What good PC games really 'push the envelope' graphically?
03-31-05, 03:45 PM
#1
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What good PC games really 'push the envelope' graphically?
Im getting a new home theater PC soon and its coming with HL2 and Far Cry (I think) and I cant wait to really try some impressive games on my home theater.
Im not really that good at FPS but I enjoy them. I really like the overhead strategy games but I dont know of any new ones out there that will push my system graphic capabilities.
Ive been away from PC games for a long time because my pc that im finally replacing is about 4 years old
Im not really that good at FPS but I enjoy them. I really like the overhead strategy games but I dont know of any new ones out there that will push my system graphic capabilities.
Ive been away from PC games for a long time because my pc that im finally replacing is about 4 years old
03-31-05, 05:04 PM
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FPS are usually the games that push the envelope the most graphically. But the new Age of Empires 3 screens look pretty amazing. Not sure when that comes out.
http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...hlight=empires
http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...hlight=empires
Last edited by msdmoney; 03-31-05 at 05:10 PM.
03-31-05, 05:52 PM
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Make sure you get halo for the pc; I mean it isn't going to be as cool as the Xbox halo, but hey it is still a great game. The need for speed games are good as well the underground 2, um WarCraft 3 is a must have, republic commando, doom 3, HL2 is good, but I didn't find much replay ablity in it. Oh but you will get the new Counter Strike which is awesome. Microsoft’s RalliSport game which is like 10 dollars now is a great racing game for the pc. You should get UT2004 it is by far one of the best multiplayer pc games. I could go on and on I used to be a big PC gamer, until I got my XBox. Too bad WarCraft 3 isn't on Xbox that would be awesome. Oh yeah and get World of WarCraft that game is just great!
03-31-05, 10:49 PM
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Not taking into consideration the gameplay, but just what you indicated in your title, the games that will push your graphics card's capabilities will be Half Life 2 and Doom 3 for now. These games incorporate all the possible buzzwords you can think of from a graphics point of view:
anisotopic filtering
full-screen antialiasing
light sourcing
mip-mapping
bump mapping
texture mapping
pixel shader
texel shader
particle effects
and so on, and so on...
I'm sure I made up some of those words
Nevertheless, it doesn't matter how big or bad or overclocked your PC will be, these two games will bring your graphics card to it's knees!
anisotopic filtering
full-screen antialiasing
light sourcing
mip-mapping
bump mapping
texture mapping
pixel shader
texel shader
particle effects
and so on, and so on...
I'm sure I made up some of those words
Nevertheless, it doesn't matter how big or bad or overclocked your PC will be, these two games will bring your graphics card to it's knees!
04-01-05, 01:20 AM
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no way half life 2 looks so good and plays so smooth. i'm sure maybe at a higher res it might suck but 1280*1024 it works great. now halo pc that game sucks thanks gearbox for a crappy port. oh i've got an x800xt if anyone wanted to know. you're right though with everything all the way on at a high res like 1600*1200 my system would probably suck.
good luck with your media center pc, my pc is a beast and i'm sure there is a game out there that could bring the frame rate to a low lvl.
good luck with your media center pc, my pc is a beast and i'm sure there is a game out there that could bring the frame rate to a low lvl.
04-01-05, 10:08 AM
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Originally Posted by BeanDip0001
no way half life 2 looks so good and plays so smooth. i'm sure maybe at a higher res it might suck but 1280*1024 it works great.
Half Life 2 was optimized to take full advantage of the Radeon line of cards so there's no surprise that the game will work best with them. However, how does Doom 3 (OpenGL) play on your set up?
04-01-05, 11:37 AM
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Originally Posted by Centurion
I'm not sure I follow you here. You're saying there's no way the game can look good and play smoothly, yet you also say it works great at 1280x1024.
Half Life 2 was optimized to take full advantage of the Radeon line of cards so there's no surprise that the game will work best with them. However, how does Doom 3 (OpenGL) play on your set up?
Half Life 2 was optimized to take full advantage of the Radeon line of cards so there's no surprise that the game will work best with them. However, how does Doom 3 (OpenGL) play on your set up?
04-01-05, 09:42 PM
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Originally Posted by BeanDip0001
no no no i think the game looks great and it plays very smoothly on my machine. and doom 3 is the same as well. looks awesome and plays smoother than half life does.
Now that I re-read your post, I think a "." (period) would have helped right after you posted, "no way"
04-02-05, 05:46 AM
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Oh one thing to mention to anyone out there if they have halo PC. When you get invisible on the pc and have a 128bit card you turn like a ghost. When you have a 256bit card it makes you look like the Xbox halo just like the predator. There are some other games out there for PC that do the same thing 256bit RULES!!!! 
