First of all I have to say I love the 8800GTX one of the best all time cards with the ATI 9800 pro. So I have no particular biais towards any specific brand. Both are quality.
Problem:
I am pondering upgrading my GPU to get better results in AoC. Considering 4 options:
- option 1 wait for system upgrade at Xmas and live with it for now (turning down some settings)
- option 2 get a second GTX for about £100
- option 3 get an ATI 4870 for about £180
- option 4 get a GTX280 for about £280
Background:
- see sig below
- I run it at 1900x1200 about 20-30 fps on avg all options maxed out incl AA 16Q. However sometimes I will get minimums of about 10-15fps (using latest 175.19 nvidia driver). Needless to say this blows, AoC is not a an FPS so not lookin for 60fps as a requirement, sustained 30fps would be sweetspot.
- I willingly admit that I am no expert, but I am sceptical about people commenting on CPU bottlenecks as I have read in many threads. When I monitor CPU usage I am never at full load on both cores (1 core will be at 100% load and the second core never goes above 20% at any time - temps never exceed 50C) No game currently supports Quad so am happy with a Duo. Furthermore I haven't seen any increase in performance in this game when running at stock or even pushing CPU to 3.3ghz. Just more fan noise and heat.
Questions:
- Latest cards use PCI-E 2.0, my board doesnt support 2.0 and there is no way in hell I am upgrading board now with new LGA sockets around the corner. Is PCI 2.0 really a must for the new cards to show an increase in performance?
- What can I expect to see on MY system as an increase in FPS with the different options.
PS - I am looking for people's constructive advice/experience with similar set-ups. Don't really care about thread going into nVidia vs ATI thread - plenty of those allready. I think/expect these cards are all really good, I just want to know which is the best option to my particular issue.
Thx for your help
Problem:
I am pondering upgrading my GPU to get better results in AoC. Considering 4 options:
- option 1 wait for system upgrade at Xmas and live with it for now (turning down some settings)
- option 2 get a second GTX for about £100
- option 3 get an ATI 4870 for about £180
- option 4 get a GTX280 for about £280
Background:
- see sig below
- I run it at 1900x1200 about 20-30 fps on avg all options maxed out incl AA 16Q. However sometimes I will get minimums of about 10-15fps (using latest 175.19 nvidia driver). Needless to say this blows, AoC is not a an FPS so not lookin for 60fps as a requirement, sustained 30fps would be sweetspot.
- I willingly admit that I am no expert, but I am sceptical about people commenting on CPU bottlenecks as I have read in many threads. When I monitor CPU usage I am never at full load on both cores (1 core will be at 100% load and the second core never goes above 20% at any time - temps never exceed 50C) No game currently supports Quad so am happy with a Duo. Furthermore I haven't seen any increase in performance in this game when running at stock or even pushing CPU to 3.3ghz. Just more fan noise and heat.
Questions:
- Latest cards use PCI-E 2.0, my board doesnt support 2.0 and there is no way in hell I am upgrading board now with new LGA sockets around the corner. Is PCI 2.0 really a must for the new cards to show an increase in performance?
- What can I expect to see on MY system as an increase in FPS with the different options.
PS - I am looking for people's constructive advice/experience with similar set-ups. Don't really care about thread going into nVidia vs ATI thread - plenty of those allready. I think/expect these cards are all really good, I just want to know which is the best option to my particular issue.
Thx for your help
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