1920x1080 in CFS3 - Possible With My System?

S

Six O'Clock Shadow

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Hi All --

I have been without a monitor on my CFS3 desktop since August.

Am shopping for monitors now, but wondering about resolution vs. performance.

This is my system:

emachines T6524
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ / 2.2 GHz
1.0 GB RAM
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
ATI Radeon Xpress 200 Shared video memory
Graphics Controller PCI Express 1.0 - Integrated

Old monitor WAS a 17" CRT - running at 1024 x 768.

I could run CFS3 with everything turned all the way up, and get good frame rates.

My concern is, can I still get good performance with a 'new' monitor running at 1920x1080? That's more than 2.5 times the pixels in every frame.

Or should I plan on upgrading from 'integrated' graphics to a card in the PCI Express slot?

This would also give me a DVI out (right now I only have VGA).

Possible limitations:

300 watt power supply (stock)
Windows XP
PCI Express 1.0

From what I've read, an ATI 7750 is a good bet as it can draw power solely from the PCI-E slot (doesn't require it's own power lead from the power supply).

But, I'm unsure if even the 7750 will provide 1920x1080 resolution with high detail and good frame rates.

Sounds like you can go with an even better card, but must replace the power supply with a bigger unit to do so.

Anyone have experience with running an older (2005 era) XP desktop in CFS3 -- with a modern 1920x1080 monitor?

If this isn't practical, I *could* buy a smaller new monitor -- like a 20" running at 1600x900. But this is still about twice the pixels per frame of what I've been running.

A 'last resort' option might be a 19" LCD with a 1366 x 768 resolution - these are VGA only and might let me get away without upgrading the video.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

-=6=-
 
Gidday,

those are very good questions. There is no one answer of course, but here are some things to think about:

  1. Native resolution of the monitor is best. So if you use a full HD monitor you will get best framerates by using the full HD resolution rather than a lower resolution. This is one of those "strange but true" things about CFS3.
  2. Use a digital conneciton if at all possible. This applies to vid cards obviously rather than on-board graphics
  3. Probably a separate vid card with HDMI connections is best, but a relatively modern computer with onboard graphics is still way better than the best PC avaiable back when CFS3 was released. DVI is almost as good as HDMI - I have used both and they give much better framerates than the old vid connections.
  4. There is an issue with ATI cards - Nvidia is preferred for handing the "specular sheen" layers of aircraft skins, because ATI dropped the drivers that support specular sheen a long while back. There are some quite good work-arounds, but in a simple choice, Nvidia works better with CFS3 textures.
  5. There are lots of good vid cards that can handle full HD resolution and have sufficient power from on-board without a "special" PSU - for example my GTX460.
  6. Also once you have made your choices and installed your equipment, do not ignore the importance of running cfsconfig.exe and getting the settings right. I have uploaded here at SOH some config settings that are aimed at ETO v 1.4 but will probably work very well for other versions of CFS3 too.

Ooops I just have the "royal command" and must attend to her wishes!

HTH,
D
 
Thanks, Daiwilletti!


Is this 'specular sheen' issue solely a matter of how 'shiny' details look on aircraft skins?


Or are there other issues I might notice in CFS3 running an ATI card?


The reason I ask is, the 'best' current model NVIDIA card I see that requires no external power is the GT 640.


And by most accounts, the ATI 7750 kicks the GT 640's butt -- at least in terms of framerates in head-to-head comparisons.


Here's one good comparison, ATI 7750 vs. Nvidia GT 640:


http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/612?vs=535


If it turns out I'd REALLY regret running an ATI card for CFS3 (about the only game I ever play on this PC), I could of course get the GT 640. But on paper it looks significantly less powerful.


Here's the best GT 640 I can find. It has DDR5 memory, whereas most GT 640s use the slower DDR3 chips.


http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-GDDR5-1GB-Profile-Graphics-GV-N640D5-1GL/dp/B00DGHLDY6/


For comparison, here's a currently popular ATI 7750:


http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-Radeon-PCI-Express-Graphics-11202-00-20G/dp/B007B5V614/


Thanks again! I appreciate any further thoughts you guys might have.


Best regards,


-=6=-
 
4.There is an issue with ATI cards - Nvidia is preferred for handing the "specular sheen" layers of aircraft skins, because ATI dropped the drivers that support specular sheen a long while back. There are some quite good work-arounds, but in a simple choice, Nvidia works better with CFS3 textures.



Yes,this one is not a very good one for serious "Gamers". I had bought a Dell "Optiplex-745"
and had it up-graded. Supposedly those fine folks at the Dell store couldnt install my fav
"Nvidia" card in it because of mounting problems. The reason being because of the opposite
side opening of the Optiplex. Alot of grief with the ATI card with certain games.

I love my Dell,but if I cant use Nvidia,...next one wont be a Dell.

The ATI card I currently have is the Radeon HD 4600 series.
 
Last edited:
Six O'Clock Shadow said:
Thanks, Daiwilletti!


Is this 'specular sheen' issue solely a matter of how 'shiny' details look on aircraft skins?


Or are there other issues I might notice in CFS3 running an ATI card?


The reason I ask is, the 'best' current model NVIDIA card I see that requires no external power is the GT 640.


And by most accounts, the ATI 7750 kicks the GT 640's butt -- at least in terms of framerates in head-to-head comparisons.


If it turns out I'd REALLY regret running an ATI card for CFS3 (about the only game I ever play on this PC), I could of course get the GT 640. But on paper it looks significantly less powerful.


Thanks again! I appreciate any further thoughts you guys might have.


Best regards,


-=6=-
Click to expand...

Hi -=6=-,

with a good config setup people are running CFS3 quite happily on older graphics cards, like the 8800GT for example. Hence any of the newer ones will suffice perfectly, so long as the config is set up right.

So the "latest and greatest" is not needed. Its really a matter of what suits best. If as you say you really only play CFS3 on that PC, then I would still recommend getting an nVidia card, to better render the reflective textures for aircraft skins. It may even save you money if you don't have to buy the newest whizz-bang card!

HTH,
D
 
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