this is a site, recommended by bethsoft, that tests your setup readiness for oblivion. [img]smile.gif[/img]

http://www.srtest.com/referrer/srtest

choose "The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion" from the dropdown menu and let it test your pc. there will be a short wait while it downloads and analyzes your system. then you should see 2 tabs: "Minimum" and "Recommended". it should point out your system's weak points which i found to be pretty helpful.

just be aware that if you click on the "We Recommend" buttons, they'll send you to NewEgg or somesuch place to spend your dough on what they recommend. besides that obvious bit of marketing, i found the analysis to be pretty helpful.

V***V

[ 03-24-2006, 04:38 PM: Message edited by: Luvian ]

Spyware.

what makes you say that? according to spybot s&d and ad-aware, i was clean before using it and clean afterwards.
the mods at the official TES boards are recommending this program. if it is spyware, like you say, tell me what exactly it's doing that i've missed.

thanks. [img]smile.gif[/img]

V***V

According to that site, everything in my current system is ok except for the video card (128mb radeon 9200). The only surprise was my processor speed which, although only 1.8ghz, is rated at 2.5ghz?.. Are they making allowances for overclocking?

Not a bad site.

Its rated at 2.5ghz because of your processor type. For example, my AMD processor that is considered 2.12ghz is actually considered somewhere around 2.8ghz when comparing with the recommended 3.0ghz Intel processor. Certain processors may seem considerably lower in speed just by the numbers, but that isn't the real case. I don't know where the difference in speeds came up, or why it does, but different processor types have their own measuring system for power it seems.

It appears I need a new processor and video card, probably a new motherboard to allow a new processor as well. Yeah, I need to get my dirty little hadns on some major cash.

I pass the test. :D
The little Green graph bar on top of test page Blows
completely off the Graph scale. Below that it says:

"Congratulations,your system will rock this Product!
Wish we had a system that hot you lucky dog!"

Never ever had that said to me before about any computer. :D

CPU
Minimum: Pentium 4 or Athlon XP or better
You Have: 2 processors running - Intel(R) Pentium(R) D CPU 3.00GHz
PASS
CPU Speed
Minimum: 2 GHz
You Have: 3.0 GHz
PASS
System RAM
Minimum: 512 MB
You Have: 2.0 GB
PASS
Operating System
Minimum: Windows 2000/XP/XP 64-bit
You Have: Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3 (Build 2600)
PASS
Video Card
Minimum: 128MB Direct3D compatible video card (NVIDIA GeForce FX+ / ATI Radeon 9500+)
You Have: RADEON X1600 Series (Radeon X1600 Series (0x71C0))
PASS
Video Card Features - Minimum attributes of your Video Card

Video RAM: Required - 128 MB , You have - 256.0 MB
Video Card 3D Acceleration: Required - Yes , You have - Yes
Video HW Transform & Lighting: Required - Yes , You have - Yes
Vertex Shader Ver.: Required - 2.0 , You have - 3.0
Pixel Shader Ver.: Required - 2.0 , You have - 3.0

Video Card Driver Version (DirectX)
Your driver version number is: 6.14.10.
manufacturer.
DirectX Version
Minimum: DirectX 9.0c (included on disk)
You Have: 9.0c
PASS
Sound Card
Minimum: Yes
You Have: SoundMAX 7.1 Integrated Digital HD Audio
PASS
Sound Card Driver Version
Your driver version number is: 5.10.1.4100
Free Disk Space
Minimum: 4.6 GB
You Have: 212.3 GB
PASS
DVD
Minimum: 8X DVD-Rom
You Have: PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-111D
PASS, but the Speed could NOT be analyzed.

[ 03-18-2006, 10:31 AM: Message edited by: TheCrimsomBlade ]

Well, I passed the sound card requirement.

Guess I'll have to wait until I can afford a new computer.

I failed. I failed when Morrowind came out, too. Seems these guys always hit me at the ebb of one of my upgrade cycles.

This time it's not too bad. Add a DVD-ROM and I'm fine at minimum. At 512K RAM and a GeForce 6800/ATI X800 or better video card and I'm fine and dandy.

Welp, I failed. Thanks for posting this so I know in advance. I remember Daggerfall. My computer met specs but dang, it load, crash, load, crash... I don't want to ever put myself through that again. I just refuse to buy a new computer just so I can play a game. I've done it before, but those days are over. It's a different economy out there now. [img]tongue.gif[/img]