Up the creek with my Socket 939...

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Shecky

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I had already looked at those two and dealt them out of the running.

The first one didn't interest me - someone pointed out somewhere else on Tom's Hardware that GDDR3 can work up to 50% faster than GDDR2. So for something that was still within my budget, I elected to go with something with better potential. And the game definitely didn't interest me; as I've said several times, the only reason I'm playing ANY games is DDO, and I have zero plans ever to play another.

The Asus... well, I couldn't find enough reviews to support taking the chance. I eliminated a large number of otherwise-equal products due to insufficient reviews or enough bad reviews. The one I did choose had consistently good reviews everywhere I looked, but I couldn't find enough to make a decision on the second one you indicated, so dropped it. Besides, the numbers aren't THAT much better than the one I did pick.

I dug through Tom's Guides and found a general "tier" listing for video cards, and the one I chose is five full tiers above my old one. Which makes me potentially very happy. :)
 

Grimmy

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Not understanding where your getting that I'm saying more memory is better.. In contrast to what I was saying about the numbers game, is when people look at the larger amount of RAM to think it's better. What I was saying, GDDR3 memory is faster then GDDR2 memory, hence why I said a 512mb GDDR3 would perform better then 1Gig GDDR2 memory. I wasn't even referring to the GPU. And I know an 8800 will perform better then an 8600.

So I was agreeing with you to begin with. Its just you quoted what I said, but it was only in part of what I said. Just trying to make it clearer that you didn't have to explain that to me. :pt1cable:
 

Shecky

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Ordered a card. Big difference, especially to someone who makes a living off of having mild OCD. :pt1cable:
 
I think the 3650 is a fast enough card to utilize 512 MB, so paying extra for that was probably worth it. Anyway, I'm sure Newegg will get it to you soon (I live just a few hours from their NJ distribution center, so my packages arrive very quickly (except when they come from CA :lol: )). Tell us how it goes :sol:
 

Shecky

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They'll be getting it to me today. Apparently, they have a warehouse or distributor in Edison, and the friggin' UPS semi had to pass within a few miles of my home (Kearny) on its way to the Secaucus hub. Status was "OUT FOR DELIVERY" at 6:47 AM today. I'm getting it delivered to a neighbor who works from home and who knows the UPS and FedEx guys by name LOL! He says it'll be there between 12 and 2 or around 6. Can't wait!
 

maximiza

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I don't know if your up ther creek with a s939. I just upgraded from a 4000 to an opteron 185. Very good increase in smoothness. I have a 7800GTX with XP 32bit. I am curious myself if I upgraded too SLI 2 9800GTX would there be any software I could not run. probably not.
 

Shecky

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It got there at 1:15. Will be installing around 5, breaking briefly and then putting it through its paces around 7 or 8. So, naturally, the clock slows to a redshifted crawl.
 

Shecky

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Oh, but is it worth the price I pay for it - i.e., living in NJ? :D
 

evilshuriken

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I get that fast shipping here in cali aswell, when it ships from the nearby warehouse at city of industry. Keep in mind that with that perk comes a price, we have to pay taxes. If you don't live in CA, TN or NJ you may not have the faster shipping but you get to keep some more cash in your pocket. On a large order you could be spending over $100 more if you live within those 3 states.
 
I live in Maryland, so no extra taxes for me. The packages are still fast though because UPS runs the East Coast Corridor 24hrs a day.

Anyway, I'm waiting for the review :lol: :lol:
 

nukchebi0

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Mafia and crime, I thought.
 

Shecky

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NJ has it all. And they've yet to develop a vaccine for it all.

Okay, preliminary review:

Problem: Since I'm still running the monitor that came with the original package (plain-vanilla 17" non-widescreen VGA), I used the DVI-VGA adapter (the card has 2 DVI-I ports and one S-video, so you have to use an adapter to run regular VGA). Drivers installed lickety-split, no problems there... but suddenly, I had no AUDIO. Figured out that the installation overwrote everydamnthing audio in favor of its own HDMI audio. Uninstalled and reinstalled the drivers, this time doing a custom installation that specifically excluded the HDMI audio driver. Still no dice - system only recognized the card's own audio, not the audio that came integrated with the motherboard (since I only use a headset and not speakers and DEFINITELY not surround, the integrated audio was what I WANTED to use; plus, there was no way to extract the sound where the video card was forcing me to try to extract it, i.e., from the rear HDMI output). So I rebooted, went to the BIOS and VOILA! There it was: "Integrated audio - Auto/Disable/Enable". It was on Auto, I changed it to Enable, continued and DING! We have sound!

Okay, now for the REAL preliminary review:

I'm not absolutely blown away by the increase in video quality. I did go up a notch in resolution, FPS went up 10-30 everywhere and I had FAR fewer instances of (and forgive me if I'm using the wrong term) "hitching" - i.e., when you're running along or feather-falling, sometimes it looks like it freezes for just a split second, then suddenly you appear to jump forward a few frames. Image quality is visibly improved - not amazingly, but significantly. I think that a better monitor (i.e., with a DVI input LOL) would show more of a difference... but with money being completely exhausted now, that's not gonna happen unless my friends or family get me the one I've got my eye on as a birthday gift.

All in all, a significant improvement, but not perfect. I'm gonna end up futzing with stuff and gathering input on how best to try to eliminate that last little bit of hitching. Could be happier with the card, but the amount of improvement I DID get is satisfying.
 
Well, I'm glad to see that it is mostly working. I was worried there for a little while.

I agree the audio on these cards is annoying. I was really confused too when I got my 2900XT and it did the same thing. It has been a while, but here are a few things you can do to fix some of the problems.

First, did you install the drivers off of ATI's site or off the CD? If they are off the CD, completely uninstall them and get the ones off the internet. I always do a full install (except for the garbage like Steam and Earthsim or whatever they're called).

Second, mess around with the settings in CCC. Some help a lot, and others just seem to hurt performance. If you have something like 3D Mark 06 you can see how each setting affects framerate.

Another thing worth mentioning is that these new cards really shine in newer games. For example, my old card(s) were 6800GTs. They were good for most games at the time. When I got my 2900XT, framerates rose significantly. IQ improved a little in some games, but in newer ones such as Oblivion, the difference was HUGE. This is because it was coded to use the newer equipment on the 2900. Other older games just ran faster. Also, Oblivion took a TON of "tweaking" to get it the way I liked it. Some games have miles of settings for optimizations and mods to download. I have modded my Oblivion so much I can't tell you half of them anymore, however, it looks and runs amazing compared to stock.

And finally, the "hitching" is probably a sign that the rest of your system is now the weaker link. But, since we already discussed how hard it would be to upgrade that, I think you have about reached the limit of this system. I hope you can get everything running and working more smoothly.
 

Shecky

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Downloaded the most up-to-date driver from the manufacturer's website before I cracked the case - heard too many horror stories of people getting drivers so old on the included CD that it just couldn't run (not this card, just in general). :)

The control center stuff is gonna get futzed with over time too, maybe one Sunday morning while the wife's still snoring. I've already fiddled with in-game settings, and those will be fine-tuned as I go. So, right now, it's pretty much necessarily not as good as it'll get in the future. Heck, I may even disable post effects in the interests of smoother performance - I don't need to see the blurriness under water as much as I need to be sure that what I'm hacking at isn't the acid-trail of the critter I think I'm seeing. ;)

FWIW, the first thing that really leapt out at me was on the character selection screen. The eyes LEAPT out at me - instead of vaguely-defined white-vs.-iris, they were brilliant and sharp as could be. And a lot of detail has improved. But, as I was saying, I may sacrifice a good bit of this for the sake of reducing or eliminating that hitching. Hell, the game was already stunningly gorgeous before I got this card - I could live with the same level of appearance if it meant an end to stuttering!
 

Shecky

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Oh - one more question. Is overclocking as dangerous as some portray it to be? I don't mind a little risk, but the chance of immediately frying my processor would be daunting.
 

B-Unit

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Not really, so long as you take the time to research the subject and go slowly, OCing is a great way to get the maximum bang for your buck. Be sure to look for info pertaining to your model of card, there all basically the same but some dont play nice with fan speeds etc.
 

Shecky

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Wouldn't even know where to BEGIN to look. Could I ask the favor of a reliable guide on the subject (processor is AMD Athlon 64 2.2GHz 3700+ San Diego)?
 

B-Unit

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You wont be able to OC your processor without getting a new motherboard. You can OC your new video card, not sure if you want/need to tho. Don't know where a guide would be off the top of my head, if you look in the Overclocking and Graphics forums, there should be some stickys that can help you out.
 

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