Best Graphics solutions for Surround Gaming

bojo · Post by **bojo** » 16 Jul 2008, 10:14

Been a surround gamer for a year or so. Love It.

Going through upgrading my PC, currently i have 3.2ghz Single core (about to be replaced with E6850 3.0ghz dual core).
Have 4Gb ram, so plenty there.

But what do you need for graphics? I mean christ triple head to go is pushing 4MP usually (3840x1024).
One day i'm looking at upgrading the SLI 7900GS i have (one is quite new in my system, newbie SLIer lol).

What do you guys run to push those high res? is it best to look for graphics cards with massive amounts of memory?.

Ascii_Aficionado · Post by **Ascii_Aficionado** » 16 Jul 2008, 11:03

Pop in this beauty and enjoy the framerate

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I'm too tired to make a serious post, so i'll let another forum troll do it for me.

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Post by **scavvenjahh** » 16 Jul 2008, 16:21

Someone called for a troll ?

bojo, you can be confident that almost any recent graphics cards would be a valid upgrade to 7900GSs for surround gaming ;)

512 MB of onboard video RAM is the norm now, and it's what you need to play comfortably at high resolutions and /or use SLI to its fullest. SLI/Crossfire or X2 cards are not required at all, but they're an option to consider even with modern GPUs, since at such a high res as 3840x1024 performance is noticeably lower than on regular displays, and will be mostly bound to your graphics subsystem's capabilities than any other component. You may need to upgrade your PSU though...

So you can basically go and pick any modern upper-midrange graphics card(s) you like. For an SLI veteran like you though, I'd recommend a GTX260 (prices dropping !), and if you think you need more muscle you can always add in another one later :)

Post by **Mach1.9pants** » 17 Jul 2008, 02:56

Yeah the higher spec the better obviously. But it so much depends on what game!
Value for money the ATi/AMD 4870 is pretty good now but the best is the GTX280. Although wait a bit if you are going to spend heaps cos the ATi 4870x2 is coming and may give the 280 a run for its money!

EDIT: go through all the usual site: Dailytech, [h]ard|ocp, hexus, PCper, tweaktown, legit reviews, etc etc and check out there reviews. running at TH2Go is about the same megapixels as a 30" so your in the same ball park:)

bojo · Post by **bojo** » 17 Jul 2008, 05:01

yeah i was reading through lots of review sites and looking at the scores.

I'm leaning towards the GTX280 the most currently, as it's only 200 more than the 260. (400/600).

I was contemplating using that and SLI'ing down the track. It's an extrememly hard choice to go spend that much money but.

I do like how massive screens are becoming more norm, when everyone is using 30" i will be in mainstream graphics power land, instead of having so much more pixels than even the fanciest widescreen monitors.

Do people have experience with the GTX280? maybe even with crysis?. I'd love to try that game one day, but i have my doubts whether even the GTX280 can run it full spec on the TH2GO. (if it could do that with 30+ frames, i'd buy one right now).

Post by **Mach1.9pants** » 17 Jul 2008, 05:30

If you check my sig you can see I am running 2 OC'd GTX280's.
They handle Crysis fine on the TH2Go, using High settings (motion blur disabled...I hate it) and using the XP hack to enable Ultra High settings without DX10.
As SLI doesn't scale that well with Crysis one GTX280 should do a good job on TH2Go, even if you can't have all the AA AF that you might like:)
At the moment my RAM is holding me back (I did have 64bit vista install but got so annoyed after a series of updates stuffing my system I went to XP) but if you are running 64bit vista (and there is no reason to use the 32bit IMO) that won't be a prob for you.

Mesh · Post by **Mesh** » 17 Jul 2008, 11:25

Could also try using xp x64, no ~3gb ram limit but without the vista part.

Post by **Mach1.9pants** » 17 Jul 2008, 20:56

there are 2 probs with xp 64:
1. The lack of drivers. With Vista, to get MS driver certification, you must include 32 and 64 bit versions, this does not apply to XP so many things don't have XP64 drivers
2. 32 bit support. Vista has great 32 emulation for 32bit only progs, XP does not.

Mesh · Post by **Mesh** » 17 Jul 2008, 22:52

At one point my rig had xp 32bit, xp x64 and vista 64 at the same time, it's true it didn't last that long but I did run quite a few things on all 3 and to me it seemed just about identical, of course it's luck of the draw that my parts happened to have working drivers and all I guess.

Biggest problem in all 3 has and is still the x-fi audio crackling, which I've randomly been able to get working by changing chipset drivers then messing with the 'shared audio bitrate' in sound properties, like dvd audio 44khz and such. It ain't fixed which work which don't on some occasions none worked, others most, still others only the highest worked without crackling.

Anywho what did you run that didn't like the 32bit emulation under xp x64?

Post by **Mach1.9pants** » 17 Jul 2008, 23:51

the probs I have seen are with speedfan and a couple of others I can't remember (mostly freeware, but stuff I can't live without) when I trialled XP64 a few years ago...only for a month then I dropped it:)

bojo · Post by **bojo** » 18 Jul 2008, 15:26

It seems off so tempting to wait till the 4870x2 comes out, so the GTX280s prices are cut.

If i could get one for $400 AUD i'd buy one right now. (And one store i know is having a special at $500 AUD).
Does anyone reckon they will have the same lifetime as that 8800GTX(? is this it) . I mean they are pretty much considered a bitching card now.
I would like to get around the same life the 7900 got, and (with tacking on SLI later on).

Talking about buying a GTX280 even has me all excited. Most games i play with on low visuals (i just love the multi screens so much i accept low textures), thinking about 3 screens and high vis. Well thats just plain awesome.

Also on the x64 note, Xp x64 was decent, just only very mainstream drivers could be used (eg nvidia etc). The emulation was pretty decent, and it sparked those games having x64 versions (far cry patch XD). Granted i haven't seen many more games like that anymore.

Back on video cards though, how much do you guys reckon the GTX280 will drop by when the 4870x2 comes out?. I'm a piss poor uni student, so buying the graphics card at the best time is what i have to do XD.

Post by **scavvenjahh** » 18 Jul 2008, 15:51

The 8800 GTX was probably the high-end graphics card with the longest lifespan ever, but that's partly because nvidia didn't bother topping it really in nearly 2 years. This is probably not gonna be the same story today, because of Ati's aggressive pricing of upper-midrange cards. This is not exactly competition but it's effective. Nvidia had to adjust prices (not because "Ati can do the same for less money", the GTX280 is still heads and shoulders above the rest) and will have to implement DX10.1 soon (because it's a concern even to DX9 users...). :lol:

All this being said, chances are the GTX280 will stay on top for a while, and someone buying this card in the coming weeks/months shouldn't feel the real need of another graphics card update before quite a long time.

Post by **Mach1.9pants** » 18 Jul 2008, 23:58

The 280 has already dropped 150US (from release of 650 to 499 now) and some such as XFX, EVGA are even applying cashback to those who brought early and are noow a bit pi$$ed about the price drop! 30% ish!
There will def be another drop when the x2 comes out IMO, and maybe even a newwer card to compete. Same as always with PC parts ....you can always wait for something better/faster/cheaper but you have to tke the plunge at some point!

EIDIT>>those are RRP type prices apparently you can get them for 50 buck less online in the US

Mesh · Post by **Mesh** » 19 Jul 2008, 01:10

What I find annoying with nvidia and to a lesser extent ati is how they make way too many models, half of which are rebranded previous gen. based.

ex: the 9xxx nvidias are mostly retooled 8xxx.

The ones with real changes refresh fast enough already, we don't need artificially accelerated generation changes.

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