[techno_funky]

DirectX 6: This is the extreme low end. DX6 cards running Half-Life 2 will look a lot like HL. Textures are only 128x128 or 256x256. Everything will look very nasty. TNT2, ATI Rage, S3 Savage, Voodoo3, Matrox G200, motherboard integrated graphics.

DirectX 7: A DX7 based card is what I consider the actual playable low end for Half-Life 2. You should get 3D sky, some volumetric effects, hardware T&L, 256x256 textures, decals, dynamic shadows, and medium resolution displacement maps. Geforce, GeForce2, Radeon 7000 series, nForce integrated graphics.

DirectX 8: Things will start to look good on a DX8 based card. 3D sky, volumetric smoke, dynamic refraction, vertex and pixel shaders, bump-mapping, 512x512 textures, high detailed props, full dynamic shadows, fresnel specularity, high resolution displacement maps. GeForce3 ti200-500, GeForce4 ti4200-4800, Radeon 8500-9200, Matrox Parhelia, SiS Xabre.

DirectX 9: A DX9 card will show Half-Life 2 the way it is supposed to look. All the effects will be fantastic, and you will be the envy of your friends. GeForce FX5200-5950, Radeon 9500-9800XT.


hope this helps