The game industries has just started moving from DX9 to DX10, and ATI came up with DX10.1, so what i'm saying here is, do you think it's necessary to buy a DX10.1 card now or stay with DX10? Nvidia are not planning to move to DX10.1 just yet and it's gonna take 1 to 2 years from now for all games to support DX10, don't you think ATI is thinking too far ahead? Yes, DX10.1 is great, improves the performance and it has defualt AA, but do we really need that technology now? Ok, can anyone introduce me a mobo that has X38 chipset, PCI-E 2.0, the SATA port are not facing up(if you know what i mean) and same price range(not too much) as Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R (um i don't think GA-P35-DS3R supports PCI-E 2.0 or does it?) Is there such a motherboard?
Well, if you want your rig to be more future proof, than DX10.1 is a must. That's why I got my 3870. As for the motherboard, I would recommend a ASUS Maximus Formula, the best motherboard out there that supports CF IMO. Otherwise, these are pretty good: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128066 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128080 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131219 All of them have 2 PCI-e 2.0 slots and have the X38/48
yes i know future proof, but i don't think HD3870 can last for another 3 years, and like i said before, we're just getting into DX10 unless game idustries skip DX10 to DX10.1, then i have no complains... yeah i can not disagree with the mobos you introduced, they are great, i'm planning to get one of them, depends on the price and stock in South Africa. Is Maximus Formula better than Maximus Extreme? and i thought GA-X38-DS4 has 1x PCI-E x16 and the other one is x4, they are not the same color?
Well according to newegg, it lists the GA-X38-DS4 as having 2 PCI-e 2.0 slots. As for the Maximus boards, no, the Maximus formula is Not better than the Extreme. The only difference however is the fact that the Extreme uses DDR3 memory, which is pretty damn expensive and shows a very small performance increase over the standard DDR2. Also, there is a Maximus Formual SE, but the only difference is the fact that it has a "hybrid" cooler on the chipset enabling both watercooling and air cooling. I would only suggest that card if you're going to hook it up to water. I have it, and even with watercooling the thing is idling at 38C which I consider to be hot.
my bad, i was talking about the GA-P35-DS4, all X38 has dual PCI-E x16. i don't know if i could get Asus Maximus Formula in SA, but i'll look around, i don't need DDR3, since it's too expensive. do you think CF HD3850 is better or one HD3870?
Well, CF 3850s theoretically would be better than 1 3870, but that's only in games that support CF - and not all of them do. For games that dont, the 3870 would show better performance.
so buying 1 HD3870 now would be better than CF, if you look at the games that Doesn't support CF, but my friend said that CF driver sucks is that true?
No, crossfire does not suck, I have had no problems with my cards at least. I am using the 8.1 (the newest) Catalyst drivers from ATi and have had no problems, other than some games not supporting CF and therefore only using 1 card. ATi drivers did suck, they sucked a lot. However, the last releases have proven that ATi is getting back on track, and with the release of the 3870x2, drivers should get better and better.
thats good news, after hearing that from a person that owns 2 HD3870 and had no problems with it, i've decided to buy a HD3870, and buy another one later this year. now the problem is that Vista really sucks, it uses too much ram, well i should say it slows down your pc, so i won't be playing games with DX10 settings. So will there be a disadvantage when playing DX10 games?...no?
Well there are "hacks" out that enable DX10 effects in Crysis under windows XP, but I doubt people will find ways to hack every game that uses DX10 to have the same effects in DX9. I had to download a few hot fixes from Microsoft's website to use CF in Vista, but I think the SP1 will fix that, and include all previous updates in it.
yeah i know that, are you sure the DX10 effect in DX9 are really the "DX10"? lets hope SP1 for Vista will improve and fix the problems. What do you think of windows SP3?
Good choice on the 3870. Im running Crysis at 1680x1050 with all high settings and no slowdown(core at 860) I have to say it's the best looking game ive saw but gameplay wise its mediocre. Not worth the hype.
true, the graphics for Crysis is the best looking, but the game play is ok, for me, it's not as good as COD4. so HD3870 is very good then?
DirectX 10 or DirectX 10.1 well if anybody cares to take note remeber DirectX 7.0 And DirectX 7.1. i dont think there are going to revise the whole DirectX scheme cause Ati said So. DirectX 10.1 one sounds like an hardware extension. anyway you look at it its still DirectX 10 with unneeded garbage. But its your money. go ahead and spend it.
As far as I know, DX10.1 will allow people to turn on AA in a DX10 game (Crysis) without corruption. As far as the hacks go, yes they look exactly the same (I know for sure, duel booting XP and Vista), and the only difference between using "DX10" in XP and vista is the performance. The 3870 is indeed a good card, fantastic actually.
yes it is a good card. oh should i spend bit more money on a OC HD3870 or on a defualt clock ones? and i'm having trouble choosing from two mobo's, GA-X38-DQ6 and the Maximus Formula, should i spend a bit less on the asus board or spend a bit more on the gigabyte board? Asus is performance and Gigabyte is Overclockability.
Well I would get the non overclocked version. You could just oce it yourself for free and save the money for something else. As far as the motherboards, the ASUS Maximus Formula (either SE, or without chipset watercooling) is a fantastic board. I have the SE version and the watercooling on the chipset really helps - especially when overclocking. It's you choice though, the Gigabyte boards are extremely reliable, even though I have never heard of a person having trouble with the Maximus.
Theres noways that i'll overclock myself, for me it's riskier than oc cpu. Isn't Asus Maximus Formula SE version the Watercooling version? Gigabyte X38-DQ6 Connectivity 1 Parallel ATA port supporting 2 IDE Drives 8 Serial ATA ports 2 Gigabit Ethernet Ports Expansion Ports 1 PS2 Keyboard Port 1 PS2 Mouse Port 12 USB 2.0 Ports (8 rear accessible, 4 via expansion bracket) 6 Stereo Audio Ports 1 SPDIF RCA Port 1 SPDIF Toslink Port 3 Firewire Ports (2 rear accessible, 6 & 4 pin 1 via Expansion Bracket) 4 e.SATA ports (via expansion brackets) Asus Maximus Formula Connectivity 1 Parallel ATA port supporting 2 IDE Drives 6 Serial ATA ports 2 Gigabit Ethernet Ports Expansion Ports 1 PS2 Keyboard Port 12 USB 2.0 Ports (6 rear accessible, 6 via expansion bracket) 1 SPDIF RCA Port 1 SPDIF Toslink Port 1Firewire Port (6pin) Sound via SupremeFX II Card, 7.1 sound Gigabyte motherboard has more ports than Asus motherboard. This is why i don't know which to get. I have asked myself "More ports or not", "Do i need that many ports?", "The Asus has 6 USB ports via expansion bracket, but my tower don't even have that many USB ports." Oh the cooler on the chipset for the ASUS mobo has 2 holes, is that for water cooling?
The holes on the ASUS Maximus Formula SE are for watercooling. They're the two black things on the chipset, right under the CPU socket. The Maxiums has 6 USB ports, with a bracket that has 2 more. In addition, you can plug in your case's USB ports as well. I have a converter (cheap one I got at staples) that turns 1 USB 2.0 port into 4 USB ports, so I dont really have a problem with not having enough ports.
whoa whats that?...what is that thing called, and can you give me an image so i know what it looked like. I think i'll buy ASUS Maximus Formula, i've read lots of review for it, and it's some how better than Gigabyte
