How does this make sense?

[ReservoirAngel]

I just tried playing Half-Life 2 on my PC. It works, but the framerate and audio chug and skip, usually at VERY annoying times.

So I checked out that "Can You Run It?" thing, and get this: my PC passes the requirements for Half-Life 2...but "Half-Life 2: Orange Box" is too much for me to run it at the recommended requirements.

Just...how does that make sense? It's the same fucking game! But now that it's in new packaging, my video card suddenly isn't good enough (yeah, that's right...my video card can't even support HALF-LIFE 2! That's how shit this temp PC is) to run it.

I've turned the video settings all down so now it looks like a piece of shit, but it still chugs at the framerate and audio. So, to mangle some discussion out of this: how do I stop this stupid thing chugging like mad?

EDIT: Also as another side-note of this confusion, I just entered "Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria" into 'Can You Run It?' and got back that my PC surpassed the recommended requirements...yet when I run the normal pre-expansion LOTRO it has to look like pixelated wank before it works, and if my PC can't support HL2, how can it fucking support LOTRO!?

Sorry, PCs piss me off.

 

[warm slurm]

Yeaaaaah, if your PC can't run Half-Life 2 then I don't think you should use it for gaming.

 

[ReservoirAngel]

Yeaaaaah, if your PC can't run Half-Life 2 then I don't think you should use it for gaming.

It's this or a laptop dude. My hands are pretty much tied by circumstance and the combination of being a student and spending too much on booze.

 

[Lullabye]

Yeaaaaah, if your PC can't run Half-Life 2 then I don't think you should use it for gaming.

It's this or a laptop dude. My hands are pretty much tied by circumstance and the combination of being a student and [/spending too much on booze.

You gotta understand by now that being a gamer is expensive to say the least.

Um, the best I can recommend is to go see if you can find a decent working comp of some sort that runs half life2, and exchange it for your old one.

 

[RSGstyle]

Doesn't The Orange Box include HL2 Episode One? If so, I read the requirements for Episode 1+2 were higher than the first HL2, so yeah.

 

[IzisviAziria]

Yeaaaaah, if your PC can't run Half-Life 2 then I don't think you should use it for gaming.

this.

Seriously, HL2 has some extremely lax resource requirements. It's a desktop that you're trying to run on right? Because you could probably pick up a video card that would run it for $50 or less. That's what... a weeks worth of booze?

 

[MikailCaboose]

Doesn't The Orange Box include HL2 Episode One? If so, I read the requirements for Episode 1+2 were higher than the first HL2, so yeah.

Plus, that's giving you recommended requirements. i.e, the absolute minimum that you need. Never make a judgment on the required.

 

[ReservoirAngel]

Yeaaaaah, if your PC can't run Half-Life 2 then I don't think you should use it for gaming.

this.

Seriously, HL2 has some extremely lax resource requirements. It's a desktop that you're trying to run on right? Because you could probably pick up a video card that would run it for $50 or less. That's what... a weeks worth of booze?

That's a night of booze for me. And I realise that picking up a video card for this PC is pretty much pointless since I'm only using it until New Year.