Try and achieve above 25 for decent playing quality. Changing these settings can improve your ability to see people before they see you or have a better chance of fragging them. If 128 Megs Ram or more set to 70 or 95. Leave alone if you have less. For more information refer to I am Quake 3 and there Tweak List.
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Think of the 1st two as low and high quality for hardware that supports bilinear filetering, and the 2nd two as low and high quality for hardware that supports trilinear filtering. I Am Quake 3 for a guide to look at. All tweaks have been tested by me using 3 different systems all LOW, Medium, and High End. Here are the systems used in the testing and creation of the guide. Also check John Carmack's plan for hints on playing with modems and other such things right here .