The Official Graphics Card and PC gaming Thread

Yeah, I didn't have much room for gaming during my A-levels either.

 

How many subjects did you take???

I'm taking 4, but we are extra stressed beacuse we are really behind (only started 2 weeks ago), so the teachers are really piling on the work.

I will however take time out specially for Dead Space , as I do for my 3 weekly shows (that I D/l not those on Tv)

 

Three in Year 12, Four in Year 13 (yes, the wrong way round, I know). Electronics was practically two subjects due to the workload though.

 

Electronics????

Sounds like a cool subject

I'm in grade 11(yet I'm doing A-levels???) took two years for my IGCSEs :S

Guess its different in the UK, huh

 

Indeed. I'm surprised they're even called that. Too used to getting confused by the american or canadian education system...

Year 0 (reception year)-6: primary (age 4-10 before Sep 1st) (Key Stage 1&2)
Year 7-9: Secondary, Key Stage 3 (Age 11-13 before Sep 1st)
Year 10-11: Secondary, KS4 or GCSE (Age 14-15 before Sep 1st)
Year 12-13: AS and A2 (A-Levels) (Age 16-17 before Sep 1st)
beyond year 13: Further education/university


Man, was that off topic.
Moving back to the area of discussion:


http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/5109/19455355782cx0.jpg

This is about as much as my CPU has to give unfortunately. test run at 3555 CPU, 782/940,782/940 on GPUs. CPU Vcore 1.55V. NB voltage +10%. RAM at 790mhz-5-5-5-18,2.2V.

 

Thanks for the info, even though I don't get all of it.
(what is strange is that I was in year 5 in england, second week of school when I left to come here, and I joined grade 5 here, I think they put me a grade ahead)

Back on topic

Do you mean the max that you can o/c your CPU to is 3.55 GHz???

 

That's right, and at a very high voltage.

 

Just for shits and giggles guys. A GTX 280 running with a Celeron.

 

Looks interesting... to say the least.

Benchies please. If possible. I want to see what single core does. The Dual Core Celerons are actually quite decent. But a Core 2 can be had for cheap so what's the point?

 

lol It's definitely not MINE.

I'm not retarded enough to get a Celeron or a GTX280, much less both of them! ahah

 

Lol right? But I can imagine the system would game decently enough.

 

Yeah, probably decently enough. Huge bottleneck though.

Some guy got an i7 early. Official release date is 16th Nov.

 

LOL I'm addicted to the original Halo again. The online multiplayer on the PC version is way better than Halo 2 on Xbox Live. I think the maps and weapons are better. The ones in Halo 2 relied on auto-aim to be effective. The weapons in Halo 1 can be wielded with some competence on PC. And the maps are bigger and allow for better vehicle combat.

I just had a stunning chase with some buddies and 2 warthogs. CTF on Blood Gorge. The other team had the flag and we were right after them like a bat outta hell. Guns a blazing and knuckles white. Bullets and grenades and bodies everywhere. What a blast!

And the graphics!!! They wowed me years ago and they still look fairly nice. The game stood the test of time as the PC version looks good in high res. But the original Xbox version at 640 x 480 is what hindered the graphics. There are a lot of little details and the texturing is extremely good for a Classic Xbox game. And some of the lighting was way ahead of its time. The flashlight and headlight effects are still very nice, IMO.

Halo 1 kind of approaches Half Life 2 in graphical quality and Halo 2 brought it damn close. Halo 3 equals the original Half Life 2 IMO.

If you can get it, and haven't, I highly recommend playing through Halo in high res and see how well it's held up.

 

Sorry, a Celeron with a 1200W PSU, running one graphics card? riiiiiight.

Also, removing the profanity that comes before 'and giggles' might be a good idea ;-)

Estuansis, have you played any Halo 2 for PC on Vista? (Or Xp, since it can be hacked) I'm curious to see if multiplayer ever took off for it. I ask because I quite enjoy Halo 3 on the xbox, but would prefer a keyboard and mouse, and unlike you, the original Halo's graphics shock me, even on PC. Halo 2 isn't great, but it's better.

 

Sam, that's the whole point. It's supposed to be ridiculous.

He will be replacing that Celeron with an i7 and be doing Tri-Sli and that's why he has that 1200W psu.

Me and my buddies still enjoy playing Halo 2 from time to time on the xbox. I think it require more skill with Halo 2 vs Halo 3.

 

I remember playing Halo 1 on my old rig and had loads of fun playing through it twice.

Never tried multiplayer though, and didn't really get into Halo 2 (only finished the first two missions)

PS - That rig was good for a laugh, thanks

 

Hey Ray - well if Doom 3 left you with headaches, I'll just leave it unopened in the cabinet then. Who needs that kind of stress? I get freaked out enough when COD4 Shaff comes around the corner with his shottie Lol

Yeah, boozer, like Sam and GTR said, that's what you get for trying to play the thing on the 60" big screen in the middle of that giant mansion living room with nobody home, and lightning and thunder outside!

Speaking of scary games - Fear shortened GTR's life - he's filing for social security next year. But Ray's gonna get the better of everybody and play Dead Space on his 15". Hell, I'll show all you guys - I'll mod it to play on my cell phone and say "what's up with you scaredy-cats!!"

So we're all playing xbox games now on the PC? Pretty soon I won't be able to give boozer any more cr*p. Actually estuansis, I have to admit, watching my brother's friend Kyle play Halo a couple years ago, it was kind of interesting - like world of warcraft, which he also was big into, kind of not too detailed graphics but very colorful - the waterfalls for example looked fake of course but still sort of "pretty." Now you're saying they're up to Half Life 2 level? - well well well. Kyle still stops by from time to time and while he's waiting for Joe, he likes to play cod4 mp on my rig - he's wayyyy better than I'll ever be. Maybe I should install Halo 3 just for those times - what does the game cost?

Sam's 3dmarks!! Geez, luieez, you're closing in on 20,000!! I remember when Ray hit 20k - as I recall he was running 4870 CF with water cooling and he cranked his voltages to dangerous levels, isn't that right?

Sam, so are your voltages sustainable or did you do like Ray and just crank them up to post?

Hey abuzar, that gag rig with the celeron - he's got 1200 watts getting ready for tri-sli. (And while we're on the subject, booze, watch out what the sh*t you say or Loco's gonna wash your mouth out!) I was thinking 750 watt corsair with 60 amps on the 12 volt rail for crossfire 4870 - but now I'm thinking of jumping straight to a 4870x2 - and maybe one distant day two of them, although nothing supports 4 gpus now.

But looking at your buddy's Thermaltake 1200 watts - that is a bunch more wattage than 750. Maybe I'm not future-proofing myself enough and I should be looking at over 1000 watts, and maybe 1200 is the right number if you factor in 20% capacitor aging over 3 years.

Sam, what do you think about that? How would two 4870x2 compare wattage-wise with tri-sli GTX 280?
-Rich

 

I never got headaches playing Doom 3, it was kind of scary at times, jumpy, but not in the way FEAR is, that game messes with your head. Condemned is meant to be even scarier, but I dunno, watching it at least, it doesn't seem as bad.
Dead Space is scary in parts, I'll give it that, but I'd probably place it as Doom 3 scary, not FEAR terrifying.
Halo3 is only for the Xbox 360 unfortunately. Halo 2 is on Windows Vista, only the original Halo is for XP.
Funny you should mention the 3dmark, I've found an elusive E0 stepping Q9550, which is on its way here, so soon I should be able to break 21,000, let alone 20k.
As it happens Ray was only running 3870s to get that score, the 3dmark scaling of those older cards was better, so you got big scores considering they were half the speed of the 4870s. He did however crank his Quad core to the max, I'm not quite that dangerous myself. Plus, he got a better CPU for overclocking than I did.
I 'did like Ray' and upped the volts to get that 19500 score, but only to 1.55, not 1.6, that's just madness.
As you see, a 4870X2 runs on a 520W PSU, though how long I'll keep doing that we shall see. A 620W HX will do you fine, or the 650W TX if you don't care about modular cables.
As for two 4870X2s, it's kind of a waste of time right now, as the only games that actually need that much power (Crysis, Crysis Warhead, Supreme Commander:Forged Alliance and Flight Simulator X) don't support quad crossfire, none of them, so the technology is really a bit of a waste. Triple SLI is slightly better, but not by much. I'd stick with one 4870X2, and when the time comes that you need more oomph, there'll probably be a 5870X2, or something like that. Sadly, the best way to have a top-notch rig every month of the year is to take upgrades as they come. Costs a fortune, but that's how it has to be done I'm afraid. As far as watts go, full load with an overclocked Quad and one 4870X2 is around 480W peak, maybe 500 in the US due to the lower efficiency electrics. For two X2s, you're looking at around 750-800. For triple SLI with GTX280s, maybe 900-1000. In short, one 4870X2 = 600W PSU. Two 4870X2s = 1KW-1200W PSU. Two GTX280s = 850W PSU. Three GTX280s = 1KW-1200W PSU.
I'll warn you now, Zardon over at Driverheaven has killed off a fair few 1KW PSUs trying to get triple/quad GPU systems to run. An Enermax Galaxy didn't cut the mustard, neither do any of OCZ's offerings. The Corsair HX 1000W was the tool for the job in the end.

 

Yeah, what Sam said.

Also I just wanted to re-iterate this. You can't install Halo 3 on PC! lol Only Halo and Halo 2 are available on PC. If you want Halo 3 you will need to get a good old fashioned Xbox 360.

I love how no one cares about the PS3 or Wii.

 

It's because the Wii is for Nintendo games - Mario, Zelda, and the likes,and the PS3 doesn't really have any purpose apart from Metal Gear Solid 4, and costs twice as much as the other consoles.