Aces High Bulletin Board

General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: Fulmar on June 16, 2008, 11:03:30 AM

Title: Geforce GTX 280
Post by: Fulmar on June 16, 2008, 11:03:30 AM
Another king on the horizon.
Full Article: http://www.maximumpc.com/article/unveiled_nvidias_next_gen_gpu?page=0%2C0

Snippet:

"The GeForce GTX 280 in Action

We can’t take the performance of an engineering-sample board with early drivers as gospel, but the benchmark results have us hungry for shipping product!

Few things piss us off as readily as new architecture that offers only incremental improvements in performance. Fortunately for Nvidia, that’s not the case with the GeForce GTX 280. Assuming the drivers that ship with this card deliver performance as good as these beta versions, Nvidia will have another in what has been a long list of winners on its hands.

The GTX 280 delivered real-world benchmark numbers nearly 50 percent faster than a single GeForce 9800 GTX running on Windows XP, and it was 23-percent faster than that card running on Vista. In fact, it looks as though a single GTX 280 will be comparable to—and in some cases beat—two 9800 GTX cards running in SLI, a fact that explains why Nvidia expects the 9800 GX2 to fade from the scene rather quickly.

We’re especially pleased with the performance delta we observed with Crysis: Even with the resolution at 1920x1200, 4x antialiasing enabled, and all the game’s other quality settings on high, our engineering sample delivered the game at more than 30 frames per second running DirectX 9. Games still run slower on Vista, however; Crysis, for example, shed about eight frames per second running DirectX 10, but it was still twice as fast as a single 9800 GTX. And remember, we tested an engineering sample running on pre-release drivers.

The GTX 280 absolutely clobbered AMD’s dual-GPU Radeon 3870 X2, delivering superior overall benchmarks in both Windows XP and Vista. The one bright spot, oddly enough, was the X2’s Crysis performance in Vista: AMD’s part managed to run the game two frames per second faster than Nvidia’s latest. The single GTX 280, on the other hand, was more than twice as fast running the RTS World in Conflict under Vista."
Title: Re: Geforce GTX 280
Post by: Ack-Ack on June 16, 2008, 08:48:13 PM
But it should be pointed out that if you have an 8800 or one of the 9xxxx cards in either single, duel or SLI configurations there isn't a real need to update to the Geforce 2xx cards as those cards in any of those three configurations will still give you top performance.  However, if you have an older card that isn't up to par with the newer games, then upgrading to the 2xx line would be a good choice, that is if you can afford the price tag.

Personally, I'd wait until ATI releases the 48xx series and see how they compare before making a decision to drop serious cash for the Geforce 280 (MSRP $600 USD) or the lower priced Geforce 260 (MSRP $400 USD).


ack-ack
Title: Re: Geforce GTX 280
Post by: Fulmar on June 16, 2008, 09:25:32 PM
The point of the article was not to sway you to rush out and wait in line for it.  I found it interesting how quickly the 9800GX2 is being pushed aside.  We should see further price drops.
Title: Re: Geforce GTX 280
Post by: RATTFINK on June 17, 2008, 12:15:11 AM
WHAAA, WHA, WHA, WHA, WHAT?

I  just bought a Nvidia 9800 GX2
Title: Re: Geforce GTX 280
Post by: Fulmar on June 17, 2008, 08:11:34 AM
WHAAA, WHA, WHA, WHA, WHAT?

I  just bought a Nvidia 9800 GX2
What brand was it?  Companies like EVGA offer the step-up program.  Within 90 days you can trade your card in for a new one and just pay the difference.
Title: Re: Geforce GTX 280
Post by: RATTFINK on June 17, 2008, 08:20:34 AM
BFG
Title: Re: Geforce GTX 280
Post by: MrRiplEy[H] on June 17, 2008, 10:07:17 AM
Rumors are Ati is going to pull off another rabbit from the hat with half the price 4850 producing 280 level results.

Personally I'm going to wait for ATI's response before doing anything. Nvidia has priced itself out in the high end for me. The only thing going for nvidia is driver support atm.
Title: Re: Geforce GTX 280
Post by: Ghastly on June 17, 2008, 10:45:29 AM
... The only thing going for nvidia is driver support atm.

Which sometimes is worth more than twice the price of the card, when what you want to run won't run.

<S>

Title: Re: Geforce GTX 280
Post by: Fulmar on June 17, 2008, 12:40:50 PM
ATI Drivers have always been outsourced to 2nd rate monkeys
Title: Re: Geforce GTX 280
Post by: DB603 on June 18, 2008, 06:34:08 AM
S!

 Still running my single 8800GT 512Mb card and any game so far has run fine on decent resolutions..and do not need to get a nuclear plant on my backyard to supply the GPU :devil
Title: Re: Geforce GTX 280
Post by: Krusty on June 19, 2008, 12:28:41 PM
I wonder why the name change? Why loop around from 9800 to 280? Why not go 10.6K or something?


Also, what's the name/number of that upcoming ATI card? Anybody know?
Title: Re: Geforce GTX 280
Post by: BoilerDown on June 19, 2008, 01:55:28 PM
Also, what's the name/number of that upcoming ATI card? Anybody know?

According to Mr. Ripley's post... 4850.


All these are way overkill for Aces High, so anyone not playing another game should save some money and just get a 8800 GT (if they need to upgrade, that is).


Edit:  Update on 4850:  http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=12118
Title: Re: Geforce GTX 280
Post by: 715 on June 19, 2008, 08:53:29 PM
Here's another article, with benchmarks, on the 4850: http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3338.

The 8800GT has 112 "stream processors", the HD 3870 has 320, and apparently the new HD 4850 has a whopping 800.

However, I have no clue whatsoever what this means regarding performance and even less clue regarding AH performance.  Can anyone please explain what a "stream processor" does, if more are better, and if AH even uses them?

(I'm gonna build a new system within the week and might go with either the 3870 or 4850, which is only $200.  However, the 4850 apparently runs hot and it's fan is loud.  I don't want that if it doesn't do me any good in AH.)
Title: Re: Geforce GTX 280
Post by: Ack-Ack on June 20, 2008, 02:59:59 PM


(I'm gonna build a new system within the week and might go with either the 3870 or 4850, which is only $200.  However, the 4850 apparently runs hot and it's fan is loud.  I don't want that if it doesn't do me any good in AH.)

If you're looking at the 4850, wait a couple of weeks until the DD5 version comes out.  As for the heating issue, an after market VGA cooling system can be added.  At the price point the 4850 and the 4870 are coming out at and from the preliminary benchmarks of the 4850 DDR3 512 meg card, ATI has a winner on their hands.


ack-ack
Title: Re: Geforce GTX 280
Post by: Getback on June 20, 2008, 04:04:33 PM
http://www.gpureview.com/GeForce-8800-GT-card-544.html

Found this website today. Very very interesting. For instance I own a Visiontek Radeon HD 3850. I was looking at the core clock speeds and memory speeds. It seems not all 3850s are created equal. Notice too you can overclock them right there on the webpage. I assume it is just to get an idea and doesn't represent actual melt downs. BTW, I noted that the price had dropped about 50 bucks since I purchased mine.  :rock

Title: Re: Geforce GTX 280
Post by: 715 on June 21, 2008, 01:12:11 AM
If you're looking at the 4850, wait a couple of weeks until the DD5 version comes out.  As for the heating issue, an after market VGA cooling system can be added.  At the price point the 4850 and the 4870 are coming out at and from the preliminary benchmarks of the 4850 DDR3 512 meg card, ATI has a winner on their hands.

ack-ack

Unfortunately, I can't wait.  I have to buy the parts before they stop selling Win XP Pro at the end of this month.  I really don't want to have to fight with Vista.  Besides, I generally buy one or two levels below max, so that would be the 4850 instead of the 4870 ;)