Video Card Upgrade Report - Page 2

jazman · 03-08-10, 10:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteamWake

Man its getting to the point where I cant keep track of all these cards out there.

Do they intentionally make the naming conventions confusing?

Marketdroids. Not smart enough to be intentional.

Steeltrap · 03-08-10, 10:41 PM

OK, FYI here's an up to date list of graphics cards on the market, organised as a hierarchy from most powerful to least.

It's taken from www.tomshardware.com, a site I highly recommend if you want to learn all about PCs and their innards.

This chart, for example, is found at the end of their monthly "Best Graphics Cards for the Money". If you go to the site you'll find the article on the front page. As I've said, it's a regular monthly article.

I use Tom's whenver i update my PC so I can see what's doing in the business. RAM, HDD, CPU, GPU, Motherboard: they're all covered.

I put an HD 5970 in mine. Overpriced and overkill at the moment, but I like to "future-proof" to last a few years if I can.

Lastly, it's important to understand 'bottlenecks', where your GPU, CPU or RAM becomes the 'weakest link' of the interaction of the three. For example, if your CPU is the limiting factor, shoving a more powerful GPU won't give you much of a return, if any at all. Tom's has an article somewhere on this, and they regularly look at what combines well with what. I think it's a great site if you want to spend the time doing some reading.

Cheers

Ships-R-Us · 03-08-10, 10:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steeltrap

OK, FYI here's an up to date list of graphics cards on the market, organised as a hierarchy from most powerful to least.

It's taken from www.tomshardware.com, a site I highly recommend if you want to learn all about PCs and their innards.

This chart, for example, is found at the end of their monthly "Best Graphics Cards for the Money". If you go to the site you'll find the article on the front page. As I've said, it's a regular monthly article.

I use Tom's whenver i update my PC so i can see what's doing in the business. RAM, HDD, CPU, GPU, Motherboard: they're all covered.

I put an HD 5970 in mine.

That's right Steeltrap. Toms is a great site....I should slow down posting as I like this XO avatar......This site is like a box of chocolates as you never knows what's next.

Steeltrap · 03-08-10, 10:49 PM

Yeah, and you quoted me before I'd finished editing!!

Steeltrap · 03-08-10, 10:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by remowilliams

You might want to check out something like the vga charts to get a rough idea of video card power overall.

I've got a GTX295 myself and it's quite a nice little beastie.

Just a note to that (very useful) chart for those who may not be aware of this: anything listed as 'SLI' or 'Crossfire X' means TWO of the card listed.

For example, the top of the chart, the RADEON HD 5870 Crossfire X, means buying TWO 5870's and linking them in 'crossfire', which is ATi's multiple GPU utility/system (SLI is nVidia's equivalent to Crossfire).

etheberge · 03-08-10, 11:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by krupp_88mm

DOOD your wasting your cards power.. notch down the aa setting by one.. (you wont notice a difference), then go to desktop right click on your desktop and select the catalyst control center, (that you can install with your ati drivers), once you clicked on that, click the first tab, graphics tab, select 3D from the drop down menu, click on the AF and mipmap and aamode tabs at the top, max them out.. everything is going to look twice as amazing when you enable those trust me.. GL

here you can DL CCC if you dont have it,
http://ati.amd.com/support/driver.html

i was very surprised how much difference 16x af made, this game LOVES the AF, aa at 4x or 8x is plenty any more just waste card power
also 4x aa with supersampling is going to look 399% more better and use less power than 8x aa,

All right thanks for the tip I'll try it for sure. I hate it when they don't tell you in game what exact levels of AA the stupid slider represents. Thanks bro.

Fischer · 03-09-10, 12:25 AM

Another great resource for information about and comparing GPUs is:

http://www.gpureview.com/

A detailed comparison of the two cards mentioned:

http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards....=571&card2=614

/Fischer

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ships-R-Us

I'm ignorant on this kind of stuff......How does my GeForce 9800GTX+ compare with this 5850 card......You guys know this stuff pretty well
Thank You

PS: One year ago I paid $251.00 for it and now I see it for just over $100. I am feeling I got screwed.........I also see people with these gtx 250's things or some kind of gtx ???'s....How do they compare
Any feedback is appreciated.

03-08-10, 10:41 PM	#17
Steeltrap Grey Wolf Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 818 Downloads: 3 Uploads: 0	OK, FYI here's an up to date list of graphics cards on the market, organised as a hierarchy from most powerful to least. It's taken from www.tomshardware.com, a site I highly recommend if you want to learn all about PCs and their innards. This chart, for example, is found at the end of their monthly "Best Graphics Cards for the Money". If you go to the site you'll find the article on the front page. As I've said, it's a regular monthly article. I use Tom's whenver i update my PC so I can see what's doing in the business. RAM, HDD, CPU, GPU, Motherboard: they're all covered. I put an HD 5970 in mine. Overpriced and overkill at the moment, but I like to "future-proof" to last a few years if I can. Lastly, it's important to understand 'bottlenecks', where your GPU, CPU or RAM becomes the 'weakest link' of the interaction of the three. For example, if your CPU is the limiting factor, shoving a more powerful GPU won't give you much of a return, if any at all. Tom's has an article somewhere on this, and they regularly look at what combines well with what. I think it's a great site if you want to spend the time doing some reading. Cheers

03-08-10, 10:49 PM	#19
Steeltrap Grey Wolf Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 818 Downloads: 3 Uploads: 0	Yeah, and you quoted me before I'd finished editing!!