Tek-Almighty

I'd rather have a $50 CRT over a $300 LCD, hey look I just got me one! Also, you're a dope...cuz I posted this exact same monitor in our buy, sell, trade thread like 1.5 years ago...I think I wanted $75. FTW.

What I find interesting with this game is consistency. It is a big issue. The hitching you've spoken of is a problem and I've posted in other forums and threads here about this. At times in this game, I will (with same settings but no AA) drop into the single and teens for no apparent reason, then be back up into the mid 40s and 50s. This will happen without a "level" or scene loading...just totally random and temporary (30 sec or so). I think this game is far from perfect, but it does show that with ginormous textures, the 1 GB of GPU memory (DDR5 as well, compared to my DDR3) is a factor. I would, however wager that other benches would put me ahead... So...I would say this is a draw. What you said earlier about CPU utilization being 50% is also interesting. (I am running DX9 in XP btw). Playing this game consistently utilizes both cores at about 90%...that is the same with pretty much most modern games for me. HardOCP did a nice little test yesterday that tested the new Nehalem core against the current Core2Duos. Interesting results at low res, but at high res...no real difference. Did you ever post up your 3dMark06 scores with the new graphics card? You really should try Crysis too. In all fairness. Also, you're not running that Q6600 at full capacity man!...Boost those clock speeds!

"Wasted" ??? "you'd actually game at" ??? SLI has improved my high rez gaming experience muchly IMO. There is no way I could run 1920 x 1200 with "high" or "very high" settings without it. I actually game at those settings minus the AA. At 1920 x 1200, The overall visual effect of AA is not that noticeable for me in some games. I use 8xAA in the latest half life episode, and it makes a great difference with those textures. However, the only thing I notice in games like Crysis and Far Cry is a whole lot of nada with AA enabled...other than lag. I will post up with my single card results to show you what I got for my extra $160.

Ok...for now, I cannot get FarCry 2 to run 8x AA. So here is results with Everything at Very High, DX9 mode (so no ultra), 1920 x 1200, and 4xAA. I have my e8400 @ 3.4 and 4GB ddr2. Settings: Demo(Ranch Small), 1920x1200 (60Hz), D3D9, Fixed Time Step(No), Disable Artificial Intelligence(No), Full Screen, Anti-Aliasing(4x), VSync(No), Overall Quality(Custom), Vegetation(Very High), Shading(Very High), Terrain(Very High), Geometry(Very High), Post FX(High), Texture(Very High), Shadow(Very High), Ambient(High), Hdr(Yes), Bloom(Yes), Fire(Very High), Physics(Very High), RealTrees(Very High) * Total Frames: 1098, Total Time: 51.00s * Average Framerate: 21.53 * Max. Framerate: 50.74 (Frame:122, 2.97s) * Min. Framerate: 6.99 (Frame:679, 22.52s) What is odd with AA enabled every time, I see a drop of about 25% fps in the 2nd and 3rd runs. I have no idea. This game scales horribly on my cards with AA.

I'll give it a try tonight if I get a chance. Yeah, there is some scuttlebutt revolving around crysis bench, but I think most of it surrounds the CPU tests. I've found that my gains in the GPU bench have been very good and on scale with improvements in other synthetic benches like 3dmark06. Here is what I got from my first few Far Cry 2 benches. I will try 8xAA later on. Settings: Demo(Ranch Small), 1920x1200 (60Hz), D3D9, Fixed Time Step(No), Disable Artificial Intelligence(No), Full Screen, Anti-Aliasing(None), VSync(No), Overall Quality(Custom), Vegetation(High), Shading(Very High), Terrain(Very High), Geometry(Very High), Post FX(High), Texture(Very High), Shadow(High), Ambient(High), Hdr(Yes), Bloom(Yes), Fire(Very High), Physics(Very High), RealTrees(Very High) * Total Frames: 3238, Total Time: 51.00s * Average Framerate: 63.49 * Max. Framerate: 95.57 (Frame:485, 6.62s) * Min. Framerate: 46.95 (Frame:2298, 35.73s) Only thing changed was AA set to 4x Settings: Demo(Ranch Small), 1920x1200 (60Hz), D3D9, Fixed Time Step(No), Disable Artificial Intelligence(No), Full Screen, Anti-Aliasing(4x), VSync(No), Overall Quality(Custom), Vegetation(High), Shading(Very High), Terrain(Very High), Geometry(Very High), Post FX(High), Texture(Very High), Shadow(High), Ambient(High), Hdr(Yes), Bloom(Yes), Fire(Very High), Physics(Very High), RealTrees(Very High) * Total Frames: 1633, Total Time: 51.00s * Average Framerate: 32.02 * Max. Framerate: 59.22 (Frame:276, 6.17s) * Min. Framerate: 14.02 (Frame:1400, 42.15s) 2nd run same settings?...wth? * Total Frames: 1185, Total Time: 51.04s * Average Framerate: 23.22 * Max. Framerate: 55.86 (Frame:268, 6.18s) * Min. Framerate: 8.72 (Frame:713, 22.93s) Never seen a game scale so poorly with AA (other than Crysis). Let's change all to "very high" with no AA: Settings: Demo(Ranch Small), 1920x1200 (60Hz), D3D9, Fixed Time Step(No), Disable Artificial Intelligence(No), Full Screen, Anti-Aliasing(None), VSync(No), Overall Quality(Custom), Vegetation(Very High), Shading(Very High), Terrain(Very High), Geometry(Very High), Post FX(High), Texture(Very High), Shadow(Very High), Ambient(High), Hdr(Yes), Bloom(Yes), Fire(Very High), Physics(Very High), RealTrees(Very High) * Total Frames: 3232, Total Time: 51.01s * Average Framerate: 63.36 * Max. Framerate: 95.82 (Frame:478, 6.62s) * Min. Framerate: 43.07 (Frame:0, 0.02s) So the change in vegetation, shadow and ambient from "high" to "very high" has essentially no effect on FPS. Like I said. I will change all to "very high" and 8xAA and post up. Then I will do all at high with 8xAA. Cujo...post what you will.

Just for Cujo. Crysis GPU benchmark Settings: All Medium, 1920 x 1200, 8x AA (forced through vid card drivers, because the game wouldn't let me change AA to anything other than none...wth?) AVG: 36.35 fps Max: 51.99 fps Min: 19.24 fps 4 GB DDR2 3.4 ghz Core 2 duo (wolfdale) 2 x 8800 GT @ 650/1900 in SLI As a side note. I got huge artifacting during this bench, but no really evident effects as far as FPS goes...Plus game wouldn't let me enable AA in game...so ftw...I don't know. Just a reminder, my 3Dmark06 was: 16,015 overall SM2: 7325 SM3: 8293 CPU: 3175 Apples...

errrr...uhhhh...me no understand your fancy speak. buhhhhh Yeah, pretty much, but we can do some fiddling and approximation. I don't know what his current specs are, but I will post up nonetheless.

Ummm Post up in the benches thread baby! You already know my 3Dmark06 score (free version doesn't allow the madness that is 1920 x 1200!). But, there is a bench we can run at whatever rez and whatever AA/AF settings...that is Crysis. From what I've seen on sites, I would put my dual core, SLI 8800GT up against your 4870 in quite a few games and give you a run for your money...in others, I'm sure you'd give me a run. I've already acquiesced to the fact that the 4870 does a better job at higher res with the AA on than do the 8xxx or the GTX2xx. But, if you wanna race, lets race. I will post up my 1920 x 1200 8xAA score in crysis with all set on Medium in the benches thread if you wanna do some apples to apples comparisons.

God bless and comfort you. There is no rhyme nor reason to this life of ours. I cannot begin to fathom... Take care.

Jokingly said...thus the smiley. Maybe I should have said that you don't like/respect/appreciate/care for/use/endorse SLI. Frankly it is a much better implemented technology (at least in 90% of the past) than crossfire. I was loathe to try it out, but having made the switch, I can fully endorse it for both usability (other than multi-monitor use [which supposedly is being fixed with latest cards/drivers]) and for performance gains. I am very happy with SLI, and to think that my lowly ~$160 cards in SLI can beat a single GTX 280 as well as a single 4870, makes me even happier.

I know we had this thread, maybe, a year ago. But what is everyone using to backup DVDs (either hard copy or ripped to a hard drive)? I was using DVD shrink 3.2, but that is soooooo last year. After my rebuild 3 mos. ago, I never reinstalled. So post up with your choices and maybe even links to dload them. (freeware only por favor!)

Thanks...I will try. Can you adjust fan speeds with it...or should I just wait and see?

Okay, first of all, this thread took a serious detour...killing kittens...Leave it to the Canucks. Not much to do there in the winter anyways, specially for those who don't drink *ahem...Dark. Where to get this fantastic precision software you speak of? I have two factory overclocked 8800 GTs...their stock settings are 650 core/1900 memory. Preacher had the 700 oc out of the box 8800GT? Nice. Cujo doesn't understand SLI? Well, let me put it like this: Crossfire copied it...now does it make sense? I figured once I put it in AMD/ATI terms you would get it! BTW Cujo...I will PM you, I want to install that kick-butt XP theme you/your friend came up with...You sent to me, but I forgot how to do. (I'm not a software guy, if you can't tell). Thanks to all who input (usable info, that is...so NO THANKS BUSH!)

My wife gave me the evil eye for staying downstairs and playing the game... *sighs

Ummm... Any suggestions? Whenever I go to oc the primary (e.g. plug-n-play) GPU, it is okay. Whenever I try to apply these settings to 2nd card, I get a weird frozen screen (upon reboot) and then I have to uninstall Riva as well as Forceware drivers. Ummm...Anyone?

Had the internets been around back then...this would have been lol'd outta the theater. I was a bit too young when this came out, but I did get to see "Empire" in the theater. I remember it lived up to the hype then...and the trailer was much better than Ep: 4.

Played for about 2 hours...out of the vault and into Megaton. I have to say, much better than I think FC2 is... It seems an awful lot like Oblivion. I mean some of the same voices, many of the same dialogue menu options (essentially...but reworded). The combat is more refined, but my weapons suck so much that the V.A.T.S. thing really doesn't help for now. The lock picking game has changed, but is essentially the same...testing dexterity on a digital scale. Level up is same, skills, attributes, etc...same as Oblivion. I would say worth playing if you like Oblivion and longed for a bit more.

Well, I've spent the last two days reading the laments and praises of ppl on HardOcp forums, as well as others, about this game...that and troubleshooting. Many say the same things: 1) Inexplicable framerate drops 2) BSOD when hitting checkpoints or quickload 3) Weird mouse lag 4) Sound issues with Creative hardware 5) Not being able to launch the program (I've experienced this...) 6) No true widescreen support 7) Great hardware running the game like donkey donuts. Well, I've spent a grand total of 2 hours playing and 2 hours fixing, so I wouldn't recommend for now, but it a couple of months, after a couple of patches, this will be great game. Oh, and the graphics (at max) are far inferior to Crysis...infact...the graphics at "very high" are on par with Call of Duty 2...That's right...2.

Well I sold my last gaming rig to a kid who says he can no longer come up with the money for it... So, if that falls through in the next week...I'll holler at you and maybe we can talk turkey. It was dual core athlon, 3 gb ddr ram, 250gb hdd, and a nicely oc'd 7900GT. Perfect for CS:S or UT2k4

Ok...so I had much faith in Far Cry2...hoping that it would be the Crysis I really wanted. Holy S***. Horrible interface. Doesn't allow you to adjust audio channel settings (2.1 vs. 5.1 etc...), therefore I really can't hear much in surround mode. You cannot select mouse wheel up or down on config menu, yet it works anyways. If you have an adjustable dpi mouse, its settings (in game) will frequently change. Sometimes for 30 sec to a minute you will not be able to use mouse at all...just keys. The graphics set at very high, are MORE TAXING than Crysis. I was getting and average of 11 fps @ 1920 x 1200 using 2 oc'd 8800GT in SLI. And the kicker is that it looks worse than Crysis on "high." Graphics are not like the pre-rendered vids. My game has frozen 3x so far out of 4 loads of saved levels. The user interface is completely unintuitive. Wow...just wow...ftw. And the denouement: While installing, one of the install files was identified as a trojan by my recently updated AVG 8.0. FTW indeed. I'll keep you updated.

Back when I was in HS...1990, I went backpacking in Colorado...we found a pizza place way up in the mountains in a small town called BeauJo's. Best pizza I've ever had (saying a lot since I lived in Chicago for a while). But you would order your 'Za by the POUND. They had 16 pounder that if you and friend ate it in 45 min or less, you got your meal comped ($100) and you each got $50... Nice. The last two guys to do it were two cross-country cyclists...skinny guys. My buddy and I had the 6 lb pizza and we were finished...phewww!

Your apps will be able to use that extra ram...the prob is that only 2.78 gb is available to the OS if you go with XP. Sometimes while playing Crysis: warhead, my DDR2 usage is up to 3.3 gb. I would echo Cujo on the 4850 if you have a low res monitor...although, the 4xxx series really does shine when the resolution is turned up as well as the AA and AF.

The e8400 was rated one of the top 4 cpus for OC ability and price as of 1 month ago. I would agree. Love it and my 12% oc has been effortless thus far. So few things take advantage of quad core at this point. you can't beat $175.

http://www.somethingawful.com/d/photoshop-...ills.php?page=1 heh heh

Lolz