Hello.

I just got the Orange Box for my birthday. The problem is, I don’t know whether Half-life 2 will run on my computer. When I downloaded the free trial, the game ran, but after I started a new game, the opening video froze within 10 seconds (I’m not sure whether the video froze completely or just looped, since it was just after it had faded to black, but the audio looped and I had to close the program). I don’t want to open up the box yet, since I don’t know if I’ll be able to play it.

I’m running a Compaq Presario with Windows Vista Home Premium. It has an Intel Pentium Dual Processor CPU with 1.6 GHz. I have 1014MB of RAM. The graphics card is an Intel 82945G Express Chipset Family.

So what’s wrong? Is my computer incompatible with or not powerful enough for Half-Life 2? Is there some fix that I can apply? Do I need a driver or something? I don’t want to miss out on HL2. Someone, HELP! Log in to see images!

Nope you can run it. I played and beat HL2 for the first time on an 800Mhz celeron processor with 512 megs of ram and a radeon 9250 video card. Solid 22 frames per second on medium.

you’ve got a REALLY **** video card, though. In fact, HL2 should barely run at all.

You’ll need a new video card to play portal and friends.

TeeKayEff Posted:

ITT: Tubsweetie repeats what I already said without mentioning the sweet website.

You typed too fast. By the time i finished my post yours was already there.

I don’t like systemrequirementslab.com because it can be bizarrely weird sometimes.

An 8600GT is 50 bucks and will run all orange box games on high.

promo deal, but there are always sales on video cards everywhere:

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=23715&promoid=1060

Since you don’t sound like a hardcore gamer who need extreme performance at max specs, an 8600 is perfectly suited for you.

Oh and what did I say about bizarrely weird? Recommending a 7900 nowadays is like suggesting someone buy a CRT television.

Now have fun with those beautifull games.

Agent Smith Posted:

Thanks, I just bought one from the link you gave. Problem solved.

Sweet!

Budget gaming has come such a long way. It used to be that to get good graphics you’d need to spend ludicrous money.

Now there’s budget lines like the 8600 that’ll play anything on medium or high at decent resolution for minimal cost.

Then higher end budget is good, too. 9600GT and the like are ~200 bucks and play nearly every game ever made in the history of the world in max specs.

I love my computer. 8800GT + Q6600 are a killer combo at a low price point. There’s better nowadays but when I bought it earlier this year it was pretty much the best deal on the market.