old comp + 8800GT = me playing DX10 crysis

[Blasto121]

I purchased an 8800GT as soon as I could after they released, got mine from EVGA, they had quake wars in the package Anyway I know my computer is dated I have 2 gigs of DDR with a clock of about 200 Mhz, and AMD athlon 64 3.5 Ghz. By no means is my computer all that great, I was running dual 6600GT.

Once I replaced those cards with this single 8800GT all of a sudden I could play all the great games I have on super high res with everything maxed out. I loaded up Bioshock to see how well it could run. I now I have it at 1280X1024 with everything maxed out and an average frame of 50+. This card is awesome with a side dish of awesome sauce.

I have vista so I had to test the DX10 ability so I downloaded the Lost Planet DX10. Everything maxed in that and I get an average FPS of about 45, DX10 is so wicked sweet looking.

This one video card just extended the life of my computer by at least 6 months with its current hardware. Now the next step is to wait for a DX10 crysis demo.

 

[Sabre]

I'm trying to see if my motherboard can handle one of these...I'm hoping so, but if not I am still content.
EDIT: The concern I have, actually, is if it will fit in the slot. I have a PCIex16...But the connection seems a tad different between my current card(7600GS) and the 8800GT...Looking around I guess it might work, only concern I would have is if my power supply can put out the necessary watts...And looking around, it looks like my lil Rosewill 500W actually can manage... I'm going to have a merry Christmas indeed

 

[Blasto121]

my computer only has PCI-E 1.0 so its the oldest of the PCI-E ports and it works just fine, as for power you need at least 26 amps total on your 12 volt rails and a 400 watt power supply. The cards do take on a quite a bit of power but man they are so worth every penny.

 

[Sabre]

Well, here's my PSU...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817182016

Interpret pl0...I mean please ...Kinda too tired.
Some of the reviews say they're running like uber powerhogs(8800GT, Core2Duo, Four SATA HDS) and the unit is at like 60% usage, or something like that...
All in all appears to be a solid supply, and the blue light is purty xD

 

[Shurik3n]

My brother got this card a few days ago and plopped it in his HP something or rather. I'm surprised it worked. Its a rather old computer and I hadn't figured it would give much room for expanding. In fact, physically there was no room, its a media PC and he had to take out some things he doesn't use like TV inputs or some nonsense.

Anyways, theres more in stock now so I might consider getting one. My 6800 has treated me well over the years, but its probably time to upgrade.

 

[Sabre]

If it works in ancient PC's, it'll work in my reasonably new, but semi-bare-bones PC.

Awesome.

 

[Blasto121]

on the safe side of things I would say your power supply is going to be better. However doesn't mean you can't try it and hope for the best, worst thing that happens you have to buy a new power supply.

anyway your PSU power stats

actual wattage -> 475
amps on the 12 volt rails -> 24

vs this against mine

its rated as a 550 watt power supply

actual wattage -> 525
amps on the 12 volt rails -> 42

its something most people don't really think about, just because it has the correct voltage doesn't mean it will be able to supply all the parts equally. A good power supply will weigh like a brick when you pick it up.

@shurik3n
hope you can find one some place, I had to order mine straight from the company itself, newegg kept selling out. That and newegg is kind of price gouging in fact most places are right now. The cards are supposed to retail for around 250 not 275 or 300. I would suggest buying an evga one, the free quake wars can't be complained about, its a sturdy card as well. That and they have a card for 260 with the free quake wars.

 

[Sabre]

Does the number of rails matter?

 

[coleSlaw]

Blasto, can I have your old cards :] Im only running a 6600 right now 256mb ;[

 

[Blasto121]

Does the number of rails matter?

yes it does, though you may not have noticed. every motherboard now takes on two separate 12 volt rails, one is the free roaming 4 pin power connector on the motherboard and the other 12 volt rail is actually an extension on the primary motherboard power connector it 4 pins bigger than it used to be.

though coming across a new power supply that doesn't sport the 2 12 volt rails is pretty slim, every computer requires it now because of the demands by the CPU and GPU in a computer, the only other thing one should look for is a power supply that supports the 6 pin GPU connection, the power port that goes right into the video card to boost power.

Blasto, can I have your old cards :] Im only running a 6600 right now 256mb ;[

I was running 6600GT 256mb... though I did have 2 of them. They served me well they did.

 

[J-M v2.5.5]

Y'know Blasto121, this thread kind of fails in the images department
Screens of BioShock and Lost Planet, please?


Also, be sure to download the Crysis demo so you can see how well that runs!

 

[Jelly]

I'm pissed at nVidia for releasing the 8800 GTS (which I bought), then later on releasing the 8800 GT, which not only costs less, but is better. :\

 

[J-M v2.5.5]

Is it actually better...?

 

[Jelly]

Well there are two kinds of 8800 GTS cards.
1st one has 320 MB RAM (this is the one I have, and it's more expensive than the 8800 GT, and worse).
2nd one has 640 MB RAM (it's even more expensive, but it's also better than the 8800 GT).

 

[Mikkel]

Well check this

Results

 

[Blasto121]

Y'know Blasto121, this thread kind of fails in the images department
Screens of BioShock and Lost Planet, please?


Also, be sure to download the Crysis demo so you can see how well that runs!

well I don't think Bioshock is worth the effort to screen capture, and I would have to load up Vista to take shots if it right now. So could you settle for Cysis shots?

I will spare you all ungodly loading times with these giant photos, they are at a resolution of 1280X1024 everything in the settings is set on high, no AA, that would just be redundant at the resolution I am running it at. I get around 20 - 20 FPS, well playable by my standards.

took this shot while sitting in a truck to show the insides of it, the coolest thing I have found about glass is it can have bullet holes, then after a few more will break, that and the damage of just being shot at is pretty sweet.

This shot I thought showed some nice scenery, nothing to exciting then again taking screen shots with action aren't easy when on has only two hands.

here is a bit of action, I shot a barrel till it exploded thought it offered up a nice picture of the shaders used in the game.

here is me holding someone, I find this feature to be most fun specially when your looking over a ledge and you only have your fist as the weapon when you pick someone up. After taking the shot I punched him in the face and he flew.

and one more, the final cut scene before the demo ends. I must say it looks the best out of all the shots, then again its a nice close up of people.

all of these shots are real time shots none are of pre-rendered video

all of these shots where brought to you by an:

AMD athlon 64 3500+
2 gigs of DDR 2700
K8N neo platinum/sli
8800GT EVGA Nvidia video card <- the only part thats not 2+ years old

 

[J-M v2.5.5]

Nice screenshots Blasto
Did you try to spawn the mini-nuke launcher in the Crysis editor by the way?

Also, as you might've noticed, you can't set the graphics settings to "Very High" in XP because EA and/or CryTek suck big fat schlong. Somebody (EA and/or CryTek, still not sure who) wants to force you to use Vista so you can enable "Very High" settings.

However, by editing some of the Crysis demo config files, you can have the "High" settings in-demo actually load the "Very High" settings (by replacing whatever is "High" by default with "Very High" in these config files).

If you're interested I'll find you a link, so you can see how bad Crysis can really kill your PC.

If I use this config-editing method and set everything to Very High, the game actually automatically sets the texture detail back to "Custom" (which I am guessing from the looks of it in-game is Medium) and then I get 3-5 FPS...
Pentium 4 HT-550 @ 3.40 GHz
1536 MB RAM (DDR, 400 MHz, PC3200)
XFX GeForce 7800 GTX (256 MB, 450/1250)
lololololol

Well check this

Results

wtf

Also: lololol the HD 2900 XT sucks hey what a surprise (no not really, ATi sucks to be honest).

 

[Blasto121]

I found that information for changing the setting to ultra high for DX9. I get an average FPS of about 12, maybe I can get the FPS to go up if I change the resolution.

*edit*
I got the FPS up to about 20 after dropping the resolution down to 1024X768 and turning off everything that was using any memory. That includes explorer, windows task manager for the win.

 

[J-M v2.5.5]

Object detail (which actually means: the amount of useless crap, such as birds flying in the sky) set to medium or low really gives a HUGE boost in FPS.

 

[Blasto121]

so far from what I have read about it, there is some great tweaks one can do to keep the fantastic look and keep FPS high. If I buy the game I will have to find the right settings but for now I at least know my computers limits for now, and I must say that the 8800GT was well worth it.

Now once those AMD X4 chips with DDR3 release I will be happy. I refuse to upgrade to DDR2 as one can see by my computer there just really isn't a reason to.