which is the best Graphics cards/chips

[olly1]

which is best make/model graphics card/chipsets ? Am looking for new pc due the one i use
to play games is a good few years old.At best now am getting around 30-50 fps with the setting turned off plus background programs off too.
I have old intel chipset pc which i use for internet only and when i 1st got it was tolded the chipset was the in thing
to have with new updates to come but they never happen with the chipset i had.So am put off getting a pc with a chipset but now there all the rage with HD chips.The pc i use for games has the ATI Radeon Xpress X1250 and its on the limits playing AH but with new graphics engine for AH I know my fps will take a hit.So what are pros and cons with Intel/Nvidia GeForce /ATI Radeon?

<S>

[MrRiplEy[H]]

which is best make/model graphics card/chipsets ? Am looking for new pc due the one i use
to play games is a good few years old.At best now am getting around 30-50 fps with the setting turned off plus background programs off too.
I have old intel chipset pc which i use for internet only and when i 1st got it was tolded the chipset was the in thing
to have with new updates to come but they never happen with the chipset i had.So am put off getting a pc with a chipset but now there all the rage with HD chips.The pc i use for games has the ATI Radeon Xpress X1250 and its on the limits playing AH but with new graphics engine for AH I know my fps will take a hit.So what are pros and cons with Intel/Nvidia GeForce /ATI Radeon?

<S>

There's no single answer to your question. There are some rules of thumb though:

1) Anything integrated is usually a bad idea for AH. Avoid integrated graphics solutions no matter if they come from Intel, AMD, Matrox or Nvidia. The latest integrated chips are getting better and work great already with a host of games but they're not recommended for AH. IIRC Skuzzy has posted about it many times.

2) Nvidia and AMD both make great products. They're constantly competing with each others so one brand is cheaper on day, the other second. If someone brings claims of driver problems with either brand don't listen to them. They both have their set of problems but again, that's not a practical problem at all. Both will work great.

3) Avodi SLI/Crossfire if you can. They're a gimmick that artificially boosts a single cards performance by pairing it with another. SLI/Crossfire is supported only for selected games and currently AH is not supported so you get no benefit for the double price. Also even for the games that are supported, think about the 'driver problems' some may bring up. They get doubled or tripled if you use SLI/Xfire

What I would suggest to you is to post how much money you have available and what you have currently (including cpu/motherboard type, amount of ram and what size is your current power supply). There are many forum members that would be happy to give advice on what parts need upgrading and what to use.

If you want to research yourself, there is a great article maintained by Tomshardware that lists graphics cards that are best for a given price range in the editors opinion. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107.html

Expect to spend a minimum of 180 bucks for a card that will run the new AH graphics well. Any card above that price point on the list will run the new AH great as long as the rest of your computer is up to the task. Remember that if you have a weak CPU and little ram you won't get much more speed from a new graphics card alone.

[Bizman]

As a side note, don't worry about the Intel graphics chipset. It will be shut down when you install a "real" video card to your motherboard.

[save]

On most motherboards you can select what video-card your output should try first, to get video out.

[Chalenge]

. . .
3) Avodi SLI/Crossfire if you can. They're a gimmick that artificially boosts a single cards performance by pairing it with another. SLI/Crossfire is supported only for selected games and currently AH is not supported so you get no benefit for the double price. Also even for the games that are supported, think about the 'driver problems' some may bring up. They get doubled or tripled if you use SLI/Xfire
. . .

I would not know about the Crossfire problem, but Ripley is absolutely wrong about SLI. However, there is no reason to enter into an SLI system from the very beginning, unless there is some particular goal you are shooting for. If your system has the juice to power a GTX 980, or GTX 970, then you will have an advantage in eye candy for a little while. There are two very handy modes these cards offer that no other card can match for the moment. Also, SLI is not needed (as of this time) for AH, as either card will give you a reliable 60 fps in AH, easily.

And, yes, if you are considering a purchase of an entirely new system (sounds like it), we will have to know your budget to give you much help.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

I would not know about the Crossfire problem, but Ripley is absolutely wrong about SLI. However, there is no reason to enter into an SLI system from the very beginning, unless there is some particular goal you are shooting for. If your system has the juice to power a GTX 980, or GTX 970, then you will have an advantage in eye candy for a little while. There are two very handy modes these cards offer that no other card can match for the moment. Also, SLI is not needed (as of this time) for AH, as either card will give you a reliable 60 fps in AH, easily.

And, yes, if you are considering a purchase of an entirely new system (sounds like it), we will have to know your budget to give you much help.

Sorry but I'm absolutely right about SLI. Many games (including and most imporantly AH2) do not have any or very well working SLI profiles which means that the second card is just a paper weight while playing. SLI users are also suspectible to additional stability and driver problems (not being able to use vsync, CTDs etc). SLI is a gimmick that should be used only when your high-end graphics card won't cut the mustard alone anymore. For a low to mid-tier GPU buyer SLI is just a sad joke.

[Bino]

The only experience I have with Crossfire is when I ran two AMD 5850 cards on my old i7-930 machine.  The net gain over a single 5850 in synthetic benchmarks was just under 20%.  The only observable difference in AH was a slight improvement in frame rates over very busy furballs. 

YMMV

[Hajo]

Ran Crossfire on my last machine.  Two AMD 4850s as I recall.  For AH which has no profile they are worthless.  No gains anywhere.

Was just impressive to say I ran Crossfire..............was also stupid for paying for an additional card.

[Gman]

For a low to mid-tier GPU buyer SLI is just a sad joke.

That's kind of the point. Obviously spending 2x the $ on a product isn't for the low or mid tier user.

Also, the story of AH and SLI is a well known and old one now.  In fact, you can take 5 year old hardware, and with the environmental/reflections setting not being higher than one notch, have it perform up to the max fps most users can see due to their limited 60hz lcds.  

AH, a very old game so far as most of the graphics go, isn't what SLI is for.  Anyone who is a low to mid tier user, or primarily using their gaming PC for Aces High only would be wasting their money on an SLI setup.  However, this story that "most games, "driver problems", and "bla bla" are nonsense.  I can list over a dozen popular games, and just did in another thread, where SLI with older cards than the new 970 and 980 gave a huge performance increase.  Users who are using the new 970 in SLI, let alone the 980 - massive increase in performance.  In fact, if you're planning on running max detail with games like BF4, Crysis3, Rome2, and many others, on triple 1080p monitors, a 1440p 144hz monitor, or a 4k monitor, SLI is almost a requirement.  Google it yourself, there are many gaming sites with brand new reviews and tests of the 970 in SLI vs a single 980, which costs only 100$ish more depending on the manufacturer.  I'll let you guess which is performing better for the $, 2 970 in SLI or a single 980.

You can start here, there are many more reviews/tests telling the same story for most of the popular games out there - 970SLI is a far better option than a single 980 for only 100$ more, the performance gains are massive.    

Notice the BF4 scores.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_970_SLI/5.html

Or the Crysis3 scores.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_970_SLI/9.html

Far Cry3

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_970_SLI/11.html


The conclusions of this very comprehensive test are that the 970 SLI is a huge winner over the single 980 option in the bang/$ category.  The same story is being told at Tomshardware, Anandtech, and so on.




I don't think nVidia envisioned building the SLI system around 1900 guys who play a dated flight simulator.  I'm sure with the new version there may be a chance that we'll get an updated SLI profile for AH, but I'm not sure what's involved so far as dealing with nVidia on this, but I'm confident if it can be done, HT can do it so far as that goes.  Either way it doesn't matter, as if it stays status quo so far as SLI/AH goes, it won't make much difference to anyone.  I do somehow doubt that most AH players only play AH, which sort of negates the whole "sli is useless" for the AH player, certainly a majority of them at least.

Therefore with the price and performance of the 970 SLI combo being such that it is, it would be prudent to ask those asking advice on video cards what their usage of other games is like, in addition to Aces High, prior to telling them "sli is crap, and here is a list of my nonsense reasons why".  If AH is the only thing a player is using their system for gaming wise, it's a completely different story regarding SLI options compared to a player that is into many other products.  

[MrRiplEy[H]]

As said earlier SLI makes sense only when using already high end cards and especially if playing 4K or triple screen. For the average 'mainstream' user SLI is not a sensible option especially if shopping for a new card thats going to replace a totally outdated one like the OP was doing.

A single 970 gives so much performance per dollar that it is definately what I would recommend currently for anyone shopping for a new card that has a modern computer to run it with. It goes without saying that old Core2Duos and AMDs are not going to be able to keep up with the 970. An overclocked or high-end i5, i7 or 1150 socket Xeon is required.

[Chalenge]

In order to know why there is no benefit from SLI/Crossfire on some systems you have to look at what is going on with the PCIe lanes, which is why you should ask lots and lots of questions.

Nvidia will not create an AH profile even if you petition them. HTC will have to pay for it, and it doesn't make sense to do that. From Nvidia's perspective they probably have a team of people working the numbers to find out which games are trending and writing profiles for them. You can make your own, you know.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

In order to know why there is no benefit from SLI/Crossfire on some systems you have to look at what is going on with the PCIe lanes, which is why you should ask lots and lots of questions.

Nvidia will not create an AH profile even if you petition them. HTC will have to pay for it, and it doesn't make sense to do that. From Nvidia's perspective they probably have a team of people working the numbers to find out which games are trending and writing profiles for them. You can make your own, you know.

Yeah so we actually agree that running SLI brings a lot more complication to your system and its something that only an enthusiast should do. You need a premium motherboard, top of the line cpu, two higher than average cards, triple screen etc. before you start to get real benefits from SLI - and yet there are games such as AH2 that would not get much benefit regardless of spending all the extra hundreds of dollars on the gear.

SLI looks to scale great on mainstream games and on 4k/triple screen. There I would definately recommend it for anyone who has serious cash in their pocket.

[Chalenge]

There you go making blatant, uninformed assumptions again. When I said you need to ask a lot more questions, I was saying you need to ask a lot more questions. Since you don't know how SLI works or what kind of system might benefit from it you might start there.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

There you go making blatant, uninformed assumptions again. When I said you need to ask a lot more questions, I was saying you need to ask a lot more questions. Since you don't know how SLI works or what kind of system might benefit from it you might start there.

Which part of my text was blatant and uninformed. A simple question. Or was it just to fulfill your recent urge to make out of the blue personal attacks on every possible turn? 

[Gman]

As said earlier SLI makes sense only when using already high end cards and especially if playing 4K or triple screen. For the average 'mainstream' user SLI is not a sensible option

Remember in the other thread when you brought up that Skuzzy had said SLI was useless - which isn't what he had said at all IMO, but that's ok.  Why don't you ask Skuzzy how many of HTC's customers are using or have used triple screen setups recently?  Hint - your hardware equipment is updated and sent into HTC as part of the TOS, so they know what their customers systems specs are in great detail.  They number Skuzzy recently gave was astonishingly high for triple screen users, over a third as I recall, I'll search for the exact thread/post.  So, that being said, your "mainstream" users even here at HTC are greatly represented by triple screen users, something that, while not important here in AH, IS very important for other games where SLI/triple screen is effective.