Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: Dace on April 06, 2008, 08:47:35 AM
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I'm lookin' into buying one. Anyone have anything good or bad to say about it?
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It's a good buy. It will run most of the latest games with flying colors and AH won't pose any kind of problem for it.
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Question for you tech gurus...
I just looked up this card on Newegg and found a dozen+ versions of this card available from different manufactures. What differs one from the next?
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Question for you tech gurus...
I just looked up this card on Newegg and found a dozen+ versions of this card available from different manufactures. What differs one from the next?
Not specific to this card but in general things to look for are memory (amount... more is better), memory (type; DDR2/DDR3, etc. ... higher is better), clock speed (faster is better although you can overclock the card yourself) and pixel pipelines (more is better).
As to manufacturers, all things being equal, there may be differences in programs. For instance, I have an EVGA card. They offer a lifetime warranty and a 90 day step-up program where, if you find you want a different, higher priced card, you can send them the one you have and pay only the difference to "step up" to the one you want.
I'm not sure about the other manufacturers but on the EVGA site you can compare cards and they take all the individual component stats and wrap them up into a memory bandwidth stat that's probably the most telling as to the cards actual performance.
Down the road, PCIe x16 1.0 vs 2.0 will likely be an imprtant factor also, although I don't think any of the current cards take full advantage of the PCIe 2.0 bandwith yet (double that of 1.0).
BTW, the 8800 GT, now at under $200 is a steal. You'd probably be very happy with it.
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I have an MSI 8800GT (320M RAM) in my quad 6600 hackintosh and it's just great. Very quiet, fast, and does not consume too much power. It's overkill for AH. FPS never drops below 60 with hires textures and everything maxed out.
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Ive got one.
Love it.
Runs AH's without a single issue (and most of today's other games at full settings (in DX9).
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According to tests it is not worth buying the 1Gb version but the 512Mb version is enough and in most cases a bit faster.
I have one and I haven't found anything bad about it. You might also want to consider Radeon 3850 or 3870.
-C+
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Question for you tech gurus...
I just looked up this card on Newegg and found a dozen+ versions of this card available from different manufactures. What differs one from the next?
Max,
I like BFG. might be slightly more $$ but life time warrenty, heck i had card die sent it in and when i got it back they had sent me back the next model up (free upgrade :) ). plus BFG is a US video card maker.
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I'm lookin' into buying one. Anyone have anything good or bad to say about it?
a friend of mine bought the Nvidia motherboard and two 8800GT's running on the same board with a quad-core processor.Mind you he had to upgrade his power supply and go with liquid cooling and have atleast 8 megs a ram, he does get 250+ frames per second on average.All together he spent around 3500$ for the machine, i say just wait until a year later when that same stuff will be 1/2 off.
The 8800 GT is a good buy just make sure you have what it takes to back it up and make it run like it should.
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I use the 8800 GTX great card.
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The 8800 GT is a good buy just make sure you have what it takes to back it up and make it run like it should.
I have a 3200+ with 1 gig of RAM. Would that back it up enough. Guess I should probably get another gig of RAM too eh?
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I have a 3200+ with 1 gig of RAM. Would that back it up enough. Guess I should probably get another gig of RAM too eh?
For AH that should be enough although you will be CPU limited. AMD is dragging behind bad in performance at the moment.
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I have a 3200+ with 1 gig of RAM. Would that back it up enough. Guess I should probably get another gig of RAM too eh?
I have a 3500+. I just ordered an E8400 yesterday with a PC Power & Cooling PS. I'll be waiting until the rebate at the beginning of summer comes, to get an 8800gt or GTX (haven't decided), a MB with DDR3 RAM capability and DDR Memory.
The 3500+ never should have been purchased back in 2006.
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I just bought one.Very satisfied with it's performance.I went with the MSI,because I liked it's cooler.I was running two evga 7950's in SLI configeration,and the 8800 GT outpaces them.It kills AH,with 60 fps with vsync on,but I still suffer from the hit sprite crap.Max the difference between the different companies are mainley in the coolers I believe.My 8800 GT takes up two slots it's so large.When the nvidia 9800's come out,I'll probably buy one when the price drops a bit.My take on the 8800 GT,it's a very reasonably priced great performing video card.
IronDog
system specs
AMD 6000
Coolermaster 700 watts PS
Gigabyte SLI MB
4 megs Corsair ram
MSI 8800 GT video card 512 ram
Creative Xfi gaming sound card
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I don't mean to hijack here, but I have a geforce 8600 gts that will not support the water effects in game (at least I do not get the option to turn it on/off). Will an 8800 fix that?
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I'm 99% sure you don't want the water effect - it's highly disorienting and you won't be able to tell the distance to the sea anymore.
I crashed several times and turned it off.
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water effect?
what is that?
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Animated water, it looks more like pink noise instead of water reflection. Probably because it doesn't reflect through a real lightsource like it should.
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umm, where is it? i see no option in game to turn it on or off.
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According to the help section, your video card miust support shaders, which my card supposedly does, to get the option under video settings ingame. It would be a box to check on/off like vehicle and weapon effects. I would like to have the choice rather than the game telling me I can't even decide because it has determined my card doesn't support it. I don't care if I like the effects or not, just want the option. Besides, challenging is fun, make me use instruments more than I do already.
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I think they dropped that in the last big terrain change.
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I think they dropped that in the last big terrain change.
that makes sense, im runnin the "latest and greatest" so the idea of a game, especially this one, having a feature my card doesn't support seemed a little weird.
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I am not sure, my squaddie says he still has the waves. I don't know.
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I have been having problems with the horizon ground tiles rendering slowly at high altitudes (10,000ft). It's quite annoying to see ground tiles building in front of me as I fly. I contacted alienware and asked tech support if I could add more RAM, better RAM, or a new video card to improve my performance and they recomended that I upgrade to an EVGA NVIDIA GEFORCE 8800GT 512MB PCI-E in SLI (2 cards). They did state that these cards are power hogs but that my 700 watt power supply should be ok. The tech said that 1200 watt power supplies are becoming more common in high end game machines.
As far as RAM went he said that a 32-bit OS is not going to be able to use 4GB of RAM and that at the most I would get 2.5GB of usable RAM if I did upgrade. Does anyone here use a 64 bit OS and is it worth the upgrade to see any performance improvements?
Processor: Intel® Core(tm) 2 Duo Extreme X6800 2.93GHz 4MB Cache 1066MHz FSB
Operating System (Office software not included): Genuine Windows® XP Professional with Service Pack 2
Chassis: Alienware® P2 Chassis - Saucer Silver
Chassis Upgrades: Alienware® AlienIce(tm) 3.0 Video Cooling - Astral Blue
Power Supply: Alienware® 700 Watt Multi-GPU Approved Power Supply
Motherboard: Alienware® Approved NVIDIA nForce 4 SLI Motherboard
Memory: 2GB DDR2 Performance SDRAM at 800MHz - 2 x 1024MB
System Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 150GB Serial ATA 1.5Gb/s 10,000 RPM w/ NCQ & 16MB Cache
Primary CD ROM/DVD ROM: 16x Dual Layer DVD±R/W Drive
Graphics Processor: Dual 512MB NVIDIA® GeForce(tm) 7950 GT - SLI Enabled
Video Optimizer: AlienAdrenaline: Video Performance Optimizer
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A 32-bit OS can use 4Gb of addressable space of which peripherals typically eat about 500mb. That leaves you with 3.5 gigs of ram which is _more_ than enough for anything you can throw at your computer.
64-bits is nothing but trouble and you will be running 100% 32-bit programs on it. Think about it. Every program you run is still limited by the 32-bit code it has and 2gb maximum memory PER program. So with 3.5 gigs you can run one 32-bit app with every possible bit of memory it can address and then a dozen more smaller programs in the background with the OS.
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I'd stay away from a 64 bit O/S. There are incompatability issues with 32 bit applications, application installers and 32 bit hardware.
Looking at you system specs though, it doesn't look like memory or processing power is your problem. I'm not sure what it is but you might want to post in the tech support forum. It could be something as simple as having ground range set. Try hitting F1 in flight to see if that's it.
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Don't you mean SHIFT F1 ?
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Don't you mean SHIFT F1 ?
Yes. It just goes to show I never use those but I know they exist.
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I'd stay away from a 64 bit O/S. There are incompatability issues with 32 bit applications, application installers and 32 bit hardware.
As you go to SLI and Firefox configurations, it almost becomes necessary to go with a 64bit OS or limit yourself to 2 gigs of memory.
My experience with 64 bit vista says that most programs will not have a problem with a 64 bit OS. I have yet to have one fail on install. The only game I've had a problem with was ArmA, which had a problem with any system that had more than 3 gig of memory (not necessarily 64bit specific). When it comes to drivers, however, that's a different story. Very few of the wireless and networking companies had stuff on the market to support it. But, I imagine that will get better over time. I still can remember how many 16bit network cards there were when Microsoft introduced XP and the uproar that ensued.
Also, at work, our custom made applications (written by programmers here) are less likely to be compatable. I seriously doubt any company that has any customized software will venture into the vista world anytime soon.
Overall, though, if you want to go with 8gig of memory and SLI or firefox configurations, you don't have a choice.
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As you go to SLI and Firefox configurations, it almost becomes necessary to go with a 64bit OS or limit yourself to 2 gigs of memory.
My experience with 64 bit vista says that most programs will not have a problem with a 64 bit OS. I have yet to have one fail on install. The only game I've had a problem with was ArmA, which had a problem with any system that had more than 3 gig of memory (not necessarily 64bit specific). When it comes to drivers, however, that's a different story. Very few of the wireless and networking companies had stuff on the market to support it. But, I imagine that will get better over time. I still can remember how many 16bit network cards there were when Microsoft introduced XP and the uproar that ensued.
Also, at work, our custom made applications (written by programmers here) are less likely to be compatable. I seriously doubt any company that has any customized software will venture into the vista world anytime soon.
Overall, though, if you want to go with 8gig of memory and SLI or firefox configurations, you don't have a choice.
But where would one need over 2gb on a gaming computer considering current games are predominantly 32-bit?
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I'm running a game on Vista which peaks the memory usage at 1.9Gb all the time and occasionally swaps heavily causing considerable (1-10sec) warps. The game and Vista are on two different disks to speed up the disk operations and it did help a bit. I have SP1 installed but it does not seem to diminish the Vista's memory usage so that it would help the situation.
All other games work very well with 2Gb memory I have.
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I'm running a game on Vista which peaks the memory usage at 1.9Gb all the time and occasionally swaps heavily causing considerable (1-10sec) warps. The game and Vista are on two different disks to speed up the disk operations and it did help a bit. I have SP1 installed but it does not seem to diminish the Vista's memory usage so that it would help the situation.
All other games work very well with 2Gb memory I have.
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I had that 'swap' happen to me also. Turns out it was the graphics driver crashing and restarting, not swapping. Superfetch will keep your Vista ram full at all times it's no indication that you actually need more ram. It's an indication you should switch to another operating system though. :D
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Superfetch was one of the first processes I disabled after installing Vista...
Following Skuzzy's guidelines you can actually get a rather "lean" Vista which works OK with games.
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Just recently installed an 8800 GT , GREAT CARD, you can over clock it with ease and also controle the fan on the card it self.. Depending on your system My son run Hell Gate London with no issue and smooth.. From what Ive read on Bench test they did.. it came in 1st or second on most test even when compared to the more expensive cards like the 8800GTS cars.. so plug in and have a great time... :aok
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Superfetch was one of the first processes I disabled after installing Vista...
Following Skuzzy's guidelines you can actually get a rather "lean" Vista which works OK with games.
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I've always been interested to see how 'lean' is Vista basic. It should come pretty minimal.. But then again if you go Vista basic you might aswell get a real XP with no Vista problems. Vista is simply unnecessary.
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just because it's packaged with less goodies doesn't mean it's got any less junk running by default.
The "lighter" versions don't have any less code bloat, IMO. My sister's had a couple of different laptops that have run Vista, and I tried to pare it down, and it was still a mess. They weren't the high end Vista, probably one of the lowest end versions.
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just because it's packaged with less goodies doesn't mean it's got any less junk running by default.
The "lighter" versions don't have any less code bloat, IMO. My sister's had a couple of different laptops that have run Vista, and I tried to pare it down, and it was still a mess. They weren't the high end Vista, probably one of the lowest end versions.
Vista basic doesn't have aero and that alone is a big step in the right direction.
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I just upgraded from Nvidia 7950 SLI to Nvidia GeForce 8800GT 512mb in SLI and while in game the new cards start locking up or just booting me out. I originally loaded the display driver that was at the evga webiste but now have loaded the Nvidia drivers. Anyone else having issues with the 8800GT card in game?
I'm running on XP PRO
Intel core (TM) 2 CPU X6800 @2.93GhZ (2 CPU's)
2048MB RAM
Directx 9.0c (4.09.0000.0094)
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I concur with your assessment of EVGA. They denied me the step-up program saying I was ONE day too late. The date/time stamp on my Newegg invoice had me under the wire by 6 hrs.
<--- 1st and last time EVGA customer.
Peep this one, you'll watermelon bricks.
Email to Evga:
"Hello Alex,
Back in May of 2006, I purchased a PC through "cyberpowerpc.com". When I ordered it, I selected the 7800GT, they must have run out, so they without charge stepped me up to a 7900GT. Over the last couple of months when I play Joint Operations: Typhoon Rising or Aces High, I get stretched terrain. I have been told by many that this is a direct result of the heat sinks overheating. This card has always been at the "Default Setting" of 500/750. This is why I'm confused as to what is happening with this card.
I have an X-Cruiser case with 2 80's in the front drawing in, an 80 on top, an 80 on the side and the rear with a 120 blowing out (I also added a PCI slot fan from an old PC). My case is around 27C according to SpeedFan. I was told about this program to manage my case fans, temps and have been very happy with it so
far.
I spoke with someone just a few minutes ago, but my cell phone crapped out and was echoing on my end. So I'm sure the T.S. person was getting annoyed. But I figured I'd at least follow up and give him thanks for his assistance. He told me to Register my product which I just did. I didn't register it back in 2006, because I was unsure if Cyberpowerpc registered them or not.
I currently have an AMD 3500+, XP Pro rig. I already have an E8400 new in the box with a 750W PC & Cooling PS new in the box as well. I am "updating" my rig and still need to get a Motherboard, Memory and I was looking into an 8800 or 9800 series card.
My question is this. Is there ANYTHING I could do to maybe get a "Credit" or something else, towards a new one? I was looking into BFG cards but I figured that since I have been happy with Evga, I'd try and see if anything could be done."
Their reply?
"Jason as long as the card is registered on our website you can get an RMA started on the 7900 card to have it replaced as it sounds like it might be the RAM on the card haveing an issue, as for credit the only option we have is called the step-up program but unfortunatly its limited to 90days from the original date of purchase. if you ahve any further questions you can contact us at anytime.
Charles EVGA Tech Team"
Their Tech team can kiss the wide part of my arse. I'm going BFG. I'll NEVER recommend evga, NEVER.