The Official DOOM 3 [H]ardware Guide thread.

I would like to take a second to thank id Software for allowing us to do the guide. We pitched this idea to them over a year ago and we are very happy they decided to give us a shot at it. That said, I think id sees the value of working with the hardware community in this aspect so that everyone can enjoy DOOM 3 the way it should be experienced.

That said, let the feedback start.

KEEP IT CIVIL as this thread will be heavily monitored for people getting out of line.
 
Nice review..looks like all I need to do is do is upgrade my heatsinks and do a little OC. :D
 
Thanks for the great article Kyle.

It's nice to see that my system still hits the sweet spot with 1024x768 and High Quality. I was a little afraid that I might have to drop to medium quality.

Tuesday can't get here soon enough.
 
Although I am envious of those who have the [H]igh-end systems, it's nice to know I'll be able to fully enjoy this great game with my system.

Thanks for a good article. I like the way you broke it down into different hardware setups, made it much more informative.
 
Excellent guide guys! Those screenshots are amazing, especially the high res ones.

While my system specs didn't match exactly what you tested, I have no doubt now that I'll be able to play 1280x1024 at High Quality, probably even with some AA.

Edit:
The 9600XT results for the 2.4GHz P4 don't seem to load. That's the only link I've found that doesn't work.
 
Sounds like my system will be running High Quality 1024x768. Way better than what I expected!

Thanks for the review Kyle. Hope to see you at QuakeCon in a few weeks.
 
Nice guide. Noticed something though, on the Athlon XP 2500+ page, there isn't a Radeon 9800 Pro graph. Which ironically, is the system configuration I have. :/

Any chance that it wasn't added by accident and you did a benchmark for a 2500+ paired with a 9800 Pro?
 
tornadotsunamilife said:
i was suprised how good the game looked on the geforce 3. go xbox!
Click to expand...

As were we! It simply blew us away that we could enjoy the game on that platform, and really have fun with it.
 
heh, looks like its 1024 or lower for us with the XP systems. And my 8500 is DEFINITELY not gonna do...I shoulda started saving money sooner lol.

Well I told myself I'd be patient for either even lower 9800Pro prices or the distant 6800LE.

Either way, I'm gonna be screwed for the next few weeks as I try to get some money together.
 
agent420 said:
Although I am envious of those who have the [H]igh-end systems, it's nice to know I'll be able to fully enjoy this great game with my system.

Thanks for a good article. I like the way you broke it down into different hardware setups, made it much more informative.
Click to expand...

Awesome, this is good to hear!

Glad it helped you.
 
nice guide :cool:

Surprising to see the $299 6800nu keeping up with the $499 x800xtpe on the fx53 at high res.
 
QUALITY.

The only complaint I have is you didn't use enough systems. The gap between the minimum and your lowest system is too large, I wanted to see how much a slower processor affected the framerate so I'd know how my XP2100+ would hold up.

At least I know the 6800 I'm running is ready for action. Woot!
 
I just ordered a system identical to the [H] ultimate Doom 3 rig except it had the Asus AV8 Deluxe motherboard instead of the Abit. Will I get comparable performance or should I tell Monarch to use the Abit instead before it's too late?
 
Shoot me, but I didn't really see any noticeable difference between "High" and "Ultra"...
 
thanks kyle and id for putting this together for us. Now [H]orders, we must prepare!!!! :p
 
yeah, i didnt see much of a difference between high and ultra quality. Oh well, my 6800ultra is going to tear through that!
 
heyheyhey said:
Shoot me, but I didn't really see any noticeable difference between "High" and "Ultra"...
Click to expand...
Yeah they mentioned that.
The screenshot comparison we notice the most difference in here is in the fifth set above. It appears that the uncompressed specular light map is adding more detail to the monster's belly, since the texture itself is already uncompressed between High and Ultra Quality settings. The difference however is so slight that when you are playing the game at its normally fast paced speed you are unlikely to see any difference. This is actually great news, as when you are running at the High Quality setting you know you are very near to the best visual gaming experience DOOM 3 has to offer.
Click to expand...
Tuesday can't come fast enough now. :D
 
requiem99 said:
QUALITY.

The only complaint I have is you didn't use enough systems. The gap between the minimum and your lowest system is too large, I wanted to see how much a slower processor affected the framerate so I'd know how my XP2100+ would hold up.

At least I know the 6800 I'm running is ready for action. Woot!
Click to expand...
Well there is not that much of a performance leap in IQ so we really did not see the need to fill that gap. Also we did not think too many folks would be running brand new video cards on 2100 XPs, so we did not scale there. Still the 3200+ benchmarks should give you a good idea where you will land just move back one level of IQ as a mark.



All that said, we simply did not have enough time to do any more systems than we covered so we had to pick and choose. We think our gaps are logical but we give enough peripheral information for you to make an informed guess as to where your own system would land.
 
heyheyhey said:
Shoot me, but I didn't really see any noticeable difference between "High" and "Ultra"...
Click to expand...
It is tough to see in a jpeg. :( The fact is that High Quality kicks so much ass that Ultra is going to be for bragging rights more than anything else.
 
Yeah, I can guess well enough. The image quality was the big thing for me, I wanted to know the difference between high and medium, because after reading about the memory usage thing in that .plan file the other day I realized with a 128mb card I'd be running at medium for sure. Its great to see that medium still looks awesome as hell!

Excellent, excellent work Kyle. :)
 
you know, i've been pretty happy with my ti4200 and athlon xp 1600+ and haven't had any real desire to upgrade recently.... then this stuff comes out =b

my wallet is going to be hurting =b
 
again i'm extremely suprised on the scalability of the engine considering the power of the game (shown extremely well with your guide), hopefully this will keep some people quiet. are you considering doing such a thing for future releases? such half life 2/STALKER maybe?
 
Thanks a lot Kyle, that gave me a very good idea of what settings I'm gonna be using. I'm very excited to see the game on 1600x1200 on High settings and 8xAF
 
I am very glad that my P4 3GHz system with a 9800 Pro 128MB with only 512MB will hold up at 1024x768 with high quality. I was really concerned with my low amount of RAM, I think I´ll try to trade something for another 512MB just in case though, the more RAM the better! Thanks so much for this guide, Kyle! Also, did you defrag the hard drives before intsalling Doom 3 on each system? I remember in a recent interview, some iD staffers said doing this helps performance, and I cant remember reading anything about that in the guide.
 
Hoody hoo! I just ordered my new machine 3.0GHz P4, 1GB DDR2 (533), X800 Pro PCIe version! High quality DOOM3 at 1024x768 or better!

And thanks for the great info [H] crew!
 
requiem99 said:
Yeah, I can guess well enough. The image quality was the big thing for me, I wanted to know the difference between high and medium, because after reading about the memory usage thing in that .plan file the other day I realized with a 128mb card I'd be running at medium for sure. Its great to see that medium still looks awesome as hell!

Excellent, excellent work Kyle. :)
Click to expand...

The bump-mapping, and normal map usage combined with the shadows and specular really bring you into the atmosphere with this game. It is amazing to see how they scaled the settings between Low, Medium and High, I've never seen another game do it the way they are doing it, and still leave all those effects on, even at Low Quality! It is pretty awesome IMO.
 
Thats what you guys have been saying, and as hard as it is to believe, I do. Carmack is a fucking genius. I knew he could pull it off. What I'll probably do is run at medium quality and force 8xAF in the NVCP. I can live without AA for a game like this, but I gotta have my sharp textures. :D
 
Looks as though all the ATi vs.nVidia fight is a waist of time...
When even a GF4 mx will give you good game play there is
really no reason to upgrade unless you like selling your kidney
for the cash to do so.
:p
 
Jaffrin said:
Looks as though all the ATi vs.nVidia fight is a waist of time...
When even a GF4 mx will give you good game play there is
really no reason to upgrade unless you like selling your kidney
for the cash to do so.
:p
Click to expand...

Nobody thinks GF4MX gives you "good" gameplay, it gives you ACCEPTABLE gameplay if you aren't demanding at all. Translation: Noobs only. Anyone who actually knows the difference between a GF4 and a GF4 MX will not be able to play Doom3 on a GF4MX.
 
There has to be a special ring of hell for anyone that DLs this game. :)
I can't expressed just how floored I am over the IQ on the low end. :eek:
Carmack is a God, nothing else can explain it. :D
 
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