Replaced 800XL with 7800GT

[John]

Not a big deal. I dont know why but I thought it would make a bigger
difference. I really dont notice much difference. Im using a HDTV so
my max res I have it set is 1280x720. Maybe if you have it at
1600x1200 it would really make a difference in marginal play vs smooth
play. As it is its pretty smooth with either card.

Turned some of the settings up further from bilinear to trilinear ,
particle count VERY HIGH and water quality VERY HIGH and shadows VERY
HIGH etc and frankly I dont notice all that much difference. Maybe if
someone capture a scene and did a side by side comparison but just
playing the game I really dont notice anything.

Weird thing about AA I saw the option in my dropdown box and picked 2x
etc but when I went to check theres no option there , the dropdown box
is grayed out.

I think I noticed more difference when I went from my AMD 3000 to a
3800 X2 not because of the dual core obviously since it doesnt impact
the game but that slight increase in meg rating seems like it gave it
a tiny bit more smoothness. In articles Ive read they say a 3200 AMD
64 is fine and you dont really need faster processors. Either way FEAR
and Quake ran fine with my 3000 and 800XL.

Cant think of any upgrades I want now except maybe more memory but I
think I can wait since Ill have to get rid of my 512 sticks and get 1
gig sticks.

By the way its strange but if you are thinking of selling anything Ive
had geat luck selling all my older stuff in the past but its usually
taken a while anywhere from 1-3 weeks. On a whim Ive decided to sell
lots of stuff just to see if it will sell the last week and at what
prices and everythings selling within 1-2 days ! I just put a camera
up for sale which I thought may take months to sell - put it up late
last night its sold today !

Cant wait until I get a DSLR now.

 

[BillL]

Not a big deal. I dont know why but I thought it would make a bigger
difference. I really dont notice much difference. Im using a HDTV so
my max res I have it set is 1280x720. Maybe if you have it at
1600x1200 it would really make a difference in marginal play vs smooth
play. As it is its pretty smooth with either card.

Turned some of the settings up further from bilinear to trilinear ,
particle count VERY HIGH and water quality VERY HIGH and shadows VERY
HIGH etc and frankly I dont notice all that much difference. Maybe if
someone capture a scene and did a side by side comparison but just
playing the game I really dont notice anything.

Weird thing about AA I saw the option in my dropdown box and picked 2x
etc but when I went to check theres no option there , the dropdown box
is grayed out.

I think I noticed more difference when I went from my AMD 3000 to a
3800 X2 not because of the dual core obviously since it doesnt impact
the game but that slight increase in meg rating seems like it gave it
a tiny bit more smoothness. In articles Ive read they say a 3200 AMD
64 is fine and you dont really need faster processors. Either way FEAR
and Quake ran fine with my 3000 and 800XL.

Cant think of any upgrades I want now except maybe more memory but I
think I can wait since Ill have to get rid of my 512 sticks and get 1
gig sticks.

By the way its strange but if you are thinking of selling anything Ive
had geat luck selling all my older stuff in the past but its usually
taken a while anywhere from 1-3 weeks. On a whim Ive decided to sell
lots of stuff just to see if it will sell the last week and at what
prices and everythings selling within 1-2 days ! I just put a camera
up for sale which I thought may take months to sell - put it up late
last night its sold today !

Cant wait until I get a DSLR now.

I wonder sometimes if getting a new graphics card isn't part of an "emperors
new clothes" syndrome whether it be from personal experience or comparing
screen shots. I recall when anti-aliasing was first implemented (on the old
Vodoo cards?) and thinking I couldn't see muxh diffrence between the AA and
non AA screen shots (can't remember the game used). Moreover, I'd rather
have smooth gameplay than a slide show without jaggies! ;o)

I think its still probably true that you don't need more than a A64 3200+
for the latest games (providing the GPU/Mem are up to it) but dual core will
be useful in the future (as long as consoles don't "kill" the PC as a gaming
machine ;o). Of course you still have to remember that when a game box say's
it need a 2.8 GHz CPU you'll be more than OK with an AMD A64 2.0 GHz PC!

BTW I do believe that my current 6800GT is *slightly* better than my first
video card .... a triedent 256K ISA model >

BillL

 

[John]

I wonder sometimes if getting a new graphics card isn't part of an "emperors
new clothes" syndrome whether it be from personal experience or comparing
screen shots. I recall when anti-aliasing was first implemented (on the old
Vodoo cards?) and thinking I couldn't see muxh diffrence between the AA and
non AA screen shots (can't remember the game used). Moreover, I'd rather
have smooth gameplay than a slide show without jaggies! ;o)

I think its still probably true that you don't need more than a A64 3200+
for the latest games (providing the GPU/Mem are up to it) but dual core will
be useful in the future (as long as consoles don't "kill" the PC as a gaming
machine ;o). Of course you still have to remember that when a game box say's
it need a 2.8 GHz CPU you'll be more than OK with an AMD A64 2.0 GHz PC!

BTW I do believe that my current 6800GT is *slightly* better than my first
video card .... a triedent 256K ISA model >

BillL

Yeah I kind of thought a 7800GT maybe overkill for me but in my case I
had these Best Buy gift cards I wanted to get rid of so if I sold my
card and added the GCs I essentially got it for 20 bucks more and I
cant really think of anything else I really wanted at BB.

Im sure some game freaks out there could explain in detail why you
need a 7800GT . I remember seeing a review on texture quality I think
it was with DOOM 3 which was at TOMS Hardware or someother site.

You could tell when the scenes were captured and side by side. Some
object on a table in a scene then could be seen to have slightly more
details etc or the table surface itself etc but no way would you
notice in the game probably unless you were some really anal type
person. Now if its large differences you can tell.

Like FAR CRY the outside scenes , the jungles tropical islands -
stunning achievement though not perfect yet. However though the
interiors were OK they reminded me of some old era FPS for some
reason. The textures and detailing just looked a bit drab especially
compared to the stunning interiors in DOOM or even HL2 which wasnt
quite as good as DOOM in the interiors but was still excellent and
added on fantastic exterior graphics. However that didnt have anything
to do with settings though --- the interiors in FAR CRY from the 3D
engine they were using just didnt seem as realistic as the DOOM3
engine regardless of what card you used.

Also had weird problems with lighting and shadows with both cards for
some reason. In Quake and FAR CRY if you messed with the settings
suddenly the shadows lose all their fine gradations and look like pure
black or yellow blobs polygons of color. Not sure what thats about.