Geforce GTX 7800

[KodiakPA]

Tom's Hardware did a test review of the 7800 and it shows marked improvment over the 6800. Can't wait to get my hands on two for the system I'm building.

[Immacolata]

Which 7800? GTX that is Expensive (600$) or the GT that is "less expensive?" And marked improvement in what? Framerates or visual quality? I am kind of more interested in the latter, since some people mentioned that visual quality in SH3 is inferior on nvidia cards (any model). I wonder if thats driver related or card related, ie we will see that fixed in next-gen cards.

[scrapser]

I have a 7800 GTX on the way for my new build. Will let everyone know how it works out.

scrapser

[KodiakPA]

It was the 7800GTX. Here is the review http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20050622/index.html

The card has faster framerates, 24pipelines and consumes a little less power.

[Egan]

I have a 6800 Ultra and it is utterly overpowered for SH3. I have to say, if you are buying something even more powerful simply to play SH3 you are wasting your money.

[2019]

I hope so, so that we can see the improvement (in SH3), if there is any, compared to 6800ultra, or x850xt.

I've been running this game on two diffrent systems, and there is no diffrence in graphics.
only between loading times.

system1
pv4 2400mhz
1g ram
old readon 9500/9700 128mb
(looked all very nice, and high frame rate 60fps, but sometimes jerky when renders fire effect 8fps)

system2
athlon64 3000+
1g ram
gf6800 ultra pci-e
(no diffrence in graphics, except for loading times
fps always smooth)

[scrapser]

I have my new system together finally. I have the RAM and CPU stable but have not clocked everything for optimal performance yet. OCZ suggests I let the RAM cook for a couple weeks to burn in.

Anyway, I haven't loaded SH3 yet but I did install Doom 3. It was quite incredible to go to options, max EVERYTHING and run the game and see absolutely smooth performance.

The GeForce 7800 GTX is nVidia's top of the line model. The GT will be more in the middle tier from what I've read. It performs beautifully so far.

scrapser

[Duli]

Good to hear that, also I am looking forward to your fps report and image quality in SH3.

[KodiakPA]

Since I'd be upgrading from a TI-4600 I can't wait to finish saving for my new system.

[tycho102]

If you buy a 6800nu (non-ultra), do the firmware flash to unlock the pipelines and crank the core voltage up to 1.4v, you can get the thing very close to Ultra levels. It seems that the card is limited by it's voltage regulators, which no one makes powerful enough to handle both the core and memory at the same time. 325/900 to 405/1100 isn't a bad overclock. You need low-end watercooling, or high-end aircooling. I have a GT overlocked above Ultra levels, and it's absolutely smooth. Even in the subpen, it's always above 30fps. I once made the mistake of loading it on high-quality, 4x AA/4x AF, and could tell the hit in framerates. It never dipped below 30fps in the subpen (it wasn't it's usualy 37-35fps, though), and out on the open ocean it was holding 55fps (as opposed to it's normal +75 fps).

No reason to shell out for the 7800 on this game. However, it's absolutely worth it to shell out for a 3.8ghz AMD64 processor. Man this game eats up processing power like nothing else.

They should have made this game multi-threaded...

[KodiakPA]

It will be a few months before I can start buying for my new system. I'm leaning tword bleeding edge because I tend to wait 3-4 years before building my next system. I like that the 7800 does consume less power (according to Toms Hardware). I'm definatly planning on getting the top of the line AMD FX processer. Especially if it is duel core.

[BobV_07]

Ive got the 7800 GTX from BFG. Its OC out of the box with a life time warrenty. I only got one for now. When they drop in price I will purchace the next one to enable SLI. I havnt checked out the FPS yet but will when I get a chance.

I can say this though, going from a 5900 to a 7800 is a HUGE step. But my whole system is way better then what I was running.

My old system:
AMD 2800(2.0 GHz)
1 gig RAM (PC 133)
5900XT vid card


My new system:
Gigabyte GA-K8NXP-SLI
AMD Athlon 64 3800+(2.4 GHz)
BFG GForce 7800 GTX OC out of box(life time warrenty)
2-1GB PC 3200 Corsair XMS RAM Cas 2
WD Raptor SATA 36.7Gig(10,000 RPM)


My new system is SWEET! All games maxed out and they run smooth as glass. :sunny:






http://img242.echo.cx/img242/9361/mesub6qj.jpg

[Duli]

What about the HDD, do you only have a Raptor, or another "usual" HDD for more storage capacity?

[BobV_07]

Oh yeah, I got a 30 gig WD IDE for backup plus DVD RW as well. :yep: The bigger the drive, the longer it takes to format and disk defrag. So, the 36 gig rapter serves me well. :up:



http://img242.echo.cx/img242/9361/mesub6qj.jpg

[BobV_07]

With my 7800 I'm getting 75 FPS just cruzing along by my self in the middle of a calm ocean. ;)



http://img242.echo.cx/img242/9361/mesub6qj.jpg

[Immacolata]

Sounds like a great card. However, we can first know if nvidia has improved visual quality for sh3 when someone with both a GF7800 and a radeon x800 or 9000-something has seen it run on both setups.

[BobV_07]

Sounds like a great card. However, we can first know if nvidia has improved visual quality for sh3 when someone with both a GF7800 and a radeon x800 or 9000-something has seen it run on both setups.




It would be my guess that the game runs better on an ATI card. I do believe that the dev team used an ATI x800 to make the game.



http://img242.echo.cx/img242/9361/mesub6qj.jpg

[Duncan Idaho]

Sounds like a great card. However, we can first know if nvidia has improved visual quality for sh3 when someone with both a GF7800 and a radeon x800 or 9000-something has seen it run on both setups.




It would be my guess that the game runs better on an ATI card. I do believe that the dev team used an ATI x800 to make the game.



http://img242.echo.cx/img242/9361/mesub6qj.jpg

That wouldn't surprise me, considering the numerous Nvidia bugs that have on and off plagued this game...(UZO bug, sometimes broken up reflections, no sun-glare with Antialiasing, white smoke bug, maybe others).

This game is driving me to an ATI for my next card, I've seen the difference, and it's huge.

[scrapser]

Well, I've spent some time with SH3 on my new custom built system. I can report what looks like much cleaner graphics, especially explosions and fire. The only glitches I've noticed are the how the sub's wake appears when viewed through the binoculars or UZO and the icons of the crew on the crew management screen.

The wake looks like geometric shapes overlapping each other in an animation fashion. This could have been there all along and I just never noticed it. The crew icons that you can click and drag between compartments appear like they're made up of little square blocks (pixels) instead of having everything blend nicely. The portraits of officers look fine.

I'd like to compare notes with others who have the 7800 to see if we have the same experiences. My new system is very fast. SH3 loads in about two minutes from clicking the shortcut to having the patrol loaded. No stuttering on any maps either.

scrapser