Money to spend...

[gimpycow]

Beedubaya,

I have a ATI Radeon 9800 Pro and at 800x600 with all of the graphics turned up, I get smooth frame rates. Since the X800 Pro is at least 50% faster than the 9800Pro, you should be fine. Don't get me wrong, Doom 3's frame rates do drop on me from time to time but it is when I enter a new area. I don't believe this is because of the video card but because I only have 512MB of system memory and there is a lot of paging going on with my hard drive. When you notice the drop in frame rate, do you also notice your hard drive spinning? If so, the problem is probably paging. I would look to increase your system memory.

The performance jump you would get by going to the 6800GT would be minimal and definitely not worth the $400 (minus whatever you could sell the X800 Pro for). In addition, I bet that X800Pro plays Half-Life 2 faster than the 6800GT.

I have a feeling there is something else going on with your system when you get the low frame rates in Doom 3 other than your video card.

Oh...forgot to mention, if you did not upgrade your video card drivers lately or apply the Doom 3 patch, do so immediately.

I would get the sound system you desire and save the left over money for a future upgrade...don't spend it...save it...

 

[gimpycow]

Also, forgot to mention, you might want to check in your ATI control panel if you are forcing OPENGL games to use AA and AF. If you have AA or AF cranked up on Doom 3, trying taking that off and see if it makes a difference. If it helps, try increasing them in small doses until you reach a threshold of more bad performance than good performance.

If you have 1GB of Kingston memory running in dual channel, I doubt system memory is the problem...

By the way, have you turned on the command to track your frames per second in the Doom 3 console? If so, what are your fps at what resolution and graphical settings? Remember to check the AA and AF as I mention above from your ATI control panel.

 

[rooster]

you get laggy when your playing doom 3 and your computer is waaaaaayyyyy better that mine and i dont really get that laggy

 

[beedubaya]

Well, with specs like that you probably play it on low or medium settings without AA or AF and at 800x600. I play it on high, 1024x768 and no lower than 2xAA.

 

[YanBooth]

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-130-203&depa=1
And
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=36-121-121&depa=1
Total = 531.5
Yan

 

[YanBooth]

Get the 6800GT and sell the X800. With the $100 left over and the roughly $150 from the X800 that's $250. I have a Logitech 5.1 system that's like 270watts max and it was only $220 and it sounds awesome. Bestbuy has this system. I know Klipsch(however it's spelled) are nicer but I really can't tell much of a difference between this system and theirs. The sub with the Logitechs is huge also.

I was looking at both of those today at Best Buy also, they say the Logitech 5300e's are 560 Watts which is wrong, and I though that the Logitech sounded better than the Klipschs (how the heck is that spelled?), especially when I turned em up (store clerk came over and told me to shut em' up, lol).
Yan

 

[mrsp2man]

Come on... You are not happy with an X800? Benchies on those cards are very far from bad. Have you tried changing the game from OpenGL to Direct3D? I think that it supports both, and ATI does better with Direct3D. I would keep the X800 in the hopes that ATI releases a better driver, buy the speakers and then keep the rest to save up for a new system. IMO, an upgrade from an X800 to a 6800 at such a high price is not worth it at all.

 

[gimpycow]

As stated earlier...take off the AA and AF and then play at 1024x768 and see how things run. Also, upgrade to the latest Catalyst drivers and apply the Doom 3 patch. You should be fine. After verifying your frame rate is ok, then up the AA and AF until you find the breaking point of poor performance. The X800Pro should be plenty powerful for Doom 3 in a decent resolution if you don't max out the AA and AF.

 

[beedubaya]

I have the Catalyst 4.12 betas. What is the latest patch version number anyway? I can't get the patch because I am on dial-up. Anybody willing to download it and send it to me? And I am in no way maxing out the AA and AF. 2xAA is all I use. And it isn't through the whole game that I get the choppiness. Its mostly either in areas with lots of fire or areas with lots of motion, or outdoor areas. It also gets pretty choppy when there are lots of enemies on screen.

 

[lazerman]

I can dl it for you but how do you mean send it to you? Like on a cd or through aim or something?