Will you buy a 6800 based on HardOCP's DOOM3 benchies?

IMO that depends pretty much only on when the SDK (ie. mod source) hits, how easy to code it is - and how much freedom it allows. I don't think out-of-the-box D3MP will be too popular due to all those limitations, but if mod authors could somehow tune down the graphics below stock D3 LQ levels, maybe dumb down the physics (or restrict to player movement) - that would help early adoption plenty.

 

only question is why are u a q uake freak . the single player game or the multiplayer part of the game ?

If its multiplayer i think u will find doom 3 lacking as its only 4 player multiplay which kinda has me upset and took away alot of my excitement for this game

 

but quake4 will be based off this engine

 

and when will be Q4 published?
in time for NV50 or R500? or later?....

i will base my purchase on dx9 titles and how nv40/r420 work under dx9.
Far Cry is good example, but i'll wait little bit more (currently x800pro is only thing you can get here anyway )

 

I thought it was "Pumped"? Jumping around one of the lights with God Mode and all weapons on. Had a Voodoo3 at the time and it went to a crawl in that spot but was fixed with some newer drivers not much later

 

Is it still relevant to look at the amount of FPS above all else with the new generation of games? It used to be an advantage to have a very high amount of frames with multiplayer in FPS's, but it isn't anymore, as the game (and the other new games to be released) calculates all actions independent of the framerate, which is capped at 60Hz anyway. Visually, most people don't notice the difference in FPS above 30, unless there is some stuttering, which will be compensated by the same free-running game logic anyway. That leaves the amount of artwork: an older videocard with lots of memory might look better than a brand new one in a higher res with only 128 Mb.

 

Sadly, I'm cursed with a pair of crappy eyes that just demand triple digit FPS as I play with Vsync forced on ( I can't do this in Q3 or ET though were the magic numbers rule ).

(EDIT: it's not so bad with really slow games like Thief, but even there I can very much tell 50 from 70. )

 

Not everyone is the same. But even with vsync and you being able to notice the FPS, that has probably more to do with some choppiness and the refreshrate than the actual amount of frames. And those are the things that are changing. Enabling vsync can actually accentuate the difference between higher framerates, as it uses a hit-or-miss approach to frames.

As Id says, the amount of memory on the videocard determines the detail level, as the game will pause a bit every time the textures have to be uploaded. And the detail is mostly in the resolution of the textures. So, if you want to play on the highest quality level, you need a videocard with 512Mb, with the speed of the card being only a secondary concern.

Edit: essentially, videogames are evolving from free-running framerates to fixed framerates (helped by the focus on consoles). The end of FPS being King is near!

 

Re: yah

I apologise. Shouldn't have quoted you on that, because it didn't come across right. I'm sure you had very good reasons for buying your card. It was just your comment about thinking Doom3 was probably going to be an average game. I can't see how someone could make a buying decision based on a game they hadn't played yet. All this hype for Doom3 could be a huge letdown.

 

Re: yah

double post

 

To address the original question, I have to say no. Doom 3 is an OpenGL game, a branch of gaming that has been in decline for some time. Now, Doom 3 may well change this, but not with this generation. Gaming at this time is dominated by DirectX games, so basing my purchasing decision on an OpenGL game would, to me, seem rather stupid.

I'll wait to see what Half-Life 2 shows before taking the plunge. There are certainly expectations, and cases of "ATI will never match this sort of gap", and then things like the FarCry patch happen and prove a bit of a surprise.

It has always been said that the 3DMark03 test amongst a multitude you should use to make your decision. I fail to see what's so special about Doom 3 that is isn't affected by this rule.

 

This is only because shaders in OpenGL haven't been as easy to design for until recently. Now that GLSL is out, there should be no problems (for the developers that didn't want to take the Cg route).

And, of course, there are new games that use OpenGL without licensing an id software engine, such as City of Heroes, a title that is fairly important to me right now.

 

Open gl is only on a decline because of its delay in getting 2.0 out, well also due to the fact the directx is a complete system from input to sound too. But when ogl 2.0 is released it will take some time but people will start using more again. Most 3d programmers start on open gl because its well simple put easier to do 3d programming with lol.

Your right Chainoth, and addition of GLSL really made it easier to add in shaders for Ogl, and that is one of the main driving force behind the latest Ogl.

 

Agreed but I thought that anything over 60 fps in Doom3 was only good for bragging rights? I think the value formula for Doom3 is something like cost / IQ @ 60fps. So a X800XT at medium that gives 90 fps has no advantage over a 6800NU at medium that does 60 fps. But I'm not too clear on this 60fps lock in the Doom3 engine so please feel free to enlighten me

 

There is no FPS lock. It is a physics lock. All movement in the game is limited to 60 ticks per second. The graphics can still be rendered well over 60 frames a second.

 

And remember:

 

But what does this mean in the end. That if you render at over 60 fps it will have no effect on the 'smoothness' of the game since the gamestate will only change once per 1/60th of a second anyway?

 

Exactly. Doom 3 is meant to be played at exactly 60 FPS, with the speed of your GPU determining resolution and AA/AF, and the amount of ram on the card determining the quality setting. Simple, eh?

 

Aha so my cost / IQ @ 60fps Doom3 value formula rules!!!