Video card upgrade question.
By
Dark Ether,
Posted on: 2010-05-14 17:14 in ALL ACCESS Gameplay Technical Issues Bugs
XP will only see about 3.25 Gb Ram, but that extra will sure help, and is a relatively inexpensive upgrade.
There is an unofficial tweak to the target path that may help with SLI - I'm running an ATI card, so I'm not sure how well it runs, though. But it was posted by The Television, so if you do decide to SLI it, I'd definitely try that.
As for the 285/295 vs the 400 series, I'd go with the 400's if you can afford it. You could get one card, and plan for a second in SLI to be added later. Just make sure your power supply can handle the things, and you case will be able to fit one in. These latest cards and biiig!
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Yeah, I'm aware of that limitation. I don't bother remembering the exact number. It's more than three but less than the full four. It'll help, and it's easy and cheap.|
Originally Posted by DarkEther
XP will only see about 3.25 Gb Ram, but that extra will sure help, and is a relatively inexpensive upgrade.
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Originally Posted by DarkEther
There is an unofficial tweak to the target path that may help with SLI - I'm running an ATI card, so I'm not sure how well it runs, though. But it was posted by The Television, so if you do decide to SLI it, I'd definitely try that.
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I already have SLI, and if I could find that item I would try it - perhaps all I need to be able to engage shadows is to turn that other video card on. It is almost unused with CoH most of the time.
The shadows are so pretty. I want them at more than 4fps.
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Originally Posted by DarkEther
As for the 285/295 vs the 400 series, I'd go with the 400's if you can afford it. You could get one card, and plan for a second in SLI to be added later. Just make sure your power supply can handle the things, and you case will be able to fit one in. These latest cards and biiig!
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If I'm going to go SLI with the 400 series, I think I should just give up and buy a whole machine. I'll have to get the cards and power supply anyway. A new motherboard, CPU, RAM and disc and I'll be to "whole new computer". It would mean I'd be over 2Ghz and probably quad-proc and Windows 7... but all I do with this machine is play CoH. I'd like to wait another year or two, if possible.
$500 for a GTX480 instead of $2,000 for a new system sounds like the right trade off to me. I guess shiny shadows aren't wort that extra $1,500 to me.
I'm such a geek. Some of my heroes have journals.
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-slifbos|
Originally Posted by Laufeyjarson
I went and read every post The Television has made. Besides being more than a little surreal, I did not find any reference to the options you mention. A link to the post would be greatly appreciated.
I already have SLI, and if I could find that item I would try it - perhaps all I need to be able to engage shadows is to turn that other video card on. It is almost unused with CoH most of the time. |
It was posted during closed beta, and I'm not sure where those posts go once beta gets opened. Those that have used it haven't reported that great of numbers.
FWIW - I'm running a GTX 285 @ 1920 X 1200 and I can't even get close to turning up the eye candy if I want to run around in the open at all. 6GB RAM, Q6600 @ 3.0GHz. If you want to turn things up, skip the 200 series cards and go Fermi. A single 470 would rip apart anything you have going right now. The initial reviews of the 470 and 480 don't really show what they can do as they are already showing marked increase in performance from driver updates.
I would wait and see where the GTX 460 drops into the lineup here in another month or so. The rumors churning out make me think it's going to be the best bang for the buck nVidia card we're going to see out of Fermi for a bit.
EDIT: Make sure your case can handle the cards, seriously. If you think the 7800's are big, you're gonna be scared of the 200/400 cards. I'll see if I can pull things apart and get you a perspective since I have a 7800 GS, 8800 GTS, and my GTX 285. the 200 series cards need 10.5" of clearance from back plate to the end of the card. There's only about 1/2" clearance in my CM 690 case. I had to "tweak" my GF's case (with a hammer) to get the GTX 260 in her mid tower.
EDIT 2: instead of a picture, I just measured. The 7800 is just shy of 8.5", so if you have another 2.25" if clearance behind your current cards you're golden.
Pinnacle server
just another random dude
The 480's are about 2" longer than the 200 series cards. They did move the power pins from the rear of the card to the side so there is just enough room....if you have a huge case....
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They are the same size at 10.5". Also, the 200 series has the power pins on the side. The only card that is longer than the 200/400 series is the 5970 at 12.5". It seems 10.5" has become the new standard, though I do like that Galaxy has made their own PCB for the 400 series cards and shortened it up about 3/4" or so. Been awhile since anyone has used something other than reference design.
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Originally Posted by Vorac
The 480's are about 2" longer than the 200 series cards. They did move the power pins from the rear of the card to the side so there is just enough room....if you have a huge case....
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Pinnacle server
just another random dude
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Originally Posted by Jeremy_C
-slifbos
It was posted during closed beta, and I'm not sure where those posts go once beta gets opened. Those that have used it haven't reported that great of numbers. |
I see Jeremy already posted this. I saw the post during beta testing for i-17, so it may be in one of those sections of the forums yet. Purportedly, adding that tag to your target line in your shortcut should do something for a SLI setup. Just add it ( -slifbos) at the end, being sure you have a space before it.
I'm using an ATI 5870 on my main gaming system, and nothing else of mine has a SLI setup, so I'm not sure how effective it may be.
My Deviant Art page link-link
CoH/V Fan Videos
Actually, what you need to add to the shortcut is -slifbos 2
The Search feature on these boards is really nice if you learn to use it, this one was extremely simple to find.
If the game spit out 20 dollar bills people would complain that they weren't sequentially numbered. If they were sequentially numbered people would complain that they weren't random enough.
Black Pebble is my new hero.
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-slifbos 2 does nothing on the live server: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=219534|
Originally Posted by Texas Justice
Actually, what you need to add to the shortcut is -slifbos 2
The Search feature on these boards is really nice if you learn to use it, this one was extremely simple to find. |
Post #3: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...20&postcount=3
I'm merely giving the correct format of the command. Others were giving it as merely -slifbos instead of -slifbos 2
According to Tex's post it appears that it should be working on the Live version.
If it's not working for you, you may want to send a PM to The Television about it.
If the game spit out 20 dollar bills people would complain that they weren't sequentially numbered. If they were sequentially numbered people would complain that they weren't random enough.
Black Pebble is my new hero.
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Admirable.|
Originally Posted by Laufeyjarson
In 2005, I bought a really nice new machine to run CoH on, and it's been doing it well since. Ultra Mode suddenly makes my machine sad, and I'm hoping to fix it without replacing the whole thing.
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| My machine has an AMD X2 3800+ CPU and 2G of RAM. It also has a pair of GeForce 7800s. |
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| I'm considering adding 2G of ram to bump to the limit XP allows. Easy and should be cheap. |
Uh waitaminute! That just came out...wrong...
Seriously though, be warned. A graphics card with a huge on-card memory will also take a chunk out of the usable memory in your system. In your case, you'll see less than 3GB of RAM with something like a GTX 470.
You may want to give some serious thought to investing in a copy of a 64-bit OS to alleviate this. Note: AVOID the ones with "Anytime Upgrade" in the title. These are essentially feature packs that differentiate less expensive copies of Win7 from more expensive copies.
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Video cards are more of a question. For various reasons, I'd rather stick with NVIDIA. The GT470 and GT480 are expensive and I'm seeing in other threads they don't offer a lot over the GT285 and GT295 for CoH. |
And right now it's cheaper than a 285.
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| I see the GT295 is two slightly slower chips on a single card. Does that appear to the computer as SLI? |
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| I know perfectly well that CoH doesn't work with SLI. |
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| If the GT295 is SLI-on-one-card, I'd be do as well or better with a GT285 for CoH. |
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I've noticed that there are several folks here with a really clear understanding of video cards today, and I'm hoping one or more of them can clarify this for me. Thanks for any input. |
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Thank you all for the excellent information. I will give the undocumented setting a try and see if it changes my performance at all.
If that doesn't satisfy - and it sounds like it won't - I'll probably pick up a 470.
Have to decide if I'd rather try and find a 480, and if I care about the difference.
If that isn't enough, I'll have to upgrade the board - the CPU isn't upgradeable. I did check, and it isn't the AM2+ but the Socket 939.
I may just take the plunge and replace the whole machine, keeping this one intact as a spare. A newer CPU, more RAM, Windows 7/64-bit, the new video card and maybe an SSDD volume for CoH and Windows to be speedy on would be a lot of fun.
I also suspect that the early reviews of the Fermi cards are not showing all the card can do. What I don't know is if the OpenGL drivers will get the attention the DX drivers do.
I'm such a geek. Some of my heroes have journals.
I'm afraid you may have an issue with the vid cards being discussed. Do you know if your motherboard and current 7800's are AGP or PCIe? My concern is that at 5 years old and with those cards, i am thinking your rig is an AGP configuration. If so, you will be greatly limited on your choice of vid cards to upgrade to and in fact, a pair of 7800's may be as good as it gets. You can of course still get a slight bump in performance with the added ram mainly for zone loads and like another mentioned, your mb may be able to take a faster cpu as well. That plus the hack to get the benefit of sli may all combine to give you a decent boost in performance. Other than all of that, if AGP is an issue, then it will be time for a ground up rebuild. If so, post your budget when you get ready and you will get plenty of input.
If you do in-fact have a PCIe rig, thats great but I am still concerned that a Fermi 4xx series card is way over kill for the rest of your hardware. Your cpu will be a definate bottleneck and likely the ram as well. You did not mention what speed the ram is but with the age of the rig, it may be the older 184 pin DDR instead of the 240 pin DDR2 and if so, will also be a bottleneck for a high end vid card. A 250GTX may be all your present hardware could accomodate and even then may be a bit overpowered. Just thinking out loud but figured better to bring it up before you get a card that will be hopelessly held back by the other components.
A good and valid concern. The machine (and the 7800s) are pci-e, so I could put a Fermi card in. I'm sure of that. There's a long and annoying sequence of upgrades that led to this machine when the prior machine was AGP and couldn't be upgraded. (It's right here, running a roommate's machine with a 6800 in it.)
I do understand that the RAM (don't recall which RAM I have, no), CPU, etc. are likely to be slower than the newest cards support. An upgrade will just move the bottleneck.
I am leaning towards a new machine... perhaps I will ask and see what people suggest. Budget is not infinite, but not very constrained.
I'm such a geek. Some of my heroes have journals.
In 2005, I bought a really nice new machine to run CoH on, and it's been doing it well since. Ultra Mode suddenly makes my machine sad, and I'm hoping to fix it without replacing the whole thing.
My machine has an AMD X2 3800+ CPU and 2G of RAM. It also has a pair of GeForce 7800s.
I'm considering adding 2G of ram to bump to the limit XP allows. Easy and should be cheap.
Video cards are more of a question. For various reasons, I'd rather stick with NVIDIA.
The GT470 and GT480 are expensive and I'm seeing in other threads they don't offer a lot over the GT285 and GT295 for CoH.
I see the GT295 is two slightly slower chips on a single card. Does that appear to the computer as SLI? I know perfectly well that CoH doesn't work with SLI. If the GT295 is SLI-on-one-card, I'd be do as well or better with a GT285 for CoH.
I've noticed that there are several folks here with a really clear understanding of video cards today, and I'm hoping one or more of them can clarify this for me.
Thanks for any input.
I'm such a geek. Some of my heroes have journals.