Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: LePaul on April 29, 2005, 05:24:20 PM
-
As some of you may know, I just shut off hosting my own sites and such. They are now hosted by a firm in Southern California...costing me $139 a year....it USED to cost me $189 a MONTH. Nice savings!
As a result, I have a newly retired server. Its a Dell SC400. Pentium 4 2.8ghz w/ 1.5gb of RAM. The hard drive is a ATA133 40/gb I'd toss. I'm going to plug in a SATA card and hdd in a week or so.
I'm curious what's a good card for AH2. This is just a temp PC, until I get around to piecing together my next AMD system.
I dont want to say "cheap"....but best bang for the buck.
Im not a huge ATI fan...but I'm willing to listen ;)
-
for cheap a 9600 pro / xt, or a fx5900 id say is about bottem line $100.00 + - will give ya the min cost best satisfaction for ah or other gamming .
the 5700 you have to be carefull with some are good others are wacko
-
Originally posted by LePaul
As some of you may know, I just shut off hosting my own sites and such. They are now hosted by a firm in Southern California...costing me $139 a year....it USED to cost me $189 a MONTH. Nice savings!
As a result, I have a newly retired server. Its a Dell SC400. Pentium 4 2.8ghz w/ 1.5gb of RAM. The hard drive is a ATA133 40/gb I'd toss. I'm going to plug in a SATA card and hdd in a week or so.
I'm curious what's a good card for AH2. This is just a temp PC, until I get around to piecing together my next AMD system.
I dont want to say "cheap"....but best bang for the buck.
Im not a huge ATI fan...but I'm willing to listen ;)
id say for
ATI 9800 pro or X800 xt
Nvidia 6600 GT or 6800 GT
9800 pro/6600 gt both being best bang for $$ right now.
whels
-
im loveing mine right now:)
-
X800XL or 6800GT for "mid" range
X800XL is better than a 6800gt but quiet a bit cheaper....at least in the UK
and yes they are BOTH AGP cards
-
my sapphire 9600xt was $140 on newegg....good bang for the buck for a temp/backup card
-
Originally posted by buzkill
my sapphire 9600xt was $140 on newegg....good bang for the buck for a temp/backup card
and it runs AHII just fine with high detail settings/1024 tex/1280x1024 res
oooops didn't mean to quote:rolleyes:
-
Originally posted by buzkill
and it runs AHII just fine with high detail settings/1024 tex/1280x1024 res
oooops didn't mean to quote:rolleyes:
doubtful
a 9700pro wont do that, and its a much faster card.
-
the best bang for the buck has to be the 6600GT right now, if i was gunna buy something it would be a x800xl , its a great card at is price level , as long as you can find one at msrp ,not jacked up like ive seen on many sites
38
-
Originally posted by 38ruk
the best bang for the buck has to be the 6600GT right now, if i was gunna buy something it would be a x800xl , its a great card at is price level , as long as you can find one at msrp ,not jacked up like ive seen on many sites 38
isnt the 6600gt a ENTRY level card?
-
Originally posted by Overlag
doubtful
a 9700pro wont do that, and its a much faster card.
depends on the system supporting it
-
Originally posted by buzkill
depends on the system supporting it
the 9700 has more pipelines if memory serves..so it does out perform.....in benchmarks
did it again:rolleyes:
and i just came out of one of mr smogs rooms avg. 70 fps at those settings (i have screenies)
-
ah yes the :rolleyes: icon......
well :rolleyes: at you.
1280x1024x32
512 textures, 1024 textures makes the game run between 1 and 10 fps
sliders 1 inch from full performance (ie crap settings)
FSAAx2 AFx2
fps?
20 on the runway
40 shortly after
10-30 near trees
5-15 in GVs
60 (refresh limited) at 20k above water with no cons in the area
so mr :rolleyes: how do YOU do it?
-
msi k8t neo fsr mobo (slow but very stable)
cpu: amd 3700+
ram:1024MB ddr400 (2x512)
no AA
no af
1280x1024x16
measly 38 fps on runway
82 fps 1000 ft over water (animated,full detail)
drops to avg. 40 fps in a furrball
seen it get as low as 18 in a smoky furball
and the
:rolleyes: is just because i keep quoting myself instead of replying to others
-
Originally posted by buzkill
msi k8t neo fsr mobo (slow but very stable)
cpu: amd 3700+
ram:1024MB ddr400 (2x512)
no AA
no af
1280x1024x16
measly 38 fps on runway
82 fps 1000 ft over water (animated,full detail)
drops to avg. 40 fps in a furrball
seen it get as low as 18 in a smoky furball
and the
:rolleyes: is just because i keep quoting myself instead of replying to others
and whats the gfx card again?
no AA
no af
1280x1024x16
these 3 settings = full quality? those settings = no quality.... see why i was getting alittle confused and angry?
-
because you just don't know?
ya the edges of my wings are "stairstepped" a little. the lighting is right and after playin this game for 6 years it looks alot better than it did. no AA noAF in my video card settings, then go full quality in game. i do that for all games; it's what i'm used to.
o and it's a sapphire 9600xt
as advertised 500mhz core; 650 mhz mem. (never seen it run that fast, but close)
and it's $105 now......bang for the buck was my only point all along
-
Originally posted by buzkill
because you just don't know?
ya the edges of my wings are "stairstepped" a little. the lighting is right and after playin this game for 6 years it looks alot better than it did. no AA noAF in my video card settings, then go full quality in game. i do that for all games; it's what i'm used to.
o and it's a sapphire 9600xt
as advertised 500mhz core; 650 mhz mem. (never seen it run that fast, but close)
and it's $105 now......bang for the buck was my only point all along
"because you just dont know?" lol, thats laughable maybe you should try it.....no AF or AA is horrible. I dunno how anyone with 20/20 vision can except not using it. but each to there own
9600xt was bang for $$$ 2 years ago. Now i think you find its the 6800/6800gt or X800XL
-
i got an x800 pro in the works
ive already tested one a friend owns and it took my 3dmark3 benches from 3900 points all the way to 10,472 with all default settings. just didn't try AH with it.
and i never wanted to piss you off, just givin' my 2 cents
and i gotta look into the nvidia cards again....hear alot of good things
-
Originally posted by buzkill
i got an x800 pro in the works
ive already tested one a friend owns and it took my 3dmark3 benches from 3900 points all the way to 10,472 with all default settings. just didn't try AH with it.
and i never wanted to piss you off, just givin' my 2 cents
and i gotta look into the nvidia cards again....hear alot of good things
try AHII with what?
a 9800xt is slower than a 9700pro and wont do it at full quality
hell i can run farcry/doom3/HL2/AHII at full quality at 640x480x16 but why would i want to do that?
looks much better at 1280x1024 @ med quality
-
Originally posted by Overlag
isnt the 6600gt a ENTRY level card?
? he asked for best bang for the buck .... id say thats a fair statement. so what if its an entry level card , he said it was a temporary system.
a 9800xt is slower than a 9700pro and wont do it at full quality
???? im not so sure id agree with that . lol
also skuzzy said AF has no use in this game ......from skuzzy
It is not used by AH. The effect it has is really best witnessed in long corridors or in tunnels.
Enabling it causes a performance hit for the video card, and in AH will blur all the text.
-
Originally posted by 38ruk
? he asked for best bang for the buck .... id say thats a fair statement. so what if its an entry level card , he said it was a temporary system.
a 9800xt is slower than a 9700pro and wont do it at full quality
best bang for buck is probably the 6800 standard, or Ati's X800XL
he said a 9600xt which is alot slower than a 9700pro
9800xt is the fastest of the R3x0 cores
AF has no use in this game? well im sorry but with it off it looks ugly. x2 improves things by ALONG way. x16 is even better but its impossible since 2.03
-
Originally posted by Overlag
try AHII with what?
a 9800xt is slower than a 9700pro and wont do it at full quality
hell i can run farcry/doom3/HL2/AHII at full quality at 640x480x16 but why would i want to do that?
looks much better at 1280x1024 @ med quality
i was just quoting your post , it must have been a typo, yes the xt is the fastest 3xx core i am aware of that , ive seen 6600gts for as low as $170 us , the 6800nu i bought was $270 us at the time , im not sure what you can get them for now , 230, 240?. if its a temp system i would prolly throw a 6600gt in it and save some cash. just my 2 cents . ...... 38
AF has no use in this game? well im sorry but with it off it looks ugly. x2 improves things by ALONG way. x16 is even better but its impossible since 2.03
those are skuzzys words in my post , if he says AH2 doesnt use AF i have to take his word for it , personally ive tried it and only noticed blurry text .....
-
Wow. Drama.
6600 GT seems to be getting a few nods from friends as well.
Im hunting around Newegg. Looks like some decent MSI ones for $150-$200
-
Originally posted by 38ruk
i was just quoting your post , it must have been a typo, yes the xt is the fastest 3xx core i am aware of that , ive seen 6600gts for as low as $170 us , the 6800nu i bought was $270 us at the time , im not sure what you can get them for now , 230, 240?. if its a temp system i would prolly throw a 6600gt in it and save some cash. just my 2 cents . ...... 38
those are skuzzys words in my post , if he says AH2 doesnt use AF i have to take his word for it , personally ive tried it and only noticed blurry text .....
oops, didnt notice my mistype there :rolleyes: sorry :)
-
Whether AF does nothing for AH is a debatable point. AH doesnt make use of it, so it should do absolutely nothing. Any improvements are most likely placebo effect. But if the user feels its making an improvement, its up to them. However, more importantly is the warning that AF uses resources that could better be put to use rendering and can potentially cause serious gameplay issues with AH. And yes, it makes the text blurry.
As for the video card debate, 6600GT is the minimum Nvidia type card you should go with for AH. Prices are low enough on it that buying an older FX 5xxx series card like my 5900 is just silly, given all the shader problems those cards have in AH. If you DO buy a 5xxx series card, go with the 5900 or 5950. The others all have half the memory bandwidth and may or may not have used dubious parts to save money. If you go ATI, at the minimum I'd suggest a 9800 series card, the prices should be low enough that dropping down to a 9600 or 9700 should be negligible in price difference.
The above is merely my opinion, on the cards. If its temporary, buy whatever works for you money-wise.
-
Originally posted by StarOfAfrica2
Whether AF does nothing for AH is a debatable point. AH doesnt make use of it, so it should do absolutely nothing. Any improvements are most likely placebo effect. But if the user feels its making an improvement, its up to them. However, more importantly is the warning that AF uses resources that could better be put to use rendering and can potentially cause serious gameplay issues with AH. And yes, it makes the text blurry.
As for the video card debate, 6600GT is the minimum Nvidia type card you should go with for AH. Prices are low enough on it that buying an older FX 5xxx series card like my 5900 is just silly, given all the shader problems those cards have in AH. If you DO buy a 5xxx series card, go with the 5900 or 5950. The others all have half the memory bandwidth and may or may not have used dubious parts to save money. If you go ATI, at the minimum I'd suggest a 9800 series card, the prices should be low enough that dropping down to a 9600 or 9700 should be negligible in price difference.
The above is merely my opinion, on the cards. If its temporary, buy whatever works for you money-wise.
with AF off on *MY* ATI powered system, the ground textures look S*** and "shimmer" in the distance (which i cant show in screenshots) its kinda like "noise" you get on old analogy tvs. With AF on, it stops that (even at x2) and at x16 all the textures are much more clearer and nicer looking.
anyway, what skuzzy means is AH automaticaly runs at x0 unless you force it. hes never said it DOESNT work
3rd edit: doesnt make my text blury? infact with AF off the text looks terrible?
-
All I can say is that my experience is with Nvidia only in AH. Perhaps the ATI is different? My machine wont even run AH if I turn on AF. Set to Application Pref. or Off, it runs fine. That has been true with an MX 440, MX 4000, FX 5700 and FX 5900. On the MX 440 it would run, but caused artifacts and problems with contrast on terrains. The FX series cards it causes the launcher to hang and the game never starts. The computer runs like it was dipped in molasses (although with patience I can usually effect a ctrl+alt+del shutdown of AH).
Since it does seem to work for you in a positive way, thats great. I certainly dont mind being proven wrong, my wife has trained me to accept it as a fact of life :) I'd still like to know why it helps you, just to satisfy my own curiousity.