Blaster Posted May 12, 2006 Share Posted May 12, 2006 (edited) I have a dual core overclocked Athlon machine with 2 gigs of Corsair Ram with an EVGA 7800 GT card overclocked with 256 megs of ram. I have to turn down everthing to low, turn off shadows, keep dynamic lighting on, and it runs pretty good at 1024x768, but lags a little in the heat of battle. I have a high end new machine and this game needs more than what I have. I have an ASUS A8N32-SLI motherboard. And a 550 watt Enermax powersupply that will handle another video card. Has anyone seen or read that two video cards in SLI mode helps this game significantly? Some games are helped a little, some not at all, and some even have slower frame rates with two video cards! Should I get another video card? Do I need the exact video card? Thanks for any response. Edited May 12, 2006 by Blaster Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GHOST_fatguy Posted May 12, 2006 Share Posted May 12, 2006 Yes it will work (~50-60% improvement I'd say), yes you need the exact same card (for now). You just need to setup a custom profile for GRAW under the nvidia settings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prodigy Posted May 12, 2006 Share Posted May 12, 2006 SLI doesn't increase frame rates good enough for the price/performance ratio IMO. With SLI you only get a 30% increase. The only thing ideal about SLI is that you can maintain better framerates at higher resolutions. So if your running 1024x768 then SLI isn't the way to go IMO. What kind of framerates are you getting? Use FRAPS to tell you how much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viiiper Posted May 13, 2006 Share Posted May 13, 2006 (edited) I run 7900GTX OC in SLI on ASUS A8N32 Deluxe and one or two cards it's the same 25-45 FPS @ 1920x1200. Save your money and sell your card and buy one 7800GTX or 7900GTX 512mb then you'll see the difference from your card... IMO SLI does nothing at the moment, maybe after all the fixes and some better SLI driver support we may see the 50-70% sli improvement. 'Prodigy' is right SLI does not improve the FPS into the WOW !! You will need 2 cards with the same processor & memory so you'll need 2x 7800 GT 256mb it does not matter on make but getting the same manufacturer makes life easier 'Blaster' Has anyone seen or read that two video cards in SLI mode helps this game significantly? Some games are helped a little, some not at all, and some even have slower frame rates with two video cards! Should I get another video card? Do I need the exact video card? Has anyone seen or read that two video cards in SLI mode helps this game significantly? NO Should I get another video card? NODo I need the exact video card? YES I also run an Ageia PPU and the beta drivers do let the card improve the candy factor of GRAW http://www.ageia.com/physx/drivers.html Edited May 13, 2006 by viiiper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brettzies Posted May 13, 2006 Share Posted May 13, 2006 Personally, I never liked the idea that 2 graphics cards are required to make a game run at its full potential. I didn't like it when voodoo first did it, and it just seems to have the potential to make programmers rely on it too much. Not saying they do, but you have to design for what people have. PC gaming is already too expensive. Anyway, my understanding with SLI is that it really only makes a difference at the higher resolutions, like 1600x1200. Go check out some benchmarks. Maybe it's getting better though. Obviously 2 highe end cards is better then 1, but for the price, I think it's bad for the general gamer. For the lower end cards like 6600's, one higer end 7800+ is better and cheaper I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prodigy Posted May 13, 2006 Share Posted May 13, 2006 I think SLI and Crossfire will do much better with Windows Vista and DX10, right now it's best to get a single card. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hotpot Posted May 13, 2006 Share Posted May 13, 2006 I think SLI and Crossfire will do much better with Windows Vista and DX10, right now it's best to get a single card. Well I recently picked up another 6800GT and set up an sli system and every current gen game including GRAW runs like lightning. I honestly do not have any performance issues at all. The AI is a bit iffy but great in some aspects and I don't like the long gaps between autosaves. I would have liked a limited quicksave function. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpl Ledanek Posted May 13, 2006 Share Posted May 13, 2006 I think SLI and Crossfire will do much better with Windows Vista and DX10, right now it's best to get a single card. Well I recently picked up another 6800GT and set up an sli system and every current gen game including GRAW runs like lightning. I honestly do not have any performance issues at all. The AI is a bit iffy but great in some aspects and I don't like the long gaps between autosaves. I would have liked a limited quicksave function. @Hotppot, could you post your PC specs and drivers used for vid (and audio if any) It helps too if you can help us sort out what kind of upgrades we may need in future. Also if not too much, can you run FRAPS and post what kind of framerates your getting. There's a lot of us are interested in upgrading and we needs some directions Thank you sir Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blaster Posted May 13, 2006 Author Share Posted May 13, 2006 Hotpot, what frame rates do you get with a single card compared to both cards running? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hotpot Posted May 14, 2006 Share Posted May 14, 2006 Specs are: AMD64 4000+ CPU 2x XFX 6800GT sli X-Fi Soundcard (Vanilla version) Asus A8n-sli MB 2GB Corsair Matched pair ram running in dual channel mode Video drivers 84.56 Extreme (got the link for these off one of these forums. Can't remember which) Sound drivers autoupdated from Creative website. Graphics overclocked to 412MHz and grahics memory at 1.14 GHz Ingame resolution set at 1280x768@100Hz All other options maxxed out. FPS Single Card: min 28 max 41 FPS Dual Card : min 38 max 61 Runs smooth as silk with no stutters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prodigy Posted May 14, 2006 Share Posted May 14, 2006 I suppose that the textures are at medium? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blaster Posted May 14, 2006 Author Share Posted May 14, 2006 (edited) Specs are: AMD64 4000+ CPU 2x XFX 6800GT sli X-Fi Soundcard (Vanilla version) Asus A8n-sli MB 2GB Corsair Matched pair ram running in dual channel mode Video drivers 84.56 Extreme (got the link for these off one of these forums. Can't remember which) Sound drivers autoupdated from Creative website. Graphics overclocked to 412MHz and grahics memory at 1.14 GHz Ingame resolution set at 1280x768@100Hz All other options maxxed out. FPS Single Card: min 28 max 41 FPS Dual Card : min 38 max 61 Runs smooth as silk with no stutters. Wow, thats around a 25 to 33 percent increase in frame rates with the second card running. When I play Single player mode with the same settings as Multiplayer mode, I get no mouse lag. But when I play online I get mouse lag and the frame rates drop when 1 or more enemies are in view, especially if they are close and firing thier weapons. I dont have a problem winning a shootout at close range in SP mode, but in MP mode I appear to shoot first while my opponent is running, but he can usually shoot and kill me as soon as he is able to return fire. I have a good cable modem and ping, maybe its partly server lag. Also, I noticed much more misses online than offline. I see people running and shooting with great accuracy, they must have kick ass systems, playing on thier own server, or possibly have cheats already? I'm using the 81.98 driver, I thought that was the latest. Windows Update shows no newer. Is that extreme driver a beta release? Edited May 14, 2006 by Blaster Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blaster Posted May 14, 2006 Author Share Posted May 14, 2006 (edited) I downloaded FRAPS, and I get between 20 and 40 when not in battle, but the frames drop down to 9 in battle!!! I have a good machine with low settings, maybe I need to try the extreme drivers? Edited May 14, 2006 by Blaster Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zebb Posted May 14, 2006 Share Posted May 14, 2006 I'll post these again to give you a better idea of what i am getting: AMD 64 FX-57 CPU 2x Fx7800 GTX 512 2 Gig of Ram X-Fi extreme soundcard Resolution of 1600 x 1200 x75 Using the 84.56 WHQL drivers Nothing overclocked or tweaked With everything on max i get frames of between 30/40 up to 100 depending on the scanario and what action is taking place, sitting in the chopper going to the insertion is always around 70 even with the narcom runnin, never get any graphic irregularities or stuttering in the game no matter whats going on, armour, choppers etc and its the same in MP as it is on SP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zooK Posted May 14, 2006 Share Posted May 14, 2006 I found the second card made all the difference. But only worked after I made a suitable nvidia graw.exe profile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blaster Posted May 14, 2006 Author Share Posted May 14, 2006 (edited) I found out I cant rely on Windows update to tell me when a new video driver is available. I just downloaded Forceware 84.21 drivers that came out 2 months ago! WHAT A HUGE DIFFERENCE!!!!!!!!!!!! I AM GETTING AROUND 30 FRAMES PER SECOND MORE!!!! In the heat of battle I was getting around 10 frames per second, now I am getting around 40. This is at 1280x1024 @ 85Hz and everything at low settings. With the same screen res and with medium settings, I am getting frames in the 30's during battle, and near 60 away from battle and smoke and flames. I should do better online now, my overall kill ratio was only around 1 to 1 on average. Smoother frame rates should get my kill ratio up a bit. Edited May 14, 2006 by Blaster Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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