Quick tech question

[Espi]

Will this be able to play Doom any good? I was forced to buy a new video card because my Voodoo 3 broke, I would've waited 'til Doom is released otherwise.

[Zoost]

No, you need a shader programmable GPU like a Gforce3 or higher) to process the cool feutures like real time shadowing etc.

[Espi]

Will I still be able to play it, or is that programmable GPU required?

[AIRmichael]

I think you will be still able to play it, but u would have to set very low quality.

[Katarhyne]

Don't even bother trying to play Doom 3 with anything less than a Geforce 3 or a Radeon 8500.

To prove my point, go into Quake 3. Disable lightmaps, set your resolution to 640x480x16, set your texture quality as low as it can go, and set your geometry to "low". Then, try playing. Not much fun, is it?

There isn't a card out right now that will run Doom 3 "well". It's my own personal opinion that the NV25 (tentatively named "Geforce 4") will be the generation of video card Carmack aims for.

...

However...the Geforce 2 Ti IS a very fast card for today's games, and quite cheap, to boot. On top of all that, most of them overclock well. So, if you're in the market for a new video card, it might not be a bad choice if you don't plan on upgrading again 'til Doom comes out. But then, I would suggest you get a Kyro II, as it's about $100 cheaper...and about as fast.

[IMJack]

To prove my point, go into Quake 3. Disable lightmaps, set your resolution to 640x480x16, set your texture quality as low as it can go, and set your geometry to "low". Then, try playing. Not much fun, is it?

True, but all of the "expert" Q3A players I've seen do this anyway. Q3 is such a framerate- and ping-dependant game for those who take it seriously, that they set everything to the absolute minimum*. But the rest of us would rather rhave the eye candy. :)

I'm planing to wait until Doom 3 comes out to upgrade to the then-state-of-the-art graphics card. That way, I'll be sure to be able to run it well, and my card will be able to last me a few years.

* Oddly, one performance-enhancing feature I didn't see applied was the Simple Items setting. It seems like such an obvious thing to increase speed, reducing all the items to single sprites.