Buying a new computer - what to expect?

Bulgarian_Taffer on 9/6/2010 at 08:53

After a long absence, I'm back.

I finally decided to buy myself a new computer. Today I'm going to get it from the office and I'm already scared. Because I don't know what to expect from gaming.

Sure, running Dark Engine games is making me scared. Not only because of this:

(http://www.thief-thecircle.com/guides/hyperthreading/)

So yes... what is it going to be... It's going to be AMD Athlon 64 X2. Dual core. This was what I was afraid of... 64 bit processor, plus dual core. Two years ago I bought a 32 bit Intel processor and when they asked me for dual core, I refused. Now I have no choice - they just don't offer processors less than dual cores...

My video card is going to be ATI Radeon HD 4200 with full support of DirectX 10.2. What should I expect - about Thief 1/2/3 experience? Are they going to be fine, even with the ddfix?

What about other games - for example, World of Warcraft? Is it going to be fine, actually?

I'll be running Windows 7 - too.

MoroseTroll on 9/6/2010 at 14:26

Everything's gonna be alright. Please don't afraid of multi-core issues, because there is a simple (http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=127533) cure exists for this. 64-bitness of any modern CPU is not your foe, it's just a feature available only if you are using 64-bit OS (in case of Windows - x64 versions); so yes, under any 32-bit OS your 64-bit CPU will work as a regular 32-bit one.
As for DirectX 10.2: Do you mean 10.1? In case of Thief 1&2 you will encounter with nasty 16-bit dithering artifacts, so yes, DDFix is must have for them. BTW, Radeon HD 4200 series is most powerful integrated GPU in the world at the moment, so I believe that you will be able to play Thief 3 with maximum details.
As for WoW: you will get your 30 fps for sure, maybe even more.

Bulgarian_Taffer on 12/6/2010 at 05:11

You were right. Thief 1/2 patched with a latest DDfix run just fine, even better than before. WoW is also better, plus i finally have the possibility to set my graphic settings on Good. Doom 3 is also fluent.

Actually, the small patch (FlipTIB) isn't needed. DDfix has everything. You may however be interested that I was unable to install FlipTIB on Windows 7.

MoroseTroll on 12/6/2010 at 10:19

Thanks. I'll check it (Win7 & FlipTIB) out.

Albert on 12/6/2010 at 11:32

Quote Posted by Bulgarian_Taffer

Now I have no choice - they just don't offer processors less than dual cores...

Ehem... From what I've found, the (http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=SEMPRON&hl=en&cid=1156268952068540465&ei=pG8TTK6aCprK2QTQ3sj0BQ&sa=title&ved=0CAcQ8wIwADgA#p) sempron is technically a dual-core processor (at least, some of the models are, anyway), but functions on one core, only.

And from what I've learned (Friend of mine bought a HP compaq-labeled laptop for $300-400, and the thing runs Oblivion with almost no hitch at high settings. Damn impressive, though the fact it had an ATI graphics chip in it might've helped, quite a bit), this processor can handle some crap, as I've seen Windows 7 run fine on it.

Dunno how well any Dark engine games would run in Windows 7, though. But at least I proved you wrong on the processor ordeal (Now give me the $20 you totally owe me... ,P).

Though, this is probably not necessary as DDFIX already solves the problem of dual-core processors. But, if you ever have a freak accident where the processor fries ((http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLkwFadiK2I) it could happen...), you know where to look.