The Official Graphics Card and PC gaming Thread

I FIXED IT ALREADY, I put in a Nvidia Video Card works like a charm

 

Yes its HD!!! I can feed the PS3 in at 1080i but I don't think it actually supports it as its 19" and it was cheap LOL.
1024x168 works but its REALLY bad quality
1360x768 Is even worse
1920x1080 Isn't shown and I can't work out how to force
1680x1050 Again isn't shown
1280x720 Is a severe cripple that makes my Start bar off the screen
1440x900 I note is shown as Recommended and looks the best by far!

Estuansis: Ever heard of ComboFix? It seems to fix even the most pain in the arse virus's but is a real make or break thing and should only be ran if everything is backed up and if your ready to reformat.

4GB!!! I've filled 257GB of my 297GB (usable) drive which i should really get to backing up...

Fed-up of job hunting again. I went round businesses explaining how I'd had experience as an IT technician and would work for pennies. And possibly because I'm 16 they didn't believe me at all. What's the point in work-placement if you can't use your job that sprouted from it.

 

It's a 19" monitor/TV hybrid. It supports 1440x900, but not 16:9 resolutions as its not a real TV, they get rescaled, so they look rubbish.

 

Fair enough it was advertised and bought as just a telly with a VGA in which is a tad odd.

Although it does explain why the PS3 looks so bad on it.

 

Yeah, it's actually a 19" basic VGA monitor with TV functionality added in. Proper 19" TVs don't go anywhere near as high as 1440x900 a lot of the time.

 

That reminds me I was gonna moan but forgot Play.com didn't have FUEL in stock for time of release so you've got before me!!! Not cool.

 

I've had it for nearly a week, since the US release dates are earlier than ours. Yet another example of piracy winning out over legitimate consumers...

 

Hey! I resent that comment! LOL. Just funnin.

 

Hey Shaff, I have a SPELLING TIP for you:

Kevin, I forgot to ask you before - on your new sig - what is that cool, wild blinking thing? And is that a quote from Shakespeare? - "do I not bleed?" And who the bleep do you think you are, Hamlet?? LOL

Shokz, you're trying to defend your 1440x900, and Sam has a million arguments against "the budget add-on," lol - shrunk vertical spacing for one. He's probably right, but check this out:


The monitor on the right was my "new" 1440x900 19" dell, when I decided last year to just pick up some equipment that my p4 could run adequately, before I did a reverse again, which I blame on Sam, and said "no, hell, I have to have the 30." Hahaha.

So I paid $168 for the 19" monitor from Dell, and it sits there on the table just like that, staring at the big monitor, which is the only thing I use now. I guess I'll have to put the 19" up on ebay, lol.

I will say this, though, Shokz. The monitor had the most beautiful color I had ever seen, and it ran COD4 MP fantastic!! I was blown away by the beauty of the image - also Estuansis had a 19" that he enjoyed quite a bit before he upgraded - ultimately to his beautiful 24" - and soon to his 40" HDTV!!

When I got the big Dell it cured me of my total COD4 MP addiction, because running it at 1920x1200, COD4 was very laggy on my equipment - and then I discovered Left 4 Dead loading on my steam games list, and the rest is history!!

(I can just barely run L4D at 1920x1200, fps in high 20s, sometimes low 30s, overclocking my 3850 to the max mostly-stable setting. I say "just barely" because when I dropped the gpu and memory clocks recently to get greater stability, after a couple crashes, I picked up perceptible lag - especially at critical points. So I went back to the highest setting that CCC recommended, cleaned all my fan filters, took out my kama bay filter and installed a removable filter in front of the kama bay, and improved the gpu air flow by removing a couple of the non-ventilated slot covers.)

The result was that I was able to play all night last night - after the neighborhood fireworks explosions had subsided - for about 10 hours, with everything SMOOTH!

I am running Expert now - and it is INTENSE! You can't let any random zombies get close - you lose 20 health just like that! You have to be ON YOUR TOES! (But if you blow their heads off, generally that slows them down.)

Yeah, Kevin, I'm learning new stuff about the tank all the time. You can't duck behind a car when he throws the concrete at you because somehow that gets you anyway right through the car - how is THAT supposed to be possible? Oh well, I just won't do THAT any more.

But I had an interesting tank situation last night, which went MY way for a change, when I DOMINATED with the minigun in "The Town", chapter 4 of Death Toll. (The TERRIBLE CHAPTER 4!!) For the fun of it, with kind of a new team, I jumped on the minigun, prepared to let go as soon as tankie-boy decided to target me with a rock, and I was just barely able to get him in my sights on the right above a corner of the TV truck. For some strange reason the ugly sonuvabitch didn't move at all - sort of stuck in wonderment I guess - and he died within 15 glorious gattling gun seconds, lol!

I was stoked!! I basked in my moment of cowboy glory and the rest of team was f**king speechless! If only Sam had been there! (Why didn't I take one of Kevin's screenshots! - 'cause I don't know how, that's why.)

Rich

 

This is how I take the screen captures. I LOVE this program LOL!

And the "Wild Blinking Thing" in my sig is a starfleet issue warp core LOL! Nah, I nabbed a few frames from season 1 episode 6 of "The Next Generation" and let Adobe Fireworks work its magic. Another one of my favorite programs. I think photoshop is by far my favorite. And I like it even more everyday. Im currently making some wicked looking space scenes.

I change my quote every now and again. That one was the first that came to mind recently.

 

Oh yeah I too use FRAPS religiously. Games just don't feel right anymore without an FPS counter running constantly in the corner

I have my function keys set to:

F5 - Quicksave
F9 - Quick Load
F10 - FRAPS Screenshot
F11 - FRAPS Video Record
F12 - Toggle FRAPS FPS Counter

 

Ditto. Religiously! Although I had a setting interfere with Crysis recently. I changed a function in fraps to something else, then it was fine.

 

Hate to break it to you rich, but I use google chrome which has a spell-checker built into the browser. No need for word!
I compare a relatively good Samsung 20" monitor (TN) against my 30" Dell S-IPS since they sit next to each other. The difference in the quality of the image they produce is frankly ridiculous. You probably wouldn't notice it until you compared the two, but the S-IPS is unbelievable compared to the TN screen. That's not saying everyone should explicitly buy a 30", but seriously, look for S-IPS or at the very least S-PVA. i think Dell produce a 22 1680x1050 S-IPS monitor now. I don't think any of their small (and certainly none of their cheap) ones are S-IPS.
I also use Fraps religiously. I rebound F10 for screenshot as that's the quit key for Source-based games.

 

Hey guys I was just wondering what single graphics card set up should I upgrade to from my dual 4850s? cus is it me or is the market more confusing than it used to be?
I was looking at maybe getting a GTX280 OC 1GB for £195? : http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Barg...orce+GTX+280+OC+1024MB+PCI-E+?productId=35271

Is there anything anyone could recommend? I have a limit of around £200
Thanks

 

Certainly not, the GTX280 is only cheap because it's an old discontinued product they're trying to clear stock of. Your dual 4850s are also MUCH faster than a GTX280. For £200 there's actually nothing you can buy that's better than two 4850s.

 

(dual 4870s for the same price would be better )

 

Alright, yeah, but including postage (assuming you want next day delivery guaranteed) it's about £195. Within budget, but would really want to upgrade from 4850s to 4870s? What's the point?

 

why not? extra power.... or get a 4870x2 and CF with it both your 4850s

 

lol i cant do that, only got 2 pci-e 16x slots

 

Let's be honest, hardly anyone has, nor should have three + 16x slots.