OK. Im looking to get some real life reports of what type of performance people are getting from their graphics card. Im sick of reading 3D Mark benchies and performance on FPS I never play and Oblivion(=crap RPG). I play great RPGs like KOTOR/TSL(though these dont work in Vista I know), NWN/2, JE and a multitude of sports games. Throw in the odd hack n slash RPG liek Titan Quest to round things off.....

Can you please let me know
OS
RAM(system)
Card
Games most commonly played
Settings used: rez, and what/if you have effects like AF, AA, Bloom etc on

I'll go first as an example using my current crap card (whilst I decide what Dx10 card to get....)

OS: Vista 32 bit
Card: Geforce 6200 TC :blast5:
RAM : 1GB
Games: cant play newer games....only stuff like FIFA07, NHL 07, COD2...NWN1...cant play KOTOR/TSL due to vista compat. problems.
Rez: 1024 x768 or 800x600... most effects off or on low end, maybe x2 AA.

thanks in advance techies - let us know what you got !!

mtfbwya

Current Rig:
OS: Windows XP Home SP2
Card: BFG Tech GeForce 7800GS
RAM: 1 GB
Games: Oblivion, Fable, Halo, Quake 4, Doom 3, Chronicles of Riddick, Madden 06, S.T.A.L.K.E.R., NWN 2, Kotor 1&2, Medieval 2: Total War, Rome: Total War, Hitman: Blood Money, and Starcraft.

Screen Res: for graphics intensive games like Quake 4 and Oblivion, i use a lower res of 1024x768 to allow other goodies such as advanced shaders and better shadow effects (to compensate for the almost ancient Athlon 3200 Barton). for less intensive games such as Starcraft and Madden, i use 1600x1200.
Driver Version: (i wonder why you didn't include this:confused: ) Forceware 93.71

Family Computer:

OS: Windows XP Home SP2
Card: XFX GeForce 6800 GT
RAM: 1GB
Games: Kotor 1&2, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
Screen Res: 1280x1024 for K1 & K2, 1024x768 for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
Driver Version: Forceware 93.71

Let's see:

OS: Windows XP Home Edition (Ubuntu on other drive, but not used for gaming)

RAM: 512 MB

Card: nVidia GeForce 5200 FX w/ 128 MB VRAM

Games most commonly played: Unreal Tournament 2004, Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2 Episode 1, Civilization IV: Warlords, Knights of the Old Republic 2, Call of Duty 2

Settings used:

All settings at full in Unreal Tournament 2004, reasonably performance, slight lag on huge levels, resolution @ 1280x1024

All settings full in Half-Life 2, Episode 1 except Anti-Aliasing (which is at 0). Good performance, slodown at start of levels, big battles. Resolution: 1024x768

Texture Settings full in Call of Duty 2, DirectX 7 rendering, Good Performance, No slowdown absolutely. Resolution 1024x768. Huge slowdown w/ DirectX 9 rendering.

Textures, grass full in KotOR2, no shadows, no anisotropy, no anti-aliasing, no frame buffer. Great performance. Laggy with other options on, except anisotropy. Anisotropy causes only a slight lag. Resolution: 1024x768

All settings at lowest in Civilization IV: Warlords, resolution 1024x768 (minimum). Bad performance on large maps, endgames, movies, too many civilizations, large leaderheads. Good performance on medium-sized maps. :D

Command and Conquer 4 Demo: All settings at lowest, don't remember resolution. Main Menu very, very slow, actual game having reasonable performances for the most part. Movies terribly laggy.

Quake 4: Great performance at medium, very slow at all highest. Smooth performance overall in indoor maps. Playable and Enjoyable.

Also on an overall, Bink movies are real slow at high resolutions. KotOR's work great, Civ IV's don't. :p

Current Rig:
Processor: Intel Pentium D Dual Core 3.4 GHz
OS: Windows XP Pro SP2
Card: nVidia GeForce 6600
RAM: 768 mb
Games: Oblivion, Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike: Source, Guild Wars, Command and Conquer 3, Jade Empire, KoToR series

Games work surprisingly well on my dated RAM and Graphics card. I plan on upgrading to 2 GB of ram in a few weeks and probably picking this baby up soon after (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150210) so that I could possibly upgrade to Vista. I can't get into any DX10 cards because I only have an AGP slot.





Do you have a spare PCI-Express slot? Or is it AGP?

I'd recommend this

7600GT (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130062)

or this 8600GT (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150229)



If you are on a budget. The 8600GT will do nicely with Vista because of its DirectX10 support.

If you are more daring:

Thanks for the replies techies :)

@stinger...I wasnt really interested in driver version as I know none of you folk run Vista. There are a slew of official and beta drivers available. As a beta tester I have access to them(currently using 165.01) but Im not in the business of distributing them, places like Guru3D and TechConnect handle that well enough...

Im leaning toward and EVGA 8800GTS 640MB. The GTS is just too expensive, especially considering I want that 30" monitor... I think the 8800GTS will tide me over. Im not going gor the OC or superclocked editions as many fellow smallform users are commenting on heat issues inside the shuttle cases.

http://www.legitreviews.com/images/reviews/413/evga_1.jpg)

Still,performance wise - it should be able to handle anything i throw at it for while and manage the max 60fps a 60Hz monitor allows....(people always forget that when reading those ridiculous benchies with 100FPS+ I have seen benchies where current games run similarly well on the 320MB edition, but methinks this will change when games are stepped up a notch and DX10 optimised...besides - Ive got a great price on a 620MB from the US, the same price as a 320 here in Oz.

I hate the CCC too much to even contemplate an ATI contraption...(despite my love for AMD)...there may be a fanboy factor as well ;)

mtfbwya

^^^^
you could always try an aftermarket solution for VGA cooling. as i've been using nMediaPC stuff in my new computer, i started giving them a look. they have a new cooling solution specifically designed for small-form factor PC's which will give you better cooling, a lower profile, near-silent operation, and its a complete kit with RAM heatsinks in addition to the GPU cooler. review here. (http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=33&Itemid=1)

thanks for that stinger :)

still... if youve seen a shuttles innards - there really isnt that type of room in there..... once youve put a dual GPU card in there, you're talking sardine can conditions :D

heres an identically sized EVGA 8800GTX in the same barebones I will be using.... (this was posted at sudhian (http://www.sudhian.com/index.php?/forums/viewthread/95423/) in a thread where the poster did some case mods and watercooled this setup!!!...amazing IMO)

http://img450.imageshack.us/img450/2893/tightfityr1.jpg)

Im just not at that level of skill....yet ;)

EDIT: Just bought my EVGA 8800GTS 640 from an ebay store.... $100AUD cheaper than buying from an oem supplier (and that includes $70 for delivery from US!!)...so overall $170 cheaper than buying here!! Buying stuff in Oz sucks :( Thank goodness for ebay :)

Now, hurry up and get here!! Same goes for my shuttle barebones..

mtfbwya

I don't mean to intrude on your topic, almighty Astro, but does anyone know how Oblivion will run on my system considering the specs given above? I have a Pentium 3 1.0 GHz to boot, so I was just wondering...

I don't mean to intrude on your topic, almighty Astro, but does anyone know how Oblivion will run on my system considering the specs given above? I have a Pentium 3 1.0 GHz to boot, so I was just wondering...

1.0 Ghz, geforce 5200 & Oblivion is a sure fire 100% no go sabrez.... The reason it is used in benchmarking is because it is such a resource hungry game. (*nb. The FX series referred to in the specs are the quadro series which have up to 1.5GB framebuffer size...and are the weapon of choice for many digital artists and animators)

from the Official Oblivion Page:

What are the PC system requirements?

Recommended:

* 3 Ghz Intel Pentium 4 or equivalent processor
* 1 GB System RAM
* ATI X800 series, NVIDIA GeForce 6800 series, or higher video card

Minimum System Requirements:

* Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows XP 64-bit
* 512MB System RAM
* 2 Ghz Intel Pentium 4 or equivalent processor
* 128MB Direct3D compatible video card
* and DirectX 9.0 compatible driver;
* 8x DVD-ROM drive
* 4.6 GB free hard disk space
* DirectX 9.0c (included)
* DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card
* Keyboard, Mouse

Supported Video Card Chipsets:

* ATI X1900 series
* ATI X1800 series
* ATI X1600 series
* ATI X1300 series
* ATI X850 series
* ATI x800 series
* ATI x700 series
* ATI x600 series
* ATI Radeon 9800 series
* ATI Radeon 9700 series
* ATI Radeon 9600 series
* ATI Radeon 9500 series
* NVIDIA GeForce 7800 series
* NVIDIA GeForce 6800 series
* NVIDIA GeForce 6600 series
* NVIDIA GeForce 6200 series
* NVIDIA GeForce FX series

Well, Half-Life 2 and so on run pretty decently... so i figured...

I did check the requirements, but my computer falls below HL2's requirements, but it runs fine... Still, that's cool.

well, it runs fine because HL2 was originally intended to run on a system like yours. given the delays the game had, the requirements rose even though the engine was still designed for a low-end system. in the meantime, although you can get the game running, Valve can't guarantee nor offer the support needed if the game just stops running for whatever reason since they don't support your system.

your best bet is still just to get a new(er) system. a good system (that is leaps and bounds better than your current one) can be had for under $1000 easy. heck, i'd be willing to sell you my old system if you didn't live so far from me. i can, however, recommend some cheaper hardware for you, if you like. ;)

Can you please let me know
OS
RAM(system)
Card
Games most commonly played
Settings used: rez, and what/if you have effects like AF, AA, Bloom etc on
OS: Debian testing (x86) with custom kernel 2.6.22-rc4-ck1-mm2
RAM: 2GiB
Card: nVidia GeForce 7400 Go PCI Express with 256MiB
Games: Psychonauts, FarCry, Doom 3, Runaway 2, Flatout, Mario Kart 64
Setting: due to the age of the games - full settings at 1280x800

:)

OS: Windows XP/Debian stable x86
CPU: Athlon FX-55 San Diego
RAM: 4 GB (high memory option \o/)
GPU: 2x7800 GTX 512 in SLI

Games: Jade Empire, HL2, some CS: S, Vampire Masquerade Bloodlines, NWN 2, FEAR
Settings: Maxed out (except NWN 2) at 1920x1200.


At the end of the summer I'll be upgrading to:
OS: Windows XP/Debian stable x86
CPU: Core2 Quadro
RAM: 4 GB (DDR2)
GPU: 8800 GTX 768


--Laptop--
OS: Windows XP/Debian stable x86
CPU: Core2 Duo
RAM: 1 GB
GPU: 8600 GS M

OS: WinXP Pro SP2
RAM(system): 2 GB
Card: GeForce 7800 GTX
Games most commonly played: KotOR 1&2, Jade Empire, Deus Ex, SpyHunter (Midway Arcade Treasures :D) - all played at 1024x768 with max settings for the game. Unfortunately I still play on a 17" CRT. :(

....At the end of the summer I'll be upgrading to:
OS: Windows XP/Debian stable x86
CPU: Core2 Quadro
RAM: 4 GB (DDR2)
GPU: 8800 GTX 768


Debian....now there's some geek cred right there - makes Ubuntu people look 'Mac-guy' type cool in contrast :D

jmac...what type of display due you have :) I'd love a GTX if I was planning to game over 1080p... The display Im planning to get supports up to 2560x1600p... which a 8800GTX or above would be ideal for.... still, I dont think too many current games are written with those rez' in mind... but that's definitely on its way to changing

thanks for the extra info everyone else :)

mtfbwya

All I'm gonna tell you is that...I have a PNY NVidia GeForce 7600 that will be returned soon...due to bad architecture and flaws...I'll get a replacement...but from what I hear, it's great!!!

jmac...what type of display due you have :) I'd love a GTX if I was planning to game over 1080p... The display Im planning to get supports up to 2560x1600p... which a 8800GTX or above would be ideal for.... still, I dont think too many current games are written with those rez' in mind... but that's definitely on its way to changing
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009113) is a similar model to the one i have

@Astro:

With the resolutions that you're going to be playing at it might be wise to go ahead and get the GTX. I've seen it for as low as $500.00US, which is about the same price you paid for your GX2, isn't it? That was before Nvidia got the massive shot in the arm from the rather anticlimactic release of the 2900XT, though. We'll probably see prices dip that low again before too long. You can hold on to that GX2 for some time to come from the looks of things.

Oh, BTW:

XP Home
2.4GHZ P4 Woody
768MB RAM
eVGA 6800GT

-NWN1 @1280x1024 4xAS/4xAA high texture
-KotOR1/2 @1280x1024 4xAS/4xAA high texture, shadows, grass & everything else turned on
-Baldur's Gate 2 @1024x768(highest settings, of course:xp: )

gday Q. Thanks for the numbers.

Yes, I did pay that for my GX2, but that has been sold to fund my SN27P2. The 640MBGTS will do for now... $500US + postage works out to over $200AUD more than I paid for my GTS 640 delivered. Even after the release of the 89xx series, the 8800GTS 640 are reportedly going to stay at $US400 ish.

I will work at 1600p but game dumbed down whatever my GTS is happy with :) Remember, Im not an FPS gamer... so the scenery in an RPG on a 30" display at 1600x1200 with all effects will be lovely to gaze at!!

If I want to get my 30" monitor(and I really do!!), I cant get the GTX....its a financal reality...simple!!

Im just waiting for the 9000 series.... this 8XXX series is by the by ;)

We've all read the leaks re- the 8950GX2.... sounds awesome, but I dont know if:

a) I can afford it! What about my phenom CPU !!!
b) my smallform rig will like it...size or heat wise...

mtfbwya

^^^Actually, those GTS' overclock like mad (as a percentage of stock speed, WAY more than the GTX). I've read that ~640MHZ on the GPU (up from 500MHZ stock) is quite common, so you might not need a GTX after all.:) Of course you'll have to run the fan on the card at 100% to do that, but I've read that the GPU runs at a reasonable temp even at that speed, making the GTS a real bargain. It's not a power hog, either. I've also seen the 640MB eVGA version go for as little as $300.00US here in the states, but once again that was pre-HD 2900XT launch, so it may be a while before we see it that cheap again, but maybe not if the 2900XT's price drops to compete with the GTS.

If I had to choose between the 8800GTS & 2900XT (for the same price, of course) I would probably still choose the GTS because its power requirements are so much more reasonable. Even if it doesn't have all of the bells and whistles of the 2900XT, I wouldn't have to buy a new power supply just to run it.

OS: XP Media Center
Card: GeForce 6150 =p
RAM : 1GB
Games: Not much. Just TES 4: Oblivion and BFME2: Rise of the Witch King expansion.
Rez: 1024 x768 for Oblivion. Though I could be running at 1280x960 it wouldnt be the best idea because I can barely get 15 FPS out of 1024x768 >.<

I have a pretty good ATI card from my old computer, but I dont really care for ATI and plus it doesnt fit in this computer.

My computer is ugly.

OS: Windows XP Professional SP2.

CPU: Pentium D Dual Core 3.4G [Q: Why not Core 2 Duo? A: When I bought it, Intel Core Duo is not even out.]

RAM(system): 2GB

Card: 2 Cards.
1. nVidia Quadro FX 1400 [Even uglier card]
2. ATI Radeon X1300 [The ugliest card, compared to Quadro FX.]

Games most commonly played:
1. Warcraft 3 and The Frozen Throne
2. CS: Source
3. Half Life 2
4. Unreal Tournament 2004

Settings used:
All in 1240*1028 Resolution. All spec maxed out, no lags so far.

I switched my laptop to Sabayon Linux (http://www.sabayonlinux.org/) recently. It does for Gentoo what Ubuntu does for Debian. Only better.

I have a pretty good ATI card from my old computer, but I dont really care for ATI and plus it doesnt fit in this computer.
Send it to me?

OS: WinXP Home
CPU: AMD Athlon 2600+
RAM: 768Mb
GPU: AGP GeForce 4 MX 4k

Games: KotOR/TSL (1024x768) all settings maxed (at least the ones I can use, which isn't much lolz), Jedi Academy (1024x768) settings maxed, SW: Battlefront (1024x768) settings maxed, Freelancer (1024x768) settings maxed and NWN plus expansions (1024x768) settings maxed.

Never really bothered to do FPS counts n stuff, but I never get any noticeable lag on any of these games, mind you I can't use many fancy-pants shader stuff or AA or whatever with my GPU, but it runs the games fine...


Im sick of reading 3D Mark benchies and performance on FPS I never play and Oblivion(=crap RPG)
Wurd