Fallout New Vegas

[PZ]

We've started this board in anticipation of this excellent new game  :-X

[JRD]

Someone will be very, very busy with games in the near future!  :-D

[Art Blade]

 ;D nice one, PZ  :-X

[PZ]

Thanks, Art  ;)

So much time, so little to do as Willy Wonka said   :-() 8-X

[Ricamundo]

Im really looking forward to NV, but with some trepidation, as my quickly aging PC may barely be able to cope with it, and i simply cant afford to upgrade or replace it. I could probably do some extra ram, as XP could handle 4 gb's and i currently have only 2, but i'll prolly need a GPU upgrade in the next year or so, and ultimately, I'll have to move to Win7 if i want to play any of the future games.

On a related note, i read something the other day stating that laptops are quickly overtaking desktops in sales, and desktops will likely disappear in a few years. :( I cant see myself playing a racing game on a console, or on a lappy with one of those stupid controllers. ::)

[PZ]

There is always lots of speculation as to where things are going for the future, but personally, I can't see the desktop disappearing too soon unless people come up with  a new and better processor for laptops - they are simply not powerful enough for those that like to maximize their productivity.

For instance, I do video rendering while working simultaneously on other things - when I try to do something like that on my laptop, it is painfully slow.  On my i7, I can watch a movie, render a video, and w@&k on a massive spreadsheet with no perceptible difference in performance.

[JRD]

Not to mention price. A gaming laptop can cost twice as much (or even more) than a gaming PC and the maximum screen size you get is 17"... check the AlienWare site and see it for yourself!

The small size of a laptop comes with a big price!

Which GPU are you running now Ricamundo? I learned that a good processor makes up for a medium GPU, unless you are rendering wide, vast areas full of details like Arma 2.

My lappy can run lots of games, including some pretty new ones (Borderlands, Mirror`s Edge) with high settings and low screen resolution and be smooth as silk to play... 256MB GeForce and a 2,66 GHz dual core processor!

I`d say a dual core with around 2,4-2,5 GHz and a 512 MB GPU can run pretty much any game out there and will be able to do so for the next couple years

[Ricamundo]

Good points guys. :-X JRD, i have a dual core 3.0 gig with a 512 nVidia 9800 GTX and 2 gig of DDR 3. The fact that im still on XP might make any other update a waste of time tho, as some game makers have already seen fit to write off XP as a supported OS.

[deadman1]

Good points guys. :-X JRD, i have a dual core 3.0 gig with a 512 nVidia 9800 GTX and 2 gig of DDR 3. The fact that im still on XP might make any other update a waste of time tho, as some game makers have already seen fit to write off XP as a supported OS.

If I were you I would take look at the nvidia GTX 200 series of vidcards. They will give you a healthy boost in performance and if things are the same in Canada as here in sweden they are very reasonably priced (read "cheap"), and if I´m not totally mistaken I believe XP only supports 3 Gigs of Ram.

[Art Blade]

That's right, actually XP(32bit) only uses 2GB RAM and the third GB kind of disappears. Only 64bit OS can deal with four and more GB RAM. The most effective upgrade would be a vid card upgrade. Just don't overdo it, make sure the power input of the vid card as well as the power plugs match the current Power Supply Unit of the current rig. If a new vid card drains all the juice.. hehe ;) A dual core CPU is perfect, 3.0 GHz is sufficient I suppose. Very few games make use of more than two cores. A cuad core with say 2.6 GHz is even less efficient than a dual core with 3.0 GHz.

[deadman1]

I just read a review of FO:NV, the verdict was that it was a heck of  game. The reviewer mentioned among other things the changes that has been made to the crafting system, apparantly you´ll be able to not only make weapons at the workbench but you´ll be able to custom make your ammo too. Providing you have the necesseray skills of course  ;)

[Art Blade]

That sounds cool. Borderlands goes Apocalypse.  ;D

[PZ]

Links to the Nexus mods for Fallout New Vegas have been added to the links block on the FNV home page.

[Art Blade]

nice  :) :-X

[Ricamundo]

Well after playing for a couple of hours, it looks better right out of the box than FO3 does; my god it even has...gasp!... blue skies, and attractive skies at that. 8) I noted the occasional stutter as PZ mentioned, but its certainly tamer than the stuttering i encountered out in the FO3 wastes, so far its quite easy to ignore and relegated to the open areas.

I downgraded the graphical adjustment the game made when it studied my system specs, so i have high detail, instead of ultra high, as well as large testures. I am using some but not quite as much anti aliasing and anisotropic filtering too.

[PZ]

Well after playing for a couple of hours, it looks better right out of the box than FO3 does; my god it even has...gasp!... blue skies...

^+-+ ^+-+ ^+-+

[Art Blade]

 ;D

Ric, if you switch off AA and AF but instead go back to ultra high, you should be better off. AA and AF eat up a lot of the vid card's power.. which instead I'd spend on quality graphics or speed.  :)