Video Card Recommendations

[Zerstorer]

AMD is all but given up on the desk top market.  

They are putting the bulk of their CPU development dollars into mobile and server solutions.  They have a good shot, in both of those markets.

I see complaints about SLI and Crossfire all the time.  It is all about the profiles.  The SLI profile for Aces High sucks and is going to get worse when we release the next update as that profile was based on a very old version of the game and was never right to begin with.  The Crossfire profile is not any better.

Personally, I avoid multi-gpu solutions at all costs.

I've never bothered working with the game profiles, but isn't it possible for a user to tweak or create a new one?

[Rich46yo]

If you have a i-5 then just buy a single NVidea and roll with one as Skuzzy says. My 780GTX has been problem free and plays every game fine, if not at absolute highest settings. I have a 2560x1440 monitor.

Rich,
I have the following for a system...
Intel I5-2500 3.3 GHz
16 Gig Ram
Win 7 (64 bit)
2 X AMD 6990's in Crossfire setup
All liquid cooled to include the RAM.

Problems I get are all related to the Crossfire issues with these cards.  FWIW, it is a widely known problem and every new installation just requires more messing around with settings to get some sort of half arsed way to play a game.  In my eyes, AMD just plain sucks.  All I want to do is load up a game and play the damned thing.  I don't want to spend a ton of hours just trying to figure out how to get it to run with what should be a kick arse setup.

[guncrasher]

I have the same system as you and I play with everything on except for em on.  I dont see the point of having em on.  using at 770 evga. after trading 2 evga 465's.  and to be honest there really isnt any difference from my 465's to the 770.

semp

[Chalenge]

That's interesting, semp. The 770 should have about double the texel fill rate (over 465s SLI'd) meaning AF over a broader range and fewer shimmering textures.

[guncrasher]

big difference between what a vc could do and what it actual does in middle of game.  like I said, i trade both of my evga465 for a single 770.  I paid a bit more for both 465's than I did for the 770.

but when it comes to playing aces high, i had both play at all settings except for em.  the 465's couldnt have em higher than 25% but then again I couldnt really tell int he middle of combat what that em did  .



semp

[Chalenge]

Environment mapping is not something everyone should use in combat anyway, but I think AF is since it could make the difference between seeing a fight in the distance or the dots being obscured in shimmering tree lines. For that matter there are a lot of graphic options that are nice to be able to use, but that don't mean anything in combat.

Do you know specifically which motherboard Bodhi is talking about? I ask because it could make a much bigger difference than which graphics card he chooses.

[Pudgie]

Environment mapping is not something everyone should use in combat anyway, but I think AF is since it could make the difference between seeing a fight in the distance or the dots being obscured in shimmering tree lines. For that matter there are a lot of graphic options that are nice to be able to use, but that don't mean anything in combat.

Do you know specifically which motherboard Bodhi is talking about? I ask because it could make a much bigger difference than which graphics card he chooses.

As far as EM goes along w/ combat is in terms of wanting "realistic" environment mapping of an object's surface (a plane in this case) to the visual eye (surface detail, resolution & light reflection, etc). The only "advantage" of this mapping during combat will come w/ planes that were historically used w/o a painted surface as those planes are MUCH harder to detect relative to painted planes when they are attacking from a realistic position....like coming out of the sun. The "disadvantage" of this is when a plane w/o a painted surface is trying to fly NOE as the EM will give this plane's position away due to the light reflection being mapped thus making the plane visable on the deck to anyone who is using EM & is within the maximum viewing distance range........................

But for this to be relavent you DO have to have EM enabled & in use.......................... ......& the necessary hardware to use it & still maintain decent FPS to maintain good gameplay. Just remember when you cry for graphical realism you might get it........

Just thought I'd mention this. Now back on topic........................ ...

I also agree w/ Chalenge that the mobo itself may have as much to do w/ SLI/Crossfire issues as the cards being used & recommend looking into that side of the issue to make sure that all is adequate to properly perform in SLI/Crossfire w/ your current cards before looking at other vid cards. Just to mention a couple of items, 1.) is memory/memory bus configured for dual channel instead of single channel, or 2.) the latest mobo BIOS that may contain some improvements/fixes for SLI/Crossfire performance or compatability................ ..just saying...........

FWIW I also would suggest to go w/ the best single video card setup you want/can afford. Anything from a 280/770 up should get you where you want to go......depending on what you deem as important to you in terms of graphics & system performance.

Hope this helps you out.