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Quick Q - 7800GTX & 24" TFT

Blackout

Blackout

Blackout

Associate
Joined
7 Nov 2004
Posts
377
Location
Chelmsford, Essex
Hi there,

Wonder if you good people could give me a steer as to whether I will have to upgrade my Gcard from a 256mb 7800GTX in order to play games on the Dell 2407?

I'd prefer not to have to upgrade just yet if I can get away with it.

Rest of spec is in my sig.

Thanks
 
No!!

I have the 256MB 7800GTX and play all the top games at its native WS of 1920 x 1200.

They are all stunning and frame rates are excellent..with the rest of your system specs similar to mine you should have no problems whatsoever!!!
 
if you dont mind me asking.. what kinda games are you guys running?
I have a very simular rig. only the cpu is overclocked as is the 7800.. and im finding very few games being able to run at native res without the framerate being terrible < 30fps.

Oblivion framerates are horrible at 1920x1200 (granted the games badly coded and is a hog on most gfx cards)
battlefield 2 is Ok as long as you dont have too High AA/AF settings.
Fear with softshadows is a joke at native res unless you like playing a slideshow.
Prey is pretty sweet at this res .. but again with no AA.

I'm considering getting a 7950, to help out at these resolutions.

dont wanna put a downer on your question.. as im guessing itll depend on what games your gonna be playing, but for me personaly the 256mb 7800gtx cant quite cut it anymore at full 1920x1200 res

Cheers
ROfu
 
Hmmm... OK ROfu. Well I have always been an FPSer but more recently got into MMOs. Whilst I am sure WoW would be fine I am not really a WoW'er, I much prefer the more realistic gfx of EQ2 etc, but am pretty much just waiting for Vanguard these days. EQ2 at least can still strain a system with all candy up high, at high res.

I do on occasion like to FPS, but it's not a primary aim of mine now.

So a question, would the card play at a fair frame rate (In the games you mentioned) if you drop to 16x10 ROfu?

I definately will upgrade my card, just trying to eek it out until the next gen arrives if I can.
 
makes a huge difference whether you have a 7800GTX 256 or 512.. i have the 256, and these are considerably slower than the 512s.

as far as drivers. I've tried a good few versions all with pretty much the same results.
If some of you guys are getting 30fps minimum (not average) with Fear running at 1920x1200 with 4xAA and 8xAF with softshadows and volumetric lighting turned on. then im very impressed.
Prey like i mentioned before is pretty damn solid as long as you dont have AA turned on, at any resolution - also on a side note.. its a Fantastic game.
quake you mentioned is based on the same gfx engine as prey (Doom3 engine) granted tweaked. so should give same results as prey.. no AA = solid enough framerate.

Would love to know your average framerate for oblivion?? as this does seem to be the current gfx killer.

What drivers are you running Scottfree?
I'm currently using 91.37s


Blackout - Yup the games mentioned do play considerably better at 1680x1050 but again soon as you crank up the AA settings even at these resolutions you realy are pushing a 256mb card to its limits.
You also have to consider that the unreal3 engine will be out soon in a few games, namely huxley and unreal tourn 2k7, these games are due before or during september. Our cards definately wont be upto these games at full res.

You could wait for the DX10 compatible cards .. which although its been mentioned theyre possibly out in october. are unlikely to be seen before the end of the year to coincide with vista early next year.
Personaly im going to buy one of the 7950s non overclocked (as i think the overclocked ones are having issues and you can always overclock it yourself and have the cheaper price :)
I'm not on a budget though, so when the dx10 cards do finaly come out ill just upgrade again (soon as vista is released).

Kinda depends on how long your willing to wait ? if you can put up with playing the current games at either full res with no AA (which to be fair.. at 1920x1200 is pretty damn crisp even without AA) or lowering the res and turning on the AA.


Personaly if you have some cash to burn get the 7950, theres nothing out there that can compete with this at the moment.. (as long as theres an sli profile for the game your playing).

Cheers
ROfu
 
blackout - just ordered the evga 7950gx2, should arrive before end of week, ill give you some benchies *(@1920x1200 4xAA 8xAF) using this 7800gtx and then the new card, as we have a very simular rig youll be able to see how much difference the card makes and hopefully give you a good gauge on whether to wait or not.
If you have any games you would like me to try out please list ill try my best.
Will definately be trying out the following
Fear, Oblivion and prey - will also be trying out Cell factor (with the physX hardware turned off, as its got full per pixel motion blur, HDR lighting and lots of physics going on - should be a good test)

Cheers
ROfu
 
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Awesome ROFu!

I'd also be interested in how HL2 runs with both setups or BF2 if you get the time m8.

I have cash to burn (nice bonus is eating away at me like you would not believe!!!!) but am trying to be as sensible as I can and delay delay delay...your results might just tip me over the edge though...

Thanks again, i'd really appreciate that.
 
Blackout said:
Hmmm... OK ROfu. Well I have always been an FPSer but more recently got into MMOs. Whilst I am sure WoW would be fine I am not really a WoW'er, I much prefer the more realistic gfx of EQ2 etc, but am pretty much just waiting for Vanguard these days. EQ2 at least can still strain a system with all candy up high, at high res.

I do on occasion like to FPS, but it's not a primary aim of mine now.
Click to expand...

For modern FPS a 7800gtx will chug a bit at 1920 res, but for RPGs framerate isn't quite so vital. For example I can play RPGs with only like 30fps but FPS are absolutely horrible.

One thing is for certain, in demanding games using AA will be out of the question.

Anyway my advice would be to buy the monitor you want and then see if you need a new graphics card once it arrives.
 
definately would agree with buying the monitor.. even if you dont run the games at full res, the dells are fantastic bits of kit.. nothing like a quality 24inch flat panel sitting on your desk. looking at two web pages side by side is very nice ;)
Would whole heartedly suggest getting the monitor irrelevant to whether you upgrade the gfx card.

Cheers
ROfu

ps. its being delivered tomorrow.. so hopefully some benchies by thurs..
 
Ok first benchmarks are in...
@ 1600x1200 (16:10ratio games max res) with the 7800gtx (256mb) - Nvidia 91.37
Prey was fine without AA lows of about 25fps (possible blips to 20fps) and averaged about 40fps+ (this was with 8x AF, and all options turned to Highest)
@ 1600x1200 (16:10ratio games max res) with 7950gx2 - Nvidia 91.37
Prey ran with AA @ 4x and AF @ 16x lowest frames 30-35fps average over 50fps.

3dMark was quickly tested with Nvidia 91.21 (drivers that came with the card)
and were just over 7k, with the 91.37 they were nearly 8k, although i had just been 3d rendering on my system so windows normaly underperforms untill restart after that - hopeing itll pass 8k from a clean boot.

Not had chance to try out BF2, HL2 yet

Cell Factor .. was *PLAYABLE* which is awesome.. actually averaged over 25fps with Per pixel motion blur, and HDR etc all set to max.. not sure which res it defaults at forgot to check.. but with the 7800.. i was lucky to get 12fps.

All in all i would thoroughly recommend the 7950gx2 with the Nvidia 91.37 drivers - its Massively faster than the 7800.

It is obviously VERY reliant on SLI profiles, as using the 91.31 drivers which dont have a prey sli config, and it was slightly slower than the 7800. (i didnt try and make my own profile, as i had the 91.37 drivers already downloaded to try)

Will try out 3dMark 06 again from a clean boot, try out BF2 and Oblivion too.


Cheers
ROfu
 
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after a reboot the 3dmark scores went upto 8300. which i guess is pretty good.. not been keeping track of 3dmark scores in ages.

Oblivion sucks. couldnt find a profile for it on the 91.37 drivers so im guessing its slow because of that - although running that game @1920x1200 with 4xAA 8xAF is probably asking a little much (Outside fps 15-50fps averaged around 22fps, inside 50fps+) even the start menus in oblivion were jerky.. so definately a driver issue rather than the card - used to get around the same fps on the 7800, although inside wasnt as high (when using 1680x1050 no AA and 8xAF)
Based on this test, it shows the 7900 gpus are much more effiecient than the 7800s even just a single card.

BF2... Any resolution.. Any setting 80fps+
was kinda amazed at this. no slowdown with 4xAA and 16xAF @1920x1200 (used the shortcut commands to get the widescreen res).

dont think ill bother with HL2, as even with the 7800 that would run at a silly framerate at almost any res. So this card would be serious overkill (granted i used to play it before the HDR stuff came out).

last Game to try .. which ill do tommorow, is Fear. this used to make my 7800 chug with softshadows turned on at high res.. so wanna see what this can do ;)

Cheers
ROfu
 
Final test - Fear
1600x1200, there wasnt a higher res to choose from im sure you could do it through a shortcut tho.. or maybe in a newer patch, But - Min frame rate of 30fps @1600x1200 4xAA 16xAF, volumetric lighting and Softshadows and all other options on the highest - Average framerate was around 80fps. The min framerate was with 6 blokes on screen, using slowmo with a few thousand debris particles and bodies flying round and bullet streaks covering half the screen.. Was very impressed.

So thats it for my tests ;) hope they helped Blackout.
Would most definately recommend the 7950gx2 with the Dell 24" to play at full res with fantastic framerates.

Cheers
ROfu
 
no numbers from 3d marks etc but i can play CS:S/fear etc fine on a 30" dell with my 7800GT just fine. surprisingly i just have to lower the AF AA to 4x and everything else is fine thankfully.

a GTX should be fine for a good while longer on a lower res monitor :)
 
That's awesome, thanks loads for the detailed work you put in. My Mon should be with me tomorrow, I am tempted by the 7950 that's for sure!
 
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