[mphenterprises]

Hi All. Take a look at this screen shot: (Click on the image to enlarge it.)










I just bought the latest Need for Speed game from Best Buy. I install the game and started playing. The image you see is one of the lead in chase scenes. I do not know what is going on but I know this cannot be right. I have Need for Speed Carbon and the graphics are way better than this. This seems like a Windows 98 racing game.

The only thing I can think of is that my graphics card is not supported by the game. On the back of the case, the System Requirements say:

Video: 128MB The video card must be 128MB or more and contain one of these chipsets: Nvidia GeForce (6600 or better), ATI Radeon (9500) or better), Intel G45 Express Chipset.

In 2007, when I did my major upgrade, I went with the ATI 100-505507 FireGL V3600 256MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 Workstation Video Card. Since I do not play that many video games, I am no graphics card expert. What say you? Does my current graphics card meet the game's minimum video card requirements?

[techie4fun]

mphenterprises said:

Hi All. Take a look at this screen shot: (Click on the image to enlarge it.)












I just bought the latest Need for Speed game from Best Buy. I install the game and started playing. The image you see is one of the lead in chase scenes. I do not know what is going on but I know this cannot be right. I have Need for Speed Carbon and the graphics are way better than this. This seems like a Windows 98 racing game.

The only thing I can think of is that my graphics card is not supported by the game. On the back of the case, the System Requirements say:

Video: 128MB The video card must be 128MB or more and contain one of these chipsets: Nvidia GeForce (6600 or better), ATI Radeon (9500) or better), Intel G45 Express Chipset.

In 2007, when I did my major upgrade, I went with the ATI 100-505507 FireGL V3600 256MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 Workstation Video Card. Since I do not play that many video games, I am no graphics card expert. What say you? Does my current graphics card meet the game's minimum video card requirements?

Hi MPH. If my conscience is correct, your video card isn't supported by the game. They're asking for a Radeon 9500 or greater, but they did NOT specify if the FireGL v3600 series cards were supported.


This is what I think.

[mphenterprises]

Hi Techie. Yes, that is my feeling as well. I did not build this computer for gaming so the graphics card I chose reflected that. Unfortunately, the only game series I do play religiously requires a more powerful graphics card. Talk about irony. :D

[techie4fun]

Hi MPH.

It would have caught me by surprise too.

Until we actually find our answer, just hang tough.

[mphenterprises]

Yup, it's official. It's a graphics card incompatiblity issue. Take a look at these two images:



My Gameplay





Need for Speed Undercover Image (Click on the image to enlarge it.)





Look at the incredible detail in the lower image versus the upper image. There is no contest. If I want to play this game the way it was meant to be played, I will have to upgrade the graphics card.

[piyushsingh]

you may check the system specs relative to those required by undercover . I always prefer this site. www.systemrequirementslab.com/referrer/srtest

Just open IE as it requires activeX control and select the game from the list . It will give all details.

undercover requirements are much more than carbon. I was able to max. undercover with 8600gt and 2gigs on vista , 2X AA 1280X1024. But the resource usage was heavy as compared to carbon. A few things that may help with your card. Turn off anti aliasing , shadows off , put car detail and world detail to as high as possible that doesnt lag. The thing is that you can sacrifice anti aliasing and shadows for car and world detail (both of which are missing in the image).

[mphenterprises]

Hi Piyush. I knew I could count on your expertise. Thanks. :D




I switched back over into Windows XP for a bit. When I switch back to Windows Vista, I will give your suggestions a shot. Thanks.

[techie4fun]

Hi MPH.





The nice thing about your system is PCI-Express availability, and getting a fairly CHEAP gaming graphics card for your machine wouldn't be much of an issue.





Techie.

[mphenterprises]

Meh, cost is not as important to me as quality. If I cannot play the game the way it is intended to be played with the graphics card I have now, it all boils down to whether or not this game is worth the price of a quality graphics card.

[techie4fun]

Hi MPH.



Your call and decision.



How often do you play the game?

[mphenterprises]

LOL Man, if I could play this game all day I would. LOL Then the misses would be on my case. No, seriously, I play Need for Speed Carbon just about everyday, even though I have already beat the game twice...with two different cars.

[mphenterprises]

Hi Piyush. Well, I switched over into Windows Vista and tried your suggestions. Both Anti-Aliasing and Shadows were already off. The Car Detail was set to High. There were some other option available like Text Filtering but I really do not think that may make a bit of difference. It looks like I will need to buy a better graphics card if I am going to play this game the way it was intended.

[piyushsingh]

hi mph. I wasnt able to find much benchmarks about your card. The 256MB looks fine but GDDR2 memory isnt really good for gaming. The texture filtering settings makes the distant areas look good and detailed but it requires good amount of graphics memory. Did you try the link that i posted in my last post or you may just have a look at the vista games explorer. Start menu -> games. Select undercover listed there. Vista will show recommended , minimum and current rating for undercover. If its close to minimum , then it would be useless to change graphics settings in game but if its above recommended then some setting isnt right somewhere. Well i guess it will be close to minimum , but its always better to check .

btw - the game is okay. I m currently at 89% in career , cops are really fast and good in this one (cops in carbon and most wanted were easy) . You will enjoy this , if you enjoyed carbon. Do get a graphics update as the effects in this game are awesome - motion blur , smoke effects.

[mphenterprises]

Hi Piyush. Yeah, when I built this system, I wasn't building it for gaming so the graphics card really hinders me. It's good for normal use but nowhere near enough for this game.

I had already checked the rating stats and they are not good. Because of the graphics card, my computer only rates a 3.4 since the overall rating is based on the lowest rating. If I had a more powerful graphics card, my computer rating would be at least 5.2. The game's minimum is 4.3 and the recommended is 5.3 so it looks like I have no choice but to upgrade the graphics card if I want to play this game the way its was intended to be played.

[piyushsingh]

a 3.4 base is low. ya the windows experience index takes the lowest for the base rating. 5.9 is the maximum in vista (win7 has 7.1). Have a happy hunting for a new card. :)

[mphenterprises]

:D Thanks. I'm gonna hit newegg first. Inside the game packaging, there was a insert for the GeForce GTX 260. $250 is a bit steep so I may continuing looking. I'll create another Discussion if I need some recommendations.