computer questions

[achornx]

please forgive me, im sure you have heard this before, but i have a few questions:

im looking to get a new comp first of the year. im getting ff xi for christmas, and i need a new comp to play it... i found a good comp: athlon 2800, 120gb HD, 512MB ram, NVIDIA GeForce4 MX (not sure which kind) here are the questions...

would that comp play ff xi without getting a better video card? if so how good would it play (on a scale from 1 to 10) and what additions need/should be made (im on a limited budget, i could maybe get a better video card under 200 dollars)

also any other tips ideas you have for me would be greatly appreciated i really want to play this game to the fullest and dont want to get the wrong comp.. thanks in advance.

[ning19]

you can get an ati radeon 9600 pro or xt for less than 200US, it's a much better choice for video card. and everything seem to be good.

[Siber]

It would run it, but I think that if you do have that $200 to spend, then go w/ the 9600 XT. http://www.buyxtremegear.com/9600.html is where u can find a retail box one for $160.

[Aniedi]

MX = BAD, they don't do pixel and vertex shading so they are pretty darn outdated for today. You'd be buying a new computer with a fairly new video card that is already outdated.

Get a geforce 4 4400/4600 or geforce FX something if you want to stick with nvidia.

[wacky]

I ran ffxi for a few weeks on my mx 440, and it worked just fine until i got my 9600 pro.

My specs:

p4 2.4, 1 GB RAM

you should be able to run it with just about everything turned on - it just won't be as pretty as it can be.

I agree though if you have the chance pick up a 9600 XT or pro.

very nice.

[achornx]

im not stuck on nvidia, what ever the best card for ff xi is what ill get if the 9600 xt is the best i guess ill need that..

thanx for all your answers i really appreciate it...

[The Chemist]

I have been looking to buy a new comp for a little bit. I have just resently seen the pentium 4 extreme come up on the radar. What makes this upgrade worth 1k more than a Pentium 4 with a 3.0 gig?