|
|
|
The Official Graphics Card and PC gaming Thread
|
|
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
|
15. August 2009 @ 21:43 |
Link to this message
|
|
Yeah, i.e. stuff outside HDTach...
|
|
Advertisement
|
|
|
|
AfterDawn Addict
|
15. August 2009 @ 21:48 |
Link to this message
|
|
links?
MGR (Micro Gaming Rig) .|. Intel Q6600 @ 3.45GHz .|. Asus P35 P5K-E/WiFi .|. 4GB 1066MHz Geil Black Dragon RAM .|. Samsung F60 SSD .|. Corsair H50-1 Cooler .|. Sapphire 4870 512MB .|. Lian Li PC-A70B .|. Be Queit P7 Dark Power Pro 850W PSU .|. 24" 1920x1200 DGM (MVA Panel) .|. 24" 1920x1080 Dell (TN Panel) .|. |
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
|
15. August 2009 @ 21:57 |
Link to this message
|
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 15. August 2009 @ 21:57
|
Member
|
16. August 2009 @ 14:53 |
Link to this message
|
Originally posted by sammorris:
Yeah, the AM3 CPUs require 18.
Actually I have version 1.7 so I'm assuming it should be version 1.8. There's no advantage to having the latest BIOS is there? (I remember hearing not if the one you've got's working)
Orderd Crysis :p and an Xbox pad (PS3 drivers meant I had to F8 then pick allow unsigned drivers every time) and not a PSU which was probably a bad decision that's going to bite me in the arse.
I done a tiny OC (yuk-yuk) up to 207MHz FSB so that's @ 3.2GHz with no voltage change. Probably doesn't make any difference at all but its not doing any harm.
A weird thing is I swapped my Smart fan to 55C rather then the 40C it was at previously it was at about 53C and 3300RPM idle but now its at 57C 2800RPM while running FUEL how did that happen?
I could put something funny here but I cant be arsed. Now GO AWAY! This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 16. August 2009 @ 15:11
|
AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
|
16. August 2009 @ 19:41 |
Link to this message
|
Haha the new AMD/ATi drivers kick ass. Lots of improvements for Crossfire performance. Noticeably so in Far Cry 2 and Crysis Warhead. ~20% faster framerates :D
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T 4GHz(20 x 200) 1.5v 3000NB 2000HT, Corsair Hydro H110 w/ 4 x 140mm 1500RPM fans Push/Pull, Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5, 8GB(2 x 4GB) G.Skill RipJaws DDR3-1600 @ 1600MHz CL9 1.55v, Gigabyte GTX760 OC 4GB(1170/1700), Corsair 750HX
Detailed PC Specs: http://my.afterdawn.com/estuansis/blog_entry.cfm/11388 |
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
|
16. August 2009 @ 19:43 |
Link to this message
|
It's meant to be only for AMD CPUs, but 20% extra performance I don't really see how, I'll have to have a look myself. My Windows 7 install is on its last legs now, so no harm in one more risky driver update eh?
Drivers haven't hit the EU servers yet :( - will do it tomorrow when they're updated.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 16. August 2009 @ 19:45
|
AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
|
16. August 2009 @ 19:48 |
Link to this message
|
Have you asked/searched questions on windows7forums. I've not heard of such a bad experience. Although, as of late, I have had certain ethernet bugs. Weird kind of bugs. And I believe it to be driver related.
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! |
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
|
16. August 2009 @ 19:50 |
Link to this message
|
To be honest, the sound drivers are wrecked because Creative caught me using illegal ones and disabled them. The network is just a horrific bug with both Vista and 7 that doesn't seem due for fixing any time soon. Catalyst 9.7 is pretty damn dire for performance too, but I did wonder if a fresh reinstall would help there.
|
AfterDawn Addict
|
16. August 2009 @ 20:04 |
Link to this message
|
MGR (Micro Gaming Rig) .|. Intel Q6600 @ 3.45GHz .|. Asus P35 P5K-E/WiFi .|. 4GB 1066MHz Geil Black Dragon RAM .|. Samsung F60 SSD .|. Corsair H50-1 Cooler .|. Sapphire 4870 512MB .|. Lian Li PC-A70B .|. Be Queit P7 Dark Power Pro 850W PSU .|. 24" 1920x1200 DGM (MVA Panel) .|. 24" 1920x1080 Dell (TN Panel) .|.
|
|
harvrdguy
Senior Member
|
16. August 2009 @ 20:04 |
Link to this message
|
Keith, beautiful picture of the K9A2 Platinum board with four 4890s.
[reprinted without permission from keith]
............
No question, cooling would be a challenge - you're talking about getting rid of 800 watts of heat. But even the reference coolers are turbines blowing out the back. As Sam says, give it enough intake fresh air through some good side fans, and you're in business. My philosophy is you want positive internal case pressure at all times, top compartment and bottom, so as not to draw dust inside the case from all those turbines. It would be noisy - but that's where aftermarket coolers come in.
Originally posted by Sam:
Obviously paper specs don't tell the whole story, but if they're even close to the truth the HD5870 solo could give the HD4870X2 a run for its money.
So with three of those, Sam, you're talking like 6 4870s.
Whew!! Could we rape crysis with the right Catalyst? For me with i7 do you still like the DFI Lanparty H8 for that with three hot 16x slots 2, 4 and 6? Or, if Catalyst, like for 9.8, is starting to favor the Phenom, maybe it makes sense to go in that direction instead of i7 - speaking strictly gaming.
Hey Jeff, with your Phenom II, you sound pretty jazzed about the Crysis improvements. When are you switching to 9.8 so you can tell us if it really works?
Rich
|
AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
|
16. August 2009 @ 20:07 |
Link to this message
|
Haha sounds like you're letting it get out of hand XD
Yeah you probably need the reformat then. Maybe a mix of Windows problems and just plain messed drivers? Never had a single problem with Creative except that Vista still doesn't properly support surround. 7 does though I'm not sure what the difference is between the two. Don't they use the same universal software buffer sound architecture? Ah yeah forgot to mention I scored some Logitech X-530s like a month ago now :P
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T 4GHz(20 x 200) 1.5v 3000NB 2000HT, Corsair Hydro H110 w/ 4 x 140mm 1500RPM fans Push/Pull, Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5, 8GB(2 x 4GB) G.Skill RipJaws DDR3-1600 @ 1600MHz CL9 1.55v, Gigabyte GTX760 OC 4GB(1170/1700), Corsair 750HX
Detailed PC Specs: http://my.afterdawn.com/estuansis/blog_entry.cfm/11388
|
AfterDawn Addict
|
16. August 2009 @ 20:09 |
Link to this message
|
Originally posted by harvrdguy:
Hey Jeff, with your Phenom II, you sound pretty jizzed about the Crysis improvements. When are you switching to 9.8 so you can tell us if it really works?
Rich
;)
MGR (Micro Gaming Rig) .|. Intel Q6600 @ 3.45GHz .|. Asus P35 P5K-E/WiFi .|. 4GB 1066MHz Geil Black Dragon RAM .|. Samsung F60 SSD .|. Corsair H50-1 Cooler .|. Sapphire 4870 512MB .|. Lian Li PC-A70B .|. Be Queit P7 Dark Power Pro 850W PSU .|. 24" 1920x1200 DGM (MVA Panel) .|. 24" 1920x1080 Dell (TN Panel) .|.
|
|
harvrdguy
Senior Member
|
16. August 2009 @ 20:25 |
Link to this message
|
|
What the hell, I didn't say "jizzed" lol, I said "jazzed."
You're trying to get the boot again, hahahaha.
|
AfterDawn Addict
|
16. August 2009 @ 20:30 |
Link to this message
|
|
i corrected your mistake :P
MGR (Micro Gaming Rig) .|. Intel Q6600 @ 3.45GHz .|. Asus P35 P5K-E/WiFi .|. 4GB 1066MHz Geil Black Dragon RAM .|. Samsung F60 SSD .|. Corsair H50-1 Cooler .|. Sapphire 4870 512MB .|. Lian Li PC-A70B .|. Be Queit P7 Dark Power Pro 850W PSU .|. 24" 1920x1200 DGM (MVA Panel) .|. 24" 1920x1080 Dell (TN Panel) .|.
|
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
|
16. August 2009 @ 20:31 |
Link to this message
|
it's not quite as much as 800 watts, but certainly a lot. The fact that you're limited to 8x bandwidth for quad cards is a downer.
I was considering three 5870s but after finding out you can't use three 16x bandwidth cards without an nf200 chip, I've decided two will have to suffice.
I am still #1ing the Biostar Tpower X58 board for i7.
Even for games, the i7 is still a better option if you're an overclocker, and let's face it, you're trying to overclock a p4 on a non-overclocking board, that's hardcore!
|
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
|
16. August 2009 @ 20:36 |
Link to this message
|
Got Warhead up to about 15fps in places at 2560x160 Enthusiast with 4xAA. Trouble is, since most of the game runs off the HDD, my disk just can't keep up with the transfer rates the game needs (150MB/s +) to run with the settings maxed out like that. If I eventually get an 80GB SSD I'll try putting Warhead on it and see how it goes.
The night intro to the original Crysis was better, around 25-35fps at max 4x AA. However, the HDD still can't keep up. Once nomad's chute failed, the game paused for around 45 seconds to load the next sequence. When he hit the water, it was about another 2 minute wait for the game to load the data. 75MB/s just isn't enough - to be frank, the only thing that can really run Crysis maxed out is a hardware RAID5 array.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 16. August 2009 @ 20:49
|
|
harvrdguy
Senior Member
|
16. August 2009 @ 23:19 |
Link to this message
|
Originally posted by Sam:
When he hit the water, it was about another 2 minute wait for the game to load the data. 75MB/s just isn't enough - to be frank, the only thing that can really run Crysis maxed out is a hardware RAID5 array.
Very interesting. So are you saying the 9.8 catalyst worked on your quad cf rig, just leaving you with a HDD transfer rate bottleneck? What game setting were you using - very high at 2560x1600 with 4xAA?
So back to Raid 5, what kind of transfer speeds can you get? Do you need 10k drives, or will 7200 work?
I have two Seagate 7200 rpm disks already for future sata - the smallest is 640, the new one is 750. I should pick up a couple more 750s - or wait until prices drop some more, and maybe get three more 750s. You need four disks, right? And you can lose one of the disks and not lose your data? Writing is slow (but for gaming who cares?) Do you need a special Raid card, or would a motherboard like the DFI H8 have Raid 5 built in - I think it does, right?
Originally posted by Sam:
Even for games, the i7 is still a better option if you're an overclocker, and let's face it, you're trying to overclock a p4 on a non-overclocking board, that's hardcore!
Hahahaha. Yes, hardcore Rich. LOL But for sure I'll be cranking up the d0 920 to 4ghz if I get the DFI.
The Biostar looks really nice, beautiful cooling!
It offers hot 16x slots 1 and 4 - the same kind of spacing the DFI gives on slots 2 and 6. But if you run three boards, you're getting 16x 16x and 4x, whereas on the DFI adding a board at slot 4, you're getting all three boards at 16x due to that extra chipset which supports 48 lanes.
As I say, the Biostar looks beautiful - why is it your number one i7 pick?
|
AfterDawn Addict
|
16. August 2009 @ 23:35 |
Link to this message
|
|
i dont think gamign at 2560 is worth the sh!t you put up with sam not to mention the money
MGR (Micro Gaming Rig) .|. Intel Q6600 @ 3.45GHz .|. Asus P35 P5K-E/WiFi .|. 4GB 1066MHz Geil Black Dragon RAM .|. Samsung F60 SSD .|. Corsair H50-1 Cooler .|. Sapphire 4870 512MB .|. Lian Li PC-A70B .|. Be Queit P7 Dark Power Pro 850W PSU .|. 24" 1920x1200 DGM (MVA Panel) .|. 24" 1920x1080 Dell (TN Panel) .|.
|
|
harvrdguy
Senior Member
|
17. August 2009 @ 00:16 |
Link to this message
|
Oh Shaff, you only say that ..... because it's true, lol.
Think IMMERSIVE. I repeat, Think IMMERSIVE.
I tried to find the trailer window to reduce the breeze which was a bit cool, and in the No Mercy final chapter safehouse, after we had all been killed again, I looked all around and couldn't find the goddamm window, lol! (Immersive plus I'm losing sleep and brain cells, haha.)
Sam is gorging on pixels.
He constantly faces challenges to run his stuff full-on.
Hey guys, Shaff, Sam, and all - in terms of the new challenge of transfer rates, and latency, I came across the Western Digital VelociRaptors. Man, they are pricey little suckers - 10,000 rpm, 2.5" in ice-packs to fit a 3.5" bay, 3ms nominal latency, compared to 4.16 latency on the seagates, and $220 price tag.
I guess I could put two of these on Raid 0, giving me 600gigs, and then clone backup to one of the seagate satas from time to time, in case I lose a veloci-raptor. I read somebody talking about what kind of Raid controller you have, and whether it is a one lane pci-e controller, which will be limited to 256mb/sec transfer speed. I think the DFI provides an on-chip Raid controller for two Raid devices - I'll have to go back and read the hardware cannucks review.
Sam you said Raid 5, 4 disks with redundancy, but Raid 0 with two striped disks to hold the cost down is just as fast, am I correct? I'm speaking strictly for gaming reads.
|
AfterDawn Addict
|
17. August 2009 @ 00:21 |
Link to this message
|
|
id say take the 600 to upgrade ur mobo/cpu/ram/gpu
MGR (Micro Gaming Rig) .|. Intel Q6600 @ 3.45GHz .|. Asus P35 P5K-E/WiFi .|. 4GB 1066MHz Geil Black Dragon RAM .|. Samsung F60 SSD .|. Corsair H50-1 Cooler .|. Sapphire 4870 512MB .|. Lian Li PC-A70B .|. Be Queit P7 Dark Power Pro 850W PSU .|. 24" 1920x1200 DGM (MVA Panel) .|. 24" 1920x1080 Dell (TN Panel) .|.
|
|
harvrdguy
Senior Member
|
17. August 2009 @ 01:13 |
Link to this message
|
Oh, sorry Shaff, I wasn't talking about my p4. I'm strictly speaking new build.
The p4 went back to a 160gig ide drive (and I have another 500 ide hard drive available) so I could mess around with a tiny 5% overclock on the p4 which however causes me to lose my sata controller.
But the new build is another story. I expect to invest at least $2,000 or more, beyond what I already have in terms of $200 case and two sata 640 and 750 gig drives. Actually I might get rid of that case and pick up a Lian-li, because I like the way the front compartment opens and allows you to remove the fan filters from the three front fans. Plus the all-aluminum will be a lot easier to mod and make cuts in than the steel that I have been trying to work with on my present case, for adding additional fans. The Lian-li, last time I looked, was around $400.
I have the same 30" dell as Sam that I picked up early this year, and I want to run Crysis at high quality, 4M pixels per frame. So if the velociraptors, at $220 each = $440, can be set up in Raid 0, for fast read throughput, since Sam says you need at least 150 Mb/sec to run crysis at decent settings, then that's what I'm looking at - next year's new build.
There is no redundancy with Raid 0, but I have two sata drives that each are bigger than the 600mb Raid 0, so I could clone the Raid to one of those from time to time for backup.
Rich
|
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
|
17. August 2009 @ 07:55 |
Link to this message
|
Rich: As far as I can see. Of course, the frame rates I got aren't remotely playable beyond the initial area of Crysis, as Warhead proves (13-15fps versus the 30 from the intro scene of Crysis - remember, Warhead is rather like the second half of Crysis in that regard). For the final boss levels to be playable, the fps at the intro needs to be around 60-75. That would leave you enough performance for the game to stay above 15fps when the penultimate monster fires its laser (the most demanding part of Crysis) - Having never found a suitable balance for Warhead, I've not played it through to the end yet. I imagine I still won't until I'm running at least two DX11 GPUs and probably an SSD to boot, maybe more than 4GB of RAM as well ideally.
RAID5 will work with any drives, SSDs, and mechanical drives anywhere from 3600 to 20,000rpm. 7200 is of course the most popular as it is not prohibitively expensive. The downside is that RAID is yet another demand on your system's CPU in software. The performance benefits overall are astronomical if you upgrade to a genuine hardware RAID controller, in effect a miniature PC on a PCI express card. Large RAID5 or better yet RAID6 arrays can produce excellent read speeds (over 400MB/s) and while they suffer a little for write speeds, they're no slouch there either. RAID6 also adds the benefit of offering redundancy. The kicker of course, is that they eat PCI express bandwidth - something that if you're a dual graphics user, will hurt.
On the basis of the reliability of the current Seagates, you'd probably be better off getting Samsungs or WDs for your future disks - Me mentioning RAID was rather speculative, I can't really use it in my main system (though I eventually plan it to be part of my file server). If all you need is extra space, buy a WD15EADS, there's 1500GB of storage in one cheap, quiet and trouble-free drive.
I don't recall any of the DFI boards offering triple 16x bandwidth - am I wrong?
Shaff: On what grounds? EVERY problem, literally every single problem I have had at 2560x1600 since getting a single HD4870X2 has not been curable by cutting the res to 1920x1200, or even 1680x1050. The resolution just simply isn't an issue. Games that don't run at that res run so badly they won't work well at a lower resolution either. Games that have bugged driver support also aren't going to be helped by a lower res. Seriously, I used to check on a regular basis what effect cutting the resolution had, and since I ousted my HD3870, never once has it yielded any significant benefits.
Rich: The Velociraptors are awesome drives, a sort of 'halfway' between SSDs and normal HDDs. They offer more space per GB than SSDs (1.4-1.9 GB per £ versus 0.45GB per £ for the new Intels) but far less than regular HDDs (16GB per £ for the WD15EADS), and offer considerably higher performance than the old raptors, but again fall shortof the SSD. The difference comes in the fact that SSDs use a tenth of the power, and produce no noise or heat at all...
Avoid RAID0 at all costs, it might seem a good idea at the time, but it has no effect on loading times, and is downright risky.
I think going for a top end Lian Li for your new build is a great idea. I'd be a little concerned about cooling performance if you go with more than 2 GPUs, you may need to get more powerful fans than the stock ons, but apart from that, they're great cases.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 17. August 2009 @ 07:56
|
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
|
17. August 2009 @ 10:07 |
Link to this message
|
|
We're getting somewhere at last. I'm certainly seeing the evidence of the improved Quad CF performance (supposedly as much as 70%) in Warhead. The disk loading issues are still there, but the overall frame rate outside the disk lag is 45-70fps, 1680x1050 all enthusiast, 4xAA. Who knows, with 4 DX11 GPUs, maybe 1920x1200 will be playable :P
|
Member
|
17. August 2009 @ 12:58 |
Link to this message
|
What's with 9.8 not actually being available on the ATI site...
I win the tiniest OC competition mines 4% as opposed to Rich's 5%. Talking of Rich, any reason you downloaded and re-uploaded my image to your Imageshack, what was wrong with copying the url? I ought to sue your ass (even though Imageshack probably own it now).
I'm now concerned as to how well I can run Crysis or can I simply turn the settings down a bit (I'm blind enough to hardly notice whether AA's on anyway).
Enter sig 2.1
I could put something funny here but I cant be arsed. Now GO AWAY!
|
|
Advertisement
|
|
|
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
|
17. August 2009 @ 14:24 |
Link to this message
|
I think catalyst drivers get released internally for final testing before release, usually they get leaked to websites during this period. ATI only release them to the public once they're happy with them.
I don't know whether you were serious or not about the image, but without any form of copyright applied on it, it's not yours to own legally anyway.
Crysis on high shouldn't be too bad, but a more powerful CPU would be advisable.
|
|
