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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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19. July 2010 @ 07:13 |
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Death clock seems a little harsh, as that implies they are designed to fail at a specific time, i.e. just after the warranty expires. I've not seen any evidence of that, but I have seen that typically nvidia cards last up to about 3 years, rarely much longer. Of course, to the major enthusiast, that's considered upgrade-o-clock anyway, but I have seen their GPUs fail earlier than that.
Though I imagine the incendiary high-end fermi cards are even worse, hardware reliability isn't the reason why I wouldn't buy nvidia cards. For me, it's just how corrupt the company is.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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19. July 2010 @ 10:08 |
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how do you tell if its reference or not? is it in the description?
how about this HIS here. it is a little more in price but more clock speed.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161333
im looking at these mostly for the hdmi on the card. wanting to hook it up to my tv for videos and such. can you get a dvi to hdmi adaptor? if so is there a quality loss from doing so?
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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19. July 2010 @ 12:17 |
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All reference cards look identical, save for a sticker. If any card looks different to the reference design, it will look noticeably different.
Pre-overclocked cards are always a waste of money. They're less reliable, and it's easy to overclock the miniscule amounts they come pre-applied with yourself.
All reference HD5700 and HD5800 series cards come with HDMI ports included as standard, the use of a dongle is not required.
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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22. July 2010 @ 20:43 |
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I'll be honest though that XFX's XXX and Black Edition cards seem pretty reliable to me. Though they usually have a custom PCB to begin with. Nice quality cards :)
On another note I've seen countless BFG OC Edition cards fail. 6800s, 7800s, 8800s, need I say more?
I'd rather just get a stock card to match my performance needs than rely on the quality and performance of a factory OCd card. And home OCing is just as bad. Stupid way to lose a piece of hardware for such a small performance gain overall...
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 22. July 2010 @ 20:51
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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23. July 2010 @ 01:11 |
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Eeek! I hope my BFG 260 doesn't fail :S It's an OC'd edition...
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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23. July 2010 @ 06:40 |
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To be fair to BFG, pre-overclocked nvidia cards don't last that long anyway, from any brand. I've seen huge numbers of EVGA cards fail even when most of them weren't pre-overclocked. Best thing you can really do with nvidia cards is to get one with a good warranty, and as far as I've heard, BFG are second to none for that. Well, sorry, were. BFG are no more sadly..
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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23. July 2010 @ 10:04 |
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Well then again I've never been a great fan of Nvidia cards of any kind so you could call me biased to a degree. I feel that non-OCd cards are more bearable to use though. Nvidia's own issues aside, if a company has a decent enough warranty you can still be pretty well covered. My MSI 8800GTS has a 3 year warranty that I'm about 2 years into and still going strong. IMO OCd cards only force you to use that warranty sooner.
Such a shame that XFX doesn't really make Nvidia cards anymore. Because of the custom PCBs on most of their cards they tend to be a lot more reliable. I almost got a pair of the XFX Black Edition 5850s but they were quite a bit more expensive and I had limited my budget for a graphics upgrade...
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 23. July 2010 @ 10:07
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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23. July 2010 @ 10:06 |
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Well, they didn't say it was permanent. Perhaps with the not-terrible-ness of the GTX460, they'll be convinced to move back. Dunno though, they seem pretty disillusioned with nvidia by comparison. The quality they've brought to the ATI arena coupled with being among the cheapest has made them a massive success over there.
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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23. July 2010 @ 10:08 |
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Agreed XFX is one of the best GPU mfgs I've ever seen.
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
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23. July 2010 @ 13:28 |
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wonder if they will try mobos next? their PSUs seem fantastic esp for the price.
BTW guys i was wondering but if you buy a game from steam how do you find out its CDkey?
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
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23. July 2010 @ 13:37 |
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Email
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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23. July 2010 @ 14:00 |
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The game presents a popup when it is launched in the same manner as a steam friends message which displays what the CD Key is the first time it is run. This notification is only disabled if you choose to turn it off, if I remember rightly.
Also, XFX have made motherboards, they did it back when the nforce chipsets were still around, along with the likes of EVGA.
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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23. July 2010 @ 14:40 |
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This is true. XFX only made Nvidia chipset boards though. I would be interested to see what they could do with an AMD chipset. Their component quality is never an issue, it was always the dying Nvidia chipsets. I can't remember an Nvidia board with a good reputation since NForce 5. My ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe was a 590 SLI MCP and it was great. So I'd be willing to believe that XFX could make a good AMD board.
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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23. July 2010 @ 14:50 |
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Originally posted by Jeff:
I can't remember an Nvidia board with a good reputation since NForce 5.
That's because there hasn't been one!
I'd be kind of interested to see XFX make some proper boards, as there is no company that doesn't frankly suck at it, one way or another, at the moment. No brand can you buy from without their being some reasonably annoying flaws, be it poor build quality, dodgy BIOSes, needless bad design or whatever else. At the moment I'd say the least reliable component in the PC of all is the motherboard. Why should that be? On a per-system basis, it's about the simplest component of the entire system, especially with chipset-less boards like the P55, which still seem to suffer. Next one up is probably joint between the optical drive, hard disk drive and graphics card, the latter due to bad partner companies, weak drivers, and nvidia, as a whole. PSUs, provided you buy from a reputable company, are actually quite high on the list. The CPU is definitely at the top.
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harvrdguy
Senior Member
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24. July 2010 @ 23:03 |
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Originally posted by sam:
The CPU is definitely at the top.
Speaking of cpu, Sam, how are you, all in all, liking that i5 of yours? Do you keep it at 4.2ghz, or was that just to get your 27000 3dmark6 score? If you have ratcheted it down since then, what do you usually run it at?
Here's Jeff from a few days ago, on his Habu:
Originally posted by estuansis:
2000DPI baby. Nothing quite like it. Using a hard plastic GameRigs BattleMat gaming mousepad.
YIKES!!! That 2000 dpi resolution is twice what I'm getting with my Logitech v220 wireless. (I have bought four of them for me and two other laptop users - I like it so much I got an extra for the gaming machine.)
I remember that one of the Steel Series had a quick-change dpi setting so that when you got somebody in your counterstrike sights on the other side of the map, you could slip from 600 to 1600 for lining up the head shot.
Jeff, when you are running consistently at 2000 dpi, in addition to lining up the shots when you have a little time to go for accuracy, does that work fine also for running around the map and shooting quickly when you are caught by surprise, or when shaff comes hopping along? - is it just a matter of fine-tuning the mouse sensitivity?
Originally posted by cincy:
im looking at these mostly for the hdmi on the card. wanting to hook it up to my tv for videos and such. can you get a dvi to hdmi adaptor? if so is there a quality loss from doing so?
Hey Rob, you can probably get an adapter, but the hdmi should send out digital sound from your on-board sound card, if you have on-board sound, and I believe the dvi is video only. So that will leave you with having to mess around with getting the sound over to the tv set.
My brother has an 8 gig HP phenom Vista computer that he does some cad/cam on, but basically we're using it now as an HTPC for the new 47" HD Toshiba, and the ati card is an Ati 512mb 3830, about half the power of my 512mb 3850, but plenty of power for DXGA (direct x graphic accelaration) according to articles on the net, for blue-ray quality hd video. I was very surprised to spot an HDMI port on the 3830, and to my huge surprise and some control panel tweaking of the digital sound settings, the HDMI cable beautifully handles both video and audio to the TV.
Originally posted by estuansis:
I'd rather just get a stock card to match my performance needs than rely on the quality and performance of a factory OCd card. And home OCing is just as bad. Stupid way to lose a piece of hardware for such a small performance gain overall...
Hmmmm - I don't know if I could agree with that, Jeff, but of course compared to your 5850s, I've got a cheap card - my 3850 was only $110 on ebay, and is probably only about $60 right now. If I didn't have it overclocked like crazy (with that aftermarket zalman 1000 you told me to cool it with) there is no way that I'd be able to get any kind of decent frames on Left 4 Dead 2 - I push the overclocking wayyy above stock on gpu and memory, and I know I'm picking up at least +5 fps which puts me in the high 20's or low 30's most of the time.
Originally posted by omega:
Eeek! I hope my BFG 260 doesn't fail :S It's an OC'd edition...
Yep, you're outa luck, Kevin! - just kidding :D
By the way Kevin, now that you've re-installed Left 4 Dead, after Steam mercilessly made you wait an hour while it loaded that new map - hahahaha :P - DID YOU EVER GO ONLINE??? No I'm not kidding - Did you ever do it?
I'm asking because I know you love playing offline with the bots - and you're not a regular player, just once in a while - but online with the mic - chatting with buddies - when ya gonna do it? LOL
Rich
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 24. July 2010 @ 23:20
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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25. July 2010 @ 05:52 |
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My i5 runs at 4116 24/7, same as my 3dmark setting. The voltage needed to do it is so low, and it's so stable, there's no reason to lower it.
I've used my 1600 dpi Razer for nearly 4 years, have got used to the sensitivity, but how it comes out depends on the game.
As far as I'm aware, there is no such thing as an HD3830. As for overclocking, the 3850 isn't that weak in Left 4 Dead, you should be able to play it fine without.
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AfterDawn Addict
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25. July 2010 @ 06:32 |
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IICR the 3830 was a chinese only 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) .|.
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AfterDawn Addict
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25. July 2010 @ 07:16 |
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Hey guys, man it's been a long time since i've come on here...
Just thought i'd chime in on the DVI to HDMI thing - graphics cards should come with an internal SPDIF connector that you connect from the motherboard audio to the graphics card and it should then output sound via the DVI ports so you can use a DVI to HDMI adapter properly (well, at least, that's how i got my GTX260 outputting audio to my TV, since it just has two DVI ports), maybe it only works with newer cards, i don't know.
PSP, all the way from 1.00 to 5.50 GEN D2 - DS Lite w/ M3DS Real (M3 Sakura v1.34)
PS3 3.01 - iPod Touch 2G 16GB Jailbroken - Xbox 360 60GB - PC, Q6600, 3GB DDR2, GTX260 (216) 896MB |
AfterDawn Addict
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25. July 2010 @ 07:54 |
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Hmm, I've seen a few china-only cards like the 4860, will have to look it up when i'm back at my PC.
As for the SPDIF, the HDMI audio goes straight out the DVI to HDMI dongle I use into the TV.
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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25. July 2010 @ 08:09 |
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Quote:
Jeff, when you are running consistently at 2000 dpi, in addition to lining up the shots when you have a little time to go for accuracy, does that work fine also for running around the map and shooting quickly when you are caught by surprise, or when shaff comes hopping along? - is it just a matter of fine-tuning the mouse sensitivity?
It basically works well for all situations. I keep it at 2000DPI at all times which works for everything from mid range shootouts to short range knife fights. I only turn down the DPI to 800 when I am using the sniper rifles which is not very often.
I was previously on my 1800DPI Logitech MX518 for 3 or 4 years and my 1600DPI Razer Krait as my secondary for about the same time. Both are still nearly like new and both see regular use. The Krait collects a little dust maybe but it's perfect for LANs.
Quote:
Hmmmm - I don't know if I could agree with that, Jeff, but of course compared to your 5850s, I've got a cheap card - my 3850 was only $110 on ebay, and is probably only about $60 right now. If I didn't have it overclocked like crazy (with that aftermarket zalman 1000 you told me to cool it with) there is no way that I'd be able to get any kind of decent frames on Left 4 Dead 2 - I push the overclocking wayyy above stock on gpu and memory, and I know I'm picking up at least +5 fps which puts me in the high 20's or low 30's most of the time.
Sorry to be your buzzkill here. But your performance issues are most definitely your CPU. If you upgraded even to the slowest dual core available today, your FPS would easily double in every game, even without overclocking. Like a 1.8GHz Celeron Dual Core at bare stock settings is easily twice as fast as that 3.8GHz Pentium 4. The Pentium 4 is like 8 or 9 years old now and was never even that fast when it came out. The HD3850, even when new, would have been paired with a high clock AMD64 X2 or a Core 2 Duo. That Pentium 4 is choking it down so bad it's not even funny. Stop overclocking it because you're going to destroy it, cooler or not. The only way you're going to have any sort of substantial performance improvement is with a new CPU.
To make my point, Left 4 Dead 1 and 2 Should be running many many times faster than it currently does on your rig. But your CPU is what is keeping it at such a low FPS. You've simply hit the CPU cap for the game. It won't go any faster without a new CPU. This has such an effect I'd say your GPU overclocking was only a placebo.
I wouldn't be so blunt about it if I didn't think it was true...
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 25. July 2010 @ 09:16
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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25. July 2010 @ 13:44 |
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Eh...I'm just not into playing online. At least with games like that. Perhaps If I got really good, and knew the game well enough though. I'm highly self conscious. I can't help but wonder what people think of me 90% of the day. Not a way to live I know :p
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! |
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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25. July 2010 @ 14:57 |
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And yeah I'm with Jeff, Rich, running that 3850 into the ground will do you no favours if you end up having to replace it before you bother buying an upgrade for the rest of the system.
As an example:
Left 4 Dead 2, max graphical settings
Q9550 at 3400mhz: 55-240fps
i5 750 at 4116mhz: 80-350fps
Now, the Q9550 is a good 70-80% faster than your P4 per-core, and there's 4 of them, and look at the difference upgrading to the i5 achieved :P
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Red_Maw
Senior Member
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25. July 2010 @ 17:35 |
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I find DPI really depends on how you use the mouse. Back when I was playing BC2 I was sniping successfully at around 5600dpi, although it takes a real toll on your wrist. I managed to give myself carpel tunnel inside two weeks :(
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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25. July 2010 @ 17:38 |
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As far as I'm aware, no mouse has such a dpi. Are you not thinking of something else?
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AfterDawn Addict
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25. July 2010 @ 19:20 |
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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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