The Official Graphics Card and PC gaming Thread

Yeah, the 8800GTS 320MB and newer cards like the HD3850/9600GT are quickly dropping in price. Those cards are very capable gamers and will be for a while. Should be a decent option for budget gamers for at least another year.

Also, I heard Far Cry 2 should be much easier on your system than Crysis. Crysis was a fluke, a lot of games released after Crysis have been much less demanding while achieving similar graphical goals.

 

I haven't seen the 8800GTS 320MB at a price worth buying for a long time, but then, I haven't seen it for sale for a long time, perhaps they still can't sell them all in the US, they've long disappeared over here.

As far as Far cry 2 goes, what information do we have to say that's the truth, that message from cytek? Because I'm pretty sure they said Crysis was going to be playable on all ends of the PC spectrum too, and it isn't!

 

Hmm, there are still a few floating around, but you seem to be correct. There aren't many left >.<

Well, seeing as they're giving away a 9800GTX with the game for a contest. Wouldn't you think the card they give away with the game would be able to handle it? My 8800GTS is based on the exact same chip so I'm hopeful that this means 1650 x 1080 in at least high settings. Keep in mind that this is coming from a different developer entirely and is based on a different engine.

This is just speculation from the official forums:

High Requirements
CPU: E6600 Core 2 Duo
Graphics: Nvidia 8800GTS
RAM: 2GB
Hard Drive Space: 6-8GB
Optical Drive: DVD Drive

Minimum Requirements
CPU: Athlon 64 3000+/Intel 2.8ghz
Graphics: Nvidia 6600 or ATI X1600 - Shader Model 2.0
RAM: 1GB
Hard Drive Space: 6-8GB
Optical Drive: DVD Drive

Recommended Requirements
CPU: Dual-Core CPU (Athlon X2 / Pentium D / Core 2 Duo)
Graphics: Nvidia 7800GT or ATI X1800XL (SM 3.0)
RAM: 2GB+
Hard Drive Space: 6-8GB
Optical Drive: DVD Drive

If it's anything near that, a lot of gamers will be happy. Even if it is as demanding as Crysis, the engine itself seems a bit more balanced. They show some nice gameplay footage on the site, unlike the pre-render videos we saw all the way through Crysis' development.

 

Handle it sure, but at what? 1280x1024?

I would love far cry 2 to be more reasonable for its hardware requirements than crysis, it might actually be worth bothering with then... To think that graphics configs that can run every popular game made in 2007 at my resolution with filters perfectly playably, can't even run Crysis playably at 1920x1200 without them, Crysis needs a balance, especially when it doesn't even look much better than these other games.

 

Read my edit quick

Anyway, I remain hopeful.

 

Your 8800GTS isn't just the same chip, it's the same card... lol
If a 9800GTX can do it, an 8800GTS G92 can do it, but then so can an 8800GT too...

 

I think that if you can run Crysis with high settings at a decent resolution, Far Cry 2 should be a cake walk. But I've been wrong before

It still doesn't look as good as Half Life 2. But I think that's a matter of opinion. Half Life 2 has been my favorite for graphics since the original came out. I have yet to see a game with anything near as eye-pleasing as Half Life 2. Textures are great(at least in the episodes) models are awesome, lighting is amazing(much more natural than Crysis) and the Source 2007 update not only brought it into the present, but put it on top, IMO.

EDIT:

Check this out: http://www.farcry2-hq.com/requirements.htm

Says you can run it on a fast single core and a strong Dx9 card. They said that about Crysis too, but I'd like to try that out with the X1800XT

And it says the demo was on a "beefed"(presumably OC'd) Core 2 Duo and a single 8800. Seeing as I currently run one of the fastest 8800's there is, I hope that means I can handle it well.

 

Agreed.

 

shaffaaf, thanks for the comeback big guy, I appreciate your advise, and will give it a shoot as you said, just hope I dont screw something up going in, would'nt it be great if it was that simple, just clean out a little dirt, we'll see.

As far as Billy my son, oh yeah he came home, and all the interest we were discussing while he was away now that he's here its one week he's in NY, another down the shore Atlantic City or the other beaches, comes home with girls that didnt look like that when I went to school, YAWZA! So I really dont bust his aggots, I remember when, so let him have his fun, and yes am dissapointed about the build, but will get around to it, just a temporary hold.

As far as my card, like I said, do not know if it's the culprit or not, either way am intersted in something better anyway, not a gamer myself, but if someone or my kids want a little fun it wont hurt to have a decent card I guess, if I can get something under a hundred that would be nice, and actually I'm more intersted in a good sound card cause whatever is in my pc sucks and I do listen to music or record a lot.

As far as Russ, I havent been around much, need to catch up on the pc build thread its been a couple months, maybe will give russ a buzz about my little problem with that goofy blue screen, he'a always a great help. Thanks again shaffaaf.

 

Can you guys help me w/ something? I got a 8800GTS 512 (it's a prototype, but it should preform just the same) installed, and on the settings test in F.E.A.R., my average fps does not go above 60. My settings are all on maximum.
Now, I have seen the benchmarks for this card, and the avg frame rates in the reviews are MUCH higher than what I get when I play. The same thing happens in COD2...my fps won't go above 60....

 

It's Vsync, caps your frame rate at 60.

 

ahh thats an easy one. your V-sync is enabled. disable it, and see your games going into the 100s

haha fred, dont worry im sure he'll want to spend some quality son father time before summer is out. why not ask him? show him u just want a day or two, and he can have th rest of the summer

 

shaff, lol, it will be longer than a couple of days, we are both novices actually totall dummies when it will come time for a build, I read a lot about you guys putting them together and even you brainiacs run into clitches at times, so you know what we will be up against, but either way I am still looking forward to it big time.

I did the dirt thing, blew everything out, it really wasnt that dirty to begin with, but just yesterday the computer shut down with that blue screen again right after I turned it like 2 minutes after, so I dont think that was a possible over heat, I know it can be a possibility of many things, for some reason I suspect my video card and of course I am probably wrong, but if I'm right I do want a descent card and a sound card, I'll have to call a friend of mine that knows of a guy that fixes computers, whats interesting to me is, of course I dont get the blue screen all the time, he definatly is not gonna sit around till it comes up, and if it doesnt come up how in the hell is he gonna figure it out, dont want to be paying a guy just sitting in front of it fishing and hoping for a bite.

 

I'd suspect the video card as well. The 7600GTs have a history of dying after about a year. The one my parents were using died after 14 months. Blown capacitor. Same symptoms, bluescreens and shutdowns.

If you want to show him the problem, play a game. That's when mine did it.

 

mrk44, while disabling VSync will make your framerates go up, it's aso going to cause tearing in your games, which sucks.

When you take it off, try looking left and right really fast.

 

fred, download ATI tools:

http://www.techpowerup.com/atitool/

and run the artifacting tool

 

I disabled vsync...and my fps in f.e.a.r. went from 60 fps avg to 61...max was 75...




Is there anything that should be changed here?^

EDIT: I ran the test loop again, and my fps was in the thirties....It keeps changing...I ran another time and the avg was 300!!! wtf!?

 

Are you running anything in the background that might be eating up resources?

 

Nope, nothing running except FEAR. It keeps changing anyway...one time it runs at 60 avg, another time 35 avg, another time 100 avg. My settings are all on maximum, by the way...but an 8800GTS should be able to handle it...
Is there anyway it could be because of my graphics card overheating? Sometimes it just goes up to about 63-67 when I'm not even doing anything...

 

What temperature does it run at when you play a game like FEAR? Try and find a demanding game that can run in a window and have rivatuner running along side it, to check your temperatures as you're playing.