Graphics card confusion

bigaudiofanatic

Sherardp wrote: »

Go with the Sapphire 2GB 6950. Flash the bios to make it run as the 6970 model (free software). This should run anything you throw at it effortless. You could always run dual cards which would be sick. Whatever you decide, consider using a SSD drive as your boot. Make sure your mobo has SATA III, USB 3.0 as well.

I may actually go with this card, been reading about it not half bad. Before the upgrade it asks for 500 watts so would I need to upgrade my power supply from 700 especially if I am reflashing them?

txcoastal1

bigaudiofanatic wrote: »

I may actually go with this card, been reading about it not half bad. Before the upgrade it asks for 500 watts so would I need to upgrade my power supply from 700 especially if I am reflashing them?

Power supply ratings are sometimes as bad as AVR watt ratings which power supply

bigaudiofanatic

http://www.ocztechnology.com/ocz-stealthxstream-2-700w-power-supply.html

txcoastal1

bigaudiofanatic wrote: »

http://www.ocztechnology.com/ocz-stealthxstream-2-700w-power-supply.html

I'd say your good it is designed to run Sli so running a single Sapphire your good unless your stacked with drives

bigaudiofanatic

Going to probably run two of them and only major drive ill be running is a 2TB HD.

MacLeod

Crysis 1 wasnt badly optimized, it was insanely intense on graphics. Thats why its arguably the best looking game ever. Crysis 2 uses DX9 for God's sake. Crytek really screwed us PC gamers over with this one. So yeah, Crysis 2 isnt going to be anywhere near as demanding as Crysis 1.

That being said, it all depends on how much you want to spend. A 6970 running from $$340+ is enough to max out any game at 1920x1080. The GTX580 is in the upper $400's and is enough to easily max anything out at 1920x1200 with room to spare.

The thing about the 6950's is that its not a guarantee that youll be able to unlock it to a 6970 and I think it has to be a reference design to do that. Its been my experience that if you want something, just go ahead and pay for it. If you want the 6970, youre better off buying a 6970. I bought a AMD X3 and X2 in the hopes of unlocking them like everybody and their brother was able to do....everybody but me. I got the 4th cores to unlock but they werent stable. So I finally said to hell with it and bought an X6.

I also dont like dual cards, especially AMD cards. AMD's drivers are complete fail and while theyre getting definitely better, it still causes some issues with compatibility. I would rather get a bad **** single card and be done with it.

bigaudiofanatic

Should just drop a grand and get a 6990 lol

nadams

bigaudiofanatic wrote: »

http://www.ocztechnology.com/ocz-stealthxstream-2-700w-power-supply.html

Odd that they claim the supply can put out the full 700 watts on the 4 12v rails, but say it can only do 700 total? What happened to the 3.3 and 5v rails?

AsSiMiLaTeD

MacLeod wrote: »

Crysis 1 wasnt badly optimized, it was insanely intense on graphics. Thats why its arguably the best looking game ever. Crysis 2 uses DX9 for God's sake. Crytek really screwed us PC gamers over with this one. So yeah, Crysis 2 isnt going to be anywhere near as demanding as Crysis 1.

I would hardly say we got 'screwed' with Crysis 2, it's a great looking game and I found the game itself to be more enjoyable than the first one.

Crysis 1 was not optimized well, that's why Warhead ran better with essentially the same graphics, I believe this to be common knowledge.

Sherardp

bigaudiofanatic wrote: »

Already have a ssd drive so way ahead of you. Sense I have not posted my system here it is.

Asus republic of gamers Crosshair mobo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131644

AMD black edition 6 core processor running at 3.8 but will overclock to 4.2 when I get water cooling.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103913

Excellent processor choice. I use a 965 BE overclocked to 3.8 ghz on air. You should be able to push that 6 core beyond 4ghz easily. I would say check out the Antec Kuhler or Corsair H50/70.

12GB of Corsair RAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233166

A tad bit of overkill, but it all depends on your needs. Most games will not exceed 4GB or RAM. Unless your doing some extreme multitasking you would have been safe saving the $100.00 or more and going with an 8GB kit.

OCZ SSD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227714

Antec lanboy air case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129093

Did you see the NZXT Phantom? You plan on moving that rig around alot, lan parties?

MacLeod wrote: »

The thing about the 6950's is that its not a guarantee that youll be able to unlock it to a 6970 and I think it has to be a reference design to do that. Its been my experience that if you want something, just go ahead and pay for it. If you want the 6970, youre better off buying a 6970. I bought a AMD X3 and X2 in the hopes of unlocking them like everybody and their brother was able to do....everybody but me. I got the 4th cores to unlock but they werent stable. So I finally said to hell with it and bought an X6.

I also dont like dual cards, especially AMD cards. AMD's drivers are complete fail and while theyre getting definitely better, it still causes some issues with compatibility. I would rather get a bad **** single card and be done with it.

I can see your point with this MAC ,but the reports to unlock the 6950 have been rather good. In the end it all depends on the users skill leve along with trial and error sort of speak ( no insults there). It is very well possible to take the 6950 ( Sapphire has been known to unlock very easily), overclock the card and achieve 6970 performance for a fraction of the cost. Just depends on what your trying to achieve.

How are you enjoying your X6? Overclocked? Cooler? What mobo? Pardon the many questions, I just like talking shop on this stuff. It gets to be addicting when your tearing into a rig, overclocking it trying to squeeze everything you can from these parts. Would love to talk shop sometimes especially on your CPU, since I've been thinking the X6 over my current 965BE. Just started reading up on BULLDOZER.

Sherardp

Here's a thread featuring a few of the guy's rigs, self included. Big A, share some pics when your done bro. Would love to see how you wire that case up. Hopefully it has excellent cable management. The NZXT is awesome for this feature, great airflow as well.

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=115926&highlight=NZXT

bigaudiofanatic

I know the memory is overkill however I like the idea of a bit of overkill. I will be multitasking and if I decide to do some video editing if I get a video camera I will have the power. I do know about the NZXT however I wanted something that was different and this case got a great rating. My next setup will be using a antec skeleton case. I will post some pics up they may not be of the rig completed but you will get to see her.

nadams

bigaudiofanatic wrote: »

I know the memory is overkill however I like the idea of a bit of overkill. I will be multitasking and if I decide to do some video editing if I get a video camera I will have the power. I do know about the NZXT however I wanted something that was different and this case got a great rating. My next setup will be using a antec skeleton case. I will post some pics up they may not be of the rig completed but you will get to see her.

I agree on the memory... I've got 8gb in my workstation at work and I've never been happier. Right now, Win7 is taking 2.7gb of memory, and it's essentially idle, with just this and my Outlook window open. Before, when I had 2gb, it was always fully utilized, and hitting the swap file constantly. Much faster now.

goosonano

To hard to tell at this point in your life. Puberty is a crazy time for people sexually. Horomones are currently going CRAZY! in your body.

bigaudiofanatic

nadams wrote: »

I agree on the memory... I've got 8gb in my workstation at work and I've never been happier. Right now, Win7 is taking 2.7gb of memory, and it's essentially idle, with just this and my Outlook window open. Before, when I had 2gb, it was always fully utilized, and hitting the swap file constantly. Much faster now.

My long term goal is to have one SSD for OS one SSD for program files and one SSD for a paging file than a hard drive for music and photos. This will increase my speed. However there are some programs that you can not direct to a dedicated paging file and will use the RAM.

AsSiMiLaTeD

You do realize that a paging file is LESS desirable than RAM right? With 12GB of RAM you hopefully shouldn't be needing that paging file much. Having the paging file on a separate disk has always been a good way to tweak performance, but with the amount of RAM you're seeing these days it's less effective.

Sherardp

bigaudiofanatic wrote: »

My long term goal is to have one SSD for OS one SSD for program files and one SSD for a paging file than a hard drive for music and photos. This will increase my speed. However there are some programs that you can not direct to a dedicated paging file and will use the RAM.

That's not a bad idea just an expensive one. Boot drive on a SSD will provide you with excellent results, the others heh not so much. A good 7200 RPM drive, or even 10K rpm (think raptor) will still give you more space than a SSD without spending tons of cash. Prices are coming down, but not at a rapid pace. Heck we're still spending over $200.00 for 128gb SSD's, and that's not cheap in the least.

With 12gb of RAM you should have no worries with page file. Windows 7 Ultimate on the new rig if the funds permit. During bios setup, turn all those other boot devices off giving the SSD 1st priority and you should see that thing fly. Make sure you set it to ACHI mode for best results also.

nadams

bigaudiofanatic wrote: »

My long term goal is to have one SSD for OS one SSD for program files and one SSD for a paging file than a hard drive for music and photos. This will increase my speed. However there are some programs that you can not direct to a dedicated paging file and will use the RAM.

You actually DON'T want your paging file on an SSD. The extra read/write cycles will cause premature failure. Most places will recommend SSD for OS and permanent programs (games, etc) only, and a rotational HD for paging and storage. If you do any video/graphics editing, make sure the staging area is set to the rotational drive.

Face

FYI, the ASUS 6850 is on sale for $139.99 after rebate and coupon code: EMCKEHF42

AsSiMiLaTeD

nadams wrote: »

You actually DON'T want your paging file on an SSD. The extra read/write cycles will cause premature failure. Most places will recommend SSD for OS and permanent programs (games, etc) only, and a rotational HD for paging and storage. If you do any video/graphics editing, make sure the staging area is set to the rotational drive.

Very good point, those ssd drives are only rated up to 10k writes or so last time I checked, not a good tool for a paging file

bigaudiofanatic

As I said some programs are programed to run with a paging file otherwise I will not use one. I think adobe photoshop is one of them along with a few others. Why? I have not idea.

Sherardp

I think your good with a single SSD unless you decide to run Raid 0. Just keep in mind you will lose TRIM with running RAID though.

MacLeod

Sherardp wrote: »

How are you enjoying your X6? Overclocked? Cooler? What mobo? Pardon the many questions, I just like talking shop on this stuff. It gets to be addicting when your tearing into a rig, overclocking it trying to squeeze everything you can from these parts. Would love to talk shop sometimes especially on your CPU, since I've been thinking the X6 over my current 965BE. Just started reading up on BULLDOZER.

Dude I totally hear ya. I post on a couple other computer forums just to talk tech. I love this stuff and it is very addicting. Ive been a member of the PC Gamer magazine forum for about a year now and have nearly 2000 posts....1960 of them are in the "Tech" section. LOL! This is the 4th processor Ive bought in 2 years. Silly I know, but I cant help it. If and when Bulldozer ever drops, Ill be buying one of those too. :biggrin:

I mean, how pathetic am I that this is virtually **** for me?!



The Asus Sabertooth 990FX AM3+ mobo. Mmmmmmmm.

I grabbed the 1090T and I love this thing. I went from 36 fps in the Crysis benchmark up to 43. Ive got it OC'd up to 3.8. I could probably go to 4 cause I hear a LOT of successful and stable OC's up to and over 4 gig but Im rolling with a 2 year old ASRock 780G motherboard. Its a very solid board and ran my previous X2 555 at 4 gig all day but 6 core procs didnt exist when this thing was built so I dont think it can handle the power draw necessary. I pushed the Vcore up to 1.475 but thats as far as I felt comfortable pushing it and while it would pass gaming benchmarks (gaming is 90% what I use my rig for), it wouldnt handle Prime95 for more than a few minutes.

I figure its ok cause there was only a .5 difference in the Crysis benchie between 4 GHz and 3.8 GHz so I didnt think it was worth the extra wear and tear on my trusty little ASRock. Besides, Ill be snagging one of those Asus Sabertooth AM3+ when they show up in the next few weeks so thatll give me something to look forward to.

Im using the Cooler Master Hyper 212+ and its awesome. At 3.8 Im in the low 30's under Prime95 and generally stay around 28-30 during gaming and Im idling right now at 20. Cant beat that at all for $24.99 (Microcenter).

AsSiMiLaTeD wrote:

I would hardly say we got 'screwed' with Crysis 2, it's a great looking game and I found the game itself to be more enjoyable than the first one.

In terms of game play you could be right, but Im talking about in terms of graphics. Crysis is the standard for graphics and guys like me that want as much eye candy as possible, it was nirvana. Its not even as good as MW2 but I still play it at least once a week just because of the graphics. So when Crysis 2 was announced, everybody was breathless waiting to see what it would look like. Plus Crytek, kept telling PC gamers that it was gonna give us something special. What did we get? $60 for a DX9 console port that still says PRESS START BUTTON TO BEGIN! If that aint a slap in the face, I dont know what is especially considering PC gamers put Crytek on the map!

Nvidia may bomb Crytek HQ. They paid $2 million dollars for Crysis 2 to be "optimized" for Nvidia cards so they could pimp their $500 GTX580 and $700 GTX590. But then the game comes out and you could play it on a 4 year old, $65 9600GT.

bigaudiofanatic

Sherardp wrote: »

Did you see the NZXT Phantom? You plan on moving that rig around alot, lan parties?





I can see your point with this MAC ,but the reports to unlock the 6950 have been rather good. In the end it all depends on the users skill leve along with trial and error sort of speak ( no insults there). It is very well possible to take the 6950 ( Sapphire has been known to unlock very easily), overclock the card and achieve 6970 performance for a fraction of the cost. Just depends on what your trying to achieve.

How are you enjoying your X6? Overclocked? Cooler? What mobo? Pardon the many questions, I just like talking shop on this stuff. It gets to be addicting when your tearing into a rig, overclocking it trying to squeeze everything you can from these parts. Would love to talk shop sometimes especially on your CPU, since I've been thinking the X6 over my current 965BE. Just started reading up on BULLDOZER.

Sorry somehow missed your part about how I am enjoying it. The mobo is in the link you quote. The republic of gamers mobo's are SICK I have never seen something as slick as these things and love them.

I am a AMD guy and before I built this system I speced out intels i7. Still to this day I can not in anyway see spending a grand on just a CPU when AMD's IMO is just as good for 300 bucks. Stock cooler right now but looking to go water cooling as I have ran a beta test with a zalman setup and was impressed with how quiet everything was. However when I bought this case one thing was the airflow and the slick quiet fans, which I would not really need if I went water cooling. So not sure yet. I love this CPU its FAST laughs at anything I throw at it and keeps coming.

MacLeod

Right now there is no reason to buy AMD at all if your CPU budget is over $120. Even the dual core i3 Sandy Bridge proc hangs in very close with the Phenom X6 on anything other than stuff that that is multi threaded. For stuff that is tho, the $180 i5-2500 beats even the X6 is most things.

AMD is really dragging their feet with Bulldozer for some reason and I dont understand it. Ive been waiting for it since 2009! Here it is 2011 and we STILL dont know if itll work on AM3 sockets. Intel had a review out on Anand 4 months before it was released! Most rumors are saying mid June for BD to drop but now some are starting to surface that it wont be til July. All I know is theyd better do something quick cause at this point in time, theyre pretty much obsolete.

bigaudiofanatic

Oh I agree with Bulldozer, I ALMOST put my setup on hold for that but could not see waiting that long. I work with both Intel and AMD at work all the way up to the i7's and as they are good I still stand by my AMD. However, it may be because I am running mostly Lenovo's and Systemax pc's along with HP's as well.

MacLeod

Ill be an AMD fanboy for a while because while Ive got some positive cash flow going on now and can afford the beefier gear, back when I was a broke **** gamer it was AMD giving me quad core procs for under $100 and 85% of Intel's performance for 1/3 of the price. Also that AMD seems to cater to the enthusiast more than Intel, especially true of Sandy Bridge, cause you cant overclcock any but the most expensive ones of their respective lines.