The Official Graphics Card and PC gaming Thread

Finished my testing, and the second card is definitely bad. I'm booking a return today for collection on monday, and applying for a direct refund. I genuinely don't have the time or patience to try another 5 series card for now. I'll leave it until the 6 series comes out before I upgrade.

 

Two bad cards in a row? Man, that's really bad! It's a shame that GPU's don't have the extreme success rate that CPU's have Fairly rare that people have dead/faulty CPU's.
Probably wait myself. I'm lucky when I can sit down and play a game without a guilty conscious.

I'm actually concentrating a lot of my extra time on programming(as well as family guy episodes). It's going pretty slowly right now though. A lot of what I read is not designed for the layman So I find myself stumped often LOL! I don't give up very easily though. I'm very stubborn, and determined when I set a goal. Computers are the future, and I want to be a part of that xD I did find some tips for where to start though. Basically where a complete new-b SHOULD begin. If I could start designing some BASIC programs, I would be well on my way then

 

I keep trying to learn programming, just can't get my head around it. Frustrating as it's something I'm sure I should be good at, but I'm really not :S

 

I like afterdawn quite a bit. I haven't spoken with anyone on afterdawn that seem to me, to be experts in the art of programming or web development. I WILL become a programmer one day. I don't know how long it will take me, but I will. When I feel I can contribute to people of lesser knowledge, I will attempt to make programming easier than it has been for me! Certain programs used to intimidate me. Now I have a pretty firm understanding of them. Don't get me wrong, programming is very complex stuff. It does not come easy to me LOL! One day it should though. I don't know how to explain it, but basically, when my mind is bent on something(when I live and breathe it), it just begins to make sense. I believe that most people are this way. Time is something of a factor in all our lives. Time is something I'm fortunate to have a lot of. I work part time at the moment. All other time I spend learning. I believe I'm here for a reason. It's not to multiply like rabbits

Occasionally a good game helps me unwind of course

 

Well I have some minor programming skill. I'm pretty fluent in Visual Basic and have only basic skills in C++. I can make business calculators and simple apps, games and whatnot. If you really need help programming, I might be able to point you to a friend who is extremely talented in the subject. He's a bit of an introvert though so it might be hard to get him to come on AD or an IM client to talk XD

On another note I am a bit excited about Homefront. If you haven't heard of it check out some gameplay videos on Youtube. It looks good

Also, my top left third molar from the back is killing me. Mind this is counting my wisdom teeth as they came in problem-free. My family has a history of bad teeth... just wish I had insurance to take care of it XD

Oh well, Ibuprofen, codeine, and a little bit of whiskey is working for now...

 

Sniper: Ghost Warrior [AA omitted]

Minimal: Radeon X1800XL/HD2900 series/HD3650/HD4650/HD5570 or above, Geforce 7950GT/8800 series/9600 series/GT220 or above
Reduced: Radeon HD2900XT/HD3850/HD4670/HD5570 or above, Geforce 8800GT/9600GT/GT240 or above
Moderate: Radeon HD4700 series/HD5700 series or above, Geforce 9800GTX+/GTS250 or above
Good: Radeon HD4870/HD5800 series or above, Geforce GTX280/GTX275 or above
Optimal: Radeon HD4850X2/HD5850 or above, Geforce GTX260-216 SLI/GTX470 or above
Extreme: Radeon HD5830 Tri-CF/HD5870 CF or above, Geforce GTX465 Tri-SLI/GTX480 SLI or above

 

Thanks Jeff. Appreciate that. My problem seems to be exactly where to begin. I don't want to run before I walk you know LOL! Every language I've looked at has been intimidating to say the least! Well...almost every language. XHTML seems pretty basic. But maybe what my problem is, is not understanding the roots, the foundation of ALL programming. Where do you suggest I start? Treat me as a first year student

 

RMA is finished with the second returned 5970. Turns out it was actually even worse by the time they got it, artifacts all over the place. Refund is on its way...

 

Finally they're not ****ing with you now

Might want to post that in the AMD forum and shut some people up XD

I would start with Visual Basic. You can program it with a graphic interface and it makes it easy to understand the fundamentals of object association and code structure. If you really want to learn, a "for dummies" type book or a learner's text book might be your best bet. Something that can walk you through it. Once you are pretty fluent with Visual Basic, a lot of other programming languages fall in line because they use the same basic structure(though not the same syntax ie wording convention) . C++ and HTML come to mind.

I can't be much help over the internet. But if you care to we can get together on MSN or Skype or something and I can walk you through a few basic programs. Microsoft Visual Studio is what you should be looking for. I have the 2009 edition.

 

Oh I did, I posted their report back. I decided to leave off 'told you so' - don't want to seem like an arrogant SOB, there's enough of those there already

 

I like this page. It speaks to me, as though I know little or nothing. Every other search I ended up reading something that assumed I was a novice or expert. Quite irritating
Thanks for the opinions Jeff. Always appreciated
http://www.vbtutor.net/lesson1.html

 

Omega, excellent find. That was one of the aids I used when I started. It is the first half of one of the college textbooks Follow that and try every program several times until you can do it without looking. It's fairly straight forward.

 

Singularity (AA excluded)

Minimal: Radeon X1800 series/HD2900 series/HD3650/HD4650/HD5570 or above, Geforce 7800 series/8600GT/9500GT/GT220 or above
Reduced: Radeon HD2900 Pro/HD3850/HD4670/HD5570 or above, Geforce 8800 series/9600GSO G92/GT220 or above
Moderate: Radeon HD3870/HD4700 series/HD5700 series or above, Geforce 8800GT/9800GT/GT240 or above
Good: Radeon HD4770/HD4850/HD5770 or above, Geforce 8800 Ultra/9800GTX+/GTS250 or above
Optimal: Radeon HD4770CF/5750CF/HD4850X2/HD5830 or above, Geforce GTX275/GTX280 or above
Extreme: Radeon HD5830 Tri-CF/HD5970/HD5850CF or above, Geforce GTX285 SLI/GTX480 OC or above

There's still hope

 

Wow - I very carefully read that post, and the intense agonizing over the multitude of choices was palpable - I started sweating in empathy - (or maybe it's just the caffeine buzz from all the java I drank this afternoon to try to get myself fired up for phone calls, lol.)

Hahahaha!

And that was over two weeks ago - I meant to get back here last weekend but I took another real estate listing!!! Also I just closed out my first escrow for $3400 - UPGRADE BUCKS!!!

Maybe I'll actually upgrade someday - but not yet. No reason to since I have been off gaming since February! It almost kills me to say that - I'm doing a bunch of agonizing myself!! I turned on the gaming rig overnight a few weeks ago so Steam would load the new free chapter of Left 4 Dead 2 - but I don't know exactly when I'll be back on.

I won't let myself start up again until I am satisfied that I have restarted the massive phone call habit - 20 hours a week - like when I actually used to make money selling houses, lol.

However, I almost jumped on last week. What I really miss about it is, first of all, the shooting of course (but if Shaff were around I probably wouldn't miss getting killed every minute by him ) And of course I miss the comraderie - especially in Left 4 Dead - chatting with the team - yelling during the tense moments - cheering when we get to the safe room - particularly in expert mode when the other teamies are good about checking their friendly fire.

(The last time I played - with Friends - one of the guys was soooo bad - there was nowhere I could position myself in a zombie rush - to be safe from him - where I didn't suddenly lose 50 health not due to any zombie swipes. In expert mode, trying to prevail and make some progress, in Mall no less, is pretty frustrating with a colt teammate who has terrible friendly fire stats. I probably should have just told him to stay with uzi or get his fire under control - instead of that I just bailed out and silently slipped away with no goodbyes, lol.)

One of the things that is helping me maintain the discipline and focus, to hold off the gaming until my phone calls are cranking, is that to start a gaming session, I have to completely turn the table around to activate the huge 30" monitor and my gaming rig. And turning the table around is a ten minute project. That table is right now set up for phone calling.

Do you guys remember this picture?


I called it David and Goliath - my Dell 19" 1440x900, versus the 30" 2560x1600.

I had trouble with my gaming keyboard moving too much, so I finally taped it down on the table and I also taped down a large mouse pad. The little monitor is now back to back with the big one, connected to a second 2.4 ghz business tower that sits next to the 4 ghz gaming tower. The picture shows the seat cushion, next to the refrigerator on the left of the picture. Right now the table is turned around and the big Dell is facing toward us. The little monitor is backed up to the big one, facing away, and everything is set up for phone calls, not gaming. Right now, I can turn on the gaming computer and clumsily hit some keys on the keyboard, and use the mouse, but there is nowhere to sit.

I have one more business station on the other end of the trailer, where I have another identical table, and right now that's where the outgoing telephone is, but I switch phone calling stations from time to time, trying to overcome the boredom of the calling and get back into the old rhythm. Taking that second listing a week ago was exciting! That could turn into another $3500 check - more upgrade money!

And there's still that 9450 quad core that Miles said he might loan me for a while - it's just sitting in his garage - I forget which one he is using - he doesn't pay too much attention to the hardware they give him for his animating. I'll be going over there tomorrow for a little visit - I haven't seen him for a long time - maybe I'll have some news on upcoming valve projects.

Oh man! Like Jeff said "there's still hope!" They DID make another one, just for Sam

Yeah! Good idea - I can't remember if Miles said "9450 or 9550." I see specs are almost the same with 12mb L2 cache - 9550 a little faster. Maybe that will be my upgrade - take Miles' box - if he really DOES give it to me - put a better cooler on, a bunch of fans, overclock to 4ghz, and throw a couple of 5870s in it.

OH CR*P!!! IT WAS EXCITING FOR A WHILE!

Wow - does that sound familiar!

FAMILY GUY!! Hahahaha! I bet you like futurama too!!! Hahahahaha! They're all by the same Simpson people, am I right?

My brother - the auto cad guy - loves futurama. I watched one episode in high definition on the new 47" big screen. At first I thought - "No! A cartoon? Not for me." But then I got sucked into it.

The writing is over the top. The very weird robot is named Ender - like the majorly famous science fiction story "Ender's game." And in the one episode I watched, they were on a sandy planet, riding a huge worm. Is anybody else besides me a giant Dune fan?

They were rebuilding Vegas, and a Frank Sinatra song was playing for most of the first 5 minutes. For a cartoon, it is loaded with very sophisticated humor and double entendres all over the place! Quite entertaining, I have to admit!

Hahahahaha!

Yeah, Kevin, me too! I'm here for a reason - and that's to relive World War II and kill as many Nazis as possible. Plus a few Far Cry mercs and monkeys, BF2 Mecs (or Americans depending on which side I'm on, lol) and of course ZOMBIES!

But mostly Nazis - that era seems to be the part of the last century that interests me most. That was quite a war, after which everybody multiplied like rabbits.

And finally I see I'm all caught up with you guys. Jeff and Kevin are doing some programming work - I have found it's all math and logic - but I never took it to where Kevin wants to go with it, or to where Jeff is. My opinion, Sam, if you haven't excelled, is that you just haven't gotten interested enough yet - you're too busy gorging on pixels and creating hardware solutions for high-end virtual reality.

And not to mention, busy getting involved with every kind of virtual reality they invent - you and Jeff testing all the new games.

So I take it, Sam, that nothing by way of new tech from you until Southern Islands?

But wait a second, just a few weeks ago, until you discovered they actually had another bad Sapphire card for you, weren't you heavily leaning toward that 3 gpu idea that Jeff was all in favor of?

Rich

 

I've actually only watched one episode/movie of Futurama. It was good. Futurama and Simpsons are the same people, Family guy is a different creator.
Interest definitely helps when attempting to learn and excel in any field

Love Dune by the way xD

 

Nah, The Simpsons and Futurama are Matt Groening. Family Guy, American Dad and The Cleveland Show are Seth Macfarlane.
The robot is Bender, not Ender.

The three GPU idea is out for me at the moment, as I had a limited time window within which to buy an HD5 series card and sell the 4870X2s, before I would have to make a rent payment, and I'd no longer have the balance to pay for such a card up front. That time window has now expired. I would not be especially interested in any other solution until the price comes down anyway. Believe it or not, no graphics upgrade I have purchased since, well ever, has resulted in less than double the performance, Rage pro to GF4MX must have been a good 3-4 times, GF4 to 9200 must have been 3-4 times, 9200 to X800 would have been a good 4-5 times, X800 to X1900 would have been about double, X1900 to HD3870 would be about double, HD3870 to HD4870 a bit more than double, HD4870 to HD4870X2 double, one HD4870X2 to two is also double. So to see raw performance actually decline in an upgrade, when it's been the most costly upgrade so far (Highest prior was the X1900 at £327), nah, it just doesn't make sense.
On top of all this, I'm possibly going on a trip to florida for a fortnight in September, so I need to save quite a substantial sum for that.

Unless there's a substantial price drop in the HD5 series, for instance one that allows me to get two HD5970s at a net cost of £300 or less, I think I'll hold off for now. This would mean HD5970s would have to be £325-£375. Given that you do well to currently find one for £490, and nvidia have nothing interesting on the horizon, not going to happen.
The next leap in either price drops or higher performance will be with the next high-end part AMD produce, they're very much leading the pack at the moment. I have no confidence the low-end Fermi based parts from nvidia are going to heat up the low-end market either. They're direct cuts of Fermi, so they'll be just as expensive and inefficient. The only thing they have going for them is the GTX485, the 512 shader card the 480 was originally meant to be, apparently meant to launch with a similar price tag of the 480's original MSRP. Only a 3-4% increase in stock clock speeds though, and interestingly, that means it requires two 8-pin PCIe connectors, so its TDP must be over 300W. That is proof that the GTX480's stated TDP of 250W is in fact a lie, and the originally stated figures of 280W or 295W are more accurate. Given the thermal performance of the GTX480, I'm going to go with 295. The cooler is just as big on the 480 as it is on the 4870X2, but unlike the X2, is an uninterrupted block, with heatpipes, thus resulting in a bigger, more powerful cooler. Yet, at the same fan speed, GTX480 runs hotter. Since the 4870X2's TDP is 286W, this must mean that the 480 is above it. Either that or they use appalling thermal paste.

 

Ah thank you Xbit. All these benchmarks going around were giving the impression Aliens vs Predator was actually playable on full detail. Here's a benchmark that illustrates about how well the game ran for me:



With microstutter in play too, I was running the game at 800x600 all minimum, and it was smooth most of the time, but 1024x768 all minimum was too much, it lagged a bit.
WHAT THE ****.

Note that 2560x1600 requires more than 1GB of video memory, and even 1600x900 requires more than 896MB!

 

So it would appear I got scammed by two companies, not just Sapphire for the dud 5970s, but also CCL that sold them. After wondering where my refund was that was authorised a week ago they told me "oh, it was authorised today". Coincidence? I'm not entirely sure. Not impressed. So much for planning to shop there more often.

 

Transformers: War for Cybertron [Game engine capped at 30fps] [AA excluded]

Minimal: Radeon X800XT/X1800 series/HD2600XT/HD3650/HD4550/HD5450 or above, Geforce 6800GT/7600GT/8600GT/9500GT/GT220 or above
Reduced: Radeon X1900XT/HD2900 series/HD3690/HD4650/HD5570 or above, Geforce 7900GT/8600GTS/9500GT/GT220 or above
Moderate: Radeon HD4700 series/HD5700 series or above, Geforce 8800GT/9800GT/GT240 or above
Good M30: Radeon HD4750/HD4850/HD5700 series or above, Geforce 8800GT/9800GT/GTS250 or above
Optimal M30: Radeon HD4860/HD5770 or above, Geforce GTS250 or above
Extreme M30: Radeon HD4850X2/HD5830 or above, Geforce GTX275 (not GTX280) or above

 

Just a heads up. The latest patch for Bad Company 2 came out yesterday. Was apparently supposed to be here last week Wednesday.

http://forums.electronicarts.co.uk/bc2-pc-service-update/1088496-client-r8-server-r12-qa.html