Doom 3 "Ultra" quality

[woot7800GT]

I've got a question about DOOM3 Ultra quality. In the video settings munu, when I select "Ultra" quality, it gives a warning saying that it's not recommended and takes up 512 Mb of video memory. Does this literally mean that I need the 6800 Ultra 512mb card to play it on ultra quality?

 

[bobafett573]

i don't believe so. i believe that it means you need 512mb RAM. For games, everything is video memory. it's just the textures that go to the video card; everything else goes to RAM. it should work just fine. have you tryed it yet?

 

[woot7800GT]

I havn't tried it yet, but your explanation seems most likely. If I do try, what's the worst that could happen?

 

[xteam02001]

it maybe really slow and choppy. nothing will happen to the videocard.

my 6800GT 256mb runs doom3 on ultra quality with no problem. smooth as silk

 

[woot7800GT]

Cool, I'll try it out. I just beat Doom3 today

 

[diabloII]

you can't damage the card that way, and i don't think it even needs that much memory

worst thing that can happen is probably doom3 freezing or your computer restarting

 

[PP Mguire]

your GT only runs it smooth casue its really only using High quality. if you went from both you would see there is no difference between ultra high and high. Yes it does need to use a 512mb card. thast what everybody has been saying since it firt came out. it was made for future cards casue the textures for ultra high takes all 512mb of Vram.

 

[woot7800GT]

Really? Then why does it bother giving you a warning? Why doesn't it just say, "You're card is not supported"? I just switched it to Ultra and it looks a little better, just my imagination? That's odd that they would only support one GPU for ultra quality.

 

[PP Mguire]

they dont support only one gpu, it supports 512mb of Vram which any gpu could have. And yes ultra quality requires 512mb of Vram. besides im sure nubius wouldnt tell me this info if it wasnt true casue ive had the same arguement cause i thought teh exact same thing. Remember i have a 256mb card as well.

 

[Nubius]

Ariiiight, to clarify a couple things.

It means 512mb of VRAM, as in for your video card not system RAM because it uses over 500mb of texture like it says in the warning.

No this doesn't mean you HAVE to have a 512mb card, it's just saying it would be optimal if you had that.

The worst that happens is at first it seems a bit choppy, but if you have a 6800GT or Ultra, especially a GT at Ultra speeds, and a 1gb of system RAM with your aperture set to 256mb it will be able to play Ultra settings no prob.

I play Ultra at 1280x1024 Resolution, 2x AA with my GT at Ultra specs and my AGP Aperture at 256mb and it plays perfect.

When I first load it up though the first couple mins are choppy which I attribute to low memory bandwidth in a socket A system, but AMD64's shouldn' t have any trouble and even on mine, after the first couple minutes it's smooths out nice like