The Official Graphics Card and PC gaming Thread

For the record my 4870s switched up to the 5850s without a new driver. Of course downloaded the latest version anyway, but a few quick tests didn't seem to show any conflict-type issues. Crossfire didn't work though. I would recommend a driver update if Ati->Ati, but an uninstall shouldn't really be necessary. If switching back and forth between brands, a full uninstall then run driver sweeper in safe mode.

Omega, you are right that the GeForce series has unified drivers. Only different drivers for the mobile cards and legacy cards.

 

For what it's worth, the removal of one of my HD4870X2s does not cause a driver failure. However, the switch between an HD4870X2 and a 4GB HD5970 did require a new driver before it would function.


Apache Air Assault - High quality, AA unspecified

1024x768 M10: Radeon X1900XT/HD2900 series/3690/4650/5570, Geforce 7950GT/8800GS/9600 series/GT220/430/530
1024x768 M20: Radeon HD2900XT/3870/4670/5570, Geforce 8800GT/9600GT/GT240/GTS450/GT530
1024x768 M30: Radeon HD3870X2/4770/5750, Geforce 8800 Ultra/9800GTX+/GTS250/450/550
1024x768 M40: Radeon HD4870/5770, Geforce 9800GX2/GTX260-216/GTS450/550
1024x768 M50: Radeon HD4850X2/5830/6850, Geforce GTX275/460/GTS550
1024x768 M60: Radeon HD4870X2/5850/6870, Geforce GTX295/465/560

1280x1024 M10: Radeon X1950XT/HD2900GT/3850/4670/5570, Geforce 8800GS/9600GSO/GT220/430/530
1280x1024 M20: Radeon HD3870X2/4830/5570, Geforce 8800GT/9800GT/GTS250/450/550
1280x1024 M30: Radeon HD3870X2/4870/5770, Geforce 9800GX2/GTX260/GTS450/550
1280x1024 M40: Radeon HD4890/5830/6850, Geforce GTX275/460/GTS550
1280x1024 M50: Radeon HD4850X2/5850/6850, Geforce GTX295/465/560
1280x1024 M60: Radeon HD4870X2/5870/6870, Geforce GTX295/470/560

1680x1050 M10: Radeon HD2900 Pro/3850/4670/5570, Geforce 8800GS/9600GSO/GT240/430/530
1680x1050 M20: Radeon HD3870X2/4770/5750, Geforce 8800GTX/9800GTX/GTS250/450/550
1680x1050 M30: Radeon HD4870/5830/6850, Geforce 9800GX2/GTX260-216/GTS450/550
1680x1050 M40: Radeon HD4850X2/5850/6850, Geforce GTX295/460/560
1680x1050 M50: Radeon HD4870X2/5870/6870, Geforce GTX295/470/560
1680x1050 M60: Radeon HD4890CF/5830CF/6850CF/6950, Geforce GTX295/480/570

1920x1080 M10: Radeon HD2900XT/3850/4670/5570, Geforce 8800GS/9600GSO/GT240/430/530
1920x1080 M20: Radeon HD3870X2/4770/5750, Geforce 9800GX2/GTX260/GTS450/550
1920x1080 M30: Radeon HD4890/5830/6850, Geforce GTX275/460/GTS550
1920x1080 M40: Radeon HD4870X2/5870/6870, Geforce GTX295/470/560
1920x1080 M50: Radeon HD4890CF/5830CF/6850CF/6950, Geforce GTX295/480/570
1920x1080 M60: Radeon HD5830CF/6850CF/6970, Geforce SLI460/GTX580

2560x1600 M10: Radeon HD3870X2/4770/5750, Geforce 8800 Ultra/9800GTX+/GTS250/450/550
2560x1600 M20: Radeon HD4870X2/5850/6870, Geforce GTX295/460 1GB/560
2560x1600 M30: Radeon HD5830CF/6850CF/6950, Geforce GTX480/570
2560x1600 M40: Radeon HD5870CF/6870CF/6990, Geforce SLI470/560
2560x1600 M50: Radeon 3xHD5850/6950CF, Geforce SLI480/570
2560x1600 M60: Radeon 3xHD5870/6950CF, Geforce TRI470/SLI580

 

New confirmed release dates:

Geforce GTX570: December 7th, 2010
Radeon HD6950: December 14th-17th, 2010
Radeon HD6970: December 14th-17th, 2010


Another interesting article appeared re: Sandy Bridge CPUs.
Relative performance (per clock) + typical overclocks
Core 2 65nm: 100%. Typical overclock: 35%
Phenom II AM2+/3: 100%. Typical overclock: 20%
Core 2 45nm: 115%. Typical overclock: 35%
Core i7 9xx: 135%. Typical overclock: 50%
Core ix 7xx: 140%. Typical overclock: 55%
Core ix 2xxx: 150%. Maximum overclock: 3%
Core ix 2xxx K series: 150%. Typical overclock: 50%

 

Ati drivers aren't universal the HD3870 driver wont work for the HD5770, so you have to either reinstall the driver using the CCC installer or manually from the Device Manager.

the reason the device manager works is because every time you run the CCC installer it installs all the drivers needed in a package sorta like a linux distro does. in this package are all the drivers you need for the HD series an some of the X series.

 

Hey dudes. Has anybody tried the single player game on BF:BC?

The reason I ask is that my frames are not that bad on the single player game, at full 2560x1600, 1xAA. By the way, that is the default AA and you can't choose higher - what does 1XAA even mean? How can you average one pixel?

So Sam, you're saying that losing my front speakers like happened last month, is just a sign of more lovely things to come? Hahaha. Still I can't crab that much, having gotten a 14000 point rig out of the process to replace my 6,000, but I'll remain forewarned and I'll be watching out for more surprises, like digital vibrance turned to max every time I boot up. (It's on my 7-point checklist to dial back to medium just before I check my speakers.)

I don't know if the enjoyment of the extra saturation will wear off or not - Tommy, the former home theater friend, who now works part-time at Best Buy in the TV department, last night was telling me about Sony Bravia, versus Samsung LED - one is warm rich colors, (sony) the other is flashy electric colors.

It made me think exactly of all the forums I visited trying to search down the ati equivalent of digital vibrance, with some guys saying "it's too cartoony" and other guys saying "I can't live without it!"

The way I look at it, I pretty much know I'm playing a video game, due to the fact that my hands are on a keyboard and a mouse, and when I get hit the screen turns red, but I'm not bleeding. And it's pretty goddamn realistic already if you ask me, and doesn't become less so, even if I dial up the saturation a bit, lol.

Rich

 

That's not what the x figure means, it refers to how many times the pixel is sampled. If it's 1x, the pixel is only sampled once, so it's not anti-aliased.
You can choose higher than 1xAA, as 1xAA means off. the other options are 2x, 4x and 8x.

 

Yeah, that's what I meant, 1x must mean off. But they had only that one choice - nothing else. But that is just for the single player game.

So - does anybody know - are my frame rates on the single player Bad Company, any indication of how I'll do if I try the multiplayer?? The gigantic 1.5 gig patch finally loaded, and the Vietnam expansion pack is only $15. That's why I'm asking.

Rich

 

I'm pretty certain the single player allows 8xAA for me, same as the multiplayer.
Generally the game seems to run pretty similarly in multiplayer to single player, but obviously with the same game settings. Perhaps a little worse on the larger maps.
I'm still downloading said 2.6GB patch, so I'll check the AA issue when it finishes.

 

Wow what a patch. Yeah, I started keeping track at about 44%, and after that it was 1.5 gigs. That is a patch and a half!!

I just rotated the table around and I am getting ready to turn on the big Dell rig, and go through my checklist. I guess the weekend came early, haha.

I'll start with BFBC and see if single player still shows only 1xAA. Anyway, other than that, I seem to be getting 28-30+ fps most of the time. When I first went to snow, it dropped down to about 12, but then quickly recovered - maybe it was loading the new textures.

Quick question: There is some kind of underslung grenade launcher, and another type of grenade launcher, all on the same weapon, or am I hallucinating? What is the difference between the two types?

EDIT: Well, I confirmed it. I went into WaW, one of the most colorful parts, Their Land, Their Blood, and no doubt - I tried turning off digital vibrance, then halfway, then max. No doubt about it - the reason I loved the look of WaW was because for some reason, nvidia turned digital vibrance to max for me.

When I changed nvidia drivers a month of so ago, I lost that special look. When I ran the nvidia monitor color wizard, the look came back. So in running the wizard - my choices on how each color matched up, apparently led something to ratch up the saturation.

Chasing that Russian guy who is my mentor, just now, his red sash lights up on max vibrance, and his golden coat glows.

The difference woke me up, lol!!!!

I think I'll start out with the vibrance turned well up, maybe max or near max. Apparently that is the look that I like! Hahaha

Rich

 

Tommy, works at bust buy for a reason.(spelling error intentional)

read this for more information regarding Color temperature and its difference between warm and cold.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_temperature

if your interested.

 

Hey guys. You ever have Hardware acceleration affect your DVD video adversely? TMT3 just started playing dvds very poorly, with Hardware acceleration enabled. I usually just leave that function enabled. Because I play HD files with it But the last 2 dvds I've loaded, have been met by video stutter. At first I thought I had bad video backups. But other programs play them flawlessly.

 

Kevin, with the DVD problems you are having, why don't you try a free trial version of Power DVD 10? And if you like the trial version, if you do a google search for the product, and put the words best price in the search, you will find it in the very affordable price range. Normally it's $99, or $85 after trying the trail version. I bought it.

I have screenshots to prove my case. Hands down it beats everything else by a country mile on both DVDs, and also on avis. With all due respect to Jeff, in fact his k-lite codex actually helped Power DVD more effectively use the graphics card - I have tested it against all my prior favorites, including mpcstar, mpc-hc, divx plus, etc. The upscale sampling is superb - it will take 480 and upscale to 1080 - and it does a lovely job of enhancing the color and detail at the same time. I am going to get around to a post about it, like I say I have the screenshots, and I will let you guys come to your own conclusions at that time. But to me there simply is no comparison.


- - - - - - - - - - - - - -


DXR, I don't know what you meant about Tommy, but ...

"Bust buy!" Hahaha.

(During the day Tommy is trying to build his insurance business with Colonial Life - hard-working very bright guy, actually. And he does killer impersonations. I cracked up hearing about his Vietnamese client trying to get a special break out of him the other night "Come on dooo, give me deal!")

Thanks for the link to the wiki color temperature article. I scanned it for now, but I saved the thumbnail and url with my paperport web capture - much better than a bookmark although Sam doesn't see why, lol. That other link you gave, with the Lagom monitor calibration, is in the same color correction folder. Adjusting the color temperature to 6200 came up several times in the forums as an extra Catalyst thing to do, in addition to saturation, in order to match what nvidia does with digital vibrance.



- - - - - - - - - - - - - -


The main reason for this post is to let you guys know, if you haven't tried the single player side of Battlefield: Bad Company, you are in for a treat!! Jeff, you love that game - have you tried the single player campaign? It's friggin great!!


- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Single player bad company is a trip. I guess they have taken a clue from the Left 4 Dead guys. During a lull, your 3 teammates will start chattering from time to time, besides the great quantity of yelling they do during firefights. Thinking about the game makes me smile.

I believe the idea of the name, Bad Company, is that these guys really are bad company for each other - they get along, sort of.

We were in a river, and I was trying to find a gun I had dropped when I grabbed a light machine gun from the dock, thinking that I guess I liked my original better, and all of a sudden, the conversations started. I just hung around listening in amazement for about 20 minutes. One guy is kind of a "simple" country type. Another is a Jersey guy - complete with glasses and an East Coast accent and an extensive vocabulary. The leader is a black guy - I think his name is Nick. Then I'm Marlowe, and my character doesn't say anything. All the guys are in heavy flack jackets with grenades etc. but not helmets, except for the Jersey guy. Nick has some kind of cap with visor, like the Cubans use, and I think Garret is bare-headed.

So the bespectacled Jersey guy says: "Wow, so we're really in the Special Operations Force now? I can understand, what with me, and Nick, and Marlowe, but for them to take you in, Garret, a wine-soaked backwoods like you?" Garrett just stands there with his rifle ready, guarding one side of the riverbank. Then, with a little drawl, he says, "Spics, that dog don't hunt. So why don't you just shut the f**k up." Spics retorts (concluding for now his 'bait the redneck' game) - "I will, if you will."

We're climbing a path along a cliff, that goes wayyy up over the river. Spics says "Wow that's a long way down." Then, his voice getting high and kind of breaking "It's just a rock - I'm okay." (He's scared sh**less.)

Then they talk about the movie The Predator. The guy Nick says his favorite scene is when the guy comes out of the trees. Jersey says "Scene, what do you mean, that's the whole movie!" They go on and on. They're just killing time, each one alert, with his weapon ready, guarding his quadrant, waiting for me to start moving again.

It has changed the whole mood of the game for me, and lightened everything up, the same as the chatter in Left 4 Dead: "Bill, if you get infected, do you think it will affect all of you, or just your beard." "Francis, what did you say - sorry, but you've got your head so far up your ass that I just can't hear you."

They can never die, only I can die. I'm playing hardest setting, I have to, otherwise it's just too easy. The first level, after the World War II flashback level rescuing the scientist (I don't get how that level at all fits the rest of the game, lol) was in the snow, and it was pretty intense.

The gun they first gave me has both an under barrel grenade launcher, and a mortar. I particularly like how the gun sounds when it fires. And they do a lot with shooting sounds - thumping of rockets - whining of ricochets. Very nice sound effects. I got killed several times in the first snow level, but usually after main checkpoints, so I didn't have to backtrack too much. When I got killed I exercised a bit more caution - but it's still pretty easy.

After the snow dealing with the Russians, we went to Bolivia. All the Spanish of the militia forces that we had to deal with, is genuine. They have radios sitting around on tables, or on the veranda of huts overlooking the river, playing latino music. The graphics are nice - I'm playing full 2560x1600 pixels on the 30" Dell. But it won't let me turn on AA - the setting is 1x, which is no AA. I don't know if that's a bug when I loaded, or what .... My frames are pretty good most of the time - around 30-35 - it's smooth - just once in a great while it drops to 24 and I can feel a slight lag - maybe it's streaming textures at that point. The environment is destructible - trees fall down - fences fall apart.

Pretty cool!

As I posted before, I have discovered an nvidia thing called digital vibrance, which is basically color saturation, available in 5 levels, from off, to max. I discovered it in a rivatuner palette of adjustments, the first of which was overclocking. I use rivatuner to display the OSD - onscreen display - so I can keep track of the graphic card temps, and frames per second, and a few other things - load and temp on each of the 4 cores, etc.

I had never worked with that palette of icons before, and in checking out the rest of them, I found that in the color settings icon, the Enable on Windows Startup was checked, and the digital vibrance was set to Max. I played with it, and you can see the screen change instantly - you don't really even need to hit Apply.

Somehow, I guess, when I went through the color wizard, and set my individual gammas on the primary colors, nvidia decided that I needed max. No matter how I change the setting, on reboot it's always max. So if I don't want max, that is one of the 7 things I have to do in my checklist, before I start playing. I have some main screenshots saved, one or two per game, full size in wordpad, and I expand wordpad out to about 60% of the screen, and adjust the digital vibrance from that before starting the game. (Some of the other things on my checklist are - set the nvidia fan to fixed, 100% duty cycle, check the speakers to make sure I am getting full front and back - I lost front speakers last month and had to reload the chipset drivers, etc.)

Anyway, the graphics of World at War were unbelievable. I re-played a little yesterday, turning the digital vibrance to off, then medium, then max. Definitely, for that game, max is awesome - it creates splashes of color, like the red sash of my russian mentor - that are very pleasing to my eye - going from off to max actually "woke me up!" Lol.

The chapter that I usually go to in checking out the color, is Their Land, Their Blood, the Russian counter-offensive against the Nazis near the end of the war. We Russians are throwing molotov cocktails all over, and many trees are burning. Fire is amazing - the flames of the game - and the flamethrower that you use in the Pacific Chapters against the Japanese, are unbelievable.

They do a great job of burning the enemies up, the way Miles scripted how the zombies die - the burning up animations are very gratifying!! Hahahaha. (If you guys ever do the director commentary in Left 4 Dead - the first - you will see Miles demonstrating the zombie death agonies that they animated with the help of motion capture, using a professional actor.)

In WaW, whenever I hear "Banzai!" I always switch to the flamethrower - it deals with those bayonet charges very nicely, I quickly learned, after being skewered bunches of times.

Out on the forums, some of the guys love digital vibrance, others say it makes the game cartoony. Some say that you can do the same with Ati by increasing saturation and color temperature, as DXR just linked me to. I have saved a lot of those comments, in my color correction folder, because I like the effect a lot.

On the Modern Warfare 2 screenshot, at the base at the beginning of the game, the one I posted a few days ago, and then simulated digital vibrance by turning it sepia, as Sam mentioned, when I crank up digital vibrance, the red ice chest turns a very beautiful red color. I think I prefer the medium setting for that game.

Anyway guys, this was mostly a post about the single player Bad Company. If you ever decide to check it out, the first main snow chapter should be very enjoyable, and will probably impress you, and will give you a good feel for the game.

And then, if you want some greenery, the next chapter, in Bolivia, is very nice.

Rich

 

I love TMT 3 I find it weird that it just recently began stuttering like it is. It almost seems like it's dropping frames. I'll have to play with it some more tonight. I may give powerdvd a shot. But in my opinion, nothing matches Blu ray def. Dvd upscales just don't look that good to me. Perhaps that's due to low bitrates though. Perhaps low bitrate video simply doesn't upscale that well...

 

I think TMT 3 is the one that told me it wouldn't run on my rig with the ati 3650 graphics card - pretty much nvidia only. I was going to get that at first until I ran their test.

For sure, I have to agree with you, nothing matches blu ray. But I had at one time thought divX plus was a good upscaler, on the Earth 480 avi. A friend with a good eye caught it playing - "Is that HD?" he asked. But Power DVD 10 puts the DivX version of that one scene in the Earth avi, to shame.

I'll post the screens, the baboons crossing the river. One baboon grabs a leaf and starts eating it, midstream. You go "Nice, nice, nicer" moving from vlc, to mpc-hc, to DivX. Then you see the Power DVD 10 screenshot, and you go "Jeezus!"

Just like I did. Sorry, disbelievers. There is no contest! You'll be the judge in some future post.

Same thing on the upscaling from Firefly 720p avi, to full 1080p. The avi is nice to begin with, and already hd. The 3 images go from nice, a little nicer, to finally, obviously the best, going from mpc-hc, to DivX plus, to Power DVD 10. I'll post one day.

For upscaling DVDs, I have the screens from the movie Broken Trail. I have the full-size screens, but initially I'll just post small versions of the screens, which I still think shows the difference. Of course it's not Blu Ray. But on that Broken Trail, Kevin, running it through the Power DVD 10, it gave the image so much more clarity.

This is going to sound negative but don't take it that way - I was reminded of how video tape can sometimes give you the feel of "live" versus film. The nephew is in the store buying provisions, and the lady is hugging her daughter as he looks over at that corner of the store - and with Power DVD 10 - it looked like it was live in a television studio - in a good way - very much more presence.

Anyway, what you have is maybe just as good - but it's a free trial, lol.

Rich

 

Still shots don't always do the convincing. Need to see the video in action. I laugh when people post still shots comparing compression techniques. They generally look identical every time. Gotta see the video running

Apparently Sam has no input on the Dvd trouble

 

Well, MY still shots will be convincing!!! Hahaha.

Actually, the screens seem to tell an accurate story. To see it in action, you're gonna have to download the trial version.

I think Sam took a few days off (How dare he!)

I jumped on Left 4 Dead 2 last night for about 4 hours. I focused on the two add-on chapters, Sacrifice and Passing. I put the digital vibrance on low, because Valve already highlights certain colors when they want to draw your attention to something. Even on low, fire was a little too much. But when you jump down into the garden area at the beginning of passing - gorgeous. Plus I'm playing now at full 2560x1600 (oh, I forgot to check if I have AA turned on) and that is really nice!!

In final conclusion, I have to say that the Left 4 Deads are the best multiplayers ever created, haha. But really, the games are SOOO well done, and so intense each time!

Rich

 

Nah I didn't take a few days off, I just didn't seem to be getting notifications, and had seen enough activity elsewhere on the forum along with personal messages that it went unnoticed.
I was going to mention that digital vibrance would almost certainly be a bad idea for Left 4 Dead It's nice to run the game at high res though as it is very good looking, and relatively undemanding. My HD4830 was actually mostly playable at 2560x1600 all max, though the AA had to be turned off. Not bad for a £75 ($100) card from the beginning of 2009 I daresay.

 

Not bad at all. Were those the days of your - what - 15,000 3dmark6, or were you already up to 18,000 by then? I know you at least had your quad, and I think you had already moved past your 6600 to 9450, then to 9550 as I recall (and now to i5 27000 points!)

Left 4 Dead plays so well, and I haven't noticed the jaggies that I noticed on Far Cry 2 with AA turned off, that I still forgot to check AA. I think I WILL check, though, because I seem to getting good frames, and doesn't the fermi allow you to jack up the AA without much penalty?? (Or does the 8800GTX not have the fermi.)

Yeah, digital vibrance on Left 4 Dead, almost too much of a good thing, lol. But notice that I didn't turn it off completely, haha.

- - - - - - -

Good news! Hells Highway now plays lovely in the rain!! I was on it for about 12 hours straight yesterday, and got partway through that rain chapter that stopped the p4 dead last year. The 9450 didn't even hiccup of course.

Hells Highway: IT'S GORGEOUSO! (spanish, ) Friggin unbelievable, with digital vibrance on HIGH!

I have a new little trick where I take a wordpad document and paste in a screenshot - about 20 mb per picture with OLE. Then I open the document about 2/3 full size and adjust my digital vibrance before continuing to play the game! I couldn't help myself - max was possibly too rich of a Rembrandt painting, but medium wasn't enough.

So I am playing this animal through on HIGH digital vibrance and loving it! In addition to my other addictions, we'll have to add digital vibrance to the mix.

I'm not quite yet an nvidia fanboy - to me that's like joining the Nazi party - but let's just say that unless I can convince myself, by fooling around with the P4, that I can get the SAME EXACT THING, on ati, THAT is going to be a factor in my decision on who gets my next $500 card buy.

(I paid $500 for my 9800 - was that 2003? - then another $500 for my x850XTPE - was that 2005? - then $110 for my used ebay 3850 agp - end of 2008. I am loyal red - I don't like green. Fairy, shmairy, give me that sexy little Ruby anytime. But now I have discovered digital vibrance = color saturation, and I don't think I can go back to the ho hum days of eating my cherry pie and vanilla icecream, without the whip cream on top. Remember, I played Hells Highway before. It is now a new experience!)

Hells Highway, if any of you never bought it, is worth the money guys. I could have kept taking screenshots almost the entire game, but here is the first one.



In playing through the game, I used the bazooka team a lot more this time - I didn't know they could blow a whole window apart. And I especially liked how they knock a fence down killing three Nazis on the other side, who all bounce into the air joyously celebrating their entrance into heaven, the whole thing rendered in awesome Max Payne slo-mo. Nice!

They also of course give you that slo-mo when you score a head shot - the slow motion of the guy's head being blown in half. So gratifying! They don't overdo it - you'll get that maybe once every half hour.



In the rain chapter, for the first time, I have actually started using grenades more effectively. I had the bazooka team suppressing some Krauts and I was able to flank around and get to where I was close to the Germans, and using the grenade key, but not releasing, I used the small red circle in the middle of the explosion radius to deftly drop the grenade just a few feet behind the 3 guys. I laughed out loud when two of them flew up in the air, ragdoll style, and landed in various funny positions draped over the wall!

The game keeps giving you tips every time you die and restart the last checkpoint, and sometimes I tend to ignore the red building up as I get scraped by bullets, trying to direct the bazooka for the perfect shot, then suddenly I'm dead before you know it. It's like COD but no heavy breathing. So I got to do that grenade thing about 3 times - I laughed every time! There is something so nice and so terminal about ragdoll - almost as good as burning up a guy in WaW!



Looking at these screens on my business 17" CRT (if you can imagine) they look nice, but WITH NO IMPACT! On an LCD, adding in digital vibrance turned to High, these screens come alive and take your breath away, as Jeff nicely described one time.

This is just in the first 30 minutes of training gameplay, once you're past the short sanatorium segment. By the way, I meant to take another one inside the town - they just kept getting better and more colorful as I kept playing - but I see that by then I was too much into the game. LOL

Rich

 

Fermi is specifically the GTX400 and GTX500 series. It is not a technology, but a specific graphics hardware design, much like AMD's R700/R800, or as their new technologies are also now referred to by name, southern islands / northern islands.
My limit in 3dmark was the 14,000s whilst I had a dual core E4300, even with the 4870X2. Upgrading to the Q6600 allowed me to reach something like 17,000-18,000 I believe. The Q9550 upgrade allowed me to reach 20,000 with one 4870X2 thereabouts, and 22,000-23,000 with two. 27,000 was made possible with the i5.
It's worth noting that when i ran 3dmark vantage on the i5 back in february when i first got it, I scored 24,705. I ran it again at the same settings but with a newer driver, 10.10e, this month, and that had risen to just over 26,000.

Digital vibrance just sounds like saturation to me, which is definitely an option in the ATI control panel.

 

Honestly Rich, digital vibrance sounds more like a compound saturation/gamma setting than some sort of brilliant new technology. I tend to leave my color setting default and let the(fairly well calibrated) 2407 do its job.

On a new note the MP7 map pack for Battlefield BC2 was released a few days ago (and they actually released new maps, not just allowing all maps for more game modes like the last two updates). Some of the maps are brilliant. It is named MP7 because they count separate game modes as a map and they released 4 maps. AFAIK all but one of the new maps is playable for both Rush and Conquest.

Harvest Day and Heavy Metal are very large scale maps larger than Atacama Desert in the spirit of Battlefield 2. They focus on vehicle warfare and small interspersed firefights in the widely spaced villages. Traveling the long distances is a chore without a vehicle, but thankfully they have allowed quite a few vehicles for easy transportation. Heavy Metal has the most tanks of any map released, and allows for thrilling armored charges and long range artillery battles. Harvest Day focuses more on small vehicles, and has more villages and buildings around to facilitate infantry play. Both are fairly well balanced and require decent squad work to be effectively won.

Oasis is a smaller infantry based map along the lines of Arica Harbor. It takes place in a closely packed town. I found this one thrillingly well balanced and it makes for great firefights and a welcome change of scenery.

Cold War is a Rush only map AFAIK and the only map I don't like. So far only played it a few minutes but basically it creates far too many choke points to be fun for me.

Really wish I'd see more jungle maps released, but the Vietnam expansion seems to have that covered