GameBanshee Forums

I want to buy morrowind, but after I saw the system requirement I kind of hesitated.

I have a AMD Duron 750 computer, with 128MB RAM, ATI Rage 128 graphic card, and Soundblaster PCI for sound card. I don't know how much memory my sound card and graphic card have, but the CPU speed and RAM size pass the minimum requirement. However, they are not at the level of the recommended requirement yet.

So I'm wondering, if I buy Morrowind, will the game run smoothly?

Any suggustions are welcome, and I hope I will get some good feedbacks from gamers with similar computer equipements as myself.

Thanks.

Coconut_crab

Video will be really slow. I have a GeForce2 MX, and its slow on mine. Your card is an older chipset, and many of the new graphic features you just can't see on older cards. In fact, some of the water rendering and effects are not able to be seen on my GF2. I still have to tone down the graphics a bit for my system, and I'm not getting a very good frame-rate as it is, but at least its playable.

Save up a hundred bucks and get a GeForce3, that will run a lot better than what you have.

thnx

Please excuse my ignorance, as I'm not very familiar with many of the names of computer companies.

-"GeForce" is a graphic card, right?

-You said only my graphic card is slow, so I might upgrade that. Is the rest of my system considered "OK" to run the game, or do I still need to add more RAM, as is recommended in the system requirement?

-Also, what kind of system equipment would be considered absolutely "free of trouble" for Morrowind?

Thanks for the reply.

Coco

GeForce is actually a chipset, not a card. nVidia is the company that developed the GeForce chipsets, but there are several companies that manufacturer GeForce cards. The other major developer of video chipsets is ATI who makes all of their own cards.

There are two levels of GeForce cards: MX and Ti. The GeForce4 MX cards use what is essentially a GeForce2 chipset that comes with a new paint job and the GeForce4 name; don't get one.

If you get a GeForce card, get at least a GeForce4 Ti card with 128 MB of DDR RAM. I have a Visiontek Xtasy GeForce4 Ti 4200 card that cost $200 (USD) at Wal-Mart. I recommend it.

I haven't played Morrowind, but from what I hear, it's system requirements are very high. A good rule of thumb is to take whatever the box lists as the minimum requirements and double it; if the game says it needs a Pentium III 600 MHz, you should probably have a 1.2 GHz CPU. Similarly, if the game says it needs 64 MB of RAM, count on needing 128 MB. The minimum requirements assume that you are running nothing else to take away system requirements. This is absurd; on top of the game, you've to to run an operating system, anti-virus software, video and sound drivers, mouse drivers, etc. all of which bleed off a little bit of performance from your CPU.

If you need additional computer help, I suggest that you stop by the GameBanshee Technical Support Forum and browse through some of the topics; we've had a lot of discussion about video cards and computer upgrades over there.

It's like this:

System specifications for the PC-version
Minimum requirements

Windows ME/98 with 128 MB RAM, or Windows XP/2000 with 256 MB RAM
500 MHz Intel Pentium III, Celeron, or AMD Athlon processor.
8x CD/DVD-ROM drive.
1 GB free harddisk space.
Windows swapfile.
DirectX 8.1 (included).
32 MB Direct3D compatible graphics card with DirectX 8.1 compatible driver.
DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card.
Keyboard.
Mouse.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Recommended system

800 MHz (or faster) Intel Pentium III, or AMD Athlon processor.
256 MB RAM.
NVIDIA GeForce2 GTS, or ATI Radeon 7500, or faster graphics card.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Supported graphics cards

NVIDIA GeForce4.
NVIDIA GeForce3.
NVIDIA GeForce2.
NVIDIA GeForce 256.
NVIDIA TNT2.
ATI Radeon 8500.
ATI Radeon 7500.
ATI Radeon 7200.
ATI Radeon.
ATI Rage 128.
Matrox G550.
Matrox G450.
Matrox G400.

define smoothly. I dont believe it will run smoothly on anything, my comp exceeds recommended and is still choppy and slow. It is still a great game, and generally doesnt slow down in battles, usually just in times that dont matter. It can get annoying, but you wont get killed by the lag, like in diablo 2 for example.

Originally posted by Rahvin
define smoothly. I dont believe it will run smoothly on anything, my comp exceeds recommended and is still choppy and slow. It is still a great game, and generally doesnt slow down in battles, usually just in times that dont matter. It can get annoying, but you wont get killed by the lag, like in diablo 2 for example.

Yeah, I know what you mean! My computer exeeds the recommended by far. And it still lags! Aaarrrggghhh!

Yeah, I know what you mean! My computer exeeds the recommended by far. And it still lags! Aaarrrggghhh! [/QUOTE]

Aaarrrggghhh! I'm losing hope.

Coco

define smoothly. I dont believe it will run smoothly on anything, my comp exceeds recommended and is still choppy and slow. It is still a great game, and generally doesnt slow down in battles, usually just in times that dont matter. It can get annoying, but you wont get killed by the lag, like in diablo 2 for example.

don't know what you guys are talking about, my computer exceeds recommended and I have all video options set to max and my game is not choppy at all, but very smooth, but then again my computer exceeds the requirements by quiet a bit(P4 2GHz, 516MB Ram, and 64MB Nvidia GeForce4 ti 4200.)

Originally posted by Coconut_Crab
Aaarrrggghhh! I'm losing hope.

Coco

Well, unless you try the game on other faster machine first (ie. friend's or demo in a shop), you won't really know how fast it can get. My computer is not the top end (Duron 1300 and GeForce2 MX400), and I'm happily playing Morrowind. Maybe it'll be better on the faster machine, but I can't complain.

I suggest you to change video card and CPU, and add more memory. As HLD often says, set your budget first, and buy the best possible one within the budget.

Originally posted by Coconut_Crab
Yeah, I know what you mean! My computer exeeds the recommended by far. And it still lags! Aaarrrggghhh!

Aaarrrggghhh! I'm losing hope.

Coco [/QUOTE]



Sorry.

Originally posted by Minerva
As HLD often says, set your budget first, and buy the best possible one within the budget.

Wow, someone around here actually listens to my advice?

Originally posted by HighLordDave
Wow, someone around here actually listens to my advice?

If the advice is related to computers, then yes. Otherwise, "might be...."

Originally posted by Minerva
If the advice is related to computers, then yes. Otherwise, "might be...."

::indignant look::

When have I ever steered you wrong, Minerva?

Having never played Morrowind on a computer, I can't be sure, but I'd say you definately want to get a new video card. Spend a couple hundred and it'll last you for a couple years. Also I'd say add at least another 128MB of RAM. I have a 1GHz machine with 128MB and a 550MHz machine with 512MB and the 550 runs so much better it's amazing. Another 128MB is definately worth the like $40 it costs, even if you don't play a lot of games. As for your proc, I'd say upgrade if you can, but make that last on your list. Like I said, my machine with nearly twice the processor speed runs at about 1/3 the speed of my other one (according to 3D Mark for those wondering, with scores of a whopping 1500 and 500 )

Just want to share some info here, you must get a good graphic card. The specs says it support nVidia TNT2. Yet I have a 32MB nVidia card and the mouse cursor movement on the menu are really lame. The response when you click on an option also really lame. FYI I have a P3 1.2 MHz w/ 256 MB RAM - most games runs fine except this one