...being more fun than the equivalent levels in the final game, so this might be worth getting. 

So this 3 level demo will tide me over and I'll see what settings I need to use to get it running optimally. Lots of traffic, expectedly, so I'm gonna have to wait till tonight to get it. Little over 3 hour download for me. 

http://www.filerush.com/download.php?target=D3Demo.exe
If you're into that kind of kink.
Other mirrors listed at blue's:
http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=viewthread&threadid=51540

Demo supposedly contains three first maps, mcity1, mc_underground and mcity2. I hope someone will let us know if there's anything changed in here that makes it getworthy for those who has played the game already. 

I haven't passed the demo yet.

System specs:
- 2 GHz Intel Celeron
- 512 MB RAM
- 256 MB GeForce 5600 XT ($126, no fan... not sure what features it may be lacking for that price)
- Windows XP Home
- Intel� 845PE chipset MOBO: FSB 533 MHz, FSB Support 100/133MHz, FSB Support 400/533MHz Intel NetBurst micro-architecture bus...

First, I ran the demo at 800x600 at high detail. Bump mapping was on, specular was on, no anti-aliasing. Walking around in the beginning was moderately smooth if a bit slow, nothing too bad at all. When I got around to mroe detailed areas it was noticeable. I remembered about the config file tweak, so I quit the demo, applied the tweak and noticed a significant improvement in performance. Some other areas were still prone to stutter, but there was a noticeable improvement. I decided to run at 640x480 anyway, and got generally good performance. Combat was playable, not the most fluid though. Basically I haven't expirienced anything like a slideshow yet, and I've knocked off some zombies and imps.

Overall, it could perform better - I should probably put another 512 MB RAM into it and total 1GB. But generally it was playable on these specs. I am going to turn off bump-mapping and specular and I'll post results of that too. At first I wasn't sure if my card even supported bump-mapping - in the beginning, the tile floor seemed to be missing it. But I did notice BM on other textures after that.

Screens (first bunch are 800x600, rest are 640x480): http://www.phait-accompli.com/crap/d3demo/ 

Just turn off your monitor and move your mouse around frantically. That will allow you to experience the essence of Doom 3 and saves you the download!

I found it rather amusing when I read it, although I don't agree with it, still 

That celeron is killing you, man. Those things have like no cache. Those same specs on a 2ghz athlon xp or 64 would fly (since they have on-chip memory controllers and all that) 

It's essentially not really *my* computer anyway, my dad payed for it, it's his, so I went with a more affordable setup for him. When I build mine it's going to be a better performer. It runs all my other fav. games pretty well though (even Unreal 2 demo, which I think looks on par with with Doom 3, but then again - different engine.) 

Here's my thoughts: I'm impressed with the engine. Bump mapping is essential to this game - turn it off and I'm reminded of the days of Quake 2 and Half-Life. Turning shadows off is a considerable boost in framerate, this is how I played it - and the lack of shadows didn't reallly stick out as I was too busy on my little spree. I like the little ambience details. I know most people seem to dislike the shotgun sound and I can see why, but I'm indifferent. It'd of been nice if id would've implemented dismemberment, but it's not a necessity. I'll buy Doom 3, but I'm not too excited to play. Oh yeah - specular lighting is cool too, but not necessary. 

hehe, it worked for me! even though i only have onboard video that comes with the pc! (intel graphics controller), of course... i had to turn everything off and it was at low.. it was slow, some parts were fast and smooth but agh. sucked (graphic wise, obiously) but it didnt look too bad neither (kinda like the original doom with some better graphics).

oh yes. it feels alot like half-life 2004. sucks tho'... i hate half-life... but it might change when i get a video card someday, then i guess it will be much better to see and all. im more excited about quake4. 

http://www.pablo.kotogoto.homeip.net/shot00007.zip - craptastik screenshots