pc upgrade for patch 1.3

[THE_MASK]

I just reallised that 2months ago an upgrade for my pc was over $1500 for the bits i wanted . Now with 8600 series cards and price drops on CPUs and memory i can get roughly the same dx10 performance for under $1000 . Getting better all the time .

[MaxT.dk]

Yeah, wait 1 more year and u can get all of it for under $100 :roll:

[THE_MASK]

The only problem with that is...............i dont want to wait a year to play sh4.:-?

[Snuffy]

The other problem is that in a year ... all that will be obsolete.

[THE_MASK]

The other problem is that in a year ... all that will be obsolete.
I have to disagree with you there . I have had the same computer for 5 years and its still okay . I have only had to change the cpu , mobo , power , memory , graphics card to try to keep up .

[Reaves]

I'm waiting for more DX10 cards to drop in price until I get one. Then i'll wait a bit longer to swap my mobo for an SLI and be in framrate heaven.

[THE_MASK]

Ok heres a question , say i have a limited budget and i can either buy a 8600 series such as a http://www.pccasegear.com.au/prod5130.htm for $349 or SLi with 2 x http://www.itestate.com.au/products_detail.asp?code=PD00004743 for $195 ea . I dont know anything about SLi .

[bunkerratt]

well your going to need a new mobo thats sli ready as well as a sli power supplyalong with that equation yor now have twice the heat to deal with from the 2 vidcards aka ...case cooling ..

[Old Dog]

I have to disagree with you there . I have had the same computer for 5 years and its still okay . I have only had to change the cpu , mobo , power , memory , graphics card to try to keep up .

I had an axe like that for years. I replaced the head twice and the handle four times and it was still as good as new. :rotfl:

Old Dog

[THE_MASK]

well your going to need a new mobo thats sli ready as well as a sli power supplyalong with that equation yor now have twice the heat to deal with from the 2 vidcards aka ...case cooling ..
Forget that idea then .

[neo111]

It drives me nuts that programmers today waste so much memory and power producing their stuff that in order to play with it you have to go and buy a new computer. Microsoft are the worst for this, but UbiSoft are busy catching them. In effect, you are spending $1000 to play a game costing less than $50 and all because the early ethic of careful programming has been done away with.

So much of what is "added" to games today really does not need to be there and the consequences are as described. What is there is, is written in wasteful code. Remember the old spectrum computer? In those days we thought 56k was blisteringly fast and some incredible things were done by programmers to bring amazing programs to us with such slow processors. Now, we have vast amounts of memory (by comparison), massive hard drives and super fast cpu's and the stuff being produced will hardly run at all. Something has gone very squiffy and I am sure its because programmers have grown lazy and no longer try and save either memory or space.

I remember buying the flight sim, Combat Flight Simulator 3. It would not run on my old computer but I was buying a new one and looking forwards to runing it on there. I expected great things....I got rubbish! It has to rank as one of the worst flight sims ever produced. Filled with errors, you had to wait until a patch was released even to play the damn thing and when you got the patch it was still rubbish. The game play is dire and the graphics appalling. Everyone I know who bought it, felt ripped off by lazy over paid programmers out to make a quick buck and stuff the customer. To add insult to injury, very soon after conning thousands of people into buying it, they then released Fire Power. The program that CFS 3 should have been! I refused to buy it on principle and now will not buy any more Microsoft software because I am sick of being treated like a fool by their programming staff and marketing boys.

I wont be buying Silent Hunter 4 for the same reasons. I want a game I can play on the current crop of computers. Not something I have to buy a new system for.

(Climbs off soapbox)

:down:

[btaft]

It drives me nuts that programmers today waste so much memory and power producing their stuff that in order to play with it you have to go and buy a new computer. Microsoft are the worst for this, but UbiSoft are busy catching them. In effect, you are spending $1000 to play a game costing less than $50 and all because the early ethic of careful programming has been done away with.

So much of what is "added" to games today really does not need to be there and the consequences are as described. What is there is, is written in wasteful code. Remember the old spectrum computer? In those days we thought 56k was blisteringly fast and some incredible things were done by programmers to bring amazing programs to us with such slow processors. Now, we have vast amounts of memory (by comparison), massive hard drives and super fast cpu's and the stuff being produced will hardly run at all. Something has gone very squiffy and I am sure its because programmers have grown lazy and no longer try and save either memory or space.


Although I don't doubt there are some lazy programmers out there, computers are also being asked to do a lot more than ever before

16 Colors vs. 32 bit color
320x240 resolution vs. 1600 x 1200
plain color vs. shading, texturing, fog, antiaising etc
static environment vs dynamic environment
2d simulation vs full 3d simulation
monotone sound vs multi-channel surround sound

You start to add up all of these order of magnitude changes/improvements and you quickly start to eat up memory, bandwidth, cpu cycles, etc. regardless of how efficient the code may be

[Powerthighs]

Something has gone very squiffy and I am sure its because programmers have grown lazy and no longer try and save either memory or space.

I think the problem is more that programmers these days are wrtiting several abstractions above the lowest layer, much more so than 20 years ago. It becomes more and more difficult to be optimal when you are relying on tons of code running under you. The tremendous increase in complexity also makes it difficult to really trim the performance if you are pushing anywhere near the state of the art, not to mention to fluctations in hardware, driver versions, etc.

[Reaves]

Ok heres a question , say i have a limited budget and i can either buy a 8600 series such as a http://www.pccasegear.com.au/prod5130.htm for $349 or SLi with 2 x http://www.itestate.com.au/products_detail.asp?code=PD00004743 for $195 ea . I dont know anything about SLi .

Get the 8600 and then when the price goes down get another one.

There is no point in doing SLI with 2 out-dated cards when you can buy one high end card for the same cost. To me, SLI is more a future option to hold off an expensive upgrade for a little longer.

I'll be getting a new card soon but after maybe 6 months that card should be halved in price so i'll get another one and a SLI capable mobo. Currently I have a PCIE GS7600 512 mb which is the only weak point of my PC.

[tater]

I just got an 8800 but elected to get the 320mb. SLI is a waste of time right now, IMO.

I looked at this 8600: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150227 but decided to spend the extra 100 bucks since I got a middle of the road mobo for my E6600 (P5B-E).

[Lagger123987]

I need a graphics killer video card! Which is the new ATI ones! Long live ATI! Nvidia!, you must die!

[Reaves]

I need a graphics killer video card! Which is the new ATI ones! Long live ATI! Nvidia!, you must die!

Too bad ATI is now AMD. :know:

[CaptainCox]

With Hardware its very simple, buy what is hot now!, at least you will have the cool stuff for 3-5 month before new stuff comes. If you buy it 5 months later...same thing. Its a never ending story really. I tend to buy a new rig around Nov-Dec every year, I know the new NV cards are coming around that time and, yea they are expensive, but at least I have the cool stuff 1st...for 3-5 months ;)

On the ATI note...the new R600XT will still not beat the 5 month older NV8800GTX...that's just how it is :p
http://www.dailytech.com/ATI+Radeon+HD+2900+XTX+Doomed+from+the+Start/article7052.htm
http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=703&Itemid=34

Running a EVGA 8800GTX and I will never look back...at least not until Christmas ;)

[Lagger123987]

I need a graphics killer video card! Which is the new ATI ones! Long live ATI! Nvidia!, you must die!

Too bad ATI is now AMD. :know:

Oh, forgot about the that thing.
AMD cards :rock:

[donut]

@ neo111 :doh: note; Title. It ain't gona change SOON tm

[StandingCow]

SLI is a waste of money, the technology needs to mature a lot more before 2 cards is worth it.

[azn_132]

On the ATI note...the new R600XT will still not beat the 5 month older NV8800GTX...that's just how it is :p


U got that right!

[Bort]

I just made my system upgrade and with some luck will arrive here sometime next week. (Specs in sig) I think (:lol:) it will run SHIV perfectly and that was one of my main reasons for upgrading, aside from my other system failing.

I was almost reluctant to upgrade my computer now since I had always been an ATI fanboy and always had ATI cards and was waiting to see the new R600s take out Nvidia, but when I saw the comparisons between the 2900XT and the 8800GTX (even an overclocked 8800GTS 320MB beats the 2900), my heart dropped and I knew that the green team was the way to go. I also don't think that SLI is a waste of money because in most games you can see performance increases of up to 80% and sometimes even more.

I'm glad to be DX10 proof and am looking forward immensly to finally getting some of my favorite games up and running on the new rig. 3 weeks with no gaming is harsh, let me tell you, even Oregon Trail overheats my laptop. :doh:

[Zantham]

Intel QX6800 | 2 x 768 MB EVGA 8800 GTX | 4 GB Corsair DDR2
1.5 TB @7200 (2 x 500GB RAID0 + 500GB) | Tagan 1100 Watt PSU | Logitech MX Revolution


lol I think with that computer you should be future proof for a few minutes :D

As for SLI, currently, the only real time it really benefits is at ultra high resolutions like 1920x1200 and above at maximum AA and all the other eye candy. My single 8800GTX in my system is pretty much CPU bound at 1600x1200, and I'm running a Core 2 Duo at 3.6GHz. This is running games like SH4, Supreme Commander and Stalker with everything turned up graphics-wise. Another friend of mine runs a similar system but with an 8800GTS, and he gets very similar framerates to me.

Of course, once games like Crysis comes out...then the playing field changes again.