Ultra-mode video card shopping guide
By
5th_Player,
Posted on: 2009-11-25 11:21 in Developers' Corner
I'll be honest, I'm amazed my new laptop is actually doing well on ultra mode, most of the settings maxed, AA at *8. A couple I turn off though, such as ambient occlusion, but detail, texture, water effects, reflections, and shadow effects are all maxed. Running on a i7 2 Ghz processor, 550 GTX graphics card, 6 gigs of RAM. Didn't even spend all that much on it (I have a friend who spent $3000 on his latest laptop, and you can probably imagine whats in it).
TW/Elec Optimization
Well it all depends on how you define Ultra Mode. Some people define it as having all three of the UM options on (AO, Hard Shadows, Reflections) at some level. Since AO functionality is the most GPU intense of the three, it's no wonder that with AO turned off you are able to get satisfactory results with the other two turned up.
Father Xmas - Level 50 Ice/Ice Tanker - Victory
$725 and $1350 parts lists --- My guide to computer components
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Quote:
True, I can either run AO turned up or the rest, and I chose the rest (AO seems ugly on my computer as well, very pixellated, so it looks better with it off).|
Originally Posted by Father Xmas
Well it all depends on how you define Ultra Mode. Some people define it as having all three of the UM options on (AO, Hard Shadows, Reflections) at some level. Since AO functionality is the most GPU intense of the three, it's no wonder that with AO turned off you are able to get satisfactory results with the other two turned up.
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Still, its a big jump from my dinosaur I was playing on (6 years old, cost something like $500 dollars then). I also have a computer that is at least 12 years old, and though it has CoH installed on it, I don't know why (it literally cannot run minimum). Heck, it has trouble web-browsing.
TW/Elec Optimization
I'm confused as to how some people are running this game "maxed" with something like a 5850. I have a q6600 OCd to 3.2ghz, 4gb RAM and a Radeon HD6870 and I am only getting ~20 fps "MAXED" (Ultra Mode, 1920x1080, AAO, Shadows, Reflections, Water, AA, World Quality, all max)
So what's the deal?
I'm running on a recent Macbook Pro (2,2 GHz i7, Radeon 6750, 512 MB GDDR5).
I just want to report that it runs the game very nicely, with nearly all settings at max. Ultra. I can run with everything on max. but then the machine gets hot enough for the laptop fan to rev up and become quite loud. With just below max. Ultra settings, the laptop keeps quiet.
Thanks for supporting Mac.
Edit:
More specific info: I get 20+ fps with all Ultra settings at maximum. If I move Ambient occlusion to Balanced it goes up to 30+ fps, which is what I usually play with. This is on OSX Lion 10.7.2, 1680x1050 display.
So anyone considering a 15" Macbook Pro should be fine if you want to play this game.
how are the new 680/690 nvidia cards? what kind of FPS?
Fluffy Bunny 1 Person SG
Rabid Bunny 1 Person VG
Both on Pinnacle
Hobbit's Hole 1 Person SG
Spider's Web 1 Person VG
Both on Freedom
Quote:
Crank res as high as your monitor goes.|
Originally Posted by MadHobbit
how are the new 680/690 nvidia cards? what kind of FPS?
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Turn everything on/up as far as it goes.
Never worry about FPS.
The 690's a waste of money as the game won't use the SLI.
But the 680 is like dropping Earth into the Sun just to kill a mosquito.
Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.
You could switch over to a WQHD monitor (2560x1440) that should give the 680 something to power.
H: Blaster 50, Defender 50, Tank 50, Scrapper 50, Controller 50, PB 50, WS 50
V: Brute 50, Corruptor 50, MM 50, Dominator 50, Stalker 50, AW 50, AS 50
Top 4: Controller, Brute, Scrapper, Corruptor
Bottom 4: (Peacebringer) way below everything else, Mastermind, Dominator, Blaster
CoH in WQHD
The PhysX support only worked with the original PhysX hardware and drivers and never with nVidia's implementation. That's one of the drawbacks of being one of the first kids on the block to support PhysX. By the time PhysX was bought by nVidia, only games that were built on later versions of the PhysX library would end up being supported on nVidia.
Father Xmas - Level 50 Ice/Ice Tanker - Victory
$725 and $1350 parts lists --- My guide to computer components
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