Will Max play like poo on my Matrox G400

[Bennyboy]

OK, the drool in my keyboard is now overflowing into my lap and I'm in danger of dehydration if I continue reading this forum any more! I want Max Payne, but can anyone tell me if it's going to be really crappy to play on my system:

PIII 450@558 on BX chipset
256Mb PC133
Matrox G400 MAX
IBM 60GXP
TB Santa Cruz

It's fine for UT/Deus Ex/NFSIV etc. at 1024x768, can I expect similar performance at this res from Max Payne? Or should I wait until Xmas when I upgrade to a GF3/Athlon/DDR system and buy it then to get the full effect? Basically, does the game only get 9+/10 becasue it looks sweet with all the bullet-time effects and that, or will gameplay and stories suffice to keep me happy on my lowly rig?

Bennyboy

[bxscoobiedoo]

my advice for you is get the game right master it at a low res right then when you get your new comp you'll be alright then lol

now to your question is should run great with that set up you have there

------------------
1000 MHZ AMD Thunderbird
ASUS A7V
256MB MICRON PC 133
64MB Radeon DDR 4X
30.0 GB WD 7200 RPM ATA 100 (WinMe)
1.44 MB Teac FD
DVD 16X Pioneer
Aopen CDRW 12X10X32
US. Robotics 56k
SB Live Value!
Netgear 10/100 NIC (DSL)
19" ViewSonic
Microsoft Optical Mouse (keyboard)
Yamaha YST-MS50

[JMike]

First, let me tell you that it works excellent on my low end system:
PII 400@412
384 Mb RAM
GeForce DDR
DVD Drive
Turtle Beach Montego II
IBM 14 GB HD

Ok, now to the supported cards.
I include a list of both supported and not supported video cards from the Readme file:

Supported 3D Accelerators
Max Payne requires a DirectX 8 compatible 3D accelerator in order to run. The following table lists 3D accelerators (3D Chipsets) supported by Max Payne and the tested driver versions:

3D Accelerator Windows 9x/ME Windows 2000
3dfx Voodoo4/5 1.04.00 1.04.00

3dfx Voodoo3 1.07.00 1.03.00

ATI RADEON 4.13.01.7075 5.13.01.3112

ATI RADEON VE 4.13.01.7075 5.13.01.3112

ATI Mobility M6-P 4.13.7132 5.13.01.3221

ATI RAGE FURY MAXX 4.12.7942 Not Supported

ATI RAGE 128 / 128 PRO 4.13.7078 5.13.01.192

Intel i815 (integrated) v6.3.1 v6.3.1

Matrox G400/G450 v6.51 v5.52

NVIDIA GeForce3, GeForce2 GTS/Pro, GeForce2 MX, GeForce256/DDR v12.41 v12.41

NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 Ultra, TNT2, TNT2 m64, TNT, Vanta v12.41 v12.41

S3 Savage4 Reference 8.20.33 Reference 8.40.02

SiS 315/315Pro Any Any

SiS 640/740 (integrated) Any Any

ST KYRO, KYRO II v1.2.2 v1.2.2

VIA / S3 ProSavage4 (Integrated) 4.12.01.1038 N/A


Notes: There may be certain issues with specific settings with the above accelerators. Please refer to the Troubleshooting section for more details. Most above 3D accelerators will not run satisfactorily on maximum detail level settings.

The following unsupported 3D Accelerators may work with Max Payne, but all game visuals may not be correct and performance may be unsatisfactory:

3dfx Voodoo2
3dfx Voodoo Banshee
Intel i810
Matrox G200
The following unsupported 3D accelerators do not work with Max Payne:

3dfx Voodoo, Voodoo Rush
3Dlabs Permedia, Permedia2
ATI RAGE II/II+/IIc, RAGE PRO
Cirrus Logic Laguna3D (CL5465)
Intel i740
Matrox Millennium II, Mystique
NVIDIA RIVA 128/128ZX
PowerVR Neon 250i
S3 Savage 2000, Savage3D, Trio64 3D, Virge/DX/GX/VX
Rendition Verite V1000/V2200
Some older integrated / laptop display adapters (Neomagic, Trident)

I play it in 1024 * 768 * 16, trilinear + some extra effeets added. I never though I would get so good graphics on my old system...

[silent_bob]

If it's fine for Deus Ex, i'd say you'll be more than ok. Max Payne runs great in 1024x768x32 with full details on my crappy machine (PII400/256SDRAM/GForce2/WinXP) while Deus Ex was barely playable.

Only problem I have is my cd drive won't read the disc, even with the patch (i think it's a common problem) so i have to play with my CDR drive.

I say GET THE GAME! it kicks ***! worst case senario you'll have to wait a few months to play...

[Bennyboy]

Thanks guys, looks like it's GO GO GO for purchase then .

Nice to see that it runs capably on older systems, kinda adds fuel to the fire of the old 'why do I need a GF3 when games are designed to please the majority' debate. I still want a GF3, but I'm happy that I don't get excluded from the gaming community because I don't have one. Life is good again.

Bugger, work is going to take a serious backseat in the immediate future. I work from home, it's times like this when I realise what a bad decision it is to share a working/gaming environment. Oh well .

Thanks again,

Bennyboy.

[Bennyboy]

Good call silent_bob, you're right, the worst I can do is look at the pretty box on my shelf for a few months!

As for Deus Ex running 'fine', it's a very subjective thing, 60fps is nice, but I don't need it to hide behind pillars and snipe walking guards, resolution and colour depth are what I decided to go for instead (not that I exactly had a choice about the frame rate with this old card ). Hand to hand combat in complex scenes is admittedly choppy, I suppose it depends how you like to play.

Sorry to hear about the CD issues, hope I don't run into them too . Hope you get it sorted soon.

Have fun folks,

Bennyboy.