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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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29. September 2008 @ 15:25 |
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lol Well I was gonna have a party the next day so I decided to keep it. It works out pretty well and I keep it in the living room which is right next to my room. Plus this way when I have lots of people over we have more room because it's the living room.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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29. September 2008 @ 15:26 |
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So you have a 55" and a 65" in the living room? That must look ridiculous!
Sorry, even with a topic edit, I've kind of gone off topic... lol
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harvrdguy
Senior Member
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29. September 2008 @ 15:31 |
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Well, I don't know how off-topic you are - you have to watch the results of the graphics on something, so the display is ultra-important.
Let's face it Sam, Boozer's folks are doctors, and he lives in a friggin' mansion - and the livingroom is the size of my whole house. So it doesn't look ridiculous. In addition to that, boozer is the most popular dude in Sanford, and his casual get-togethers with buds means 35 people showing up. LOL
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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29. September 2008 @ 15:34 |
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Lol! Shame I didn't know him when I last passed through the place...
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AfterDawn Addict
2 product reviews
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29. September 2008 @ 16:40 |
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lol the 65" is in my FAMILY room. Thats for US. Living room is for guests.
Oh and we dont live in a Mansion. lol Your house is pretty small. It's good enough for us but it's only like 2000 square feet. My parents dont PRACTICE anymore so we dont make boat loads of cash.
But yeah on our casual get togethers we have like 10-15 people :) Normally every weekend I have like 4-5 people over. I hate just stayin at home alone.
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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29. September 2008 @ 16:46 |
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Doctors eh? That's gotta be the life :D
I have to pay for everything myself, so I tend to only have one of each. One 24" LCD monitor, one 36" CRT TV, one '92 Eagle Talon TSi AWD, but 2 computers, lol.
If it wouldn't cost me out the arse, I would almost be willing to get another UltraSharp 2407WFP and run dual monitors. Heaven knows, the HD4870 can do dual monitors in a lot of games. Supreme Commander mostly though ;P
Quote:
It's good enough for us but it's only like 2000 square feet.
Yeah, my house is only 2300 sq feet.
Two big screens though? LMFAO
I will never see 2 big screen televisions in this house. It'd be a stretch to see one. My sister's is sweet but it's an el cheapo model. The picture looks fantastic though.
Been playing Gears of War for the PC lately. It's amazing how much better it looks when you crank the res. I thought the Xbox 360 version was pretty unimpressive. But the PC version looks awesome :D
Yay for high resolution!
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 29. September 2008 @ 16:50
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AfterDawn Addict
2 product reviews
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29. September 2008 @ 16:49 |
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It WAS the life. Not so much anymore.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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29. September 2008 @ 16:49 |
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I tell you, for a nudge over £600, when I'm a bit more affluent, a 40" Samsung 1080p job may end up in my home, wherever I happen to be :)
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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29. September 2008 @ 19:29 |
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Some bad news. Warhead does not support crossfire... :(
That's going to severely curtail frame rates...
However, how much do I believe fraps? At 16-18fps (2560 all gamer) the game is very smooth and playable, now I know no game is playable at that frame rate, even Crysis. All Enthusiast results in 10-13fps according to fraps which does feel laggy as expected, and also looks utterly different, the whole game's even a different colour. I'm a little sceptical Gamer is the analog to all high, it has that dark and dreary feel to it...
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 29. September 2008 @ 19:35
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harvrdguy
Senior Member
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29. September 2008 @ 21:25 |
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Hah, boozer, sorry I accused you of the "High life." But I knew you were one popular dude. Yeah I guess my house is about the same size - there's an added sunroom that is big, like 16 x 25 maybe. Pretty nice. It gets frickin cold in the winter. I was just telling somebody we need double pane glass, and while I was talking I looked, and IT IS double pane glass. So must be some type of cheapee.
Hey estuansis, your sister's HD - is it LCD, plasma, etc. You mentioned it wasn't super expensive, but I like how you were blown away by the detail so it must be reasonably good. I know you guys have lots of threads on HD - but just real quick - what's the 600 quid model you were talking about Sam - is it backlit LCD, or what?
Sam - you got Warhead! Great! You just said that fraps says you're not taking advantage of the x2 part of your board, but your game play indicates something better. Are you not having at least as good a game play as with regular crysis??
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 29. September 2008 @ 21:28
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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29. September 2008 @ 21:29 |
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Yeah, Samsung 5 series LCD, not the latest model, but good enough, 5-star reviews and all that, 40" 1080p for £630 at amazon.co.uk...
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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29. September 2008 @ 21:33 |
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The different colors between high and very high is called color grading and it was part of very high in the original Crysis. AFAIK the settings in Warhead translate directly to the settings in Crysis. I've tweaked them enough to know if there was a difference anyway...
Try turning stuff to medium and see what it does...
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 29. September 2008 @ 22:48
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harvrdguy
Senior Member
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29. September 2008 @ 21:35 |
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Wow,
I can't believe how reasonable the HDs are these days. My brother says Plasma is an energy hog. Have you heard that. But a guy at a store a couple years ago really made a great case for high-end Pioneer plasma - single thick glass instead of double pane - so no internal reflections. Also versus LCD I think it depends on if you are concerned about glare on the screen or not - and also if you need a wide viewing angle - lcd is still kind of a narrow angle for max brightness, right? (Oh, I'm getting off-topic.)
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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29. September 2008 @ 22:45 |
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Oh yeah. My sis's TV is an LCD. It's a Visio whatever that is... good image quality though when used right.
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
2 product reviews
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29. September 2008 @ 22:48 |
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My friend has a 42inch Visio, looks pretty damn good to me. It was cheap too. It's available at Costco I think.
Oh and I'm actually not part of the "popular" crowd at school, but I have my buddies :) I'm an only child so it gets lonely without friends or video games, OR computers! ahaha
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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29. September 2008 @ 23:43 |
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Yeah they're not bad. I liked the 50" just fine. Looked good for 50 inches and had little to no ghosting. Not to mention games look ridiculous at high res on a huge screen with heavy AA :D
Other news, Gears of War PC is awesome now that it didn't F up my Windows installation. Last time I installed, it screwed up all my drivers... I put the disk away for months...
Anyhoo, 1920 x 1200 is no problem and plays glassy smooth. This game seriously matches FEAR or Episode 2 in graphics. The section with the pouring rain and the abandoned factory... perfect atmosphere. Way more creepy than any part of FEAR or Crysis, IMO. Especially when you hear the monsters screaming or see them running up the side of a distant building. Kind of like the movie Pitch Black. Scary as f***.
OMG Xbox 360 eat your heart out. Standard def doesn't do this game any justice at all. It's loaded with all sorts of wicked awesome graphics :D
I feel though that I've seen Marcus Fenix before. Isn't he used as a character in UT3? I'm fairly sure they've recycled and re skinned the model...
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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Member
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30. September 2008 @ 00:20 |
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As far as replacing GPU cooling systems, how easily does that happen? I really like this Palit card, but this 70mm is pretty brutal once you start noticing it a lot. And it's not very practical to disable it as your idle goes from 45 degrees to 60 :S I'm not going to go as far as water cooling, but it it possible for me to replace a part of my GPU?
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AfterDawn Addict
2 product reviews
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30. September 2008 @ 05:48 |
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Yeah, Thermalright makes GPU coolers that are pretty good. You should look into that. I think Sam has one.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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30. September 2008 @ 08:00 |
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Rich: I saw your post, but my internet connection went down before I could reply. Fraps lists a very low frame rate for Warhead, and when it gets very low, it feels as it is, but honestly, 17-18fps does actually feel playable, which is bizarre. However, performance at higher resolution and lower GPU fan speed does indicate the second GPU is idle, which is a shame, as the game is clearly better optimised, and for once, we have native very high settings and AA works properly, in DX9. Maxed out, the game looks mindblowingly pretty, but without 2 GPU support, no amount of optimisation can make up for only having half as much graphics power to render the game, so until that's added, performance for me is notably worse than the original.
Given how vastly different Gamer looks to enthusiast though, I want to stick with enthusiast, which I can do at 1920x1200, and if I can put up with a very small amount of judder, I can enable 4x AA at that too, but you know, it's nice to use all 30", rather than just 23... :P
I don't know about the energy consumption of Plasmas, but what I do know is that my 30" monitor uses 70W at minimum brightness (which is what I use it at, minimum in a dark room with a mostly white image is still dazzling), and 130W at full brightness (only necessary or appropriate during daylight), and since the 30" is S-IPS, viewing angle is vast without any colour degradation.
I'm glad you get on well with GoW, I will have to try that again at 2560, now I can run it without a hitch. I like my spooky games.. hehe
Shamb1es: I used an HR-03 on my old X1900, which was quite a power hungry card. They really do a good job, especially if you stick a slow fan on them, it needn't be any faster than what is completely inaudible, and it will cool the card plenty well enough.
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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30. September 2008 @ 12:16 |
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So Sam, do you agree that they've really fixed Crysis? I think they did a lot to make the game better. Granted Enthusiast looks better than Gamer. You should try the Cheap Very High hack and see if there's a difference. There really isn't, except in performance...
http://www.tweakguides.com/Crysis_13.html
Read that page. It will explain the differences and how to enable Cheap Very High. I strongly suggest you try it as it works in Warhead too.
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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30. September 2008 @ 12:39 |
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There seems little point, Enthusiast works in XP and offers pretty much all the features that the very high hacks used to introduce. I won't say they fixed crysis, as the performance improvement isn't much, the random occasionally crap textures are still present, and unlike the original there's no crossfire support. I'll wait for a patch before I make my decision, What is worth noting though, is that I would recommend nothing short of a 3.6Ghz processor for the game, preferably even higher, the CPU limit is around 22-23 in most areas with a 3.24Ghz Q6600.
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30. September 2008 @ 13:57 |
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Originally posted by sammorris:
Shamb1es: I used an HR-03 on my old X1900, which was quite a power hungry card. They really do a good job, especially if you stick a slow fan on them, it needn't be any faster than what is completely inaudible, and it will cool the card plenty well enough.
Looks like i'm going for the HR-03 GT (50 CAD), what should I be looking for when I pick up a fan for it though? More than anything I want it to be quiet. I'm already spending more on the GPU than I would have if I spent a bit more on a better quality build, might as well make it even quieter than the better builds at this price.
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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30. September 2008 @ 14:00 |
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You're right about the CPU. My friend borrowed my copy and his 6000+ made it all the way through the game fine. But there was noticeably more lag with an HD4850 at 1680 res. Especially during the heavy parts. The video card might not be the biggest bottleneck for this game anymore. I had lots of noticeable improvements with Quad in physics, loading, AI(actually reacts quicker). Regardless of what they say, Crysis uses Quads quite well.
Quote:
There seems little point, Enthusiast works in XP and offers pretty much all the features that the very high hacks used to introduce.
I'm saying that the cheap very high settings takes less of a performance hit than real very high.
I still say you should try it. You might get near identical visuals with better performance. It worked well for me. I get better performance with the same visual features. I get colorgrading, POM, cinematic quality water, light rays. Everything that you can actually SEE in very high. It's a very close comparison.
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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30. September 2008 @ 17:47 |
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I use Nexus fans, which are available from Canadian PC component retailer, http://www.ncix.com - they're silent, nice fans. I take my low noise PCs very seriously, Nexus stuff is the bees' knees.
Thanks for the link Estuansis, but it's not really very high that I have a problem with right now, it's just 2560x1600 resolution, no matter how low the details are set doesn't run well at all.
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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30. September 2008 @ 18:06 |
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I think Warhead is till a vast improvement from Crysis though. It's disappointing that Crossfire doesn't work. A patch or driver update will surely fix that.
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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