wrote:
Hi,
I've been thinking about upgrading my video card...
The top card today is the 8800GTX (Money is not an issue), I looked at
how it preforms on http://www.tomshardware.com/ and even at 2560x1600,
4x AA, 4x AF, Doom 3 the results are 60fps!!!
it's working very well... too well...
Doom 3 is old and was more of a tech demo than a game worth playing.
Try Oblivion, F.E.A.R, etc. for more technically impressive and
interesting games.
Reading the article
(http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/11/08/geforce_8800/ ?) I see F.E.A.R.
gets about 80fps at 1600x1200 with 4xAA and 8xAF. Most 19" CRTs can do
that resolution, and an average of 80fps means that even during intense
action scenes it shouldn't drop below a very playable 50fps.
As for Oblivion, ouch, only the GTX version can get above even 30fps (at
1600x1200 with max settings.) If the card struggles with current games,
that suggests to me that it is likely to struggle with next week's games
even more. People would buy a card like that in order to get the most
out of the games they play now and to be able to play future games at
acceptable frame rates.
BUT, who uses this resolution??? and LCD monitors don't even support
that high resolutions...
My 17" laptop screen has a native resolution of 1920x1200, larger
monitors will go higher (if, as you say, money is not an issue...)
at 1024x768, 4x AA, 4x AF, Doom 3 the results are 210fps
So why sould anyone buy this card? no one needs 210 fps! you'r brain
can't consive more than 30 fps...
The following articles would argue otherwise, as would I. 210 fps is
excessive, yes, but 30fps is far too low.
http://www.daniele.ch/school/30vs60/30vs60_3.html explains it vaguely,
http://amo.net/NT/02-21-01FPS.html explains exactly why monitors suck at
60Hz, and a bit of the differences between refresh rates and frame rates.
http://www.tweakguides.com/Graphics_5.html explains in more readable
language why some game types play better with high frame rates etc.
In the end, if money is not an issue, why not get three cards, run two
in SLI and send one to me?
Hope that clarifies things,
Cameron.