9800 pro, like my card. but i suggest you atleast buy a 9800 XT it's a bit more expensive but you will feel glad you did buy it, unless you clock the 9800 pro, they are actually the same cards only the 9800 XT has faster clock speeds.

Did you read the article about how the X-Box's card has a "back door", so to speak. The card CAN be stretched, whether or not it will look as good as future systems that can run D3 on "Ultra", it still can be strectched to perform.

Here is the recomendation from id themselves:

id releases Official Doom 3 hardware guide

Extensive article on HardOCP.com breaks down the demanding shooter's various quality settings and what hardware they will best run on.
PC gamers wondering if their rig will be able to handle Doom 3 can now get a definitive answer. Today, developer id software released the Official DOOM 3 Hardware Guide on hardware site HardOCP.com. The lengthy article covers every aspect of the game's hardware demands, including:

Minimum System: According to id, the minimum requirements to run Doom 3 are:

DX 9.0 compatible 3D card w/ 64MB RAM
MS Windows 2000/XP
Pentium 4 1.5 GHz or Athlon XP 1500+
384 MB RAM
8x CD-ROM
2.2 GB of HD space
Broadband (for multiplayer)


Supported 3D Graphics chipsets:
ATI: Radeon 8500, 9000, 9200, 9500, 9600, 9700, 9800
NVIDIA: GeForce 3, GeForce 4MX, GeForce 4 Titanium, GeForce FX, GeForce 6

Ultimate System: HardOCP also suggested its dream system, which consisted of:

BFGTech GeForce 6800 Ultra OC (goes on sale in mid-August)
AMD Socket 939 Athlon 64 FX-53 w/ 1MB L2 Cache
ABIT AV8 motherboard
2GB of Corsair XMS RAM


System Video Quality Settings: Besides going over the game's four quality settings--low, medium, high, and "ultra"--the guide also provides reference screenshots contrasting the low, medium, and high settings as well as the high and ultra settings.

Resolution: HardOCP's analysis of resolution settings came to a surprising conclusion: Doom 3 does not require antialiasing. Instead, the guide suggests simply increasing the resolution settings. HardOCP suggests a "sweet spot" of 1024x768 resolution set to high quality.

Nvidia Versus ATI Image Quality: Following a controversial benchmark test that said Doom 3 performed best on an Nvidia NVIDIA's GeForce 6800GT, the site again compares GPUs from the two leading manufacturers. The results? HardOCP found that "the ATI Radeon X800XT-PE has slightly more aliasing than the Nvidia GeForce 6800Ultra OC," but also noticed some "odd texture patterns exhibited by the GeForceFX 5900Ultra." Overall, though, the guide found that "there are no major differences in image quality between NVIDIA and ATI video cards when playing DOOM 3 at the same settings."

Value Video Card Image Quality: For less deep-pocket gamers, HardOCP also tested lower-end GPU, with surprising results. "By default, all of the advanced quality settings such as shadows, specular lighting, and bump mapping are enabled," it said. "As long as your video card meets the system requirement of a GeForce4 MX-440 64MB, all of these effects will be available to you."

Enthusiast Video Card Image Quality: For those that can afford them, the site also displayed several spectacular-looking screenshots from the game running on the highest-end BFGTech GeForce 6800Ultra OC and ATI Radeon X800XT-PE cards.

General & Specific System Performance Analysis: The guide also outlines the general system performance, tested out on a minimum-spec system provided by id software. They also analyzed the performance of dozens of other GPU-specific systems, ranging from the BFG Tech GeForce FX 5700 Ultra 128MB to a Vision Tek Radeon 9800XT 256MB.

As Sub-zeromasta just posted, Activision claims that Doom3 will definitely not run on Windows 98 or Windows 98SE....good thing I upgraded my OS.

Needleskane Wrote: Did you read the article about how the X-Box's card has a "back door", so to speak. The card CAN be stretched, whether or not it will look as good as future systems that can run D3 on "Ultra", it still can be strectched to perform.

LMAO yeah stretched to perform ugly.

I got what I need [Edited] so I don't recieve Skull points

M-Scorpion Wrote: Needleskane Wrote: Did you read the article about how the X-Box's card has a "back door", so to speak. The card CAN be stretched, whether or not it will look as good as future systems that can run D3 on "Ultra", it still can be strectched to perform. LMAO yeah stretched to perform ugly.

You probably don't own an Xbox, do you? Just look at Ninja Gaiden...

NeedlesKane Wrote: M-Scorpion Wrote: Needleskane Wrote: Did you read the article about how the X-Box's card has a "back door", so to speak. The card CAN be stretched, whether or not it will look as good as future systems that can run D3 on "Ultra", it still can be strectched to perform. LMAO yeah stretched to perform ugly. You probably don't own an Xbox, do you? Just look at Ninja Gaiden...

I do own an XBOX, and yes the thing has got some power and some capabilities, some beautiful games no doubt, but i know who the master is.

M-Scorpion Wrote: NeedlesKane Wrote: M-Scorpion Wrote: Needleskane Wrote: Did you read the article about how the X-Box's card has a "back door", so to speak. The card CAN be stretched, whether or not it will look as good as future systems that can run D3 on "Ultra", it still can be strectched to perform. LMAO yeah stretched to perform ugly. You probably don't own an Xbox, do you? Just look at Ninja Gaiden... I do own an XBOX, and yes the thing has got some power and some capabilities, some beautiful games no doubt, but i know who the master is.

Well you're not "assuming" so, Kudos to ya

No.