1. #1
    sebastianaalton's Avatar Trials Developer
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    Hardware upgrade tips

    This thread is targeted to players whose computer is not able to run Trials 2 properly. If you have some spare money to spend and you have already considered upgrading your graphics card to play other newer games, this thread is for you.

    For Trials 2, the most important part of your computer hardware is your graphics card. Upgrading your CPU beyond the minimum requirement (1500MHz P4/Athlon) doesn't improve Trials 2 framerate at all, and buying more than 512 megabytes of memory doesn't improve the game experience either.

    With these currently sold mid range graphics cards you can run Trials 2 SE in higher HD resolutions (1650x1080, 1600x1200, 1920x1080, 1920x1200, etc) using ultra high graphics settings and have a constantly good frame rate:

    - ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB (150$) (*)
    - ATI Radeon HD 3870 512MB (100$)
    - ATI Radeon HD 3850 512MB (80$)
    - ATI Radeon HD 4670 512MB (75$) (*)
    - NVidia Geforce 9800 GT 512MB (120$)
    - NVidia Geforce 8800 GT 512MB (110$)
    - NVidia Geforce 9600 GT 512MB (95$) (*)
    - NVidia Geforce 9600 GSO 384MB (85$)

    Cards with best price/performance ratio are marked with a star (*).

    If you have very limited budget and want to play Trials 2 smoothly using ultra high graphics settings on lower HD resolutions (1024x768, 1280x720, etc). I suggest the following low end models:

    - ATI Radeon HD 3650 512MB (50$)
    - ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT 512MB (50$)
    - NVidia Geforce 9500 GT 512MB (65$)
    - NVidia Geforce 8600 GT 512MB (55$)

    I will constantly update these lists when the market situation evolves, and newer and even better value/performance graphics cards get released. These are the cards I currently recommend (in sub 200$ category).

    Charts updated: September 11th 2008
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  2. #2
    do you have any advice for someone who knows little about computers and only has a laptop. its a year old hp is there anyway to upgrade my graphics card??
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  3. #3
    sebastianaalton's Avatar Trials Developer
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    Originally Posted by LASOR
    do you have any advice for someone who knows little about computers and only has a laptop. its a year old hp is there anyway to upgrade my graphics card??
    Only laptops with MXM (Mobile PCI Express Module) graphics interconnect allow you to change your graphics chip after the laptop purchase. Most laptops do not have this technology built in, so you basically need to buy a new gaming laptop if you want to play latest games with it all graphics options enabled.

    However we have also considerably optimized the Trials 2 SE memory usage in default (low) graphics mode. It should use around 2-3 times less memory (depending on your screen resolution). So Trials 2 SE should run much better on low end laptop graphics chips without dedicated memory. I suggest trying the demo and see if it works well on your laptop before making any hardware upgrade plans.
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  4. #4
    Hey i'm just wondering about upgrading my graphics card, currently using x1950pro AGP which runs trials 2 great but i want to get the HD 3870, is it best to splash out now and get it or wait a while for them to bring out something more faster if they are? Thanks

    Edit: I was looking at this, really cheap and the reviews are great, also seems to run faster clock speeds then others. Should i go with that?

    http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=GX-079-PC
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  5. #5
    sebastianaalton's Avatar Trials Developer
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    Originally Posted by Khaos214
    Hey i'm just wondering about upgrading my graphics card, currently using x1950pro AGP which runs trials 2 great but i want to get the HD 3870, is it best to splash out now and get it or wait a while for them to bring out something more faster if they are? Thanks

    Edit: I was looking at this, really cheap and the reviews are great, also seems to run faster clock speeds then others. Should i go with that?

    http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=GX-079-PC
    Your old x1950 pro runs Trials 2 SE ultra high end mode fine on all standard resolutions. HD 3870 is a fine upgrade choice if you want to bump up your resolution and play other recently released games. I have a HD 3850 on my home computer and the game runs silky smooth on 1650x1080 resolution. The price of that particular card seems to be a bargain. However I suggest waiting for a week or two, because last week ATI announced price drops for every card in their line. If you are lucky you might get that card for 10? less in a few weeks.
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  6. #6
    Originally Posted by sebbbi
    Originally Posted by LASOR
    do you have any advice for someone who knows little about computers and only has a laptop. its a year old hp is there anyway to upgrade my graphics card??
    Only laptops with MXM (Mobile PCI Express Module) graphics interconnect allow you to change your graphics chip after the laptop purchase. Most laptops do not have this technology built in, so you basically need to buy a new gaming laptop if you want to play latest games with it all graphics options enabled.

    However we have also considerably optimized the Trials 2 SE memory usage in default (low) graphics mode. It should use around 2-3 times less memory (depending on your screen resolution). So Trials 2 SE should run much better on low end laptop graphics chips without dedicated memory. I suggest trying the demo and see if it works well on your laptop before making any hardware upgrade plans.

    thanks for the advice! i guess ill wait till the game comes out to see how it runs on my laptop!
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