Recommended specs aren't good enough?

[Rockin Robbins]

Guys, the minimum graphics card to run the game with graphics settings WFO would be a GeForce 7600GT. I would HATE to bear the consequences of trying it with any 6000 series card. You might start hewing away at the graphics settings until you get to 640 x 480 16 colors, no special effects and actually run the game. I'm not sure it's worth it.

You're confusing recommended with minimum. Minimum requirements will limp the game along with major problems even then. You will not have fun. Without 2gb of RAM for XP and probably 4 for Vista, you will not have fun. Without at least the above mentioned graphics card, you will not have fun. Since games are supposed to be fun that produces a quandry solvable only by sacrificing some cash. But it's a good investment for your computer in general. Tell the wife it's to make spreadsheets run better!

[Effigy]

Originally Posted by Rockin Robbins

Guys, the minimum graphics card to run the game with graphics settings WFO would be a GeForce 7600GT. I would HATE to bear the consequences of trying it with any 6000 series card. You might start hewing away at the graphics settings until you get to 640 x 480 16 colors, no special effects and actually run the game. I'm not sure it's worth it.

You're confusing recommended with minimum. Minimum requirements will limp the game along with major problems even then. You will not have fun. Without 2gb of RAM for XP and probably 4 for Vista, you will not have fun. Without at least the above mentioned graphics card, you will not have fun. Since games are supposed to be fun that produces a quandry solvable only by sacrificing some cash. But it's a good investment for your computer in general. Tell the wife it's to make spreadsheets run better!

In my case I'm not confusing recommended with minimum (not sure if you were addressing the OP, me, or both). According to "Will it run it", whatever that site is for checking games, it says my setup is good to go on the recommended as well (so I kind of expected to be able to run it with some nice visuals too). 'Course, that site may be iffy (or just can't really interpret unique setups well, I dunno. :P)

I have 4gigs of ram as well, which I thought would help things, but I guess a graphics card update couldn't hurt! So I've decided to give it a go. nVidia 9800 series or something, that I'm looking into. Heard it's a beast; had to measure my case to make sure the thing would even fit (according to some reviews I read). May go to the store later.

Anyway. While SHIV definitely plays okay for me now, I'd sure like some of that eye candy too. And Call of Duty 4 would probably thank me as well. I can play that game just fine with some nice visuals, but oooooo I can imagine how it would be with a new card and being able to crank everything up.

Hope the OP is able to enjoy IV as well at some point, whether that comes from a graphics update or some other means. A whole new computer isn't necessary, I agree with the previous mention - an update in an area or two is usually good enough.

[Rockin Robbins]

Yup I was mostly talking to the OP. Yes that 9800 is a beast! When's the next big leap in graphics card tech going to come so I can pick one up for $150? Hehehehe!

I'll be happy when I get a replacement 7800GS from EVGA and I'm even happy with my 7600GT that's in there now. Having a great time and the game looks great.

[AVGWarhawk]

I also have the EVGA 7800GS. Great card. I run the game on a 3200+ at 2.2 Ghz. 2 gigs of RAM... DDR 400. 25 FPS on the bridge with convoys. I had a 6200 originally. The game grunted along. Dump the 6200 frenema and get a faster card.

[jazman]

I have a 7600GT, AGP too. It's just good enough to get frame rates into the 20s. My CPU is also a bottleneck, because when I get near a convoy / task force, I get a noticeable slowdown. I call it my CPU-Radar.

[Effigy]

Well, I did it (GeForce 9800GTX). And wow is all I can say... Unfortunately I am not a genius with hardware related stuff, and didn't know anything about power supply, lol. So it's up and running, and I noticed great improvements esp in COD4 (wow!), and SHIV looks awesome now with nice framerates (hate that post process filter thing, but environmental, volumetric, etc very cool!) -- but... looks like I'll need a new powersupply because some nVidia app is telling me it's not getting enough juice, and it has tuned the performance down a bit to prevent damage (kinda neat that it'd do that). Not sure how much further improvement I'll see when I have enough wattage in the PC and the restraint comes off, but as it is even right now, I'm impressed.

[Sailor Steve]

Effigy, what is it about the PPF that you hate. If it's the grainy look, there's a little mod that fixes it. Let me know and I'll put it up for you.

If it's something (or everything) else, then sorry, but I can't help.