How will my PC handle Fallout 3?

U really expect a game to be released now with recommended hardware that is ages old ?? ..OMG !!! ... at the time of the release of both games , the recommended system is just an avg. system out there ...

 

Nonsense. If those specs are real it clearly shows that Fallout 3 will have much better vanilla visuals than Oblivion did. Especially if the engine has been "optimised" further.

 

Well they can't say recommended 6800 and X800 series because nobody uses them anymore. The next step was the 3800 and 8800 series.

 

First of all optmized means the engine runs better, like higher fps. Optimized doesn't have to mean better visuals.

Also the screenshots aren't showing anything that looks much better than Oblivion.

 

Not sure about the G92 8800GT but on both my 8800 GTX and now GTX 280 I was able to avoid the aa issue using a different aa compaitibillity code ( 0x00145 in nahncer), though using the original oblivion aa compatibillity code did cause issues like the one you mentioned.

Here's a few screenshots with fps below 30 by forcing high levels of aa in nhancer. (note the first screenshot is without aa for comparison)
















I also Walked around for a while with fps generaly below 30 and aa was still consistent.

 

your PC specs is good to play ...

 

No, they can't recommend 6800 and X800 because the game will run like ****ing crap on them.

 

Oblivion also ran like ****ing crap on them, so what's your point? They just look at the average gaming PC and decide.

Like the average gamer has a Core 2 Duo and a 3800 series.

 

your pc will run so bad that dont even try to run the game.. throw your comp through the window, or even better, give it to me

 

My point is to contradict what you said. You said that the reason they didn't put X800/6800 as the recommended video card for Fallout 3 is because nobody has them anymore. The actual reason is because an X800/6800 is not fast enough to run it decently. Oblivion, on the other hand, will run fine on a card from that generation. I ran it on an X850.

Bottom line is that Fallout 3 has more advanced graphics and thus higher system reqs than Oblivion. Period.

Will OP's 9800 run it fine? Yes, but a god damn X800 will not. Hence the recommended spec of a 512MB card like a 3800 or above.

 

Wrong again Peter, the x850 will run Fallout 3. It will run it to the same extent it ran Oblivion (awful.)

BTW, here are the minimum requirements for Fallout 3:

Windows XP/Vista
1GB System RAM (XP)/ 2GB System RAM (Vista)
2.4 Ghz Intel Pentium 4 or equivalent processor
Direct X 9.0c compliant video card with 256MB RAM (NVIDIA 6800 or better/ATI X850 or better)

As you can see an x850 will run it, but like I said, just like Oblivion ran with the x850.

Finally, in case you want to say you ran Oblivion just fine with your x850 2 years ago, let me remind what kind of frames people were getting with it. This is outside, at 1024 x 768 resolution with no AA:



A measily 21 frames, just barely playable.

 

Nobody said Fallout wouldn't run on an X850. It will just run like ****. Worse than vanilla oblivion. This is why Bethesda recommends a 3850 or above... recommended specs are supposed to run the game decently. Notice how the recommended specs for Oblivion are lower and include the X800 series? Because it ran fine on an X850.

 

21 frames per second is fine? At 1920 x 1200 resolution that 21 turns into 10.

Bethesda has a knack for grossly underestimating the power needed to run their games. Both the recommended specs for Morrowind and Oblivion were no were NEAR good enough to run it decently. However, I think Fallout 3 will be an exception here because it's the same recycled engine as Oblivion. But like I said the reason they highered the specs is because the 3800 series is the average computer like the x850 was.

One thing I just thought was DX10. If they did add it, than Fallout3 may actually require more horsepower.

 

I ran Oblivion at 1280x1024 at higher than 21 frames regardless of what your benchmarks say.

You're right about Bethesda games being notoriously unoptimized. I had to upgrade my PC to run Morrowind back in the day. But this contradicts the point you're trying to make that Fallout 3 would be at all playable on an X800 series card.

As far as the "recycled" engine goes, I think "modified" would be a better term. You do realize that the Gamebryo engine was formerly known as NetImmerse, the engine that Morriwind was built on? They are developed over time and get better.

I still don't understand why you are arguing that recommended specs are based on what's popular at the time. They are based on what the developer thinks will be able to run the game. 3dRealms recommends a PCI graphics card and 16MB of RAM to run Duke Nukem 3D. The recommended specs for Duke Nukem Forever will be higher. Is this because different video cards are popular now? No, it's because you need more horsepower to run it.

 

You ran Oblivion fully maxed out (no AA) at 1280 x 1024 with more than 21 frames on an x850? No.

The difference in time from Duke Nukem 3D to Forever is going to end up being half a century. The engines are completey different. The difference in time between Oblivion and Fallout3 is about 1 year. They started working on Fallout3 immediately after making Oblivion. Fallout 3 is using an "optimized" meaning runs better version of the Oblivion engine.

 

there are some DX10 shots out there if you google it.

Fully maxed out? No. But trust me it was completely playable.

Oblivion wasn't made in a day. It also took years.

The point of my Duke Nukem example was that recommended specs aren't determined by what card is most popular at a given time.

 

Well apparently Fallout 3 will not be DX10. On their recommended it only says DX9.0c

Just because it was playable doesn't mean anything. I'm sure Fallout 3 will run perfectly on a x850 at 1024 x 768 with everything set to low.

Hell, people were playing Oblivion on a 5200fx with everything on low and getting good frames.

 

Alright well this argument has digressed to the point that it's barely recognizable. Here were your original points that I disagree with:

1. Fallout 3 runs on the exact same version of Gamebryo as Oblivion. No changes or enhancements have been made aside from optimizations. Any PC that can run Oblivion will experience identical performance in Fallout 3.

IMO this stuff is wrong. Enhancements have been made since Oblivion, and this is pretty clear from screenshots and the fact that the minimum and recommended requirements are significantly higher for Fallout 3. A better PC will be required to run Fallout 3.

2. Recommended specs for games are based on what video cards are most popular at the time.

It's always seemed to me that recommended specs are based on what can run the game at a decent level and are in no way influenced by card popularity.

 

I'm perfectly aware of that, but you didn't read my message fully apparently, as I described a problem with Oblivion specifically for the Nvidia 8x00-series (my own GPU is one of those)
Old CPU? It runs @3,6ghz, so I don't think it'll do so incredibly much worse than your CPU.

Now that's a good thing and I will try it once I get the chance. Thanks! I've been searching for a solution and I hope this is it..

 

from game manual of FALLOUT 3 on STEAM: