Just can't wait til November...

[Mariakles]

I am so excited!!! :D

When I first saw what the requirements for COTN I was really discouraged because my PC was a little too old, but my hubbie found me a 2nd hand P3 (733mghz) and we installed a brand new video card (ATI Radeon 9200, 128mb), so now the only thing that I may have to change is the sound card because this pc only has an embedded card but all the games I own seem to play all right on it (AOM, WC3, RON, Pharaoh, Zeus)

Do you think that COTN will work on it. A moderator on the Heavens forums told me that a game which requires a 16bit sound should still work with an embedded sound card. Why is that and will the game run ok?

I don't really understand why the developpers specify a minimum sound card if you don't really need. I am not that computer hardware savvy. :o

[Cironir]

I'm pretty sure the game will work with an embedded sound chip. :) My system has a built-in AC97 sound chip, and I've never encountered a problem with any game -- not even the most recent releases. But even if you run into a problem, soundcards are very inexpensive these days. I'd worry a bit more about the 733 Mhz, though. I've never played CotN (obviously :P), but judging by other games with a fully 3D engine, this -could- be a bit underpowered. That's just a guess, though, don't let that discourage you! :)

Welcome to the boards, by the way. :)

[vovan]

I'd worry a bit more about the 733 Mhz, though. I've never played CotN (obviously :P), but judging by other games with a fully 3D engine, this -could- be a bit underpowered.

Don't think so. With that Radeon 9200 beast humming under the hood, the game will run smoothly even on a 733MHz, specially if you have latest drivers installed, and DX9, which is probably required for the game any way.

As far as the sound card is concerned, I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. I play all games on a laptop. (In fact, I do *everything* on a laptop - that's the only computer I have. :)) Obviously, everything on it is just a chip on the motherboard - the graphics chip, the sound chip, everything. And yet everything works like a charm on it. (I had till recently severe problems with game written with OpenGL, but nVidia has finally come out with drivers that are not overly buggy, and so I can play all games once again. :))

Vovan

[Pharaoh Pepy]

I am praying for a positive answer to my beta application. That should shortened the wait. Still, November is not too far away.

[Mariakles]

My embedded audio chip is an AC97 (I think :o !) and seems to be running well, but if I need to upgrade for COTN I will probably buy a sound card. In for a penny in for a few more bucks! ;)

And yes I do have DirectX 9.0B.

Still the holidays are far away...Oh well

[Keith]

The main problem with built-in video or sound cards is that they generally are not supported newer or installable drivers. In some cases they cannot be disabled, so installing new individual video or sound cards generally won't work. Some new games are starting to require up to date drivers to function properly with the hardware. AC97 hardware is virtually a antique nowadays.

[NeilV]

Got rid of an areal Vortex (last driver update in 2000)that was having problems with some games and went back to the built in sound card AC97 and found new drivers on the VIA web site drivers dated 30 july 2004 and that was for win 98 that chip set is still used on some new MB so drivers up dated often Built in sound normaly has les problems than fancer cards as it just puts sound on rather than add fancey effects two it but at the same time i use clone sound cards in my main gaming system (a CMI 5.1 card) its just as good and only costs €30 :cool:

[NeilV]

I have just set up a test PC (mainley for testing win XP SP2) of a P3 700Mhz 128 ram built in sound at the moment i have put in an ATI rage 128 32mb card but i do have a Radion 7000 64mb that I can put in it and i Could try the Radion 9600 out of my gaming pc to see what diffrence it would make on a lower spec pc as this information may be usefull to people in Nov when thinking about buying the game.