The Official Graphics Card and PC gaming Thread

http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=M2R32-MVP

1105

newest BIOS

 

That will be one of the slots itself, PCIE16_1 - the other should be marked PCIE16_2.

 

That is correct there are two the first one is PCIE_1 and the other PCIE_2. I always place in PCIE_1

 

These numbers don't refer to the PCIe versions 1 and 2 we are referring to, they are different generations of the technology, not the number of the slot you use.

 

Manual states 2x PCI Express x 1

 

Those are different ports, PCI express 1x are the very small slots between/underneath the long 16x slots.

 

After a second run through the final boss, my initial impressions on the performance have improved. The first part, with the thing walking on deck, is where the framerate crawls. Constant of about 15-20 depending on where I'm looking. Frequent dips to 10 when it uses an attack. But when the big one comes out of the water, my framerate actually skyrockets. I saw about 40FPS when it first emerged and about 20-25 through the battle. This is of course with frequent dips to 12-14 whenever it attacks.

My impression: most of it is totally playable. The framerates seem to split in two. There are framerates for normal play, and framerates for when attacks are used. When the lasers fire, the framerate dips. But when the attack stops it goes back up. This is probably pretty obvious but I felt it was important to notice for gauging performance.

 

I'll bear this in mind, and test the crawler at 2560.

 

Crysis test results, all high settings on 4870:

Reckoning
Walker
In-shot, not firing, 1920x1200: 21-22fps
Firing sequence, 1920x1200: 16-18fps
In-shot, not firing, 2560x1600: 15-16fps
Firing sequence, 2560x1600: 11-12fps

Contact
Hill descent to bay, 1920x1200: 29-31fps
Hill descent to bay, 2560x1600: 19-22fps

Onslaught
Tank battle, 1920x1200: 24-31fps
Tank battle, 2560x1600: 14-17fps
K.I.A., 1920x1200: 20-21fps
K.I.A., 2560x1600: 12-13fps

Exodus
Rescue section, 1920x1200: 28-33fps
Rescue section, 2560x1600: 12-18fps

Paradise Lost
Defend Prophet, 1920x1200: 28-36fps
Defend Prophet, 2560x1600: 16-21fps

Core
Crystal caves, 1920x1200: 32-41fps
Crystal caves, 2560x1600: 22-26fps
Large chamber, 1920x1200: 32-43fps
Large chamber, 2560x1600: 18-24fps

 

Will now post several high resolution 'beauty shots' of crysis, as I'm sure people will be interested.
This first one took me aback, it looks vastly different on all high settings to how I remember passing through it shadowless with no shaders. Irony is, even with that detail adjustment I don't think my 3870 managed this frame rate...
The odd thing about crysis is how much your frame rate improves when standing still. It must be to do with the motion blur - ironic in itself, it's that motion blur that helps the game look good with a low frame rate, but it looks like it's what causes the low frame rate to start with!
http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/5231/crysiscorebeauty2560maxjt7.jpg

It's worth mentioning, a few inches before this section, the bit that's blocked off because you need to destroy the power generator on the right to stop the 'forcefield', the high velocity spray coming out seriously lagged the game a bit, dropping as low as 17fps even at 1920x1200, as soon as it was destroyed and the mist removed, the game ran smoothly at both resolutions.

note: jpeg'ing screens like this causes significant image deterioration. if anyone would like some high-res unaltered bitmaps, let me know.

 

Holy ****!! Those framerates are way better than I could have hoped for. I should have absolutely no problem with my tweaked settings at 1920 x 1200.

Now do you see what I meant by leaving shaders and shadows up? They majorly cripple the look of the game when turned off. I seriously didn't know an HD3870 was that weak. I thought it might be able to handle all high at 1280 res. But at the resolutions you routinely run, I bet it crawled

Right, I know the spot you're talking about. That's why I felt the need to split the framerates. They dip when there are heavy shaders and lighting, and they "average out" when all the fireworks stop.

 

Wow, Nice review! I had no idea, having played only the demo! Gotta get the whole game looks like!!

Well, I know you are a big EP2 fan, as am I - so Crysis must kick some major butt for you to compare it that favorably!! Niiice!

Well, there's the rub. Decent frames - not spectacular graphics. Maybe I better wait for the new build.

Yeah, no doubt about it - new build.

Sam, let me suggest that you check the Options settings on your jpeg compression routine. If you are compressing more than 10 to 1 you will definitely lose a lot of quality. If Paint doesn't give you the ability to change the Save As compression rate, then I suggest you try Ulead, and use the 90% quality setting - which will give you a roughly 10 to 1 compression, versus the standard 30 to 1, or even 50 to 1 that you get with some programs. Anyway, can you link to the full bmp so we can see the difference? By the way, what is this shot? Are you looking down at the "boss?" -Rich

 

Well, a 3850 will play it smoothly with medium-high settings, but not at 1600 x 1200. You're looking at an 8800GT or 4850 atleast. I would wait on a new build completely with a dual core or better. Also, AGP is pretty old now.

And yes, Crysis is simply an amazing game that is unmatched in graphics, gameplay, and presentation. It has its rough moments, whereas other games have almost none, but it is definitely worth it to play as high as you can get it. Some of the in-game moments are almost awe-inspiring.

Oh yeah, that one shot sam gave is in the core of the alien ship. The boss is way bigger

 

Estuansis: The 3870 could run the game pretty well at 1680x1050 to its credit, but at 2560x1600, it just wasn't up to the job. Agreed on your sentiment about the 4870's frame rates, they're higher than even I expected. It's worth noting that the particular section with the power generator is the only example I've seen so far of a seriously low frame rate apart from the walker in Reckoning, and I had a look through quite a few sections of the game.

Harv: Indeed, Crysis isn't a game I would recommend playing on anything less than an 8800GT, so the 3870 is out. I played it through in its entirity on my 3870 and enjoyed it, but only now seeing it on high settings and running smoothly do I realise just how much I missed. One of the bizarre things about Crysis is due to its motion blur and strange particulate air effects, such as the smoke inside 'Core', most screenshots don't actually look that impressive, but when you see them in motion, it completely transforms the effect.
I'm only using cruddy mspaint to jpeg pictures at the moment, so I've no idea what settings it uses. I would like to upload the full bitmap image, but at my resolution, that's 12 megabytes, and I don't know a free image hosting site that allows pictures that large.

 

For those of you who have absurd amounts of money to spend, here's what Skulltrail offers (yes, it now supports triple GTX280 SLI!)
Tests conducted with:
Skulltrail D5400XS motherboard - 1140 bios
8GB of Crucial FB DDR2 @ 800mhz (4x2GB)
2x Intel QX9775 Engineering Samples (@ 4.4 Ghz – 11x400, 1.475 volts)
2x Corsair Nautilus Watercoolers with modded underside 220mm fans
Corsair 1000w PSU
LG 16x DVD Burner
4x WD Raptor Hard Drives (OS/Games on RAID 0 Drives)
1x Samsung Spinpoint
AS5 Thermal Compound
Windows Vista Ultimate 64Bit + SP1
Forceware Release 179.83
Catalyst 8.4 beta for X2
2x ATI Reference Radeon HD 4870 X2 - 2gb
3x XFX GeForce GTX 280 XXX - 1gb

Call of Duty 4 4xAA, 16xAF:
1920x1200: HD4870X4 186fps, GTX280TSLI 211fps
2560x1600: HD4870X4 165fps, GTX280TSLI 191fps
GRiD 4(8*)xAA, 16xAF
1920x1200*: HD4870X4 120fps, GTX280TSLI 128fps
2560x1600: HD4870X4 106fps, GTX280TSLI 112fps
World in Conflict, 4xAA, 4xAF:
1920x1200: HD4870X4 123fps, GTX280TSLI 135fps
2560x1600: HD4870X4 112fps, GTX280TSLI 121fps
GRAW 2 0xAA, 16xAF:
1920x1200: HD4870X4 124fps, GTX280TSLI 168fps
2560x1600: HD4870X4 112fps, GTX280TSLI 157fps
Lost Planet Colonies, 1920x1200:
0xAA 16xAF: HD4870X4 101fps, GTX280TSLI 123fps
4xAA 16xAF: HD4870X4 86fps, GTX280TSLI 99fps
Half Life 2 Episode Two, 8xAA, 16xAF:
1920x1200: HD4870X4 181fps, GTX280TSLI 198fps
2560x1600: HD4870X4 165fps, GTX280TSLI 171fps
Crysis, 1920x1200, all settings very high:
HD4870X4: 45fps, GTX280TSLI: 72fps
Oblivion, 4(8*)xAA, 16xAF:
1920x1200: HD4870X4 118fps, GTX280TSLI 141fps
2560x1600: HD4870X4 112fps, GTX280TSLI 129fps
Assassins Creed
1920x1200: HD4870X4 89fps, GTX280TSLI 158fps
2560x1600: HD4870X4 81fps, GTX280TSLI 145fps

 

I am not sure what you are looking for so I have attached a link i hope this helps.... Shall I return the card ?

http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=101&l3=328&model=1296&modelmenu=1

 

Wasn't looking for anything, I was just explaining what PCIE16_1 meant.
I would try a BIOS update before returning the card.

 

Edited the actual layout for a better view, but Woot for the GTX 280, however it was in a comparision of
2x HD 4870 X2 - 2gb
3x GTX 280 XXX - 1gb
which isn't exactly a good manipulated variable, but they are similar.

I got a GTX 280 to a clock of 677 from 602 with the fan speed on 76% and it gets a 3dmark06 of 41 897 for graphics.

 

There is no 3dmark solely for the graphics side alone. What is your SM2.0 and SM3.0 score?

 

hmm on my 3dmark Vantage there is...I have the full version, not the free one. The free one only gives one score, which is the GPU one, even though it doesn't state that (I think that is how it works anyways). I'll take a screen shot when I get home to show you what I mean.

My CPU score is 11 513
and my GPU Score is 41 000 something.

What is SME or whatever?