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The Official Graphics Card and PC gaming Thread
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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24. May 2011 @ 12:47 |
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You lucky dog! I paid $180 for the Asus VH242H. It does have a slightly better viewing screen than my Samsung. Perhaps I should restate. The "flickering" is pretty minor. I just worry that it could be a problem one day. It does have a 3yr warranty. And it won't expire til november of 2012. Perhaps I'll wait and see what happens.
It's similar to this ones problem, only not as pronounced.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENxqjxzuht8
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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25. May 2011 @ 00:36 |
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Oh man that would drive me nuts. Thankfully, I extended the 3 year warranty on my 2407 to a 5 year warranty. Got till August of this year to get a new one if I need it. The image quality is still impressive to me. I always find myself looking for high resolution pictures to check out or playing really pretty games and just staring. Really satisfied with it :)
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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25. May 2011 @ 00:39 |
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Well...it would drive me nuts, if it did that non stop! It only does that while it's warming up. Not major, just noticing it ;)
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AfterDawn Addict
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8. June 2011 @ 16:43 |
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BF3 is lookign mighty tasty. also just got my self a corsair F60 sandforce 60GB SSD, for 70 quid, so nearly a £/gb.
but for BF3, i wonder how bad it will tax GPUS.
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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8. June 2011 @ 16:45 |
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Well, I'm thinking at least as bad as BBC2, maybe slightly worse, so probably quite the graphically taxing game. I sincerely hope it isn't as finicky as its predecessor, I'm not sure I know anyone who can run Bad Company 2 stable and glitch-free.
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AfterDawn Addict
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8. June 2011 @ 17:12 |
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i dont think anyone can, unless you have a single nvidia GPU by the looks of it
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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8. June 2011 @ 17:34 |
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Nah, my friend's PC with a 9600GT locks up when he plays BC2. No problems in anything else, Metro 2033 included. Could be an nvidia issue, but then why would my other friend's HD6850 do it as well?
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Senior Member
4 product reviews
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8. June 2011 @ 18:35 |
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i think its an ATi thing, BC2 locks up @ random on my 2 5770's but on my single GTX460 its flawless...just cant turn on all the goodies
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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8. June 2011 @ 18:36 |
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Read my post above...
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Senior Member
4 product reviews
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8. June 2011 @ 18:41 |
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Originally posted by sammorris:
Read my post above...
its a GT9600.....i'm surprised that runs it at all.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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8. June 2011 @ 18:49 |
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A 9600GT isn't that slow really, it may not be up to recent standards, but the difference between the 9600 and the 8600 was vast, a 9600GT could still take on the HD3870 and HD2900s pretty well, it was the next card down from the 8800GT at the time.
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Senior Member
4 product reviews
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8. June 2011 @ 19:23 |
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Originally posted by sammorris:
A 9600GT isn't that slow really, it may not be up to recent standards, but the difference between the 9600 and the 8600 was vast, a 9600GT could still take on the HD3870 and HD2900s pretty well, it was the next card down from the 8800GT at the time.
have you tried another directX mode? you can choose between 9 10.1 and 11. i personally have mine set to DirectX 11. DX9 likes to unload alot of stuff to the CPU.. stuff that the GPU can clearly handle.
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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8. June 2011 @ 22:41 |
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Honestly my 6850s have never scaled worth a damn in BC2. On some maps running 30-60FPS which for an online FPS can be quite jittery. A single card runs it fine though. Driver revisions have been hit and miss. The 5850s straight up scaled better. Oddly enough in the Vietnam expansion, I don't have this problem, runs 70-90FPS, perfect scaling.
If BF3 at least has decent scaling I should be pretty well equipped for it. Even if it's worse than BC2. Really must say the good ole 955BE hasn't let me down yet. Bring it on let's see what this old girl can do :)
So yeah one of my 6850s had a fan burn out today. Shipped off for RMA. Thank you XFX for the double lifetime warranty, screw you XFX for the bad fan. Cost me $20 to ship it and I'ma be at half capacity for a week. Just started The Witcher 2 which is amazing but it's so demanding Crossfire is essential to running it properly :(
Quote:
A 9600GT isn't that slow really, it may not be up to recent standards, but the difference between the 9600 and the 8600 was vast, a 9600GT could still take on the HD3870 and HD2900s pretty well, it was the next card down from the 8800GT at the time.
Yeah I had a 9600GT for a while in one of my secondary rigs and it really wasn't that slow. Managed Crysis pretty adequately and BC2 is a far Cry from being as demanding as Crysis. AFAIK it was neck-and-neck with a 3870, maybe 2 or 3% faster. Which IMO is still quite usable.
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 8. June 2011 @ 22:51
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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9. June 2011 @ 04:52 |
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I don't have any performance issues with the game, for the vast majority the game is very smooth for me, it's just the black screen and corrupted shadows that wind me up.
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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9. June 2011 @ 17:34 |
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Yep I still get the black screens too. Though recently they have been happening much less. I think it was the 11.5b hotfix driver that improved it.
I miss Crossfire and it's only been one day. Can't play Witcher 2 :(
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 9. June 2011 @ 17:35
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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9. June 2011 @ 17:36 |
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I'm using 11.5b (upgraded from 10.11), and regret it to an extent because of the poxy cursor anti-corruption code, which they were supposed to optimise in it but are leaving for 11.6 (who knows, it may slip another year). RTS games are hard when you can't pan the screen with the mouse :(
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AfterDawn Addict
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9. June 2011 @ 17:44 |
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ahh single card gaming, no problems. at the same time, no power :(
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
15 product reviews
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9. June 2011 @ 17:44 |
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Again, have yet to experience anything like mouse corruption :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 9. June 2011 @ 17:48
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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9. June 2011 @ 17:48 |
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It's a known issue that affects single and dual GPUs in roughly 50% of cases, has been an issue since the HD5 series was first released in 2009, when it manifested itself first as an enlarged cursor, then latterly (2010) as a corrupted cursor. As of 10.12, a corrupted cursor workaround was used, but this reduces the frame rate of all activity (2D or 3D) to 3fps if the pointer is within so many pixels of the screen edge at the offending corners (top-right, bottom-right). It can be fixed in windows if you disable mouse shadows, but not in game, you just have to suffer it.
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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26. June 2011 @ 07:04 |
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Warning, long post!
Okay so I've been lazy lately and I have a few mini-reviews to get out the door. This time, something fairly new. The Witcher 2 and Operation Flashpoint: Red River. Both great games.
Operation Flashpoint: Red River
So this game is basically a direct sequel to OF: Dragon Rising on the same engine. I am going to be basing my review on the single player portion of the game.
Graphics: 7.5/10
Up close Red River is nothing special. Comparable to say CoD4:MW1, which definitely isn't bad, but it's a very wee bit behind the times. It makes up for this though with plenty of fireworks, outstanding draw distances, and beautiful, if a bit sparse, landscapes. Overall it's very nice to look at but I found the graphics to be the most disappointing aspect of the game. The textures are a bit "meh" and the whole thing reeks of consolitis. That said, the draw distances ARE very nice, and the game itself looks polished, if a bit bland. If the textures were a bit nicer it would be an awesome looking game.
The one great redeeming factor of Red River and the place where it truly excels over Dragon Rising is field of view. It's 75 vs the previous 60, which was like looking down a forested hallway and gave me motion sickness after a few hours. It would be nice to adjust it wider, say 90, but the engine apparently isn't capable of those kinds of tweaks.
Performance: 5/10
This game is effing demanding. Maxed out with 4xAA puts me between 30 and 65FPS. Averaging say 50 in combat which is quite playable but with frequent dips and intermittent choppiness. Considering my pixel pitch I can still get away quite beautifully with 2xAA which bumps me up to 60FPS average and ranging between 40 and 70. 2xAA is way more playable. Two 6850s in Crossfire should not be having problems maxing this game. I suspect Crossfire scaling is to blame according to google and another driver release or Crossfire Application Profile will be putting me in far better stead. This also happened with Dragon Rising and was fixed maybe a month later. I also hear of Nvidia users getting better results. I may try renaming the Exe to Grid or Dirt 2 as those games run on the same 3D engine.
Gameplay: 9/10
This is where Red River truly shines. It is a huge upgrade from Dragon Rising in every way. The missions have some actual scripting now, which vastly increases the action and excitement. I do miss the tactical freedom of the first game, and the range of movement and sense of scale it afforded you. The events in Red River are on a much grander scale than the first game though. The levels are also very large and very long. One mission is roughly a straight hour of holding off huge hordes of enemy troops and tanks, fighting tooth and nail to hold every inch of ground. Falling back to other positions is entirely scripted. And the final defense before and extraction chopper finally shows up is just epic. I felt truly accomplished when I completed this mission on normal difficulty. It was just that awesome. That's what Dragon Rising needed, was scripting, and Red River answered the call.
The ballistics are all true-to-life and the gunplay is tight. Be prepared to miss a lot though because realistic ballistics means hit delay, bullet drop and wind direction. And forget sniping with pistols like in Dragon rising, they're useless after about 25 yards. Though they pack a heavy and appropriate wallop in close quarters.
The command radial has been slightly improved, and your soldiers are now much more responsive. The orders are much more context sensitive in this game so you find that you have exactly what you need at right the moments. You can order your troops to clear or fortify buildings, use mounted weapons, mount vehicles, etc. There's also an overhead map with a very good range of control as well, even allowing to command your squad to heal an out-of-sight teammate which is useful when spread out during a firefight. There is a similar command radial for calling in support fire, which is usable in conjunction with a scope or binoculars. You rarely get to use it, but it's soooo worth it when you do :)
The AI squad mates can feel a bit like babysitting at times, but they hold their own fairly well and take cover, heal buddies, etc appropriately. Sometimes they can be a bit sluggish, or move to the wrong side of cover, but once you understand the tolerances of the command system they're pretty useful. They are pretty responsive to commands too so just keep a tight track of them and keep up with the level scripting and they have a pretty decent survivability. They even ended up saving me a couple of times in heavy duty combat which is gratifying.
Sometimes it can get a bit hectic with all these commands and options, and it can be hard to keep track of the current objective with events happening so quickly. Your squad mates are also a bit dumb until you get a hang of how the commands affect them. And the game itself is exceedingly hard. But these are the only real faults I can pick at.
Sound: 8/10
The sound is also nothing to write home about. I often find the weapon effects lacking that certain punch and weight but the distance effects, surround effects, explosions etc are all very well done and add to the immersion. The dialogue I found to be excellent which was unexpected for a gameplay model so "experimental" compared to previous efforts in the series, ie scripted and with an actual story.
Overall: 8/10
I found Red River to be a very satisfying and complete sequel to Dragon Rising. The gameplay, graphics, action, coding, etc are all a serious step or two up in quality. I wanted to try this game for kicks and it really surprised me. It has a few shortcomings but the game is more dated than lacking in quality. Anyone into serious tactical military shooters should give Red River a look.
The Witcher 2
The Witcher 2 is a very deep action RPG and a direct story sequel to The Witcher.
Graphics: 10/10
The Witcher 2 is basically one of the prettiest games I have ever played in my life. The textures, models, lighting, animation, everything is just absolutely superb. The environments are varied, colorful, and richly detailed. Not to mention vast. The shading is excellent and the in-engine cutscenes look like a pre-render. Just out of this world attention to detail. The Witcher 2 is basically the best looking game released since Crysis Warhead IMO.
Performance: 7.5/10
Despite the mindblowing graphics, The Witcher 2 manages to maintain a fairly steady framerate on my rig. There are a few performance sucking options I disabled right away. In-game depth of field(the cutscenes still have it) and motion blur, both of which tank the framerate and quite simply are unneeded in this sort of game. All maxed with no AA I manage 50-70FPS running around and maybe 40-60 in combat which is all quite fluid and playable even in intense action. AA isn't too sorely needed due to some clever visual tricks used by the developers and due to my own pixel density(hehe).
There was some initial struggle getting Crossfire working with the game and even some annoying visual bugs until Catalyst 11.6 came out, but the game has never run better since the update.
I would rate this game lower for performance but it just looks so damn pretty that it's actually amazingly well optimised in comparison.
Gameplay 8/10:
The Witcher 2 has improved in every area from combat to scripting to simply moving around. Gone are the awkward and jerky timed button presses for melee attacks to be replaced with a more "hack-n-slash" style approach. Enemies are varied and challenging so the combat never feels too arcadey or cheap. The main character moves around with graceful, fluid animations and uses some pretty brutal finishers. The combat is bloody and satisfying.
Dialog has been improved as well. The conversations are more dynamic, sometimes answers are even time-sensitive to the given moment. The developers really help immerse you by blurring the line between good and evil. There are no overtly good or bad choices. Only your personal sense of right and wrong to guide you. The story is amazing as well.
The only thing I can truly fault in the gameplay is the still terrible inventory and item system. There are about 15 different categories of items where there should be like 7 or 8 and the actual item list is about 3 or 4 objects viewable at a time. Kinda PC un-friendly for a PC exclusive eh? Also, it's sometimes confusing as to what actual item you have highlighted. Those two points were docked solely because of the menus. Also, WTF about not being able to use potions in combat, though it does drive you to create better potions.
I will add the the game controls much more smoothly with an Xbox controller. Keyboard and mouse are quite suited to the game but they put special effort into making it work well on an Xbox controller. This definitely being a PC exclusive game, that was an unexpected but pleasant addition.
Sound: 9/10
Where to begin... well the music is amazingly well written and very stirring at times. Like Lord of the Rings good. I find myself relaxing in safe areas and tensing up in dungeons all based on the music and how it reacts to the game. It is very atmospheric and appropriate to the situations. The Witcher 2 has one of the strongest soundtracks I have ever heard.
The dialog and voice acting are all top-notch. The game is very well written with a lot of attention to detail and the actors do it much justice. There are a few half-hearted performances but overall easily movie quality.
All the sound effects are very well done and the violence is satisfyingly crunchy and gruesome to hear.
Overall: 10/10
Not much more to say. The Witcher 2 is one of the most beautiful, detailed and professionally made games ever. It is an instant classic and easily one of the best RPGs of all time.
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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26. June 2011 @ 13:04 |
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The Witcher 2 looks interesting. I'm usually not into RPG games, but that one does look very worthwhile.
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! |
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StevieWh
Newbie
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27. June 2011 @ 15:19 |
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Ok. A real easy one. I have a FS amilo S 3535A which has an onboard graphics card - GeForce 9200GS.
I see a slot on the motherboard for what I believe to be for graphics but I haven't managed to find which card I upgrade to or if an upgrade is even possible.
All tips appreciated.
Thanks
Steve
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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27. June 2011 @ 15:26 |
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This appears to be a slimline desktop with a compact PSU. This limits you to basic slimline cards, which while an upgrade from the 9200GS, are quite expensive and far from top-of-the-range. The relatively low-speed CPU will also hold you back if you're looking to play top end games.
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StevieWh
Newbie
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27. June 2011 @ 15:43 |
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High end gaming isn't priority. But have noticed it has issues with smooth video playback, mainly HD files.
What options would I be looking at?
Thanks for the swift reply
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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27. June 2011 @ 15:59 |
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A number of reasons can cause lack of smoothness. A busy hard drive, slow processor, dodgy powersupply. It's really tough to say.
You could even have a codec issue.
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 27. June 2011 @ 16:00
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