Elite Bastards solves the riddle of hardware requirements for Half Life 2 – Episode 1.  If you didn;t have to upgrade to play the main game, but did need it to use the newer features in Lost Coast, then you will probably want an upgrade.
“Although the original Half-Life 2 quickly moved from being a graphics card intensive title to a far more easy to run game as GPU power has increased substantially since its release, the Source engine has continued to move forward with the addition of High Dynamic Range rendering and other cinematic effects. Half-Life 2: Episode One leverages some of these techniques to create a more graphically intensive experience than its predecessor, thus today we will be examining graphics performance in this title using half a dozen graphics boards available on store shelves today. Want to know how Episode One will perform on your system? Read on…”

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