So I just got Halo: CE yesterday, and when I started it, the in-game visuals (when I play with other people, title screen is all right) was really choppy, playable, but barely.
So I decided to up the ante, and increased the video settings.
Thats when it happened.
I heard a little 'pop', PC restarted, and my Acer monitor said,"no signal".
From what I thought, this was nothing.
The no signal thing happened from time to time when I had knocked the card out of place (Its really big, and it couldn't get snug into the brown (AGP?) port while screwing it down at the same time.
So I jumbled the server around, and after about 5 minutes of restarting the PC (I was too lazy to open it up), I started smelling smoke.
I turned off my breaker and opened the PC up.
Turns out one of the chips on my video card popped open and burned a small area around it.
Here's the thing.
I checked beforehand to see the minimum system requirements for Halo: CE on Microsofts website.
Compare it to my specs:
Pentium 4 1.60 GHz CPU
784 MB of RAM (yet task manager shows I have like 1.8 GB of it)
Dead video card was: Nvidia GeForce 5200 (the latest driver for it) FX 128 MB (an old, good card)
Could it have been just plain overheating?
It did have a fan on it, but thats it.
I'm sure it wasn't enough, but I was so sure nothing would happen, since the Nvidia control center had like Call of Duty 4 and Gears of War (and many more graphic-strong games) factory video settings.

Anyway, I'm about to get a new video card.
Its an EVGA GeForce 9500 GT Video 1GB.
This one has a huge heatsink with a built in fan (my dad told me it had some tubings in it that would cool the card down even more so).
My question is, would this card be able to make Halo CE play steadily (no choppiness) and more importantly, is this a good video card at all?
I'm also interested if anyone else would share the optimal specs for this game.
Edited by CrashBandicoot on Mar 21, 2010 at 09:53 PM

Your problem seems to be overheating due to fan control problems (correct me if i am wrong)
i was wondering if your driver version for the card is 196.75.
Google the driver, it has been blamed for fan speed problems and overheating.

Thats the exact driver I installed!
Crap.
I guess I should do some background checks on drivers before I install them.
What do you think of the new video card?
Would it work well with Halo CE?

You should get this. Only for about a hundred dollars.


http://www.bestbuy.com/site/BFG+-+NVIDIA+GeForce+GT+220+1GB+DDR3+PCI+Express+Graphics+Card/9544246.p?id=1218138269525&skuId=9544246
Edited by pwner5889 on Mar 21, 2010 at 01:41 PM

WTF? your 1.6ghz P4 processor is in a motherboard with a PCI Express 2.0 slot?
Edited by averagejoe_85 on Mar 21, 2010 at 02:17 PM

lol yeah i just now noticed that. lol the kid needs to upgrade big time.

Back when all I had was PCI I bought a used X1300 that was made by visiontek. It was the best thing on the PCI bus. They now make an X1550 for PCI which would be a good bet.

Actually, you should get new new PC. If you want to play any games on your PC other than halo CE.

Too late.
I already bought a Nvidia GeForce 7300 GT 512 MB.
I don't really use my PC to play games, only specific games.
Also, I do not have a PCI Express on my motherboard.
The card I had fit into the AGP bus slot.
I just tried Halo with the GeForce 7300. and its a lot less choppy, but some guns and hands have missing polygons (The sniper has like a third of its top casing missing and the palm over the thumb is gone too).
I am going to get a better PC, but I have to save my money up so I can buld a new one from scratch.

sveet

sveet?
You mean 'sweet'?
As in my card is good enough for me to push it some more?
Also, as for the missing polygons, do think that is my DirectX version?
The older card never had any missing polygons, and now even in the control center, some polygons are missing in the graphics test.
Edited by CrashBandicoot on Mar 21, 2010 at 09:55 PM
Edited by CrashBandicoot on Mar 21, 2010 at 09:58 PM