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The Official Graphics Card and PC gaming Thread
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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13. January 2010 @ 20:29 |
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I'd buy one in a heartbeat if I had that to spend. You can laugh, but $700 is actually very reasonable for that card. It is a full three times as powerful as the GTX285, which costs around $400 on its own.
The HD5970 is very reasonably priced. It's just such a monster of a card that few can afford it - seemingly enough people can though, as they're always bought up when they appear (at least in the US, where the price hasn't been inflated due to excess demand). They can sometimes go for the equivalent of $1000+ over here. Consider that they overclock to be as powerful as two HD5870s, which are in the UK at least, $600 a piece.
If you're not much of a gamer, an 8800GT will probably do really, they're reasonable cards.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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13. January 2010 @ 20:46 |
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outside of COD i havent play anyother games on here. not that i wouldnt i just havent, or had the time really. the only reason like i said i wanta newer card is because of the hdmi ability.
ok explain to me what is so good about that card to be $700+ what makes it better than to me a even over priced $400 card??? i know them mem size and streaming process but i just dont get what the hype is. to me if i wanted ot play a game that bad i would play it on my sons PS3 on my 50in plasma the bluray is wonderful on there. and COD on his PS3 looks way better than on my puter(yea i know i only havea 7600gt) but still i just dont see why the GPU's are such a rave that they are.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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13. January 2010 @ 21:08 |
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COD's not a bad place to start. Which one? Started playing MW2 tonight. I said I wouldn't buy it out of hatred for activison ruining the PC games industry with abusive marketing, but hey, everyone else was playing it, and I found it (reasonably) cheap.
GPUs for PCs are primarily more powerful due to the resolutions involved. 1024x600 on a TV looks OK, but 1920x1200 or 2560x1600 on a PC monitor looks much, MUCH better. It's also about getting smooth performance. Consoles manage this reasonably well, but not perfectly. Call of Duty really isn't demanding enough to need a card like the HD5970, but there are plenty of games that are, sadly.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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13. January 2010 @ 21:45 |
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COD4 & MW2.
love them both.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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13. January 2010 @ 21:59 |
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yeah, was quite a big COD4 fan. Have yet to see if I like MW2 given all the stuff they took out...
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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13. January 2010 @ 22:34 |
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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13. January 2010 @ 22:43 |
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MW 2's SP Campaign was kickass. Multiplayer I can't comment.
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 |
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Red_Maw
Senior Member
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14. January 2010 @ 01:35 |
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Originally posted by cincyrob:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150460
just hit the buy button
LOL I thought you meant you just bought one.
I won't consider that card until it's at least 300$ cheaper (probably more) lol. It would be nice but that's just too much for me to spend....
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 14. January 2010 @ 01:36
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AfterDawn Addict
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14. January 2010 @ 03:29 |
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sam, where and how much, i have found it for just under £30. I have been playing mp on the ps3 since day 1 and i love it, but hate not using a mouse, so last week i pirated it for the mp on the pc and i love it. But the amount of hackers is unreal, and obviously due to lak of dedis, there are no admin to kick them, that and limited number of people in a map and not enough map time, due to low time fior a map or low kills/score target
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
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14. January 2010 @ 07:08 |
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£29.70 at Amazon. Cheap compared to the £39.99 Steam wanted. I didn't want to risk hacking the multiplayer since it could get me VAC banned.
Rob: An odd resolution, will reduce the picture quality of 1080p high def stuff due to uneven pixel count. You'd be better off with a 1920x1080 one.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 14. January 2010 @ 07:09
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AfterDawn Addict
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14. January 2010 @ 07:33 |
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mmm yep saw that aswell. might have to get it, cant stand these hackers.
OcUK have at 1:30, for forum members, a special on a 2TB HDD for £80. yeah its a seagate, but id just want it for backup so itd make no difference for me, was going to get a WD green, but for about the same price, might aswell go for this. IF i can get it, 50 pieces only.
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 14. January 2010 @ 07:34
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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14. January 2010 @ 08:02 |
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Well, cheap enough I guess, but if it were me, I'd buy it for the crazy cheap price, then sell it for a profit, then buy a drive I'd actually trust. That said, I'm still not 100% convinced by the 1.5TB WD Greens either. To be completely honest, I think the most convincing 1.5TB drive at the moment is the Samsung F2.
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AfterDawn Addict
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14. January 2010 @ 08:28 |
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lolwut?
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) .|.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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14. January 2010 @ 08:28 |
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Originally posted by sammorris:
Rob: An odd resolution, will reduce the picture quality of 1080p high def stuff due to uneven pixel count. You'd be better off with a 1920x1080 one.
i thought that was a odd resolution also. but im sure there are settings where i can set it to 1920x1080 i know my monitor now i can do that. running at 1440x900 now with a boat load of options to choose from. the price it shows now and what i paid for is is almost $100 more than what i paid. it shows $319 i paid $209 thats the main reason i got that one. i was looking at the 2410 model but it didnt have the high contrast ratio and it had a 6ms response time.and it was $199
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AfterDawn Addict
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14. January 2010 @ 08:42 |
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the whole ocuk site crashed at 13:29 and couldnt handle the laod of people refreshig/placing orders, i got to selecting the date and it jsut wouldnt load what so ever. looks like they are all gone now.
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) .|.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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14. January 2010 @ 09:51 |
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Yes you can of course set the monitor to 1920x1080 but because that's not a native resolution, it will look all blurry and weak. A native 1920x1080 monitor will display that resolution much better. Nothing uses 2048x1152 except the desktop.
6ms response time is absolutely fine (anything up to 12ms is fine, believe it or not) and contrast ratios are always fine these days. Most monitors, despite having 2000:1+ contrast ratios are "dynamic contrast", essentially a technical loophole that lets them lie about their specs. Most monitors will be 1000-1500:1 and no higher. I don't think you can buy a monitor from a decent brand these days and not get a good contrast ratio, so it's not worth considering when comparing choices.
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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14. January 2010 @ 13:15 |
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I'm actually wondering myself if a 30" (2560 x 1600Res) is worth 1000+ dollars to me. When I could span 2 40" Full HDTV's for less. Something i'm gonna have to consider when it comes time.
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! |
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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14. January 2010 @ 13:16 |
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The gaming picture quality of 30" monitors is streets ahead of what any TV can produce, and you'd need a lot of space to span two 40" TVs :P
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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14. January 2010 @ 13:25 |
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You think there's a pretty big difference eh. Perhaps i'll have to see one on display before I make the decision. I'm picky, but I don't know just how picky in this area yet. I sure would like a GOOD graphics editing monitor(S-IPS). One that doesn't change by MY viewing angle LOL!
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! |
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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14. January 2010 @ 13:31 |
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Member
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14. January 2010 @ 15:19 |
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That's my proper graphics card! :(
I could put something funny here but I cant be arsed. Now GO AWAY! |
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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14. January 2010 @ 15:20 |
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Not quite, this is the HD4830 version :)
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harvrdguy
Senior Member
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14. January 2010 @ 18:30 |
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Belated Happy Birthday Andmill.
Wow, Corsair 5 year warranty has full integrity. They got my dead PSU last Saturday, 1/9, (I have owned the unit for 14 months) and without posting any messages at all on my case (in fact their standard message said they were 5 days behind on processing rma's, so I didn't expect to be back in business for a couple weeks) surprisingly a BRAND NEW vx450 showed up on my doorstep today! I ran the self test immediately - which it passed - so I'll install it sometime in the next few days ready for gaming day next Wednesday.
Originally posted by Sam:
Let's not forget the wholly incredible overclocking performance of the HD5970. Whether that stands up well in a Crossfire config when the cards get quite warm hasn't been seen, but there are some very impressive results popping up - suffice to say, although the HD5970 is two HD5870s at HD5850 clock speeds, I've seen reviews getting them back to HD5870 clock speeds, sometimes above.
Yeah, certainly looks like crysis is now playable, 2560x1600, at the highest settings, but maybe without AA all the way through - or as you said Sam - maybe AA until last chapter. That's outstanding!
I bet when you crank them up to those kinds of overclocks, which as you say Sam are as much as 30% above stock, they pull a lot of power.
Even your 850 watt supply must be somewhat stressed Sam with your dual 4870x2 cards. The guy in this picture below with dual 4870x2 cards is recording peak system wattage draw of 915 watts - he's thinking his Corsair 1000 should be traded out for something beefier. He's running a 1366 DFI H8 with i7 920 at 4 ghz.
Notice that he's got a Raid controller card sandwiched between the 4870x2 cards.
Sam - what would be the effect on the 16x pci-e lanes of graphics card throughput he would normally get for each of his 4870x2 cards, by running that pci-e raid controller card? As I recall the DFI had 32 lanes available - but no more than that - not 36 lanes like the Biostar.
That was quite an interesting discussion about whether the 5970 is worth the $700 they want for it. When you take the cost of each 5870 card and double it - the value is there of course. Cincy made some good points - the plasma 50" at 1920x1080 is a very fine display.
But 2560x1600 on a 30" monitor, with over 4 million pixels per frame, is almost twice as demanding, which is where the need for these kinds of powerful gpus comes into play.
I would just like to add, Sam, to your excellent points in your discussion with cincy about the quality of the picture at higher resolutions, such as 2560x1600 on a 30" monitor, especially since Kevin is considering forking out $1000 for a 30" monitor (I paid close to that for mine, Kevin), that you can't beat the immersive quality of gaming like that.
I sit up very close to the 30" Dell. The other evening a roommate passed a note to me - he laid it right down next to the keyboard. He must have somewhat slammed the door of the trailer on the way out - because I felt a jar - and came out of my headphone zombie-killing fixation for a few seconds and saw the note. I never knew anybody had stepped inside right next to me.
I have talked about trying to close the trailer window to reduce the draft and looking all around the Left 4 Dead safe house for the window and wondering why I couldn't find it. I have talked about seeing the Russian soldier comrade - the girl - a GIRL soldier - for the first time in COD2, although I have played the game 3 times before on a smaller monitor.
I have talked about the incredible beauty of the parrots and the tropical foliage in Far Cry at highest settings 2560x1600, which I don't remember noticing before at 1600x1200 playing through many times before. The immersive quality of the big screen is amazing! I own Crysis and Warhead and Far Cry 2 and several others that are already installed - but I won't play them until I have the graphics power to run them at Enthusiast settings. You and Jeff hooked me on supreme graphics excellence, and you, Sam, hooked me on gorging on pixels.
Now with dual 5970s at less than $1500, the power is here - SELL A HOUSE, RICH!
LOL
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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14. January 2010 @ 18:37 |
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Corsair's warranty services have always got excellent reviews.
As stated, the HD5970 overclocks have a monumental impact on performance. Overclocking an HD5970 adds more power consumption than if you put a regular HD5870 next to it. You're looking at about a 60% increase to pull those clocks, which really does stress PSUs, you'd want a 1200W unit to run two 5970s at those clocks. Fortunately the HD5970 clocks amazingly well without needing to touch the voltages.
The guy below is running a similar system to me but for the fact that he has an i7 920 instead of the Q9550, which will draw anything from about 10W less (if it's stock) to 80W more, if it's heavily overclocked. However, if he thinks a draw of 915W is stressing a Kilowatt PSU, he obviously doesn't understand electronics very well. That 915W draw is a.c. input. Factor in the efficiency of the PSU and you're looking at around 800W d.c. draw tops, maybe 780-790. An 850W PSu would be stressed, but would be perfectly capable.
If he's running the RAID card in a PCIe 1x slot, it will have no effect on performance or bandwidth. If it's in a 16x slot, it will probably cut the bottom X2 to 8x bandwidth.
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AfterDawn Addict
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14. January 2010 @ 18:37 |
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iicr there are 4 lanes form the SB, which if he has it in the right slow, i think will use the SB's PCIes. if not then one of his 4870x2s will be runnign in 8xmode.
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) .|.
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