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Whats the point in top end graphics cards?

neilw

neilw

neilw

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Joined
14 Feb 2007
Posts
707
I've just upgared my grapics card from a 4850 to a 5850 which most people would consider a mid-range card.

I've only tested afew games with it. FarCry2 on make it doesn't drop below 80FPS and Battlefield BC2 also on max doesn't drop below 50fps.

Are there any games out there that this card will stuggle with this card, considering monitor refresh rate is 60hz.

My point is if the £120 5850 will handel everything thats out there at the mo at this speed, whats the point in paying £250+ for a top end card.
 
Multiple monitors.

epeen.

120hz monitors.

But yes I know what you mean. :) Went from 4890 to 6950 and not noticed THAT much difference considering it's supposed to be a fair hike in speed.
 
for the best part of it there isnt any point. thats why youll see large reductions on high end cards regular. it doesnt help when 90 percent of games run on a aging xbox either.

read a report that most sales are ten to 20 percent down on last year so they need to be selling hard to get your cash. so expect a lot more deals yet.

there will always be the small percent who use high res or want the very best but..... while the finances of most places are the same not great then even those people may hold off.


the secondhand market is very strong with cheap cards aswell. you can buy cards for as little as 25 quid which will still play everything. so without a very large price layout for actual gain people think should i bother.
 
I think also game developers aren't pushing the PC boundaries as they once did. Despite the ageing console platform it's cheaper to port games from consoles rather than to have PC exclusives.

The ageing consoles has self admitted this by advertising "PC game footage".
 
Honestly can't see me changing out my 5850 until next year. Had it since launch more less. Unless I find 2 more of the Dell 1920x1080 screen I have for a bargain price :)
 
I love it that the most demanding game (that I know of) is still Crysis. 4 years old.

My single 5830 did struggle slightly for one or two games at 1920x1200, so I got another one.
 
Yes its great if you can afford it, but l always buy the top middle range GPU, at the momment l have the GTX 470 at 850:1700:200, which is not short of the 480 in performence. Can't complain at all its a cracking card, even when l gave it a quick turn on air before l put the H2o block on, just made a profile for the fan max 65% fan speed it was quite silent, temps about 80'c no complaints there.

The most important thing is the money you save. ;)
 
All of the above plus maximum image quality. You want x16 or x32AA & x16AF filtering + HDR & all eye candy then you still need a powerful card. Most people overlook the simple math that gaming @ 1920x1200 or higher is a lot of pixels to render!

1280x720=921600 (typical console res although most games are sub HD & upscaled)
1680x1050=1764000
1920x1080=2073600
1920x1200=2304000
2560x1600=4096000

As you can see the increase in the number of pixels to be rendered is massive above 1280x720. Most PC gamers will now have 1680x1050 or higher so the high end gfx card helps make certain games run smoothly & have maximum IQ. Compare most console games side by side with the PC version with max IQ & the difference is night & day ;)
 
AWPC said:
You want x16 or x32AA & x16AF filtering + HDR & all eye candy then you still need a powerful card.
Click to expand...

This.

People have wildly different ideas of what 'maxing out' out a game means. Start enabling things like SSAA, tweaking .ini files and installing high res texture packs and you can soon bring the most powerful card to its knees.
 
Because some games like call of duty run better at very high fps when playing the multiplayer.

Also epeen of course as its nice to chuck out 140FPS at 2560x1440 :)
 
I upgraded from a 5870 to 580 because I moved from a 24" to 30" monitor and in some games the 5870 struggled. Unless you are running ultra high resolutions there is no point in high end but then if you have the money then why not.

At least you have the option of skipping a new graphics card release if you go high end.

With regard to "Epeen". I think most people who do buy high end are not that shallow. I think it's more the people who can't are just jealous.

Bottom line, get what you can afford and be happy :)
 
You will also find games like Shogun 2 when Maxed out with a lot of troops on screen will hurt a lot of the mid rage cards my poor 260GTX struggled to get above 10fps in some cases
 
Everyone has their own reasons.
I have a 580 and my idea of maxing out games is indeed MAX quality + atleast 4xAA and max AS.

I game at 1920x1080 but I also have to be able to accomodate 120fps to appreciate a 120hz monitor :D

I am intending to get me another 580 when the prices drop a tad more
 
some people do like to keep up with the trend, and fair play to them....If i had the spare cash I would do the same :)

In my position where its my passion but it has to be on a budget due to other more important priorities, my xfire 4890's now they are on a good dual 16x lane board are still fantastic, havent found anything to really cripple them yet.
 
phatboy said:
some people do like to keep up with the trend, and fair play to them....If i had the spare cash I would do the same :)

In my position where its my passion but it has to be on a budget due to other more important priorities, my xfire 4890's now they are on a good dual 16x lane board are still fantastic, havent found anything to really cripple them yet.
Click to expand...

4890's are still one the best cards I owned- Vapor-X- Pity I sold it. My 5970 was from my point of view a decent card, I just wasn't happy with two GPU's on the same PCB. Just sold it two days ago for over £400 :eek:

I now have the 6970 Twin Frozr III - similar to the 4890 Vapor-X, and I love it, will definitely X-fire this.
 
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