|
|
|
The Official Graphics Card and PC gaming Thread
|
|
AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
|
11. September 2009 @ 11:20 |
Link to this message
|
Sam you really must look up the ini tweaks for Crysis. You can turn streaming textures off plus move physics to your third or fourth core and a few other tweaks you might like. Believe me they really help. I average over 40 with essentially all very high settings on DX9.
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/11388This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 11. September 2009 @ 11:25
|
|
Advertisement
|
 |
|
|
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
|
11. September 2009 @ 11:26 |
Link to this message
|
I didn't realise the ini tweaks disabled sequential loading. I would consider that, but really, I want more RAM if I'm going to do that.
|
AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
|
11. September 2009 @ 11:28 |
Link to this message
|
|
Well it couldn't hurt to try it. Test a few of the ini tweaks. There's quite a bit to be done for performance with basically no impact on visual quality.
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
|
12. September 2009 @ 22:01 |
Link to this message
|
|
Right, probably the last you'll hear from me for a week - I'm off for a summer holiday, a little late, but it's quieter at this time of year anyway :P
Back Monday 21st - will no doubt have a lot of reading to do!
|
Member
|
13. September 2009 @ 10:10 |
Link to this message
|
Originally posted by sammorris on the Soprano that I'm now using:
It's very poorly made, poorly designed and poorly cooled...
Amen to that!!!
My mate had already broken the side panel lock, the power/HDD LED connectors and scratched it pretty much everywhere twice.
The front is loose, the *top* USB cover is made of a slightly lower quality plastic then the stuff that is used in chocolate boxes, the front door is only slightly stronger then the catch, the 2.5" drive holders are 2.4" wide, the 3.5" drive holders are 3.6" wide so you needlessly need a special caddy and you cannot mount graphics cards because the approach angle is blocked due to the screwless catches meaning you need to remove and reinsert 4 screws to do what on my old not-screwless case was a 2 screw job,
It is *slightly* cooler then my Dabs case was with a 120mm in the back and an 80mm in the side and that's probably because the Soprano has a really LOUD 92mm in the side.
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 13. September 2009 @ 11:28
|
|
harvrdguy
Senior Member
|
15. September 2009 @ 01:07 |
Link to this message
|
Originally posted by sam:
As for GTA4, I'm frankly astounded the PC version even plays on your hardware, I assume you must be very forgiving with lag to have stuck with it this far. GTA4 in itself is an excellent game, I can see that much though I haven't played a great deal of it myself yet.
Hahahaha. I KNEW you would be surprised - and yes, you are right. I must be the most forgiving SOB on the planet regarding lag.
GRAND THEFT AUTO 4 IS A GIANT KICK!
Interestingly, the game is mostly a driving game (which can be boring at times) interspersed with killing people, or playing darts, or getting lap dances, or picking up chicks. Plus lots of cut scenes. It is surprising, but the lag doesn't factor in that badly on driving around town, even in running from the cops. It factors in when walking around, or in a gun fight. I have to be patient when holding down the right-click targeting system, and laggingly getting the crosshairs over the guy's head, or if I'm chasing him, dropping down in a crouch and targeting his back to hopefully drop him.
The lag IS bad, no question. Ok, I know you're wondering. I'm getting about 10 fps. LOL. Here's the thing - they have the textures dropped down to "low" and it is grayed out - I can't change it. Perhaps when I double my RAM memory in a couple weeks (I won't let myself do that or install the faster processor until I first finish my late taxes) maybe I can see some better textures. But I am running the game at 2560x1600!
Now I know you're really gonna think I'm nuts. But I tried it first at reduced settings, of course, and at most it I get 1-2 more fps. There is not that much difference between lag at 12 fps and lag at 10 fps.
But the game is very noticeably "prettier" at full native resolution. It really looks nice - and even though textures are on low - certain things like people's faces and neon signs, and other things that you focus on more, are quite crisp. So the "low texture" setting is selective, with high textures thrown in to keep the graphics still looking quite nice. For example, the street texture is very bland, but that doesn't seem to take away from the game that much.
Draw distance is silly - whole blocks disappear unless I get near - but I don't mind. I am surprised it will even run. At lower resolutions my graphics card was running about 40%, now it's about 70%, but the cpu is maxed out, as you had indicated it would be.
Why do I like it? For all the reasons it got such great reviews, according to wiki. I have played some racing games (you could consider this one mostly a racing game I suppose) and I have played some car games with running over people as standard fare - going all the way back to Carmageddon.
Originally posted by Rich explaining that "terrible" classic:
Carmageddon was a Windows SE game, where the demo was actually better than the game. The reason for that was that on the demo all the little pedestrian girls were very cute with extremely short skirts (which they replaced with long skirts for the actual game - I suppose they got some complaints) and you racked up major points for all the pedestrian kills. Plus you could do crazy stunts - driving up stairs - flying off the roof of a building onto another roof. It was a lark!
Anyway, some of what makes a racing game fun (you guys would know better than I do - I haven't played DIRT or GRID or the other games you guys have discussed) is a realistic environment - and the mock New York that Rockstar has put together boggles my mind. It has so much detail, and feels so authentic driving around - even though as I say, they have to tailor the draw distance for my weak rig.
When I am out on the street walking around, and I look at the faces (much better at full 2560x1600 than anything under that) while they are still somewhat cartoonish - they are very interesting and in my opinion well done. The hot dog cart guy "Take a bite of my Big Chihuahua dog." "Put my dog in your mouth." .... and lots of other thinly disguised fellatio references ... has a very authentic - probably Polish - visage. And the game is filled with weird satire - on the radio shows - and lots of sexual references of course. For example, I'm beating Ramon or Little Jacob at darts, and you can't turn around to watch although I would like to, and one customer says to the cute barmaid, "Are you Irish?" And the barmaid says "I'm sorry, I don't want to have sex with - what you say - Stranger?"
It's just a crackup. Those barmaids are cute. The one who says "You look famous!" no longer adds the insult "Eat up fatso!" She's nicer now, saying "Binge away" or something to that effect. Her eyes follow you as you walk around the restaurant.
The Russian is very interesting - the street conversations - the signage - the music. I took 1 1/2 years of uni Russian. I recognize some of the things they are saying (not much) even in the songs, like "ti lyooblyoo" which means "I love you." I can somewhat read the Cyrillic - for example on the Russian clothing store it says "Produsha" which I guess means "products."
As far as the game starting to get boring, by reading the wiki it got a lot more fun. I have picked up a couple of hookers and driven them around town. They don't always get in - usually they run off. It has to be the right car, or the way you drive up, or something. They are very picky. The game says "press E to give her a ride" when the girl occasionally actually starts to approach the car, after you honk the horn.
But once she's in, then it's fun to pan around the front and see her sitting next to Niko, and you feel like you have company. Lol. I had wondered if the type of driving would have an effect. For example, one time with Michelle, in the pouring rain, I pulled over and stole a motorcycle. She jumped right on the back like nothing happened, haha. But anyway, even when not raining, sometimes the cars are hard to handle and I get lazy and fatigued and start hitting stuff.
One girl was so pissed off at the awful way I drove, that when we pulled into Ramon's garage, she got out and yelled at me "I should bitch slap you for that!! Did that make you feel like a man!"
Hahahaha. That was so cool!!
The weather is awesome - the pouring rain!! It gets really hard to handle a car especially if you're chased by the cops. I now keep a convertible sports car in the safe house parking, along with a motorcycle. The sports car handles the best of all the vehicles - and it goes silly fast - you are f**king flying on the expressway!! I couldn't believe it - had to be 120 or so! Fortunately it brakes pretty well. Some of those cars handle so badly that I have had multiple multiple crashes trying to escape from cops, beating up the cars so badly I had to jump out and jack another one - usually I escape though.
I have never lived back East, but a close relative lived in Manhattan for four years and I visited several times. From what I read on Wiki, the game is pretty authentic regarding streets and locale.
And also per the wiki, stealing cop cars turned out to make the game much more fun. It's fun to drive with the siren on - everybody gets out of your way on the expressway, except for "another" cop. Haha.
I found a good local police station where 3 squad cars are always parked out front - I know just where it is on the map and I can fix the locator and drive right to it now. Also there is one parked two blocks from the safe house. There may be some cops on the sidewalk who get annoyed when you break the glass and hotwire their patrol car, but since they are on foot, the wanted circle disappears pretty quickly by the time I make the right turn at the Expressway and jet down the road for a mile. The veteran black cop standing outside at the other precinct usually turns around and I can kind of hear him saying "What is this?" when I break the glass, but usually if I drive away and go park, before I get into the police computer, he doesn't even bother to trigger the alarm. That's a convenient location also for the hot dog stand across the street where I can recover my health if I got shot a lot on the last vigilancy run. LOL
Chasing down the criminals, I actually wiped out all the Most Wanted Criminals in the City, haha. I'm a one-man Dirty Harry. But there will always be "current crimes" to keep me busy. I tried a few of those at first. On those, you get targeted by both the criminals and the cops, which sometimes happened with the "most wanted" but not so much.
Anyway, the fact that the game runs at all on my rig, even at 10fps, but at full resolution, impressed me. And believe me, I can drive all over town, and you don't feel the lagginess that much while driving, it seems. Before I got shot to death, I went to the airport and chased down a 747 taking off, driving under the wing. I plan to do that again with a Big Rig truck that they keep parked at a gas station on the way to that upper section with the strip club. This time I want to see if I can actually crash a plane and kill hundreds, before the Swat teams spoil my fun, haha.
Hey Kevin, if you have only played for a few hours - how did you get the helicopter? I guess there is a place at the airport where you can steal one?? I suppose the answer must be yes - I thought it would just come in a later "mission" of the game. I'll have to fly one!
Also, Kevin, regarding the "forbidden areas" I tried to get over there one time also. I had a little car and I squeezed through between the concrete barricades and pushed a cop car out of the way, on the bridge to Chinatown. I managed to evade the police for about 5 minutes at a shopping center - but there was no way of outrunning them - every cop walking around had my mug shot I guess! It's interesting that even though you aren't allowed to go there, the map is still populated and filled with stores and restaurants, etc. when you do.
I will say, that at the very beginning, when I tried playing it, I couldn't even see the street - the car was in a sort of fog where the outline of the street model was there - I wondered how I was going to be able to drive home from the airport. I thought it would be absolutely unplayable. But then it cleared up. Occasionally that still happens, and I have to reload the game. I think it has to get Windows Live out of memory, and give that back to the textures. But for the most part, once I have been playing for a while, everything is there, but as I say, with limited draw distance in regard to the city skyline. For the most part they have actually done it pretty well, similar to Left 4 Dead when I don't see a fire extinguisher on a wall until I get close - or I might see one of the crooks I'm planning to kill with a red chevron above his head and as I get closer it fills in and he's behind a fence.
When I finally get the new rig, it will be interesting to try the game again - but I might be bored of it by then. But I don't want to ruin a very special game like Crysis by playing it now with severely reduced settings.
CRYSIS FOR THE NEW RIG
By the way, speaking of Crysis, thanks for explaining the "sequential loading."
Originally posted by Sam:
The difference that makes Crysis so special and why it will benefit tenfold from an SSD is sequential loading - not a common feature in games, but something Crysis uses. Since it would use 10-15GB to run the whole level scenes, what Crysis does is only load what you need to see for one particular scene, when you start moving, the game effectively streams all the new incoming textures off the hard disk. This has dramatic impacts on performance, especially if you have a slow (or worse, full/fragmented) hard drive. Since the main aim here is random read performance to minimise lag, the SSDs are truly ideal for this purpose. Crysis therefore, is one of the few games I will be installing to my SSD when I buy it.
That was a terrific explanation - I had no idea.
I note that Jeff is saying there are some ini tweaks that can turn that off - but of course then I assume the game would have to stop from time to time to load those textures - I see what you mean when you say you would want to have lots of memory so that wouldn't happen. The DFI board only supports 12 gigs of memory - the Biostar supports 24. You said that 6 gigs would work better with Windows 7, but wouldn't be enough for Vista, so I suppose 12 would make more sense. But then you said that using Windows 7 would obviate the need for Vista. So I guess it will be Windows 7. But anyway, if the SSD essentially can handle that type of streaming fairly seamlessly, then that's the tradeoff - SSD versus a lot more memory.
(And for Crysis, the 12 gig limit on the DFI wouldn't work for a whole level load, with 10-15 gigs as you say for everything, plus the game itself, and the operating system - what does 24 gigs of DDR3 cost - a small fortune?)
So you're saying that with Windows 7, no point in Vista. Great! Then if I get a 160gig SSD, at about $450, for Windows 7, that's plenty of space, assuming - what did you say? - 35 gigs for the OS? - to install several games that also do sequential loading. I could test a game I was unsure of - regarding sequential loading - to see the performance difference between being on the SSD, or being on a regular drive.
Keith, your computer case review was great:
Originally posted by jonathon:
The front is loose, the *top* USB cover is made of a slightly lower quality plastic then the stuff that is used in chocolate boxes
Hahahahaha!
Rich
|
AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
|
15. September 2009 @ 01:26 |
Link to this message
|
|
Actually, to get the annihilator (Helicopter), I dialed a phone number CHEAT. If you use cheats though...DON'T save it when done playing. It'll cause problems with multiple future missions. It does warn you :) You can find the cheats on multiple sites :D
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! |
Member
|
15. September 2009 @ 15:42 |
Link to this message
|
Originally posted by Rich:
Originally posted by jonathon:
You know every-time you do that a tiny piece of my soul dies. And for the record it *was* spelt like nathan with jo at the beginning (see how I came to despise it??).
Damn I just quoted myself calling myself jonathon thus causing a massive paradox and destroying everything except everything humans know to exist :P
:-) My legend 3.32GHz OC has returned.
I could put something funny here but I cant be arsed. Now GO AWAY!
|
|
harvrdguy
Senior Member
|
15. September 2009 @ 22:23 |
Link to this message
|
Originally posted by Keith:
You know every-time you do that a tiny piece of my soul dies. And for the record it *was* spelt like nathan with jo at the beginning (see how I came to despise it??).
Hmmm. I never thought of that. "Jo Nathan." Two names in one. Not a thing wrong with that - not that I can think of.
In fact Nathan Hale was a particularly proud American Patriot.
And you have the God-given right as a red blooded American to be called anything you want. And Keith is a fine name too. And you're British. Well, isn't being British just another form of being an American?
Now, please help me, all you red-blooded Americans, like Shaff and Sam (on vacation) and Shokz (from down under) figure out how to get a helicopter.
Kevin, for crying out loud, don't tease me. What is the goddamm helicopter phone number? Is it a big secret? (I won't do a game save I promise.)
Rich
|
AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
|
16. September 2009 @ 00:40 |
Link to this message
|
|
Rich,
The annihilator HELICOPTER code is: 359-555-0100. You'll notice, that most if not all of the codes have the 555 code in the center. VERY handy LOL! Easy to remember. A lot of them end in 0100 and 0150 as well. :)
By the way, you have to have the second phone or better for cheats. You should have it by now.
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 16. September 2009 @ 00:41
|
Member
|
16. September 2009 @ 10:29 |
Link to this message
|
Originally posted by harvrdguy:
Hmmm. I never thought of that. "Jo Nathan." Two names in one. Not a thing wrong with that - not that I can think of.
In fact Nathan Hale was a particularly proud American Patriot.
And you have the God-given right as a red blooded American to be called anything you want. And Keith is a fine name too. And you're British. Well, isn't being British just another form of being an American?
The problem was I had to explain this every-time and in the same way as you have people would go hmm interesting...
Ahhh patriots America way of hiding the fact they have about 4 actual historic characters. :P
As an atheist I have the science-given right. :P
On a lighter note I'm off for a cup of tea and a game of cricket. ;)
I'm sooooooooo going to have to get round to buying GTA IV :-)
I could put something funny here but I cant be arsed. Now GO AWAY!
|
AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
|
19. September 2009 @ 01:53 |
Link to this message
|
|
Finally got Red Faction Guerrilla and having an absolute blast! The gameplay is a bit repetitive and the performance is questionable but it is a damn fun game. Expect a review in the next week.
Boy oh boy am I glad I went quad core. This is another game that practically NEEDS it. At least 3 of my cores pegged at 80% most of the time. The physics make everything before it look sick.
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
|
21. September 2009 @ 07:58 |
Link to this message
|
Wow, a week away and this thread isn't as bad as I thought, only one Rich-essay and only half a page of replies.
Rich: Your performance in GTA4 doesn't surprise me at all - the main limit of the game is the CPU, not the graphics, and your P4 is so slow, even the HD3850 will be able to keep up, 2560x1600 included. The game options are forced to minimum as you don't have enough graphics memory, or so the game says. You can edit the config file to remove that restriction to experiment as you please - just be advised if you do genuinely not have enough texture memory on your card, random textures just won't appear and stuff will be see-through. GTA4 is one of the few cases where you can see a 4Ghz i7 and a solo HD4870 actually being worthy companions.
Most of the graphics details have little to no effect on graphics or performance, you'll soon find out which these are as they don't increase the 'used graphics memory' counter at all, or by very little.
The main things the game takes issue with are resolution (to a much lesser extent than it should), but primarily view distance and texture quality (which does make sense).
I don't have anything against GTA4 as a game, but I haven't played much of it yet due to the hardware silliness, so I won't really comment on subjects about the game itself.
Haha, I remember Carmageddon, I mainly played the second of the games - often enabling the cheats to get pinball mode and opponent repulsificator - didn't really care about playing the game seriously - that combination was utterly hilarious.
Quote:
It gets really hard to handle a car especially if you're chased by the cops.
That i would more attribute to your frame rate than any engine realism on the game's part. The driving dynamics are good for a GTA game, but play a proper driving game and your standards will be set somewhat higher.
I haven't actually seen 4GB triple channel modules for DDR3 yet, so as of yet, there is no way of getting 24GB RAM into a board, hence why a lot of boards don't support it.
Quote:
all you red-blooded Americans, like Shaff and Sam (on vacation)
Sorry what?
Jeff: Isn't "looking sick" meant to be a good thing? lol
|
AfterDawn Addict
|
21. September 2009 @ 09:35 |
Link to this message
|
|
yep, sick = awesum
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
15 product reviews
|
22. September 2009 @ 20:25 |
Link to this message
|
Quote:
Jeff: Isn't "looking sick" meant to be a good thing? lol
Haha welcome back from break. Yeah I dunno what kind of lingo you damn Brits use but in proper American sick means bad :P
Oh and I agree on everything you said about GTA4. I'm surprised Rich has found it playable at all. Even with an excessive tolerance for low framerates that must be grueling :S
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
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 22. September 2009 @ 20:28
|
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
|
22. September 2009 @ 20:31 |
Link to this message
|
|
For me, sick is generally bad, but I know a few people that use it as 'good'. Something you can easily tell with speech, but not so much with text :P
|
AfterDawn Addict
|
22. September 2009 @ 21:02 |
Link to this message
|
|
slang ftw. its liek how wicked is also awesum
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
|
22. September 2009 @ 21:08 |
Link to this message
|
Originally posted by shaffaaf:
slang ftw
I can just see the mods shaking their hads having read that...
|
AfterDawn Addict
|
22. September 2009 @ 23:28 |
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) .|.
|
AfterDawn Addict
|
22. September 2009 @ 23:45 |
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) .|.
|
AfterDawn Addict
|
23. September 2009 @ 00:19 |
Link to this message
|
guru3d have the firt review out!
let me show jsut ONE picture:
heres the link
http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-5870-review-test/1
LOL @ this:
Quote:
The Verdict
You know, whenever new hardware arrives that I'm really excited about I always try to find some sort of catchphrase or one-liner to capture the moment and position the product; and just when writing this conclusion, The Doors pops into my mind -- Riders on the Storm. One line in that songs says it all, "There's a killer on the road... His brain is squirmin' like a toad".
While that euphemism might be a little nasty, the reality is that the Radeon HD 5870 is dark, majestic and most definitely a killer. Brute force is what you'll receive with this product. We had a blast for sure testing this product. So as always we need to break things down. I'll try and keep this conclusion short, as really, there's nothing negative to report.
Performance -- Well it's grand really. Some titles like Fallout 3 I expected to see a little better scaling but the generic consensus is that the Radeon HD 5870 is MUCH faster than the current leading flagship, the GeForce GTX 285. In fact on occasion it's even faster here and there than a GeForce GTX 295. See this is not a measly small upgrade, no Sir. ATI doubled up everything on the Radeon HD 5870 making sure you will get a grand gaming experience. And oh my gawd, I just realized what a beast the 5870 X2 will be.
Anyway, the results speak for themselves, and the good news is... we used an early beta driver for testing. Why is that good news you ask? Well, overall performance will only get better with future driver updates. If history has taught us one lesson, that is it.
So we established that the Radeon HD 5870 performance is grand. What about its feature set then? Well, let's face it... that's brilliant as well. ATI is the first to launch a high performance product that is DirectX 11 ready. And while I so wish we already had some DX11 titles to test... it's good to know that if you buy this product, you'll be future proof, as when DX11 games kick in, you will be good and ready to go. Don't forget that DirectCompute will be integrated into Windows 7. Example: if you drop a video file in your iPOD it will be transcoded automatically over the GPU. Yes the GPU will merge much more into the operating system in the years to come. Something new and refreshing is happening here for sure.
Talking about transcoding, it surely didn't suck to see how fast the transcoding process was handled by the Radeon HD 5870, leading performance and nothing less.
Of course we have to mention Eyefinity - the capability to utilize more than two monitors is a very clever idea. And sure, 99% of you will never use that feature. But the 1% that does so, is the avid Guru3D visitor. You guys know we've reviewed the Matrox TripleHead2Go series where you need to drop 250 USD to get a fairly limited three screen display. The implementation of Eyefinity certainly is a blow to the face of Matrox and you guys get to have this feature nearly for free. I don't know about you guys, but I like features; a lot. As Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story would say, "To Eyefinity and beyond... ".
As you can see, I'm trying to keep my conclusion short and somewhat less complex for a change and while writing this line already realize that I will utterly fail at it.
Image quality - We haven't touched on this deeply in the actual review but we did do some comparisons behind the scenes here. Image quality in anti-aliasing is just top notch, yet more importantly, ATI has improved anisotropic filtering with the Radeon HD 5000 series. It's no longer angle dependant and is nearly perfect. So while ATI's image quality already was really excellent... they've upped it a small notch again as well.
What's the last point we need to discuss you might ask? Well, pricing of course (!)
Price/performance wise the product might be slightly higher priced at the 399 USD bracket, opposed to the 299 USD you needed to chuck on the table at the Radeon HD 4870 launch. But let's be honest here, 399 USD is a decent price for a very fair and honest product. Just look at what you are receiving, there are just so many features and so much value to be found in it. A DX11 class product with massive performance and multi-display desktop/gaming support. We feel that a high-end product of this class may cost 399 USD as it's really worth that kind of money.
Bottom line: we really like the Radeon HD 5870 for what it brings to the market. And that is leading Single-GPU performance, a massive feature set and a fair price. We ask you - what's not to like here?
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) .|.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 23. September 2009 @ 00:30
|
AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
|
23. September 2009 @ 00:43 |
Link to this message
|
|
Shaff, Extremely impressive posts. Im friggin drooling over here LOL! That Lucid motherboard sounds REALLY impressive. I may put off my next build til I know more about this new and improved gaming rig :D
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! |
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
|
23. September 2009 @ 09:45 |
Link to this message
|
You know what comes next - Sam's too-much-time-on-his-hands statistical analysis!
Crossfire 5870 results are up on some sites, so expect coverage of that too. This one looks interesting - REALLY intesresting.
|
|
harvrdguy
Senior Member
|
23. September 2009 @ 20:49 |
Link to this message
|
Originally posted by Kevin:
By the way, you have to have the second phone or better for cheats. You should have it by now.
Hahaha. There's always a catch. (Thanks for the phone number.) What do you mean, second phone?
I've been playing Company of Heroes finally. I am embarrassed to say that I got so frustrated with it I threw it away, and then after thinking about it for a day or so I bought it again for $6.88. I know what you're thinking: "Don't make rash decisions!" LOL
The chapter that I got frustrated on has become my favorite, and I can now easily beat it on expert. If you guys have played the game, it's the chapter about being in the countryside, and fortifying one stretch of road for the Red Ball Express, so the allied can capture the port at Cherbourg after the Normandy invasion. It takes about 3 or 4 hours. You have to have patience.
Originally posted by Rich on historical note about D-Day:
Historically, you guys might know this, but the D-Day invasion of Europe didn't try to target the port at Cherbourg because they knew it was too heavily defended with giant naval guns that would sink the ships. So they went right for the beaches at Utah and Omaha, etc., I think about 40 miles of beaches, towing along giant artificial harbors that they had build in England. They had terrible weather and delayed the invasion for one day to let the seas settle down, but it was still so bad that one of the artificial harbors was severely damaged. They eventually towed it over to one of the others to boost up the harbor activities. These were monstrous things that they secured with giant anchors, as I recall, and then attached long buoyant piers leading to the beaches. The artificial harbors allowed them to offload tanks and trucks etc. in much greater volume than the relatively few front-dropping ships they had that could get close enough to shore on high tide, and then beach, and offload the tanks etc on dry sand in low-tide. But the plan all along was to fortify the beach-head and eventually capture the real port at Cherbourg.
Anyway, to beat the level, the secret is building an impregnable base. That way you never have to look back and worry about "homeland security" when you eventually take two or three shermans and some engineers and a half track etc. out on the mission to capture most of the rest of the sectors and then destroy the Nazi tank-building center.
Building an impregnable base means tank traps. And after I saw the convoy trucks leave the road and bypass a group of MG nests at an intersection, I realized I could build the tank traps beyond the road for more protection to the base. So I put them way out there, just out of tank shot, and then I created one killing zone for the tanks to come in, and for my tanks to get out - right in front of a battery of three or four AT cannons (moveable anti-tank artillery).
It is fun to just sit there sometimes and watch those panzers come in and get blown to kingdom come - without me having to marshall a tank or lift a finger. Hahaha.
I'm on a new chapter, capturing Hill 192, that is frustrating me now - trying it on Hard (not expert) and being frustrated by not being allowed to build a sherman after losing all my tanks. So next week I'll try it again and not build any anti tank weapons or half-tracks or anything until I have my third tank. I think it's a game glitch, but whatever....
Then next week I won't stick my neck out any more until I send the little jeep out to see what lies ahead of me, so I won't stumble on an aggressive panzer who ignores my main tank and destroys my weak flame-throwing Crocodile anti-infantry bulldozer sherman again. And I won't spawn too many engineers until I get a couple of mortar teams - you have to have those mortar teams - it just makes it so much easier.
Anyway, I have to thank you, Sam, for encouraging me to get an RTS game after I have been strictly FPS all these years. It IS interesting, and it gives me a different way to look at things. It's not quite as personally gripping as fps (I just read one review that said that Company of Heroes comes close to the excitement of fps) but it is nice to get the commanding officer perspective. I guess it's the kind of strategizing the WWII captains and majors and colonels had to do to win battles, with the limited resources that were available to them.
Rich
|
|
Advertisement
|
|
|
AfterDawn Addict
|
23. September 2009 @ 21:04 |
Link to this message
|
|
personally im not liking the 5870. the 4870x2 is mostly better, sometimes not, for alot less, though itll be second hand.
the 5850 though shoudl be better and it should drop the GTX 285 price.
personally anyone with a high end card, no need to upgrade, realistically the cards otu now can pracitally play any game.
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) .|.
|
|
