Video game addicts...

[tattewell]

Anybody pre-order Dragon Age 2? I think it releases on Steam today?

[ThePikeman]

Originally Posted by Jeffy

Well, I'm ready to pull the trigger on a new GFX card. Problem is which one?

Seems like you have done your homework. It doesn't really matter what card you choose.

Don't bank on the unlocking option though. You might get lucky, but there is no guarantee. It depends on the yield rate for the 6970. Slightly faulty or slower ones are sold as 6950 (defect parts get disabled), if they can sell more 6950 cards, they just relabel 6970 cards and equip them with a different bios. The last ones might be unlocked.

If you don't really need a card now, maybe wait half a year or so for the 32nm or 28nm cards to come out. This generation was just a necessary bridge because TSMC is way behind their schedule on the new manufacturing process.

[El Guero]

Just beat the main campaign in Red Dead Redemption last night. Interesting ending, will have to download Undead Nightmare soon.

I ordered Metal Gear Solid 4 and Uncharted 2 for my free time during spring break next week. I hadn't heard of Uncharted 2 until I had been snooping around online a little...

This brings me to a general video game question. Looking at reviews, it seems like Uncharted 2 is a much better game than Uncharted. Are games like movies, where you want to start from the beginning? So far I don't think they are, but I hope I'm not missing anything

[Jeffy]

Originally Posted by ThePikeman

Seems like you have done your homework. It doesn't really matter what card you choose.

Don't bank on the unlocking option though. You might get lucky, but there is no guarantee. It depends on the yield rate for the 6970. Slightly faulty or slower ones are sold as 6950 (defect parts get disabled), if they can sell more 6950 cards, they just relabel 6970 cards and equip them with a different bios. The last ones might be unlocked.

If you don't really need a card now, maybe wait half a year or so for the 32nm or 28nm cards to come out. This generation was just a necessary bridge because TSMC is way behind their schedule on the new manufacturing process.

I'm sorta looking into SLI'ing now. For last year the cards to have were the 460, this year it's the 560's. I can get two 460's for under $400 or two 560's for just over $500. From what I've been reading the 560's are the ones to get if I want to be well ahead of the 580. But then there's cost. Do I want to spend $500 on video cards. I was originally looking to spend around $350 but since I don't flip cards like some gamers, so a faster card would pay for itself over the long run.

I did read that all of the GFX companies were behind on their schedules on Maximum PC's site. The other problem I see is that some of the cars are so new, more specifically the 570 and 560 that they haven't made it down the pipeline in large numbers yet.

I think I'm going to stick with Nvidia especially if I go SLI vs. Crossfire as their drivers are always a PITA and it seems it's more so with Crossfire.

I guess I'll wait till PAX East starts and see what is announced. Maybe by then the 560 will be available. Or else I'll just get some 460's and call it good.

[Jeffy]

Originally Posted by El Guero

Just beat the main campaign in Red Dead Redemption last night. Interesting ending, will have to download Undead Nightmare soon.

I ordered Metal Gear Solid 4 and Uncharted 2 for my free time during spring break next week. I hadn't heard of Uncharted 2 until I had been snooping around online a little...

This brings me to a general video game question. Looking at reviews, it seems like Uncharted 2 is a much better game than Uncharted. Are games like movies, where you want to start from the beginning? So far I don't think they are, but I hope I'm not missing anything

I love MGS4. I'd bump up the difficulty level. Maybe not Big Boss Hard but more then Solid Snake Normal or Luquid Snake Normal. I found either Normal too easy. Although I like sneaking around type games.

[ThePikeman]

Originally Posted by Jeffy

I'm sorta looking into SLI'ing now. For last year the cards to have were the 460, this year it's the 560's. I can get two 460's for under $400 or two 560's for just over $500. From what I've been reading the 560's are the ones to get if I want to be well ahead of the 580. But then there's cost. Do I want to spend $500 on video cards. I was originally looking to spend around $350 but since I don't flip cards like some gamers, so a faster card would pay for itself over the long run.

I did read that all of the GFX companies were behind on their schedules on Maximum PC's site. The other problem I see is that some of the cars are so new, more specifically the 570 and 560 that they haven't made it down the pipeline in large numbers yet.

I think I'm going to stick with Nvidia especially if I go SLI vs. Crossfire as their drivers are always a PITA and it seems it's more so with Crossfire.

I guess I'll wait till PAX East starts and see what is announced. Maybe by then the 560 will be available. Or else I'll just get some 460's and call it good.

I could never really master the Nvidia drivers. Different people, different experiences. Ati did many improvements to their drivers, including crossfire. Seems to scale much better with the newer cards. In addition, they don't include the crossfire profile in the driver anymore, but in a seperate file.

I don't like the idea of crossfire or SLI. Just seems wrong to me, especially to buy two cards at the same time. Maybe get a 560 now and add another one in a year or so.
How do the 560 compare with the 6950? Here they are only 10€ apart.

Heck... what am I writing about graphics cards? I have an ATI 4670 in my computer.

I am also patiently waiting for Dragon Age 2...

[Jeffy]

Originally Posted by ThePikeman

I could never really master the Nvidia drivers. Different people, different experiences. Ati did many improvements to their drivers, including crossfire. Seems to scale much better with the newer cards. In addition, they don't include the crossfire profile in the driver anymore, but in a seperate file.

I don't like the idea of crossfire or SLI. Just seems wrong to me, especially to buy two cards at the same time. Maybe get a 560 now and add another one in a year or so.
How do the 560 compare with the 6950? Here they are only 10€ apart.

Heck... what am I writing about graphics cards? I have an ATI 4670 in my computer.

I am also patiently waiting for Dragon Age 2...

I find Nvidia drivers easy to install. There is no need for secondary programs. When I was running an ATI (x800 then a 9800LE) back in the day, I had to install the drivers then install .NET because CCC required it to also be installed. Have they changed this? I have no problems installing Nvidia drivers but you still have to play around with different version just like AMD.

What I like about two cards is that you can buy two lesser cards and get top-end performance while usually being cheaper. The downside is the additional trouble shooting you have to do since you're now running two cards and they need to sync up. Not all games support it and you sometimes have to resort to tricking the game to run in SLI/CF.

Honestly, I don't need a new video card right now. My 280SSC GTX is still pretty fast. I have it OD'ed as well. Although it would be a lower mid-range card today I think. Games like Dirt 2 and L4D2 run in the 90-100FSP but they are optimized to take better advantage of the card. ARMA 2 OA on the other had is a beast. On the core maps I get 30-50. On some of the user made maps I get 14-100 depending if I'm in the weeds or out in a snow field. The game isn't very optimized so it's very dependent on hardware.

A 560 runs about $259USD here. A 6950 is $300USD for a XFX with a double lifetime warranty or $275 for a some other brand with a 1 year. A 460 is $195USD.

On the Tom's March 2011 Chart which just came out yesterday, you can see the 280 is 4 slots down from the top which is shared with the 460. From what I've read I believe I could get some nice speeds if I could find another 280. It would be at least as fast as a 480/570. But I don't like buying used cards with an unknown history and no warranty.

Supposedly the 590/595 will run two 570 chips. Or rather that's what people are speculating. I expect both AMD and Nvidia cards to be $600-800 though. Well outside by budget. I couldn't imagine spending that much of a GFX card. People are speculating that the card will be announced at PAX East which is this weekend. I might wait and see if it changes the pricing scheme any then buy something the following week.

[Dismount]

Originally Posted by ThePikeman

I could never really master the Nvidia drivers. Different people, different experiences. Ati did many improvements to their drivers, including crossfire. Seems to scale much better with the newer cards. In addition, they don't include the crossfire profile in the driver anymore, but in a seperate file.

I don't like the idea of crossfire or SLI. Just seems wrong to me, especially to buy two cards at the same time. Maybe get a 560 now and add another one in a year or so.
How do the 560 compare with the 6950? Here they are only 10€ apart.

Heck... what am I writing about graphics cards? I have an ATI 4670 in my computer.

I am also patiently waiting for Dragon Age 2...

www.Hardocp.com has done reviews between the 5xx and 6xxx series of cards. If I remember right, the 69xx series were just beaten by the 5xx cards, but at a much lower price point per card.

Which opens the door to cheaper crossfire.

I've been absolutely thrilled with the performance of my 5870 and my two 5770s in cross.

[FPGT72]

Originally Posted by El Guero

Just beat the main campaign in Red Dead Redemption last night. Interesting ending, will have to download Undead Nightmare soon.

I ordered Metal Gear Solid 4 and Uncharted 2 for my free time during spring break next week. I hadn't heard of Uncharted 2 until I had been snooping around online a little...

This brings me to a general video game question. Looking at reviews, it seems like Uncharted 2 is a much better game than Uncharted. Are games like movies, where you want to start from the beginning? So far I don't think they are, but I hope I'm not missing anything

Undead is pretty fun, I got a card for the game at Game Stop...that way I did not have to buy a bunch of microsoft points I will have a hard time using...at least till Forza 4 comes out.

[Jeffy]

Originally Posted by Dismount

www.Hardocp.com has done reviews between the 5xx and 6xxx series of cards. If I remember right, the 69xx series were just beaten by the 5xx cards, but at a much lower price point per card.

Which opens the door to cheaper crossfire.

I've been absolutely thrilled with the performance of my 5870 and my two 5770s in cross.

The Nvidia 580 is $499 while the 6970 is $340-ish (Visiontek) right now. That's a BIG gap in price. The 580's competitor is/was the 5970 Black Edition which was a 2xCPU card but I think the 580 still beat it out but only slightly.

[Dismount]

Originally Posted by Jeffy

The Nvidia 580 is $499 while the 6970 is $340-ish (Visiontek) right now. That's a BIG gap in price. The 580's competitor is/was the 5970 Black Edition which was a 2xCPU card but I think the 580 still beat it out but only slightly.

At the high end they're talking 0-15% difference in performance. That might be the difference between 49 and 44 FPS, at the same quality. For $150 that is totally worth it to me. I'm not pushing my rig anywhere near to the bleeding edge anyway. By the time that 15% was gamebreaking to me, I would be well beyond the upgrade point anyway.

*edit, as it is now playing battlefield bad company 2 at 1920x1080 on a 42" monitor, with a 5870, phenomIIx3, and 8 gigs of ram, with all settings as high as they will go I see anywhere from 40-60FPS in a full 32 player server. It will maintain that performance all day and night long.

If I was running an eyefinity setup, or trying to push out 2560x1600 on a 30" monitor I'd probably have to tone down the settings. That's where that 15% lives. On the edge.

[ThePikeman]

Originally Posted by Jeffy

I find Nvidia drivers easy to install. There is no need for secondary programs. When I was running an ATI (x800 then a 9800LE) back in the day, I had to install the drivers then install .NET because CCC required it to also be installed. Have they changed this? I have no problems installing Nvidia drivers but you still have to play around with different version just like AMD.

What I like about two cards is that you can buy two lesser cards and get top-end performance while usually being cheaper. The downside is the additional trouble shooting you have to do since you're now running two cards and they need to sync up. Not all games support it and you sometimes have to resort to tricking the game to run in SLI/CF.

Honestly, I don't need a new video card right now. My 280SSC GTX is still pretty fast. I have it OD'ed as well. Although it would be a lower mid-range card today I think. Games like Dirt 2 and L4D2 run in the 90-100FSP but they are optimized to take better advantage of the card. ARMA 2 OA on the other had is a beast. On the core maps I get 30-50. On some of the user made maps I get 14-100 depending if I'm in the weeds or out in a snow field. The game isn't very optimized so it's very dependent on hardware.

A 560 runs about $259USD here. A 6950 is $300USD for a XFX with a double lifetime warranty or $275 for a some other brand with a 1 year. A 460 is $195USD.

On the Tom's March 2011 Chart which just came out yesterday, you can see the 280 is 4 slots down from the top which is shared with the 460. From what I've read I believe I could get some nice speeds if I could find another 280. It would be at least as fast as a 480/570. But I don't like buying used cards with an unknown history and no warranty.

Supposedly the 590/595 will run two 570 chips. Or rather that's what people are speculating. I expect both AMD and Nvidia cards to be $600-800 though. Well outside by budget. I couldn't imagine spending that much of a GFX card. People are speculating that the card will be announced at PAX East which is this weekend. I might wait and see if it changes the pricing scheme any then buy something the following week.

I was totally annoyed by that .net thing, too. Tons of programs need it now and it is included in win7 anyways.
ATI improved their drivers quite a lot.

If you are mostly happy with your card, wait until you buy a new monitor, too. Maybe even tone down quality if necessary. The new cards are still expensive as hell and until you go to full HD only 1 game seems to need it.

The 560 runs 222€, the 6950 is 232€ here in Germany (including 19% vat).

[Jeffy]

Originally Posted by ThePikeman

I was totally annoyed by that .net thing, too. Tons of programs need it now and it is included in win7 anyways.
ATI improved their drivers quite a lot.

If you are mostly happy with your card, wait until you buy a new monitor, too. Maybe even tone down quality if necessary. The new cards are still expensive as hell and until you go to full HD only 1 game seems to need it.

The 560 runs 222€, the 6950 is 232€ here in Germany (including 19% vat).

I don't usually buy the very best card. It's never cost effective especially when only a hand full of games really need it when the card launches. The second tier is always a good balance between cost and speed if you're looking for a single card solution. Although with SLI/CF coming into maturity, there seems to be even better value with the cheaper cards. I did some searching on the 6850/70 cards and they are similar in speed to the 560 but cost even less. The problem I've been reading about is still with drivers.

If I was going to take my own advice I would just get the 460's.

[ThePikeman]

Originally Posted by Jeffy

If I was going to take my own advice I would just get the 460's.

You would just have bought them, if you'd trust your own advice.

As said, I don't know anyone who has problems with graphics drivers from Nvidia or ATI.

The 68xx are quite nice and very mature, an optimized 5850/5870.

[Jeffy]

Originally Posted by ThePikeman

You would just have bought them, if you'd trust your own advice.

As said, I don't know anyone who has problems with graphics drivers from Nvidia or ATI.

The 68xx are quite nice and very mature, an optimized 5850/5870.

SLI/CF is new territory for me. I'd tried to stay away from them till they were matured a bit. So they matured a bit. Much like water cooling which is used in my latest computer.

I've been out of touch with AMD's cards since they bought ATI and then changed names. I still remember when they were in Canada. Yes, it's been a while. So I thought it would be fare to at least ask the Radeon Camp about them ...before I buy an Nvidia.