3D Gaming Computer
Making Hybrid is hardwork but also great fun, however testing it (throughout development)
on different computer configurations is a bit of a painful experience, as so many things need to be taken
into account like, CPU speed, graphics card capabilities not to mention
the actual game code
I often get asked what computer configuration will be needed to play Hybrid or what
graphics card someone should buy to see Hybrid at it's best. I often find myself
re-typing the same information, in emails, on some important hardware aspects that are required
in order to create a really good 3d Gaming Computer
During development of Hybrid, I've had the chance to test many of the latest
graphics cards on all kinds of PC configurations. So what is the best?
Well it's not as easy as that, but I can tell you that there are some
specific things that you need to consider when creating a really good
3D Gaming Computer configuration
MOTHERBOARD
There are two nice things that you will want your motherboard to cater for, the first is that it can accept
a really good CPU, you'll want something nice and fast, anything between 1 GHz and 2 GHz,
and if money allows a Pentium 4, otherwise an AMD
The next thing is an AGP slot, this allows an AGP graphics card
to connect to your motherboard, forget the old PCI graphics cards
they're history. You should try to get the AGP slot to cater for AGP 8x,
not all motherboards do so check closely at the small print
GRAPHICS CARD
At present, I'm very biased. I've tried the Voodoos, Matrox's and many other graphics cards...
but I keep shouting about the GeForce4 Ti range from NVidia, I can't help it, I love them!
Now there are 6 versions of the GeForce 4 Ti cards to choose from, and depending whether you are a
European user, or a USA user, they will have different names
The top of the Ti range is the
Ti4800 which has AGP 8x, remember that from the motherboard section? Now this graphics card
can transfer data at a very fast rate, roughly 10.4GB/sec, and as long as your motherboard has an
AGP 8x slot, then you will be getting the best texturing transfer performance. USA users
may know the Ti4800 by another name... the Ti4600 with AGP 8x
Here is a list of the 6 cards for your region
Ti4200
European users
Ti4200
Where are we going with this? Well each graphics card in the above lists, gets progressively better,
meaning faster, more powerful, more memory, so wherever you are from in the world, you will be wanting to
aim for the graphics card at the end of the lists, however, the last 3 in each list is only
worth it if your motherboard has an AGP 8x slot. Reason being is that
you may be a European user and have the Ti4800 which has AGP 8x, but your motherboard
may only be able to handle AGP 4x in which case the Ti4600 would have been your better choice
All of that aside, I've noticed the prices of these GeForce4 Ti cards going down drastically in the
last few months, so if money isn't a problem, European users should grab the Ti4800 and
USA users the Ti4600 with AGP 8x
Armed with this card you'll get 128Mb DDR Memory, 4.8 billion AA (Antialiased)
samples/sec fill rate, 136 million vertices/sec, 1.23 trillion operations/sec, all in all
one powerful graphics card that will make your 3d games scream!
The performance and capabilities of the
GeForce4 Ti range does decrease with each earlier version, but you'll be glad to hear
that Hybrid still screams along at 85fps in 1600x1200x32bit on the Ti4200
which is the lowest of the range
But Paul.... NVidia now have newer cards like the GeForce FX range! Yes I know... but
in my opinion they are not as good as the GeForce4 Ti range. I bought a GeForce FX 5600, and
yes it has a whopping 256MB DDR Memory and advanced AA functionality, but it was so jerky,
no not jerky, more like stuttery, inconsistent frame rates... this indeed surprised me, and disappointed me, but
peeking further into the GeForce FX range I noticed that the AA (Antialiased)
fill rate drops right down to 1.6 billion samples/sec, compared to the GeForce4 Ti4800
which offers 4.8 billion samples/sec, so in my eyes its a backwards step
No in all honesty, I wouldn't recommend getting a GeForce FX I'm going to continue screaming about the
GeForce4 Ti range!
MONITOR
The monitor is such an important piece of hardware for good 3D Gaming and yet it is so often
overlooked. I cant stress enough, how important a good monitor can be. In this day and age
you'll be wanting at least a 17" monitor, better still a 19 or 21"... anything less than
17" should be thrown away now!
You'll also want one that can handle good refresh rates and a
good dp (dot pitch)... to name some brands, ADI MicroScan, Sony etc. Rule of thumb is to go
for the top of any range, based upon what you can afford... as they say, you pays for what you get.. and with
monitors that's how it works
Try to get a monitor that offers at least .28 dp and at least a refresh rate of
85Hz for the higher screen modes. I'll give you an example... imagine your motherboard with it's
fast CPU and your GeForce4 Ti 4800 that has AGP 8x and Hybrid offering you
32bit graphics at a size of 1600x1200
Now if your monitor is cheap and nasty, then it
may not support 1600x1200 and you will be forced to choose a lower screen mode... it may not even support
32bit and so you may need to drop down to 16bit... on top of this, your graphics card
and Hybrid can offer you 85 to 125fps (frames per second) but if your monitors
maximum refresh rate is 60Hz then the best you will ever see is 60fps. See the connection?
Basically your graphics card will not shine, 'as it's meant to shine', if your monitor is not on
the same level of capabilities
So to recap, aim for a monitor that is 17" or bigger, that can offer 32bit, that goes
right up to 1600x1200 screen modes and offers refresh rates in the range of 85Hz to
120Hz, oh and don't forget a dot pitch of .28 or smaller (the smaller the dp,
the better the monitor)
DRIVERS
coming soon
TWEAKING
coming soon
Paul Carrington
Below is my personal take on the subject and I hope it is beneficial to you when you next consider
upgrading your computer
USA users
Ti4400
Ti4600
Ti4200 with AGP 8x
Ti4400 with AGP 8x
Ti4600 with AGP 8x
Ti4400
Ti4600
Ti4680 (same as Ti4200 but with AGP 8x support)
Ti4800 SE (same as Ti4400 but with AGP 8x support)
Ti4800 (same as Ti4600 but with AGP 8x support)
Programmer of Hybrid
Vulcan Software Ltd