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The Official Graphics Card and PC gaming Thread
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AfterDawn Addict
2 product reviews
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10. September 2008 @ 23:51 |
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Well you can get the Zalman 850W unit and I'm sure it will do fine, but then the whole overkill thing. If you can afford it go for it. If you want to save some money then a 650TX or 620HX will also work fine.
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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11. September 2008 @ 02:10 |
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IMO, the 620HX is your "all bases covered" PSU. It has the power for high end setups, is modular, quiet, and top quality. If you must go higher than 2 card SLI/Xfire, try to use Corsair, Zalman, PC P&C, Gigabyte... any one of those would be fine.
Edit:
They are also under-speced at 620W. Corsair could easily get away rating it as a 750W PSU.
Okay, I did some game testing with the 4870. I turned the fan to 35% so it idles at about 45-48. A little noisy but not loud or annoying. It loads at 58-63. So you guys with the low 80's temps... you don't have to put up with them... just so you know.
Okay, first up is Crysis.
1920 x 1200. All high with Cheap very high settings with the CCC and TOD mods.
The benchmark gives me a 42FPS average!! Without the mods, I get 37FPS average. Very nice :)
Versus 35FPS average on the 8800GTS. 1680 x 1050 all high with medium shadows and Cheap very high settings. 40 with the mods.
A definite improvement in Crysis. Though I think the Quad isn't helping so much due to a video bottleneck. But it still seems to make a difference in how smoothly the physics, loading, AI and everything are handled. I'm getting much fewer performance drops in heavy parts of the game. So I'm pretty sure it's working to some extent.
Half-Life 2: Episode 2
1920 x 1200 maxed settings. 8xQMSAA 16xAF
Averaging about 110FPS in normal play. Minimum of about 70 and a high of about 180.
A spectacular looking game and it runs GREAT!!! 'nuff said
Call of Duty 4
Maxed at 1920 x 1200. 4xMSAA 16xAF.
Averages about 55-60FPS in most areas. A minimum of about 25-30 and a high of like 125 or so.
It runs silky smooth and looks absolutely fantastic. CoD4 was a big improvement over the 8800GTS which had to use regular 4xAA and 8xAF to remain playable. And it still wasn't quite as fast :P
3Dmark 06
The score at stock 2.4GHz was 14,400. OC'd to 3.4GHz was 15,113. Some people have seen over 16k at 3.8GHz. So there may be some bottlenecking even with a single 4870. But I doubt it really.
3Dmark 2001SE
Just for the heck of it, lol. I got a 63,000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL!!!
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 12. September 2008 @ 14:00
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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12. September 2008 @ 14:02 |
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:bump:
Sorry for the double, but... read my pseudo review above 0.o
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 12. September 2008 @ 14:03
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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12. September 2008 @ 15:53 |
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Curiously enough, the benchmark runs poorly on my system, I get a far lower frame rate than I do in game - however, the speed at which the benchmark scrolls means my full-up HDD has to work flat out to load all the information required, as crysis only loads two thirds or so of the game's required info at the loading screen, since the environments are so large.
The bump was necessary, I only received an email about this thread when you bumped it, not during your original post.
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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12. September 2008 @ 16:34 |
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The benchmark has always been pretty accurate for me. The average FPS I get is usually spot on with my FPS for the first part of the game. I'm seeing the same performance in-game so far, so I'm pretty satisfied with it.
You can make an estimate at FPS in other parts of the game. I'm sure it's not far off from where your HD4870 was.
And yeah, I figured. That one post sat there for like a day. Then I edited it. Then I bumped so everyone would read :P
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T 4GHz(20 x 200) 1.5v 3000NB 2000HT, Corsair Hydro H110 w/ 4 x 140mm 1500RPM fans Push/Pull, Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5, 8GB(2 x 4GB) G.Skill RipJaws DDR3-1600 @ 1600MHz CL9 1.55v, Gigabyte GTX760 OC 4GB(1170/1700), Corsair 750HX
Detailed PC Specs: http://my.afterdawn.com/estuansis/blog_entry.cfm/11388
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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12. September 2008 @ 16:35 |
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Always was for me too until the 4870X2 came along... :(
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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12. September 2008 @ 16:52 |
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But gameplay is fine? I don't see how it could be an incompatibility with Crossfire. It IS the game, not a benchmark based on the engine. You can even fire the weapons, though they are invisible.
Weird :(
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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15. September 2008 @ 09:43 |
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Hmm well, gameplay is fine for the most part. I played through the entirity of Paradise Lost the other day and it was OK, but my PC was definitely struggling through a few sections, nothing horrendous, but it did make aiming a bit tricky sometimes. It tends to be when I get severely injured and the screen gets its red tint, all my 'benchmarks' were without geting beaten up, and when that red glare appears, your frame rate drops 40% for no reason - a little like Forged Alliance's range rings, highlight a unit and your frame rate drops 30% just so it can show you how far that unit can fire. Absurd - highlight a whole troop of 50 units and watch the frame rate die - that game's not even really CF compatible, at least Crysis is... Can't wait to play Warhead, it looks fun and sounds like ot really will run better than the original - DriverHeaven had a reliable 35-50fps out of a GTX260 at 1920x1200 on 'enthusiast' setting, which apparently is the Warhead analogue for all High, but perhaps not 'very high'.
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abuzar
Suspended permanently
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15. September 2008 @ 23:46 |
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Had to make a new account.
So hows life? Any new graphics cards coming out?
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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16. September 2008 @ 07:16 |
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What? Why?
New graphics cards, none to my knowledge at the moment, the only current 'hardware I'm waiting for' list is Core i7 and the 1500GB Hard drives from Seagate.
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spamual
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16. September 2008 @ 10:23 |
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the GTX260 + to be launched soon, and the 4850x2
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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16. September 2008 @ 12:33 |
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The HD4850X2 I forgot about. The GTX260+ sounds like a typical nvidia pointless release of a new product. Where is their product that fits between a 9800GTX+ and a GTX260?
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spamual
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16. September 2008 @ 12:42 |
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ummm seems like a good release to me, 216 SP instead of 192, and its the same price as the current GTX260 with a 10% increace, ill wait for a few benches and see if its this or a 4870 for me :D
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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16. September 2008 @ 12:50 |
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Is that the GTX260's recent price, or the one after the very recent price drop (in the UK At least)?
To be on par with the HD4870, the GTX260+ will need to be 10% ish faster, which sounds roughly like what it will be. However, it will need to cost less than £175 at the cheaper stores. Whether they'll pull that one off is yet to be seen. I'm also keen to see what the price of the HD4850X2 will be, I'm willing to bet it'll be around the £199.99+VAT mark.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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16. September 2008 @ 13:01 |
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spamual
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16. September 2008 @ 14:05 |
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itll be about £170-180.
which is bang on the price of the 4870.
i guess ill wait for the benches to come and we shall see.
btw ordering my case tomrrow, so i will have to find a digi cam to get up picks when it comes :)
and the 3850 trinity is old news, there have been loads of reviews since march :D
shame its not a consumer product.
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abuzar
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16. September 2008 @ 14:55 |
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Ehh, why release a 3850 card now?
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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16. September 2008 @ 18:58 |
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Never saw any benches until this, so I didn't realise it was an old project, all I saw were the typical inquirer / engadget style pages saying it was going to appear eventually...
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spamual
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16. September 2008 @ 19:49 |
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ahh that explains it.
i did link reviews of it a while ago.
boozer they didnt release it, its press only
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harvrdguy
Senior Member
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18. September 2008 @ 13:27 |
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Hmmmmm,
The trinity 3850. So you're saying Sam, that I should wait until they adapt that to agp, instead of the cheap sapphire I was going to pick up for my P4? Lol
(Oh yeah, since estuansis laid out the $800 estimate for me, I'm back to thinking about maxing the p4 for $200 and putting off the new build until the 4870x2 or 4850x2 get cheaper, or the new product family 5870 is launched. The new build has to have the horses to run Crysis at the patched very high mode - for decent shadows - probably at 1650 x 1080. Hey Sam, does your dell scale to that resolution very well?)
Shaff, what case are you picking up - the NZXT that Sam recommends?
Booze, why the new user name. Did you follow Shaff into ban city? Where'd your cool picture go?
-Rich
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spamual
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18. September 2008 @ 13:37 |
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dont put it off dude, if you do youll keep putting it off and never upgrade.
there is never a good time to upgrade, so you might aswell get it over and done with.
btw no i ordered this: (and i have now ordered it)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112141
ok so this is what it is:
Parts
Price
QTY
Total
Lian Li A70B
£129.99
1
£129.99
Lian Li CD bezel
£7.99
1
£7.99
Radcut in roof
£15.00
1
£15.00
Rad Grill
£12.00
1
£12.00
Window Cut
£20.00
1
£20.00
Moherboard tray Cuts
£15.00
1
£15.00
Window Acrylic Mirror
£17.00
1
£17.00
Sunbeam Rheobus Extreme Black
£24.99
1
£24.99
Cable Ties Black
£0.00
1
£0.00
Cable Tie Bases
£0.00
1
£0.00
Braiding + Heatshrink
£0.00
2
£0.00
Acryan cathodes UV
£5.99
1
£5.99
Acryan cathodes White
£5.99
1
£5.99
Molex Y adaptor
£1.00
1
£1.00
Molex to 3 pin
£1.59
1
£1.59
Shipping
£0.00
1
£0.00
Total
£256.54
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 18. September 2008 @ 15:34
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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18. September 2008 @ 14:49 |
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They will never adapt the HD3850 Trinity for AGP, nor will there ever be a need. Even a Core 2 CPU holds back a card with that much power, let alone a prehistoric P4... ;-)
Seriously - you may not have a lot of time on your hands, but I strongly recommend you not waste any more money and bin the old architecture...
30" of screen will not take kindly to low resolutions like 1680x1050 - if you can afford one of those, you can certainly afford a new CPU, Motherboard, memory and Graphics card.
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AfterDawn Addict
2 product reviews
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18. September 2008 @ 14:52 |
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No I didn't get banned. There was a... hiccup in the process.
I would NOT make a new build right now. Not the right time. Wait till at least the end of October till Nehalem comes out. Even if you dont get a Nehalem CPU, the prices for the current quad cores will definitely come down.
I would also not recommend putting ANY money into your P4 system.
Oh and Sam, with that 3850 Trinity THAT powerful? I didn't read through all the way, how does it compare to a 4850?
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 18. September 2008 @ 14:53
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harvrdguy
Senior Member
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18. September 2008 @ 15:33 |
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Nawww! I was kidding about the trinity 3850. Why would anybody want that anyway vs 4870x2.
See, booze says no new build until the new intel architecture in November. (what do you mean glitch - you got banned - admit it lol)
Hey Shaff, it IS a matter of economics - $200 vs $800. Kind of a big difference. If I put $200 in the old p4 I am up to 3850 at least, and 2 gigs of memory - shader 3.0, smoother cod4 (my cod4 just crashed again at 1600x1200) and a couple of more games like medal of honor airborne. I know the P4 will be a big bottleneck but they are practically giving the 3850s away at $129 so the bottlneck is ok - the faster memory for $75 might let me oc the cpu a bit - move from 3.2 to 3.6, we'll see. Anyway, for me, that will be a beginning upgrade, and the memory boost will let me back on Battlefield 2 - maybe I'll even pick up Battlefield Vietnam since estuansis likes it so much.
So shaff, what case did you say you were getting?
Sam, I can't afford a Dell right now, but ultimately I think the 30" is where I want to be. But I guarantee you I won't run my everyday desktop at 2560x1600 like you. Lol
So you're saying that 1680 x 1050 scales ass on the dell - that's important to know. Does any resolution lower than native 2560x1600 scale well (I'm thinking of crysis.)
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AfterDawn Addict
2 product reviews
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18. September 2008 @ 15:41 |
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No it was a glitch. They thought I told them to remove my account, so the mods had to fix it.
Oh and dont spend 200 dollars on your P4 build. It wont make a big difference. What WILL make a big difference is when you spend 1000 dollars instead of 800 dollars on your new build. That will enable you to get better memory, video card, and CPU. Huge difference in video cards between a 800 and 1000 dollar computer with a quad core.
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