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The Official Graphics Card and PC gaming Thread
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Senior Member
2 product reviews
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3. November 2008 @ 11:40 |
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I remember playing Halo 1 on my old rig and had loads of fun playing through it twice.
Never tried multiplayer though, and didn't really get into Halo 2 (only finished the first two missions)
PS - That rig was good for a laugh, thanks
(+[_]%) 1: 2.60 > 2.80 > 2.81 >3.03 > 1.50 > 3.52M33 > 3.52M33-4 > 3.90M33 > 3.90M33-3 > 4.01M33 > 4.01M33-2 > 5.00M33 > 5.00M33-3
My GAMING LAPTOP!! : Acer Aspire 5930G - P8400 2.26Ghz//4 GB DDR2//GeForce 9600M GT 512MB GDDR3
Ultimate Handheld/Portable Gaming Device :P |
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harvrdguy
Senior Member
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3. November 2008 @ 18:16 |
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Hey Ray - well if Doom 3 left you with headaches, I'll just leave it unopened in the cabinet then. Who needs that kind of stress? I get freaked out enough when COD4 Shaff comes around the corner with his shottie Lol
Originally posted by abuzar:
exponentially less scary the more people you have around you.
Yeah, boozer, like Sam and GTR said, that's what you get for trying to play the thing on the 60" big screen in the middle of that giant mansion living room with nobody home, and lightning and thunder outside! :P
Speaking of scary games - Fear shortened GTR's life - he's filing for social security next year. But Ray's gonna get the better of everybody and play Dead Space on his 15". Hell, I'll show all you guys - I'll mod it to play on my cell phone and say "what's up with you scaredy-cats!!"
So we're all playing xbox games now on the PC? Pretty soon I won't be able to give boozer any more cr*p. Actually estuansis, I have to admit, watching my brother's friend Kyle play Halo a couple years ago, it was kind of interesting - like world of warcraft, which he also was big into, kind of not too detailed graphics but very colorful - the waterfalls for example looked fake of course but still sort of "pretty." Now you're saying they're up to Half Life 2 level? - well well well. Kyle still stops by from time to time and while he's waiting for Joe, he likes to play cod4 mp on my rig - he's wayyyy better than I'll ever be. Maybe I should install Halo 3 just for those times - what does the game cost?
Sam's 3dmarks!! Geez, luieez, you're closing in on 20,000!! I remember when Ray hit 20k - as I recall he was running 4870 CF with water cooling and he cranked his voltages to dangerous levels, isn't that right? Originally posted by sam:
That's right, and at a very high voltage
Sam, so are your voltages sustainable or did you do like Ray and just crank them up to post?
Hey abuzar, that gag rig with the celeron - he's got 1200 watts getting ready for tri-sli. (And while we're on the subject, booze, watch out what the sh*t you say or Loco's gonna wash your mouth out!) I was thinking 750 watt corsair with 60 amps on the 12 volt rail for crossfire 4870 - but now I'm thinking of jumping straight to a 4870x2 - and maybe one distant day two of them, although nothing supports 4 gpus now.
But looking at your buddy's Thermaltake 1200 watts - that is a bunch more wattage than 750. Maybe I'm not future-proofing myself enough and I should be looking at over 1000 watts, and maybe 1200 is the right number if you factor in 20% capacitor aging over 3 years.
Sam, what do you think about that? How would two 4870x2 compare wattage-wise with tri-sli GTX 280?
-Rich
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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3. November 2008 @ 18:28 |
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I never got headaches playing Doom 3, it was kind of scary at times, jumpy, but not in the way FEAR is, that game messes with your head. Condemned is meant to be even scarier, but I dunno, watching it at least, it doesn't seem as bad.
Dead Space is scary in parts, I'll give it that, but I'd probably place it as Doom 3 scary, not FEAR terrifying.
Halo3 is only for the Xbox 360 unfortunately. Halo 2 is on Windows Vista, only the original Halo is for XP.
Funny you should mention the 3dmark, I've found an elusive E0 stepping Q9550, which is on its way here, so soon I should be able to break 21,000, let alone 20k.
As it happens Ray was only running 3870s to get that score, the 3dmark scaling of those older cards was better, so you got big scores considering they were half the speed of the 4870s. He did however crank his Quad core to the max, I'm not quite that dangerous myself. Plus, he got a better CPU for overclocking than I did.
I 'did like Ray' and upped the volts to get that 19500 score, but only to 1.55, not 1.6, that's just madness.
As you see, a 4870X2 runs on a 520W PSU, though how long I'll keep doing that we shall see. A 620W HX will do you fine, or the 650W TX if you don't care about modular cables.
As for two 4870X2s, it's kind of a waste of time right now, as the only games that actually need that much power (Crysis, Crysis Warhead, Supreme Commander:Forged Alliance and Flight Simulator X) don't support quad crossfire, none of them, so the technology is really a bit of a waste. Triple SLI is slightly better, but not by much. I'd stick with one 4870X2, and when the time comes that you need more oomph, there'll probably be a 5870X2, or something like that. Sadly, the best way to have a top-notch rig every month of the year is to take upgrades as they come. Costs a fortune, but that's how it has to be done I'm afraid. As far as watts go, full load with an overclocked Quad and one 4870X2 is around 480W peak, maybe 500 in the US due to the lower efficiency electrics. For two X2s, you're looking at around 750-800. For triple SLI with GTX280s, maybe 900-1000. In short, one 4870X2 = 600W PSU. Two 4870X2s = 1KW-1200W PSU. Two GTX280s = 850W PSU. Three GTX280s = 1KW-1200W PSU.
I'll warn you now, Zardon over at Driverheaven has killed off a fair few 1KW PSUs trying to get triple/quad GPU systems to run. An Enermax Galaxy didn't cut the mustard, neither do any of OCZ's offerings. The Corsair HX 1000W was the tool for the job in the end.
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AfterDawn Addict
2 product reviews
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3. November 2008 @ 18:54 |
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Yeah, what Sam said.
Also I just wanted to re-iterate this. You can't install Halo 3 on PC! lol Only Halo and Halo 2 are available on PC. If you want Halo 3 you will need to get a good old fashioned Xbox 360.
I love how no one cares about the PS3 or Wii.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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3. November 2008 @ 18:59 |
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It's because the Wii is for Nintendo games - Mario, Zelda, and the likes,and the PS3 doesn't really have any purpose apart from Metal Gear Solid 4, and costs twice as much as the other consoles.
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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3. November 2008 @ 19:04 |
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I think Halo looks remarkably good for its age. Sure, the terrain geometry isn't the best, but the character/gun models, textures and buildings are pretty nice. Especially considering it was a launch title for the original Xbox. It matches UT2004 pretty closely at least. AFAIK, UT2K4 had its fair share of ugly spots.
I played the hacked version of Halo 2. It looks even better but it performs like dump for its age and it's already been done to death on Xbox live. Halo 1 online is something you can't get with Xbox so the PC version holds a huge edge.
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
4 product reviews
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3. November 2008 @ 19:14 |
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It's been too long since you played UT2004 then. The original UT game of the year edition and Halo are about equal.
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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3. November 2008 @ 19:30 |
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Then you, my friend, haven't played Halo recently. Give the PC version a shot and tell me it matches the original UT. Bullcrap.
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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3. November 2008 @ 19:39 |
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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3. November 2008 @ 19:44 |
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Forget it, you're determined to win so whatever...
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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3. November 2008 @ 19:46 |
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Well no, I'm not arguing for the sake of arguing, but my point is that Halo was genuinely a fun game, but I don't play it any more, because as you'll see in that screenshot, the graphics offend me, and there are plenty of other shooters that are just as fun without horrible graphics, UT2k4/UT3, COD4, Quake 4 and so on.
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spamual
Suspended permanently
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3. November 2008 @ 19:49 |
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how ever good they do or do notlook, they are not a patch on RA2 :D
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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3. November 2008 @ 19:52 |
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Hehe, Red Alert 2 had that cheesy 'looks 3D but is actually 2D' top-down vibe about it.
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AfterDawn Addict
2 product reviews
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3. November 2008 @ 20:12 |
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Umm, I havent played UT GOTY, but I have recently played Halo:CE, and UT 2004, and Halo:CE looks wayyy better. The character models are so much better on Halo it's not even funny.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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3. November 2008 @ 20:19 |
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I must be missing something. I can only assume UT2004 is being played on Low, because the difference between the two games, especially in textures is vast. UT2004 is probably the best looking game of its era. Is there a graphical update to Halo I don't know about? I still remember it looking like this:
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harvrdguy
Senior Member
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3. November 2008 @ 22:03 |
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So, Sam, your final recommendation on PSU was Corsair 1000. Is Zardon the dude you bought your x2 from? I see that Corsair is two completely separate rails and transformers - actually two PSUs in one box - so a person will have to do some load balancing. Watched the tiger direct video - fairly quiet with that 140mm fan - a little pricey at $220, the 750 was going to run about $120. Still, maybe worth it to put it in, and never worry about it - has a long long mtbf rating of 11 years 24/7, 5 year warranty.
Noise-wise, with double ball-bearing variable speed 140mm fan, 25db up to 50% load, which is probably where it would hang with just one 4870x2, then about 35db at maybe 75% load, 44 db at full load.
I see that scythe doesn't make a pwm 140mm fan, but it does have full pwm at 3 smaller sizes - however those must not be the S-flex, because they don't show 150,000 mtbf, 17 years, they show 30,000, or about 3.5 years. I am curious as to why scythe doesn't extend the s-flex line to pwm variable speed control?
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Member
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4. November 2008 @ 02:54 |
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If Halo 3 was anywhere near as boring of a game as Halo 1 + 2 were I count myself lucky to not have it. Why worry about mediocre gameplay when there is so much better that is out this fall.
It is interesting to see these older titles from SD consoles on PC now pumping 22-24" monitor resolutions. It is probably hypocrisy in this thread buy games really don't have to look all that good to be immersive, but stretching those old blurry messes to large monitors and HDTV's hurts the eyes.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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4. November 2008 @ 09:12 |
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He is - I had signed up at driverheaven a week prior and was speaking to him about them when I looked for a 4870 (solo) on ebay. Turns out I found him selling one, so we dealt outside ebay. When he mailed me the following week to say he had an X2 for sale, I would have been mad not to take it. £255 delivered. Today they still cost around £350 delivered.
If you check out Driverheaven's website, Allan Campbell his name is, he edits a lot of the reviews.
I wouldn't worry about the load balancing on the Corsair, the PCI express outputs are tied to different rails, so as long as you do it right, one graphics card gets its own half of the PSU.
Shamb1es: I quite agree on the latter comment. Graphics do not make a game, but poor graphics can ruin one. :)
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Senior Member
2 product reviews
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4. November 2008 @ 10:00 |
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Originally posted by rich:
I remember when Ray hit 20k - as I recall he was running 4870 CF with water cooling and he cranked his voltages to dangerous levels, isn't that right?
Originally posted by sam:
As it happens Ray was only running 3870s to get that score, the 3dmark scaling of those older cards was better, so you got big scores considering they were half the speed of the 4870s. He did however crank his Quad core to the max, I'm not quite that dangerous myself. Plus, he got a better CPU for overclocking than I did.
Either you are really confused, or confusing me with another ray :P
All I have is a P4 rig, and my Acer laptop.
DooM 3 wasn't really that bad, it was just the jump out of the dark nature and slow game play that made it freaky :P
Quake 4 had the same engine, but because it was so fast paced, it wasn't as scary.
Just beacuse I play on a 15.4" doesn't make a game any less scary :P
And, true, bad graphics can ruin a game, as was the case with Halo 2.
It looked fairly bad compared to what other PC games came out that time, even though the gameplay is fun
(+[_]%) 1: 2.60 > 2.80 > 2.81 >3.03 > 1.50 > 3.52M33 > 3.52M33-4 > 3.90M33 > 3.90M33-3 > 4.01M33 > 4.01M33-2 > 5.00M33 > 5.00M33-3
My GAMING LAPTOP!! : Acer Aspire 5930G - P8400 2.26Ghz//4 GB DDR2//GeForce 9600M GT 512MB GDDR3
Ultimate Handheld/Portable Gaming Device :P
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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4. November 2008 @ 10:14 |
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Sorry, I know it's not you, should have made that clear, I'm referring to Waymon3X6.
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Senior Member
2 product reviews
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4. November 2008 @ 10:23 |
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No worries
'S all good ;)
(+[_]%) 1: 2.60 > 2.80 > 2.81 >3.03 > 1.50 > 3.52M33 > 3.52M33-4 > 3.90M33 > 3.90M33-3 > 4.01M33 > 4.01M33-2 > 5.00M33 > 5.00M33-3
My GAMING LAPTOP!! : Acer Aspire 5930G - P8400 2.26Ghz//4 GB DDR2//GeForce 9600M GT 512MB GDDR3
Ultimate Handheld/Portable Gaming Device :P
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harvrdguy
Senior Member
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4. November 2008 @ 14:24 |
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Yeah, it was waymon we were talking about, Ray, we started using everybody's real names on waymon's old gecube thread.
Hey guys - my PSU arrives in a day or so - was shipped yesterday. Any special caveats? What's a big mistake I should definitely avoid?
Also, I had one idea, let me know if this is good or bad.
What if I were to leave the old PSU in, but just connect the main mobo power and signal lines from the new PSU, and connect its moly 4pin connectors to the 3850 so the monitor will display. The idea would be to just make sure that the Corsair is not DOA before I go through all the trouble of installing it. Would that work? Is that a good idea? Besides the graphic card, what is the minimum number of mobo connections I would have to make to start the computer?
-Rich
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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4. November 2008 @ 14:26 |
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No, not recommended. Powering up a PC surges more power than it will usually require at load, 90% of all PSU bangs occur at startup.
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harvrdguy
Senior Member
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4. November 2008 @ 14:32 |
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Ok, thanks. Any special things I should be careful about - any common mistakes to not make?
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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4. November 2008 @ 14:34 |
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Don't forget the 4-pin (sometimes 8-pin) CPU power connector, don't power anything you haven't connected the data cable for, and more importantly, vice versa (particularly IDE drives)
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