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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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5. March 2010 @ 04:43 |
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While I wouldn't say I procrastinated, I did put off my CPU upgrade for a long time because it was a lot of cost to try and justify, given that I already started with a slightly more powerful CPU than yours. However, even I considered the upgrade of substantial benefit as it has improved performance in games more than I was expecting, as a result of the huge overclocks the i5s can take. Needless to say, apart from the multi-GPU overheads being higher, I use such a powerful GPU setup because I like perfectly fluid gameplay, which the i5 does help out in a lot.
With my side case fans turned off, my top X2 idles at 86ºC at a fan speed of about 2400rpm. Turn the side fans to max, it idles around 75ºC with the fan speed at 1100rpm. The effect on temps is absurd. Also of note, with the fans on a very low speed (500rpm) the PCH gets up to 60ºC due to the heat of the X2s during games. Turn the side fans up and it drops to 34ºC.
The warped side panels is an issue simply due to the case's size. SECC is a very malleable material that bends easily, it is not meant for high quality construction at all. It is used because, apart from being cheap, it has good thermal conductive properties. Aluminium cases never have this issue at all.
Rolled edges is something I'm used to with the NZXT cases I've had, and while the painted SECC finish isn't as nice to the touch as powder-coated Aluminium, it still makes handling the case a lot easier.
For what it's worth, the left (motherboard tray side) side panel on my HAF is a 'compression fit'. As soon as the screws are removed, the panel bursts off onto the floor, due to the pressure of the cables behind it.
Glad you like the HAF, when it first came out I was rather apprehensive on it being a monument to excess. Now my PC's a monument to excess (don't blame me, blame the software devs!) the HAF is a very fitting enclosure. Retrofitting it with high-grade 120mm fans makes it a formidable enclosure for cooling and space. There are bigger cases out there (amazingly enough) but none as adept at cooling a system.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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5. March 2010 @ 04:44 |
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removed. Damn laggy refreshes
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 5. March 2010 @ 04:45
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AfterDawn Addict
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5. March 2010 @ 05:38 |
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i get the same fps as i do on cod4, as i do on bc2. Cod i was 1920x1200 4xAA 16xAF DX9, maxed out. Bc2 its 0x anything, dx9 1920 x1200 and lowest of the low settings. So do i spend £130 on a Q6600 + 4870 or save up for a car? Plus i doubt i will be able to oc the Q6600 beyond stock voltages in my case, so im looking at 3-3.2? And can my case hndle 2 4870s heat?
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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5. March 2010 @ 05:46 |
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If £130 is all you're looking at spending on PC hardware, it's barely a dent in the vast amount you'll need to save for a car and insurance. Unless you're desperate, wait until you're 21 before buying a car, to reduce the insurance cost.
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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5. March 2010 @ 16:39 |
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Quote:
For what it's worth, the left (motherboard tray side) side panel on my HAF is a 'compression fit'. As soon as the screws are removed, the panel bursts off onto the floor, due to the pressure of the cables behind it.
Haha I think that goes for anyone using the HAF. I just set up the cables so the pressure wouldn't damage anything :P
I might mention the sheer size. There's not enough room for me to get behind it so I have to pull it off the desk to take off the side panel.
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Glad you like the HAF, when it first came out I was rather apprehensive on it being a monument to excess. Now my PC's a monument to excess (don't blame me, blame the software devs!) the HAF is a very fitting enclosure. Retrofitting it with high-grade 120mm fans makes it a formidable enclosure for cooling and space. There are bigger cases out there (amazingly enough) but none as adept at cooling a system.
Yes all of my temps have improved quite a bit. Especially my HDDs because of the sideways drive cage. My Armor is the oldest version so it still uses a traditional style.
I thought it might be a bit excessive as well but it really has helped me a lot. Loving the airflow for my passively cooled chipset :)
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
7 product reviews
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5. March 2010 @ 17:15 |
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I bought my HAF 932 because it was supposedly very good at cooling, and because its a beast believe it or not. What can I say? Good things come in big packages ;) LOL!
Definitely a godsend. It'll no doubt house ANY graphics card, probably any mobo, multiple HDD's, ODD's, etc etc. No one should be without. Though it can be quite heavy for the average person. IF it's full up with hardware. I'm sure somebody pushing 50's and 60's would find it a bit overkill LOL!
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AfterDawn Addict
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5. March 2010 @ 17:20 |
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bought a Q6600 and another 4870 for £125. same price as a new 5770, i think i did okay :P. i just hope my case can take it, till i go home and replace it with a SG03 and the cooler with a Corsair H50-1 watercooler.
the 4870 has a zalman full copper zf1000 on it. sam how loud is this?
which should i keep the sapphire card top or that?
thats my current one thatll be CFing with the zalman
also jeff i have only 1 CF connector, will that be enough or do i need 2?
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 5. March 2010 @ 17:24
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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5. March 2010 @ 18:29 |
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You only need one. 2 would be for tri-crossfire :)
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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CHEESEPIE
Member
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5. March 2010 @ 21:49 |
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anyone in europe gotten their hands on a copy of Assassin's creed II? Just wondering what kind of performance I will get on my ASUS G50 VT x5, 2.13ghz 4gigs ram and 9800m gs 512 mb. PC is starting to get a bit dated, just wondering if someone could give me a heads up. Been waiting for this game to come out for pc in the US next week.
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Red_Maw
Senior Member
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5. March 2010 @ 22:16 |
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Thanks sam, didn't see that one in my brief search.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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6. March 2010 @ 01:38 |
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The HDD area is very cool because the drives have one of the giant 230mm fans to themselves. As for passively cooled chipset, you make it sound like there were actively cooled chipsets! LOL!
The VF1000 has a 2500rpm 11-blade 80mm fan fitted. At full speed, this is going to be a noisy fan. The VF1000 does come with a FanMate, however, and the rated minimum speed when using the fan mate is 1400rpm, which should hopefully be sufficient to cool the 4870 (I can't guarantee this, but I expect it will be) and will be a little more acceptable for noise.
The fact that the fan is 11-blade means it will produce a higher pitched noise than the Sapphire 4870 cooler.
You never need more than one Crossfire bridge connector for each join. There's a reason why only one bridge connector is fitted to an X2 :P
Cheesepie: Game hasn't been leaked yet, so I couldn't give any estimates. Depends on the sort of graphics settings and performance you're after. I'm sure the game will run, but how well is yet to be seen.
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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6. March 2010 @ 06:12 |
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Quote:
The HDD area is very cool because the drives have one of the giant 230mm fans to themselves.
I love the drive cooling and I especially like that the drives mount with rubber bushings. That was an extremely thoughtful touch to include it stock.
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As for passively cooled chipset, you make it sound like there were actively cooled chipsets! LOL!
The one on my 680i board was and it still ran hotter than all get-out :P
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The VF1000 has a 2500rpm 11-blade 80mm fan fitted. At full speed, this is going to be a noisy fan. The VF1000 does come with a FanMate, however, and the rated minimum speed when using the fan mate is 1400rpm, which should hopefully be sufficient to cool the 4870 (I can't guarantee this, but I expect it will be) and will be a little more acceptable for noise.
Does the VF1000 include memory sinks? The MEMIO(Memory) temp in GPU-Z on the top card idles at 70-ish and loads near 95. I know th cards are supposed to run hot but isn't this a bit toasty? I think aftermarket may be in order :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
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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6. March 2010 @ 06:24 |
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The rubber bushings were a nice touch, but they're completely useless, the drive vibration in the HAF is no better than the NZXT Lexa, which just mounts using plastic. Contrastingly, the NZXT Whisper which uses thick rubber bushings has almost no vibration at all. I can just about hear the 90Hz from the nine drives that produce it.
As for the 680i board, special case, they used more power (and thus produced more heat) than the CPU in such systems. Not joking, the TDP of the E6600 was 65W, the 680i I believe was 67W. The 780i I think was the highest at 70 something. Typical passive NB temps for the 780i were in the eighties celsius from what I heard.
As for the VF1000, pretty sure it includes memory sinks, but I thought MEMIO was part of the GPU, not the temperature of the memory chips themselves. My MEMIO temps reach three figures just about, and it's not caused me any issues.
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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6. March 2010 @ 09:31 |
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Quote:
The rubber bushings were a nice touch, but they're completely useless, the drive vibration in the HAF is no better than the NZXT Lexa, which just mounts using plastic. Contrastingly, the NZXT Whisper which uses thick rubber bushings has almost no vibration at all. I can just about hear the 90Hz from the nine drives that produce it.
They're not perfect, but needless to say they are a large step up from my previous setup which did not suspend the drives on the rubber, only dampened the vibration a bit.
Quote:
As for the 680i board, special case, they used more power (and thus produced more heat) than the CPU in such systems. Not joking, the TDP of the E6600 was 65W, the 680i I believe was 67W. The 780i I think was the highest at 70 something. Typical passive NB temps for the 780i were in the eighties celsius from what I heard.
Glad I got rid of it fast for a proper Intel chipset Gigabyte board :P
Quote:
As for the VF1000, pretty sure it includes memory sinks, but I thought MEMIO was part of the GPU, not the temperature of the memory chips themselves. My MEMIO temps reach three figures just about, and it's not caused me any issues.
Woo comforting to know someone else has that. Playing Crysis I've seen mine hit 100. Anything else hits about 95.
Seeing better performance from BC2 than I expected. Running full Dx10 maxed with all settings cranked with no AA seems smooth. I'll be back with performance numbers later.
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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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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6. March 2010 @ 09:44 |
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This I wanted to find out, as I could not differentiate between it being DX10 or the Anti-Aliasing that was ruining performance. I would have expected DX10 personally, but if it's the AA, maybe there's hope after all.
The MSRP has been stated for the 4GB HD5970 cards and all partners will be selling them at $999 or about £825. Looks like I'm not buying one after all :(
Plan J I think it is, I'm going to buy a solo 5870 to put with my Q9550 so I get better single-GPU performance for when crossfire isn't working. Then as far as my gaming PC goes, I will have to stick with 4870s for the time being, perhaps until autumn time. DX11 stuff is outrageously expensive due to nvidia's incompetence... :(
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AfterDawn Addict
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6. March 2010 @ 10:35 |
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so what card would one put on top?
(considering my mobo lays flat due to my case)
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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6. March 2010 @ 10:52 |
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It probably makes little difference, but I'd stick the Zalman card at the "top" because it relies on dumping the heat into the case, and you don't want a card that does that right next to your PSU in my opinion, and secondly the air may be more cramped at the bottom and rear-exhaust coolers are better at dealing with such situations, so the Sapphire would be better off at the bottom.
This of course assumes your PC is laid out as in the picture. Is that your PC?
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AfterDawn Addict
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6. March 2010 @ 11:10 |
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lol no thats the PC of the guy thats selling me the card.
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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7. March 2010 @ 02:07 |
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Just Cause 2 Demo
Minimal: Radeon HD2900 Pro/HD3800 series/HD4670/HD5570 or higher, Geforce 8800 series/9600 series/GT220 or above
Reduced: Radeon HD3870/HD4700 series/HD5700 series or higher, Geforce 8800GT/9800GT/GT240 or above
Moderate: Radeon HD4870/HD5800 series or higher, Geforce GTX260 or above
Good: Radeon HD5870 or higher, Geforce GTX295 or above, GTX470 (estimated)
Optimal: Radeon HD5870 CF or higher, Geforce GTX280 Tri-SLI or above, GTX470 SLI (estimated)
Extreme: N/A
Just Cause 2 Demo - PhysX enabled
Minimal: Geforce 8800 series/9600GSO G92/GT240 or above
Reduced: Geforce 8800GTS G92/9800GTX/GTS250 or above
Moderate: Geforce GTX275 (not 280) or above
Good: Geforce GTX295 OC or above, GTX470 SLI (estimated)
Optimal: Geforce GTX285 Quad-SLI, GTX470 Tri-SLI (estimated)
Extreme: N/A
Depressingly, another game slightly optimised for nvidia cards isn't able to make the 'Extreme' criteria even with estimated figures for GTX480 Quad SLI taken into consideration (6.15x GTX260-216).
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 7. March 2010 @ 02:11
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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7. March 2010 @ 03:52 |
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Do any of you guys play MKV 720 files with MPC Home cinema 1.3.1249.0, and have strange kind of frame lag? What I mean is, it'll be smooth for minutes at least, then it stutters a great deal, then its fine again. Cpu usage is negligable, ram usage seems to be high at 75%+. Not sure why it would need so much. Perhaps they figure video rendered from ram, is quicker, then that of a HDD. Which is logical. Surely the Ram usage is not the problem...
Any and all opinions welcome :)
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! |
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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7. March 2010 @ 04:13 |
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I play 720p MKVs with HomeCinema, but haven't run into this issue, and the program rarely uses any more than 70MB, not 3 gig!
However, I'm using 1.2.1081.0.
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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7. March 2010 @ 04:27 |
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Noted. I may try an older version tomorrow now. I shut down the program, which freed up over 2Gb of ram. I know, I'm in awe about this too. Now I'm hovering around 27% again. Really weird...
Even with the ram usage down, it didn't help. And yet, all the files play fine on another player. Arcsoft Total Media Theater.
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 7. March 2010 @ 04:30
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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7. March 2010 @ 05:10 |
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I installed the K-Lite codec pack with Home Cinema built in. Then I replaced the Home Cinema exe with the regular version exe renamed to match. Home cinema seems to have infrequent issues with certain file formats where normal has no issues at all.
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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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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7. March 2010 @ 05:28 |
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The best program I've seen yet IS MPC. It allows control of multiple audio channels, and Subtitles in a FILE. Where as Total Media Theater seems to have zero control over the audio channels when there are more than one. Unless of course its a BD you're playing. I certainly like Total Media Theater when the Files only have one audio channel :D Smooth playback, zero stutters across the board.
Thanks for your input Jeff :)
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! |
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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7. March 2010 @ 06:13 |
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:P
Bad Company 2. Very interesting results. As long as I don't use AA it seems to be very playable.
Performance: 7.5/10, 6/10 w/ AA
Single card:
All maxed Dx10 1920 x 1200, no AA, HSAO/HBAO on. Getting 40-ish FPS with dips into the 20s. Drop to 1680 x 1050 I average 55-60-ish dipping into the high 30s.
Dual card:
Same settings. Getting 65-70-ish average(highly variable) with dips into the high 40s, low 50s. GPU-Z is showing about 80% usage on the second card. Only using 2xAA my FPS drops to 50-55 average with dips into the low 40s, high 30s.
AA seems to be our killer here. Performance is actually decent with maxed settings and Dx10. AA is doable, but only with very high end setups. At my res I think 5850s could do it just fine.
Interesting to note. AA doesn't work without Dx10 on. Dx9 gives you 4 or 5 extra FPS with nearly the same visuals. So if you want a few FPS and don't intend to run AA, Dx9 seems to be acceptable. Dx10 seems to only have some better smoke/dust effects and some very minor lighting effects.
Overall it runs better than I had hoped, but it still doesn't run as well as the engine is apparently capable of. The option to turn Dx9/Dx10 on and off in the actual menu would have been nice. Right now you have to edit an INI file.
That it takes advantage of Crossfire is appreciated, but the AA performance is dismal.
Graphics: 9/10
The graphics are good. Some minor parts of the environment have a few blurry textures but overall the game is very high-res friendly. The models are some of the best I've ever seen and the character textures challenge Crysis. The overall look of the game is very reminiscent of Crysis. Namely the foliage looks identical and it uses similarly high res characters and vehicles, similar vehicle/interaction mechanics. The guns were a special treat for me. Not seen gun models quite this clean very often. Only MW2 matches BC2 in the detail on the guns and sheer variety. I won't include AA in my rating because that's more performance related. The actual AA effect works well.
That said the game looks fantastic. There are a few slightly rough spots here and there, but overall I'm quite impressed.
Sound: 10/10
The sound design is my favorite part of the game. You can tell the devs worked very hard on it. For once a game has managed to do sound occlusion and reverb properly. Firing a gun inside a building is markedly different to firing it outside. The audio is noticeably higher bitrate than your average game and the detail and directional effects are perfect. I actually scored a kill through some bushes last night. I couldn't see him, but I could hear him perfectly :)
Oh yeah, the guns sounds are perfect as well :)
Gameplay: 10/10
The first Bad Company had a terribly mediocre campaign. I felt burdened playing it. You can tell they've worked MUCH MUCH MUCH harder on it this time around. The result is a game that takes many cues from others like Crysis, CoD4/MW2, Drake's Fortune and the like. This isn't bad though because it actually manages to do everything pretty well. The campaign is action-packed and the story(while nearing the edge of my ability to suspend my disbelief) gives you good motivation to slug on. My only real complaint is that the story is only 5-6 hours long. Maybe 7 is you take your time. I beat it in one sitting.
But that's a minor complaint as the multiplayer is the real focus here. It pays heavy homage to its roots and revisits a few older maps and concepts. IMO the gameplay and map design challenge BF2 and the advancement system s a bit more streamlined. I dare say I think I've found a new favorite multi game :P
Mechanics. First-off the shooting mechanic slaughters the one in BF2. The guns are easier to aim, the hits feel more solid, and everything is a bit less cumbersome. They've allowed you a bit more health this time around so the famous insta-death from BF2 is less likely to happen. All the vehicle controls have been refined and all of the vehicles handle better than any Battlefield before it. Seriously, play some classic Conquest mode and you'll see it lives up to the Battlefield name for sure :)
Oh yeah and fully destructible buildings in large-scale multiplayer are sweet. That is truly a ground-breaking feature.
Overall: 9/10
This is Battlefield reborn. Everything has been improved in every way possible. Other than some small performance and graphics issues here and there, I have zero complaints about the game.
If you count performance a bit more meticulously than me you might rate it a bit lower.
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 7. March 2010 @ 06:22
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