Graphics Card

[BigTex]

The short version: I need a new graphics card to run morrowind on my PIII 650 MHz, what is good enough without going over the top?

The long version: I have been playing Morrowind for two years on Xbox and have been contiunally fustrated not being able to mod. Finally, I scammed a slightly older computer and set the game up to run, but it needs to be in 32-bit color and my current set up will only support up to 24-bit color. What can I get without dropping too much money that will let me run the game?

[BlackSlayer]

Hey I had this same problem when I got Morrowind for the computer. I currently have a 256Mb, 64-bit color, Nividia GeForce GX5200 Special edition wich was about 215$. But that is defenitely over-doing it. So depending on your price range you might want an ATI Radeon 7500 or higher wich cost anywhere from 75$ to

350$. Please note that I am in Colorado so prices might change if you live somewhere else. My Advice get an ATI Radeon 7500.

[UberBender]

You might want to consider upgrading your processer too. A .65 Ghz is pretty weak. I am running a 2.8 Ghz and I still have the occasional problem

[BlackSlayer]

Yeah, I forgot about that each graphic card comes with specific system requirements so depending on your processor and SDD DDR Ram Memory the graphics card might be accepted by the mother board. Also what OS do you have? because most ATI Radeons wont run on Anythi9ng lower than 2000 or NT so if you got Win98 or 95 your sorta stuck unless you get Windows XP which works awsome!

[Switch]

650 mhz? Yeugh! Get a better processor, for starters ;) that is rather awful.

 

I'd suggest the following if you don't want to spend much money:

 

Graphics: GeForce4 MX400

Processor: 1 Ghz

RAM: 256 MB

OS: Windows XP

And something that at least supports 32 bit colour! :P

 

That's just a little bit below the specs of my original PC that I played Morrowind on. You can run it smoothly at minimum view distance with this, more or less ok 50-60%. Though be warned my MX400 died after about 1 or 2 years and I could no longer play anything beyond basic 3D/2D games with it. Plus Bloodmoon is MUCH more demanding than Morrowind, so you may want higher specs for that. I always find it far more laggy there, especially when it snows or a blizzard blows up.

 

Hope that helps.

[Witchking_of_Angmar]

I've tested Morrowind on 5 systems so far, and it seems to run pretty slow no matter what you have.

 

System1

Pentium2 350mhz (yes, this is below Morrowinds minimum spec)

Geforce2 MX200/pci 32mb

128mb ram

Gets about 15+fps in wilderness, 10 or lower in towns. Visibility set to 25%

 

System2

Celeron 1ghz

Geforce4mx/pci 64mb

256mb ram

15+ in wilderness, 10-15 in towns with about 50% visibility

 

System3

Athlon Thunderbird 1.4ghz

Geforce4 4200 128mb

512mb ram

20+ in wilderness, 15+ in towns, 50-70% visibility

 

System4

Duron 1.3ghz

GeforceFX 5600 256mb

768mb ram

with FPS optimiser, framerate locked at 15, 70-150% visibility in wilderness, 50-75 in towns

 

System5

AthlonXP 2400+

GeforceFX 5600 256mb

768mb ram

with FPS optimiser, framerate locked at 15, 80-200% visibility in wilderness, 50-75 in towns

 

Long winded, but hopefully gives a rough idea of what kind of performance should be expected on different systems. As you can see, the framerate rises significantly in the wilderness. This is because the large number of NPCs in towns means that performance there is largely CPU-bound. I would like to test the Pentium2 system with the FPS optimiser; I suspect it would be very playable. In conclusion, here's a few ideas as to what would help performance.

1. FPS optimiser. Probably the most important thing for performance.

2. Fast CPU (at least 2ghz) Morrowind is largely CPU bound due to AI.

3. Fast Graphics card (at least Geforce4, possibly Geforce3 TI)

4. Lots of ram (512mb+, preferably DDR) Improves loading times.

Hope this helps

[Witchking_of_Angmar]

btw, the fact that you can't go above 24bit colour indicates to me that you have an old, crappy integrated graphics chipset. Judging by the fact that you have a 650mhz P3, it's probably an Intel i810 or i815. If this is the case, go out and get a REAL graphics card quickly. Like within the next 20 seconds. Seriously, those integrated chipsets can barely handle running Explorer in Windows XP.