<B>Doom3 will run even on a Pentium 4 1.5GHz and a GeForce4 MX440 with details turned ON</B>.
To be able to play it on those specs is enough to make you wanna
Admittedly if you want to really experience Doom3 in all it's unpleasantness, you'll want a better video card and CPU. But even on older systems Doom3 will still give you a fright. <B>You'll also want at least 384MB's of RAM.</B> But with a 9700 Pro you should be able to play at 800x600@Medium Quality, which is meant to be outstanding.
<B>For a comprehensive review of different video cards (high-end and low-end) on different CPU's, check out this excellent review:
http://www2.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NjQ0LDU= </B>
The difference between High and Ultra Quality settings is hard to distinguish with your eye during the heat of battle. In both modes, normal maps are uncompressed. Only specular and diffused lighting maps are different (compressed in High, uncompressed in Ultra). This only effects the textures in ambient lighting and specular [ie. the shiny light on your gun] maps. For a more comprehensive explaination <A HREF="http://www2.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NjQ0LDM=">read this comparison</A>. You'll need a 512MB video card (not even on market) for Ultra mode. But be happy -- a 256MB and even 128MB cards can handle High mode which is just as good as Ultra.
To be honest, like most games you're better off pumping the games resolution up higher and turning your texture details down. Also turning off AA and AF will dramatically improve your graphics card's performance.
But if you're looking for an excuse to buy a GeForce 6800GT or Ultra, this is it.
