PERFORMANCE Doom 3: Video and Audio
Video
Recommendation: Gigabyte GV-N68U256D 256MB GeForce 6800 UltraPrice: $538 shipped
It is some 2 to 3 months since the new top-end video cards were introduced by both nVidia and ATI. At this point in time, the dust should have settled and you should be able to easily find the video card that your heart desires. Unfortunately, this is the summer of discontent so far, and finding an nVidia 6800 Ultra or ATI X800 XT that you can actually buy is still a challenging task. It is possible to buy one of these wonder cards; they are just much more difficult to find one than they need to be. Now that Doom 3 gives you a solid reason to buy an uber 6800, the cards will hopefully become easier to find.
The new generation of video cards from nVidia and ATI are twice as fast as the previous generation in many benchmarks. Looking at games in general, we would be hard pressed to choose between the ATI X800 XT or the nVidia 6800 Ultra, but this is a Doom 3 guide, and in Doom 3, we found that nVidia is king. ATI rushed out some 4.9 Catalyst drivers, which do improve X800 XT performance, but the king of Doom 3 is definitely the nVidia 6800 family.
Derek found in Doom 3 Graphics Deathmatch that the top of the heap is the 6800 Ultra Extreme. However, the Ultra Extreme is basically just an overclocked Ultra, and if you think that the Ultra is hard to find, you should search for an Extreme. For that reason, we are recommending an nVidia 6800 Ultra for our Performance Doom 3 system.
A few vendors are showing availability of the Gigabyte 6800 Ultra, which is why it is listed. However, at this point, there is not really much difference in the 6800 Ultra cards, so choose whatever is available. The Albatron reviewed at AnandTech a few weeks ago is shipping at a slight overclock (410MHz) to normal Ultra speed and may be worth searching for. Overall, however, you will find little to distinguish the 6800 Ultra cards until there is much better availability of 6800 Ultra cards in the market.
The 6800 Ultra features 16 pipelines, a GPU at 400MHz, and 256MB of DDR3 memory at 1.1GHz. It is a nice step up from the 12-pipe 6800 and the lower clocked 6800 GT, although either of these 2 cards are still blazing performers - and easier to find.
Sound Card
Recommendation: Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS (7.1) retailPrice: $83
Doom 3 fully supports 5.1 surround-sound, and 5.1 definitely enhances the Doom 3 experience. While there are quite a few sound cards on the market, many of which we prefer to Sound Blaster, there is no doubt that Sound Blaster is the audio standard for gaming.
For our Performance Doom 3 rig, the top choice for an audio card is the Audigy 2. The Audigy 2 ZS is also a good card for those who love watching Dolby Digital DVD movies, or for someone who just wants decent quality sound. This version of the Audigy 2 supports 8 channels of sound and will deliver a great listening experience in any game, especially ones that support the Audigy 2's special features, like EAX. Simply pair the Audigy 2 with the right set of speakers and you'll have the necessary tools for an exceptional listening experience. Other special Audigy 2 features include 24/96 analog playback and recording, and "add-ons" like FireWire.
The Audigy 2 ZS differs from the regular OEM Audigy 2 mainly in its support of 7.1 channels of sound instead of 6.1. The benefit of going to 7.1 isn't really all that huge, since Doom 3 is a 5.1 title. However, the Audigy 2 ZS is a retail package instead of OEM, meaning you get additional bundled features, such as games and a FireWire header.
Listed below is part of our RealTime pricing engine, which lists the lowest prices available on nVidia video cards from many different reputable vendors:
If you cannot find the lowest prices on the products that we've recommended on this page, it's because we don't list some of them in our RealTime pricing engine. Until we do, we suggest that you do an independent search online at the various vendors' web sites. Just pick and choose where you want to buy your products by looking for a vendor located under the "Vendor" heading.
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Wesley Fink - Sunday, August 8, 2004 - link
#21 - A recent storage article said there was no need for RAID on the desktop. It did not say there was no need for Raptors. In fact the title of the first article using the new storage benchmarks was "WD Raptors vs. the World"Avalon - Sunday, August 8, 2004 - link
On another note, you just had an article a while ago saying that there are no need for Raptor HD's on a desktop system, yet you recommend it for the performance segment. May I ask why we should waste $175 on this drive when you yourselves said we had no need for it? Especially if the main goal of this rig is just to play Doom 3.Avalon - Sunday, August 8, 2004 - link
I'm most definitely complaining about value, not crap. Mainstream Doom 3, while higher than general, is definitely not that freaking high. Who would buy a Dell for a GAMING system? This guide is for those who BUILD there own, so Dell has absolutely nothing to do with this, nor do their horrendously expensive computers. For a mainstream Doom 3 experience, a 6800GT was quoted as being required. This is a $400 card that allows you to practically play the game at 16x12 with AF and AA. Are mainstream Doom 3 users going to run at this setting? No. Even the value recommendations will run Doom 3 at 12x10, no sweat. Value should be those looking to play the game, but not having to spend much money and not caring about high res and eye candy. This is why I dissagree with the recommendations and pricing. If you think I'm wrong, that's your opinion and I could care less. My own personal rig was about $800 with the monitor included, and it runs the game at 10x7 on high detail. I'd consider that more mainstream than what the value recommendations would get you.Pollock - Sunday, August 8, 2004 - link
May I ask what the point is of having a 12x DVD burner on a mainstream system devoted to playing Doom 3? And by the way, I agree with #1...this is just too much hype. Who would spend $1900 so that they could get "mainstream performance" on another $50 purchase?Myrandex - Saturday, August 7, 2004 - link
I agree with the CRT recommendations over a LCD. LCDs are coming to amazingly low response time, but I don't think I have ever seen one as good as a CRT. Good recommendations though. Maybe a 5900XT would be an even more value alternative, as I thought if I remmeber correctly it performed alright, overclcoekd a lot on average, and is pretty inexpensive.Randawl - Saturday, August 7, 2004 - link
It is pretty amazing that you can buy such a powerful system with such a fantastic video card for around $1000. Things have come quite far in such a short time.Zanfib - Saturday, August 7, 2004 - link
Good enough article, a few typos, but helpful. Still kinda hurts to know that even the value system recommends needs a new (almost next) generation video card, but I can't argue with the value price. $1000 for a pretty good system is quite acceptable.BornStar18 - Saturday, August 7, 2004 - link
It's a minor correction but you mention that the Chaintech VNF3-250 doesn't have GbE (correctly) in the article but in the table, you mention it has onboard 10/100/1000.Good article, I just wish I had $1000 to be able to play Doom3...
Wesley Fink - Saturday, August 7, 2004 - link
#10 - We had technical problems with posting today and I did not get to make final changes as usual before the review posted. In fact the Performance system does now have a 2GB memory recommendation since we finally found 1GB dimms that could still give us 1T Command Rates with timings that were still pretty decent. The Guide has been updated with the 2GB recommendation, the revised price, and several other planned edits.kmmatney - Saturday, August 7, 2004 - link
So looks like I'll be playing Doom3 around April 2005...Its been 10 years since Doom 2, so whats another year.