How good is my setup?

[PKGTR]

Here's my rig. It's a Gateway DX4200-07e the only add on being a 7800 GTX KO. I run TDU pretty well with no lag on high and 2XAA but whenever I change the option to HDR then it doesn't allow me to change the AA. Is this normal? Also, what is HDR?

 

-AMD Phenom™ X4 9550 64-bit Quad Core Processor (2.20GHz, 2MB L3 Cache, 3600MHz HT3.0 Bus) with AMD64 Technology

-Vista 64-Bit Premium

-4096MB 800MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM (2-2048MB modules)

-640GB 7200rpm Serial ATA II/300 hard drive with 16MB Cache

-ATI® Radeon™ HD 3200 Integrated Hybrid Graphics with a nVidia EVGA 7800 GTX KO added on.

-300W Power Supply

 

Is there anything I should upgrade?

[Degenatron]

"...whenever I change the option to HDR then it doesn't allow me to change the AA..."

 

That's a function of you video card. Basicly it's using the same part of the GPU to do the work of anti-aliasing or HDR so i can't do both at the same time. The card is basicly saying "if you're gonna do THIS, then I'll have to limit you over here."

 

"...what is HDR?"

HDR - High Dynamic Range lighting attempts to simulate to way your eyes react to changing light conditions. For example, if you are in a dark tunnel looking out into a bright summer day, the outside features will appear to washed out/faded while feature inside the tunnel will appear to be darker. Then as move out if the tunnel into the sunlight, you eyes will have to adjust and you get a burst of whiteness that will the quickly fade as you "eyes" adjust. HDR does all of this on the monitor. In Test Drive it's very pronounced as you pass through the shadows of trees or enter / exit tunnels.

 

Hope that helps,

D-Gen

[Craka]

Reply to "How good is my setup?"

 

Your video card is maxed out. I have a Radeon 4670 with 1GB RAM and it will play TDU at 4X AA and HDR turned on, Resolution is 1920x1080 but it plays at a maximum of 25-45FPS which is about as low as you want to go. My GTS-250 plays at 55-75FPS and my GTX-260/Core 216 plays at 80-105FPS. Your processor/memory/HD is not a limiting factor. You will need to upgrade your power supply to use any of the video cards above. The Radeon 4670 does not require an PCI-E power connector but I had trouble with it unitl i upgraded my PSU from 420w to 500w. The GTS-250 requires 1-6pin PCI-E connector and the GTX-260 uses 2-6pin PCI-e connectors, I have a 750W PSU for these. Hope this helps.

 

PS: forgot to include my System: CPU is Phenom II X3-720 BE OC'ed to 3.7Ghz, other is Core2duo E8400 OC'ed to 3.7Ghz, both with 4GB DDR2 1066 RAM, HD's are 150GB Velociraptors or 143GB 15K SCSI.