Video Card for GRAW?

[Specter 0]

Nevermind, let the circle jerk continue...

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Seemed like a pretty reasonable discussion to me.

And with a computer, there is always something that can be misdiagnosed. In fact, it's very easy to do, especially where hardware is concerned, particularly sound cards and video cards.

That's where experience comes into play.

Edited February 17, 2006 by Specter

[stevenmu 0]

Bro, I appreciate the citation of a review, but Gamespot is not an independent review source, nor are they in any way thorough.  They don't even tell you what the testbed was.  What was the onboard sound?  What kind of proc?  How much onboard memory?  That's an interesting graph, and it makes me want to look into the question a little further, but it won't be at Gamespot. 

Frankly, that looked like an Audigy advert.

--Logos

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Yeah, looking back at it, it probably wasn't the best link to give, my bad. It seemed in line with what I'd read before, and I was just looking for something quickly so I stuck it in.

I don't think it's conclusions are that outrageous though, I'll see if I can find something better when I get home from work. I think there were a few good X-Fi reviews around that benched it compared to an audigy and onboard.

[Logos 0]

I don't think it's conclusions are that outrageous though, I'll see if I can find something better when I get home from work.

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I don't think they were either. I looked around, and the review you put up seemed to have fair numbers.

In Specter's case, he's got Soundstorm, which is really phenomenal onboard sound, and at the time of its release, as good as, or better than, any dedicated soundcard, and even today it's still quite competetive.

As far as the subject goes in general, I don't think anyone is saying that onboard sound is useless or a waste of money, only that at the time you're building a system, it isn't a necessary purchase, and when money is an issue, you're better off putting that money toward the best necessities (memory/proc/vidcard) possible and getting the dedicated soundcard later on.

For the record, I bought an X-Fi a little over a month ago, about a year after I built my current rig. I'm not a hater.

--Logos

[Specter 0]

I'm not a hater of sound cards either. Far from it.

But to me, and for people on a budget, it simply boils down to priorities.

Important stuff that makes a real difference first, stuff like this second.

That's all.

[Strapt 0]

The 6800 is a great card.  I can run BF2 all high settings, with AA set at 4 and As set at 4.

 

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At what res? 1024x768? It's a little misleading to claim "all high settings" when your resolution setting is not that high.

But alot of people fall for the misconception that the video card is the be-all/end-all answer to everything that has to do with running and getting the most from games, and it isn't.

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Correct. The videocard is not the BE-ALL/END-ALL to everything with videogames, but it IS the single MOST important thing. You talk about it like it's a secondary concern, then pimp Windows settings? C'mon, man.

--Logos

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I have a 6800 and I'm trying to run things on medium at 100% view distance at 1024x768 and with only x2 AA and it still fogs up in the distance Dunno what i've done wrong, but some people are shootin my in BF2 wih tv guided missiles and I can't even see their chopper, just the missile coming out of nowhere.

My processor is 2800+ any idea what's wrong? I'd like to be able to play GRAW and have it look nice ( not 800x600 like I had to play GR. when i had the fx5200 )

[golfnut 0]

I've got a quick question, I say quick because I'm about to purchase a new video card.

I can get an ATI Radeon X850 Pro (AGP) for $272.95

Or

I can get an ATI Radeon X850 Platinum (AGP) for $325+

On the same site that is listing the non-Platinum version the Platinum version lists for $438.95.

Can anyone tell me if there is that much a difference that I should go with the more expensive one?

Thanks

[*CDN* AnGus 0]

http://forums.ubi.com/groupee/forums/a/tpc...0414#9131090414

[Logos 0]

Yet another reason to wait until closer to release of GR:AW before you upgrade your vidcard for it:

ATI has an X1800GTO model due out in March that is a "cut down" X1900, which typically means reduced clocks and a certain number of pixel-pipes disabled, pixel-pipes that can quite often be re-enabled with a softmod. This card is supposed to be around $280.

IF it's softmoddable to reopen the pipes, we'll basically be looking at something close to a 1900XT for under $300, and that is a seriously sweet deal.

--Logos

[Logos 0]

http://forums.ubi.com/groupee/forums/a/tpc...0414#9131090414

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Nice, but who is Capteenix, and why does he think he can benchmark for a game that isn't out?

[BigOlBrain 10]

Ok, I have a question and I didn’t want to start a new topic so I’m going to ask here and bump this one up.

I haven’t been keeping up so much with PC GPUs for a while now. I’m using my pc here at work, which is a decent pc other than the gpu, until I build my new pc around the end of the year or the beginning of next year.

So right now the gpu is ATI FireGL V3100 (PCI-E)…great for microstation / AutoCad but not so great for games….though it plays the COD2 and lockdown demo very well.

Anyway, if I wanted to replace the gpu with another what’s the best gpu I could get for say….$150 - $200? I don’t want to drop much on this pc because I’m building a new one at the end of the year.

Thanks for any advice.

[agentkay 0]

BIGOLBRAIN: In that price gap I would say an ATI 1600XT or Nvidia 6800GS. I´ve seen that new 7800GT sell for as little as 250€, and maybe if you pull a lucky shot you can get a used one for $200.

Edited February 22, 2006 by agentkay

[BigOlBrain 10]

BIGOLBRAIN: In that price gap I would say an ATI 1600XT or Nvidia 6800GS.  I´ve seen that new 7800GT sell for as little as 250€, and maybe if you pull a lucky shot you can get a used one for $200.

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Thanks, I'll look around for some deals after I play the demo. If it plays really bad I'll do a little upgrade.

Thanks agian.

[yttocs1966 0]

the 7900GTX's come out mid march, 7900GT's end of march. That should help lower prices.

[BigOlBrain 10]

the 7900GTX's come out mid march, 7900GT's end of march. That should help lower prices.

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Well that's good news.

I'm curious how taxing GRAW will be really. Like I said I played the lockdown demo and it ran smooth, I know that's not saying much but I'm really curious if GRAW will be overly demanding on the gpu. The video I saw looked like there were a lot of physics involved which would be more of a cpu kind of thing...right?

I guess it's a wait and see type of thing.

[agentkay 0]

Physics and AI are handled by the CPU. I don´t think the game will be CPU-bound (like many racing and flight sims) but like all almost recent games, GPU-bound. The minium specs seem very much like F.E.A.R. minium specs, except that game has a DX8 legacy path, and GRAW seems not to have one. If you can play FEAR or HL2 Lost Coast maxxed out and at a decent framerate, I think GRAW should play at similar settings with similar performance.

[BigOlBrain 10]

Physics and AI are handled by the CPU.  I don´t think the game will be CPU-bound (like many racing and flight sims) but like all almost recent games, GPU-bound.  The minium specs seem very much like F.E.A.R. minium specs, except that game has a DX8 legacy path, and GRAW seems not to have one.  If you can play FEAR or HL2 Lost Coast maxxed out and at a decent framerate, I think GRAW should play at similar settings with  similar performance.

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I see. Well I can deal with medium settings as long as it runs decent. I just don't want it running under say...30 fps or so. I can't be real picky right now.

One other thing. I am building a new pc down the road and I'm curious what a widescreen monitor runs...anything over 19".

[agentkay 0]

One other thing.  I am building a new pc down the road and I'm curious what a widescreen monitor runs...anything over 19".

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Depends, the Dell 2405FPW 24" LCD has a native resolution of 1920x1200 for instance and smaller ones have usually a native res of 1680x1050 like the NEC MultiSync 20WMGX2

Check this link for widescreen monitors:

http://www.widescreengamer.com/widescreen_monitor_database/

[BigOlBrain 10]

One other thing.  I am building a new pc down the road and I'm curious what a widescreen monitor runs...anything over 19".

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Depends, the Dell 2405FPW 24" LCD has a native resolution of 1920x1200 for instance and smaller ones have usually a native res of 1680x1050 like the NEC MultiSync 20WMGX2

Check this link for widescreen monitors:

http://www.widescreengamer.com/widescreen_monitor_database/

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Thanks man, you have been a lot of help.

[Top_Cat 0]

MY ADVISE is DO NOT buy the 7800 CARDS , OR THINK TWISE!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

the reason is becuase when Windows vista is release a lot of direct x 10 games with pixcel shader 4 are going to come out at the 7800 are not compatialbe. People should consider buying a vheaper card know and mabey wait until the g80 comes out in the winter of 2006 ( 8 months away, which is not long) THINK - games like Crysis have go tthat new tech. What do others think about this????????

[agentkay 0]

Everyone knows that DX10 cards are coming out around Q3-Q4, but do you honestly think DX10 games won´t have a DX9 legacy path? Just now, after 3 or 4 years with DX9, we start to see "DX9 only" games. Crysis will have a DX9 path, and so will EVERY other game that will come out in the next 3 years. So there is no need to panic.

DX9 cards won´t be worthless anytime soon and usually the first "new tech" cards are the slowest of all (in this case the first gen. DX10 cards). I recommend: Buy the cards that offer the best price performance ratio, and buy it now if you have the money and NEED a card, otherwise if you jump on the "wait train", you´ll wait forever for a better card. At the same time I do recommend to sell "old cards" before they loose their biggest value.

Edited February 22, 2006 by agentkay

[Specter 0]

Everyone knows that DX10 cards are coming out around Q3-Q4, but do you honestly think DX10 games won´t have a DX9 legacy path?  Just now, after 3 or 4 years with DX9, we start to see "DX9 only" games.  Crysis will have a DX9 path, and so will EVERY other game that will come out in the next 3 years.  So there is no need to panic.  

DX9  cards won´t be worthless anytime soon and usually the first "new tech" cards are the slowest of all (in this case the first gen. DX10 cards).  I recommend: Buy the cards that offer the best price performance ratio, and buy it now if you have the money and NEED a card, otherwise if you jump on the "wait train", you´ll wait forever for a better card.  At the same time I do recommend to sell "old cards" before they loose their biggest value.

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I don't think DX 10 is going to be out by then.

DX9 cards are going to be fine for a good while.

everything else in your post is good advice.

[Logos 0]

I don't think DX 10 is going to be out by then.

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Spec, I know you pay more attention to this than I do so:

Is Vista definitely delayed past Q4?

Are you just predicting based on the continuous delays up to this point?

Or is it more specific, as in you're aware of some of the problems they're currently having and suspect it will take longer than 10 months to get it worked out?

TIA

--Logos

[Specter 0]

I don't think DX 10 is going to be out by then.

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Spec, I know you pay more attention to this than I do so:

Is Vista definitely delayed past Q4?

Are you just predicting based on the continuous delays up to this point?

Or is it more specific, as in you're aware of some of the problems they're currently having and suspect it will take longer than 10 months to get it worked out?

TIA

--Logos

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I have based my opinion so far on their track record of pushing things back, and the amount of problems they ahve been having.

Plus if you look back at how long it took to get DX9 fully implemented, the prediction follows that course.

One, they have already said that DX 10 will be released with Vista. But not everyone is going to jump on the vista bandwagon, so they are going to have to make a backwards compatible version for XP, if they have any hopes of keeping the hardware vendors happy.

Well, we all know what happened when they tried to do that with DX9 for the Win9x line.

Plus, you have to figure in the time it wil;l take developers to get fully onboard with whatever standard they work out for DX10.

Given all of that, I'd say it will be the end of the year, and DX9 cards will be a good bet at least halfway through next year.

[CR6 0]

Is Vista definitely delayed past Q4?

Are you just predicting based on the continuous delays up to this point? 

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Logos, the only people who know exactly when Vista will ship are the same people who know exactly when the PS3 will launch

MS will not commit to a deadline, but I can tell you that some honchos at MS will miss out on a big part of their annual bonus if Vista doesn't ship by the end of 2006. So we will likely see Vista but missing a few promised components that will be tacked on later.

Technically, MS doesn't support their operating systems more than 5 years, and WinXP shipped Oct (?) 2001 ...

That being said, MS recently said they will support XP until 2008.

[Specter 0]

That being said, MS recently said they will support XP until 2008.

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What choice did they have but to support it, with that circus they are running over there called Vista? It's already 2 years late.

They must be following the Ubi/GR franchise business rules ! !

**Runs away without the gimp. Took my Glucosamine Condroitin before making this post ! !**

Edited February 24, 2006 by Specter