Rainbow Man
Veteran
Wasn't the tesselator described pre-launch as one of the 360's most advanced and powerful features? What the heck happened there really?!
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Question.HD2900XT or 8800GTS
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I assume it means changes for artists, changes in workflow, changes in how you port things... basically a lot of changes that will take a long time for people to get used to. Once tessellators become the norm on PC hardware, you'll see it used more.
I'm in the same boat really, i'm trying to decide between an HD2900xt and an 8800GTS (640mb model, I don't really want to 'downgrade' my memory count). I play at 1280x1024 with 2x or 4x AA on average with max settings (quality is paramount). The shamefull AA performance on the 2900xt really bums me out, but then there are times where it really shines for no obvious reason. I can't decide whether or not to just dive in headfirst and go with the 2900 or not... Power usage isn't an issue, nor is heat or case size. I've also been given conflicting views on the quality of the upgrade (coming from an x1900xt 512mb).
Bah, it's cheaper, i'll give it that (average of $500 vs the $600+ for a GTS 640mb).
Bah, it's cheaper, i'll give it that (average of $500 vs the $600+ for a GTS 640mb).
The HD 2900XT is cheaper? That's rather shocking considering in the US the GTS is usually $100 cheaper than the HD 2900XT and sometimes even more depending on deals at the time. Frankly I'm shocked the question is asked, the GTS is the superior card from a number of views, you know what you are getting with it instead of "Well drivers later on may greatly improve performance" bullshit that tends to follow the 2900XT around these days. There is so much questions remaining about HD 2900XT performance that, that is enough for me personally to avoid it.
I wouldn't hesitate to buy a G80-based product. I've been running one for a few months now. I have a non-tech-saavy friend who's been very happy with his, too. I've yet to have major compatibility issues in any way. The cards really do deliver. Playing all your games in 4X AA and 16X AF without much performance hit at even 1920x1200 is really a sweet deal.
As for HD2900, well we've seen that it's unpredictable. It runs too hot for what it delivers. Does it have potential to grow? I rather doubt it honestly. I refuse to believe that ATI dropped the ball that far on their drivers; I think the hardware is flawed/unbalanced in unknown ways. Buying into an R600-based board looks to be a serious gamble on whether they can magically deliver superior drivers. Been there with ATI before, no thanks (R100, R200).
R100 and R200 were nice little (cheaper than NV) cards that didn't rival a CRT in power use and room heating ability. These days performance per watt is a consideration, IMO.
As for HD2900, well we've seen that it's unpredictable. It runs too hot for what it delivers. Does it have potential to grow? I rather doubt it honestly. I refuse to believe that ATI dropped the ball that far on their drivers; I think the hardware is flawed/unbalanced in unknown ways. Buying into an R600-based board looks to be a serious gamble on whether they can magically deliver superior drivers. Been there with ATI before, no thanks (R100, R200).
R100 and R200 were nice little (cheaper than NV) cards that didn't rival a CRT in power use and room heating ability. These days performance per watt is a consideration, IMO.
I don't think "dropped the ball" is really accurate. I think that with no AA, the R600 seems pretty reasonable, but once you get into CFAA, things look very bad. They have no way to guarantee performance with CFAA, so I get the feeling they're having to do a lot of tweaking on a per-app basis.
The only problem I've had with running an 8800 is that NWN2 isn't rendered correctly, which is more than likely just a driver issue. Aside from that little niggle, it's a great piece of hardware.
Yeah, from any store i've checked, the 8800GTS 640mb is either exactly the same price as, or far more expensive than, a competing 2900xt. Which is why the 2900 is a bit more of an interesting deal.
I expect nothing magical from drivers, but it's just so damn hard to go back to Nvidia after all this time (I did have a 6600gt for a time while I was in videocard-limbo, and I hated it. My primary gripe is that no matter what anyone says, I can clearly see that every Nvidia card i've used produces a 'washed out' image...the colour just isn't as vivid as any Radeon i've ever used... And digital vibrance doesn't help, my monitor is also perfectly calibrated).
I'm seriously kicking the shit out of myself and just saying "Wait a bit longer! Wait a bit longer!", which is only possible given that I waited so long for the 2900 in the first place only to be less than impressed by it. But the last time I bought a highend card (x1900xt 512), just one week later the x1950xtx was announced, and then came out shortly after...which pissed me off. I keep wondering if there'll be a refresh of R600. I just know that no matter how long I wait, the gods above are going to be complete pricks and launch a refresh right after I buy
Though I admit, the AA and AF have come a long way on G80 (i'm an AA/AF whore, no AA = no game for me). One thing I really don't like with Nvidia is a total lack of any quality, comprehensive tool like ATI Tray Tools (an absolute godsend). So R600's lacklustre AA performance has me irked. I just can't decide damnit.
*edit* Oh nice, another $500 just went into my account early. Looks like an 8800GTX is the way to go.
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Does it sit in the system tray and give you one-click access to unlimited custom-created game profiles? Does it also show you in a simple interface every tweak and customizable setting you could possibly ever need? Does it have the ability to lock your refresh rate and force only those that you want?
That's what I love about ATT, it's got everything, there's next to nothing in the way of memory footprints, every single setting you could ever hope to see is right there and just a mouse-click away, and game profiles are a simple dream to handle. It's just so nice..
That's what I love about ATT, it's got everything, there's next to nothing in the way of memory footprints, every single setting you could ever hope to see is right there and just a mouse-click away, and game profiles are a simple dream to handle. It's just so nice..
Pretty much, yes.
I love nHancer and it's the one thing I really missed about having an nVidia card until I discovered ATITool. I use ATITool now and it is better than nhancer. That's due to it having more features such as OSD and temp monitoring, but I don't find myself using those much.
From memory, the one thing nHancer lacked that I wanted was Triple Buffering for DX modes. ATITool is great for that.
nHancer is really just for your profiles, but it is a great tool for that, and a good one to recommend to noobs because of the very well documented online help that describes each IQ setting in detail and with pictures.
It won't do OCing or anything else really. A combination of Rivatuner and NHancer works wonderfully.
I love nHancer and it's the one thing I really missed about having an nVidia card until I discovered ATITool. I use ATITool now and it is better than nhancer. That's due to it having more features such as OSD and temp monitoring, but I don't find myself using those much.
From memory, the one thing nHancer lacked that I wanted was Triple Buffering for DX modes. ATITool is great for that.
nHancer is really just for your profiles, but it is a great tool for that, and a good one to recommend to noobs because of the very well documented online help that describes each IQ setting in detail and with pictures.
It won't do OCing or anything else really. A combination of Rivatuner and NHancer works wonderfully.
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Please list " every tweak and customizable setting you could possibly ever need " and i'll be able to tell you
Not sure what i'd be looking for with Nvidia.
But if you've ever used ATT's 'Advanced Tweaks' panel, you'd know what I mean. Everything conceivable is there. It's hard to explain I guess, you just have to see it. Then there's the advanced settings on the Direct3d/OpenGL portions of the game profiles page which allow you to enable any kind of AA you want, texture LOD, brightness/colour/gamma profiles to tag along with it, clockspeed profiles, Geometry Instancing, optimizations...it's all there (and that's just on the advanced settings page of a game profile!).
I guess ATT just has an overwhelming amount of control. I'll download Nhancer and try it on this office PC here to see what it's like :smile:
*edit* Eurgh, .Net. Maybe later
Unknown Soldier
Veteran
Hmm.. thought it was UE2.5?
I play Vegas with my GTS8800 320MB and it plays ok at 1680x1050(Modified bin). It plays well at 1280x960.
US
I could be mistaken, but a quick google search turns up numerous sites referring to R6:V being based on UE3.
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