PC hardware talk

[PZ]

Interesting article for those using Nvidia graphics cards

From EVGA:
EVGA has now released the first version of the EVGA SLI Enhancement! This unofficial patch enables temporary SLI support in the latest games. In order to quickly enhance SLI Profile issues that come up with any new demo or game release; EVGA has decided to publicly release this update to patch add any SLI profiles so you can take full advantage of SLI right now!

http://www.evga.com/articles/00463/Default.asp

[PZ]

Well guys, I just installed the latest EVGA drivers for the nvidia GeForce 200 series cards, and it got rid of the micro stutter I had in ARMA2.  I can now play on ultra high settings and it looks better than it did on high before the driver install.  Now off to do the SLI install...

[Art Blade]

Careful, your vid card (not cardS) is not really a SLI... at least make backups and restore points before you try that out.

[PZ]

Thanks for the advice - yes, I did a restore point - however EVGA claims that it works great with the 295, and they were correct - ARMA2 now works on all ultra high settings and it is as fast and smooth as FC2 - worked marvelously.

However, to anyone with nvidia that wants to install the latest driver, be sure that you do a restore point so you can get back to where you were (or roll back your driver) - some people report worse performance, and some report better.  The main reason I did the updates is that I could not believe that a card as new as the 295 would not run a game that just came out.  The driver update actually installed a new version of the nvidia application in addition to the driver.  Not sure exactly what is different, but I did see a different layout.  Also, when I started FC2 or ARMA2 on the wide screen, the other monitor (4:3) went to wide screen mode (black bars on top and bottom) - now it does not do that.

I'll report more as I discover, but so far I'm very pleased.

[PZ]

I'm happy to report that both FC2 and COJ2 still perform just fine - never had a problem with FC2 on ultra high, but COJ2 seems to have a micro-stutter on the 295 (others also report this, and Ubi has been unhelpful) - the new driver seems to have helped a little bit.

[PZ]

Call of Duty 5 also seems to w@&k a bit better  :-X

[Art Blade]

glad it works :) Those micro stutter are a possible hint that two vid cards (SLI) are not in sync, as they have to produce frames in turns, ie card 1, card 2, card 1, card 2, etc. Could be a memory sharing problem in the cards too, like both cards need to load the textures, and when you change your point of view, card 1 loads new textures whereas card 2 is still using  the old set of textures. Then card 2 updates, and card 1 realises new textures are needed and starts to load them. I tried to put it in simple terms here just to make it easier to understand what might cause stutter in SLI/dual GPU cards.

[PZ]

EVGA announces new 4-way SLI system

http://www.evga.com/articles/00501/

[Art Blade]

PZ (and to everyone else of course, with GTX260 or better, and multicore such as i7) I always wanted to mention this to you, now finally I do: Have you tried to play around with the nvidia control panel where you can change values such as

Maximum pre-rendered frames (normal: 3) -> "4"
or Multi-display/mixed GPU acceleration -> "single display performance mode"
or Texture filtering quality -> "High Quality",
Threaded Optimization -> "On" and
Triple buffering -> "On" as well as
Vertical Sync -> "Force On" ? :)

Additional to the game setup where you put everything to the max, of course...? :) You might get an even better game experience with those individual nvidia setups that can be selected from a list of games found on your computer in the control panel.

I use the above mentioned values for FC2 [inside FC2 i switched V-Sync to "off" (I have the vid card do that because I read that the game code does a H-sync, which would be silly, so I trust the diver more than the game this time)]. I don't use AA either (costs a lot of performance, doesn't always w@&k so well either, so I just skip it, "old eyes don't notice alias-artefacts much anyway"). I have an absolute smooth gameplay and a really vivid visual experience, max details (which even old eyes do notice) and am quite happy using all that on a high-res 26'' monitor at 1920*1200.

Any thoughts, comments, anyone? :)

[PZ]

I've played a little but not too much - will try some of the settings you recommended, but FC2 plays so well I'm not sure it will matter much.  However, in games Like A2 and COJ2, it seemed like small settings changes made a difference.  :-X

[Art Blade]

these settings are more likely to SLOW DOWN lesser equipment. But your machine can stand it, and it might improve your game visual :)

[PZ]

newegg.com is selling a 600 GB, 10,000 RPM SATA VelociRaptor for $269

• 3.6 msec seek
• 6.0 GB/sec transfer

Talk about fast  :-X

[JRD]

As the old lady did me a favor toasting my gaming PC, I decided (as if I had a choice  ::) ) to upgrade... well, being in UK is a great chance to purchase some parts and smuggle them into Brazil, free of taxes, of course  ;)

I`m thinking about the new Intel i7 Extreme edition

    *  3.33 GHz core speed
    * Up to 3.6 GHz with Intel® Turbo Boost Technology
    * 6 cores and 12 processing threads with Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology
    * 12 MB Intel® Smart Cache
    * 3 Channels DDR3 1066 MHz memory
    * 32nm manufacturing process technology

Of course, assuming money is not a problem  ???

As you gentleman are so eager to contribute with valuable information, I really would appreciate any comments that are brought in here  :-X

Maybe someone of you know of an upcoming release and maybe I should wait... maybe the performance of this one is not so good to justify the higher price (I have to admit that reading performace reports are really, really boring  ::) )

I think a nice MoBo would also be nice to pair with the beastie i7 processor together with french fries or a leaf salad!  ;D ;D ;D

[PZ]

I haven't researched that processor yet, but it sure looks good.  I may need one one day soon because I purposefully have not expended any extra efforts to cool my i7 920  ;D

Of course you'll need a good main board, fast disk (the VelociRaptor is a good one), and essentially, a really good graphics card - I'm partial to the Nvidia because it has been so good to me.

[Art Blade]

nVidia has lost it after you got your vid card, PZ. The currently best vid card (price/performance) is what GP's got: ATI's HD 5850. Check his rig and you'll get to see a good choice of hardware including i7.

[PZ]

I've had a Sony Vaio (PIII, 256mb) in use as a home "server" for a long time, and have been needing a new rig.  I went to newegg.com (the place where I bought the parts for my gaming rig) just to see what they had available - I wanted a box that was about $500 or so to replace that old Sony.  Well, I found what they called a gaming rig for $539 shipped - it took all of 3 or so days to arrive at my house.  It's kind of noisy (fan), and not really a true gaming rig, but it does play FC2, JC2, and AC2.  I'm not planning to use it for gaming, but as a word processor, music server, and general purpose Internet machine.