Ultra-mode video card shopping guide
By
5th_Player,
Posted on: 2009-11-25 11:21 in Developers' Corner
Quote:
Hnn. Not as badly off as I'd thought. Should be easy to find a suitable upgrade in a desktop.
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Originally Posted by Father Xmas
From what I can find, the Quadro 140M uses the same GPU as the 8400M GS.
The 8400M GS has less than 1/10th the shader and textel power of the desktop 9800GT. |
Quote:
Your current system has less than 1/10th the power of the desktop video card, that according to Positron, will support Ultra-Mode at it's most minimum settings, and you thought you were worse off? Than an order of magnitude? |
Originally Posted by Terwyn
I'm currently running a business-model laptop. Decent specs (2.4 Ghz dual core, 4GB RAM, 15.4" screen, and so on). Graphically, it's running an NVidia Quadro 140M. While it is suitable for running CoX on a regular basis, I'm pretty much entirely certain that I will absolutely need to upgrade to a new system to get full benefit of Ultra-mode.
My question is: Just how far short of the most reasonable specs for Ultra-mode is my current system? Quote:
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Okay.
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ok one quesion not being asked, how GR work with eyeinfianity(or what ever it is called) and the nvidia version? might be nice to use 3 monitors.hope they are at least testing it.
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Quote:
I haven't seen anything said about Eyefinity. This might be something to bug AMD about as well to make sure Eyefinity works for CoH.
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Originally Posted by MadHobbit
ok one quesion not being asked, how GR work with eyeinfianity(or what ever it is called) and the nvidia version? might be nice to use 3 monitors.hope they are at least testing it.
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Quote:
Maybe he normally plays in a 200x150 pixel window. |
Originally Posted by Father Xmas
Your current system has less than 1/10th the power of the desktop video card, that according to Positron, will support Ultra-Mode at it's most minimum settings, and you thought you were worse off? Than an order of magnitude?
Okay. |
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I'm curious as to what kind of CPU will be considered the minimum recommended for Ultra mode, seeing as how the GPU is only part of the equation.
Quote:
the cpu requirements won't change much as the processing engine isn't changing. |
Originally Posted by Psyte
I'm curious as to what kind of CPU will be considered the minimum recommended for Ultra mode, seeing as how the GPU is only part of the equation.
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And lets be honest. If you've got a RadeonHD 4850 or better, you probably are not going to be running a single cored Sempron, Celeron, AthlonXp, Pentium4, or Socket 754 Athlon64... so it's not really that much of a big deal.
Too bad I have an older system with an AGP motherboard. No Ultra mode for me unless I get a new PC which I cant afford right now... sigh..
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TBH, I wish Posi would come in here and make a list of all the gfx cards that WILL NOT support UM in any way, shape, or form.
Quote:
Does my P4 w/HT count as single-cored? |
Originally Posted by je_saist
the cpu requirements won't change much as the processing engine isn't changing.
And lets be honest. If you've got a RadeonHD 4850 or better, you probably are not going to be running a single cored Sempron, Celeron, AthlonXp, Pentium4, or Socket 754 Athlon64... so it's not really that much of a big deal. |
I really have no idea, honestly.
Quote:
... I can give you that list off of the top of my head just on what we already know.|
Originally Posted by Perfect_Pain
TBH, I wish Posi would come in here and make a list of all the gfx cards that WILL NOT support UM in any way, shape, or form.
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Geforce series
Geforce 2 series
Geforce 3 series
Geforce 4 series
Geforce FX series
Geforce 6 series
Geforce 7 series
Geforce 8600 series and below
Geforce 9400 series and below
Geforce Mobility series excluding 9800m GT, 9800m GTX, GTX 260M, GTX 280M
Rage
Rage 128
Rage MAXX
Radeon
Radeon 7x00 series
Radeon 8x00 series
Radeon 9x00 series
Radeon xx00 series
Radeon x1x00 series
RadeonHD 2x00 series
RadeonHD 3600 series and below
RadeonHD 4600 series and below
Mobiltity RadeonHD 4600 series and all lower Mobility series
Intel graphics - All series
Matrox graphics- All series
Trident graphics - All series
XGI graphics - All series
S3 graphics - All series
***
It's not really that hard. The thing is, we know from HeroCon and Ghost Falcon that the starting point is the RadeonHD 4850, and we know from Positron in the first post that the starting point on Nvidia is the 9800 series.
So, if your card is weaker than those two, Ultra Mode probably won't work. If your card is stronger than those two, Ultra Mode will probably work.
And if you aren't sure where your card stands...
LOOK IT UP
ATi Desktop Cards: http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=88&pgno=3
Nvidia Desktop Cards: http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=88&pgno=7
ATi Mobile Cards: http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=98&pgno=3
Nvidia Mobile Cards: http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=98&pgno=7
Quote:
yes.|
Originally Posted by Dark One
Does my P4 w/HT count as single-cored?
I really have no idea, honestly. |
http://mepislovers.org/mepisguides/f...g-rec-cpu.html
Quote:
So then it's possible there are more single-core users out there wif fairly good vid cards.|
Originally Posted by je_saist
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It's an interesting question, at least to me.
I know when I put in that 5750 (thanks to all the peoples that helped with that BTW), I saw a pretty dramatic boost in Fallout 3. Went in and checked out CoX and cranked the settings up pretty high and got a decent FPS in Cimerora. Haven't tested it on teams yet though, so dunno how it'll handle it there.
Of course, I know that at some point, I'll need to get a completely new comp, but I'm hoping I can squeeze out a few more years with this one. I'm not really planning on doing too much more PC gaming as the rather draconian DRM schemes that are becoming prevalent are turning me off of it. CoX and the older games are about all I'll be using it for anymore. The last game I got for it is the GOTY edition of Oblivion. Though Fallout: New Vegas will be on the list of must-buys.
Well, going out do hunt video cards!
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Hopefully, ultra mode can also fix some of the wierdness that happens that a card is not taxed shader or memory bandwith-wise but still only pulls 20 or so fps (Like grandville and some places in cape)
Also, I've currently got 2 gtx285's in sli. One is water cooled. The non-watercooled card's fan is not all that loud unless it's going at full-tilt, and even then it's not terible. It's not 'silent' at full bore though.
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Hey all!
It feels great to be back after a long move (see:from FL to CA).
To the topic at hand. I know the NVIDIA 9800s are a bit stronger than the 9600 series. I have a 9600M GT. I should be able to run Ultra on lappy but just with fairly reduces settings, right?
Quote:
we don't know enough yet to answer that properly.|
Originally Posted by MODOG
Hey all!
It feels great to be back after a long move (see:from FL to CA). To the topic at hand. I know the NVIDIA 9800s are a bit stronger than the 9600 series. I have a 9600M GT. I should be able to run Ultra on lappy but just with fairly reduces settings, right? |
My guess is : probably not.
Blarg. Not the answer I wanted so I'll gleefuly ignore what you said and replace it with, "It'll run fine!"
xD I keed.
Thanks!
Quote:
Laptop GPUs, even though they are numbered similarly to desktop GPUs, are no where close to their desktop counterpart.|
Originally Posted by MODOG
Hey all!
It feels great to be back after a long move (see:from FL to CA). To the topic at hand. I know the NVIDIA 9800s are a bit stronger than the 9600 series. I have a 9600M GT. I should be able to run Ultra on lappy but just with fairly reduces settings, right? |
The 9600M GT is similar to the desktop 9500GT. The 9500GT is roughly 45% the performance of a 9800GT.
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I am just curious as to how my computer would fare with ultra mode. Here are some of my specs:
HP9350f
AMD Phenom 9850 Quad-Core
2.5 GHz
6GB RAM
Vista 64-bit
NVIDIA 9800GT
Could I upgrade to a better to video card without upgrading other aspects of the computer (i.e. processor or heat management)?
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Quote:
You could, but you probably wouldn't have to. As the first post in the thread states, the 9800 is the starting point for Ultra Mode. |
Originally Posted by Profanation
I am just curious as to how my computer would fare with ultra mode. Here are some of my specs:
HP9350f AMD Phenom 9850 Quad-Core 2.5 GHz 6GB RAM Vista 64-bit NVIDIA 9800GT Could I upgrade to a better to video card without upgrading other aspects of the computer (i.e. processor or heat management)? |
If you stay within the OpenGL 3.0 cards, any of the Nvidia GTX series would be an upgrade, as well as the RadeonHD 4870 or 4890.
If you move to OpenGL 3.2, the RadeonHD 57xx series would be a relative crossgrade, while the RadeonHD 58xx series would be an upgrade.
Question for a computer wiz---->
This is what I bought back in Oct 2006 from Newegg.com
*Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 Conroe 2.66GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor
*GeForce 7950GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Support
*OCZ Gold Series 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5400) Dual Channel
*Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3500630AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive
*APEVIA X-Navigator ATXA8NW-AL/500 Silver / Black Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case 500W
I had a buddy of mine put this together and wondered,
1. will I even be able to continue to play after GR comes out?
2. or can I continue to play, just not play the GR event and zones?
3. if I cant, can I still upgrade my vid card with my setup?
Thanks
Blood
@blood
Quote:
Hmm... decent computer for it's time, so lets get to your questions.|
Originally Posted by BloodRage
Question for a computer wiz---->
This is what I bought back in Oct 2006 from Newegg.com *Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 Conroe 2.66GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor *GeForce 7950GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Support *OCZ Gold Series 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5400) Dual Channel *Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3500630AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive *APEVIA X-Navigator ATXA8NW-AL/500 Silver / Black Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case 500W I had a buddy of mine put this together and wondered, |
Quote:
| 1. will I even be able to continue to play after GR comes out? |
The Existing Graphics Engine will continue to be Maintained. If you have a computer that will not Run Ultra Mode, you will still be able to play the game using the exact same graphics engine that you currently use.
Several long standing bugs in the existing graphics engine will be fixed in the Ultra Mode update, so ATi users should no longer have issues with Anti-Alaising, Depth of Field, or Water Effects.
Quote:
| 2. or can I continue to play, just not play the GR event and zones? |
I think you are getting confused by the Developers statement that Going Rogue is Optimized for Ultra Mode.
What we think this means is that all content for Praetoria and Going Rogue was created with the Ultra-Mode settings in mind. We'll have a better idea what optimized means when Going Rogue hits beta and we can get some hard performance numbers and screenshots.
Quote:
| 3. if I cant, can I still upgrade my vid card with my setup? |
I can, however, tell you that you will not be able to run Utlra Mode. The 7950 is... well. Weak.
You're processor and memory, however, are perfectly fine. So if you want to replace your graphics card, tell us how much you want to spend, and we can tell you what's available in that price range.
Thank you je_saist for taking the time to answer my questions. My search-fu is weak.
to answer your question: I'm completely broke, but if someone were to donate a new shiny vid card, to a 63+ month vet, or send me cool birthday present for next month (March 19), I would gladly appreciate it. :P
But seriously what vid card would be compatible for my system?
But again thanks for answering.
Thanks
@Blood
@blood
My question is: Just how far short of the most reasonable specs for Ultra-mode is my current system?
The 8400M GS has less than 1/10th the shader and textel power of the desktop 9800GT.
Father Xmas - Level 50 Ice/Ice Tanker - Victory
$725 and $1350 parts lists --- My guide to computer components
Tempus unum hominem manet