New Graphics Card

[Sosseres]

That's downclocking. I was under the silly assumption we wanted to use the full potential of the overpriced silicon we shell out for

I thought you were talking about the fan issues some have where their fans never climb over 50% and they get BSOD due to heat. So I suggested letting riva handle the fan to keep it cool.

[rostheferret]

That's downclocking. I was under the silly assumption we wanted to use the full potential of the overpriced silicon we shell out for

I thought you were talking about the fan issues some have where their fans never climb over 50% and they get BSOD due to heat. So I suggested letting riva handle the fan to keep it cool.

I didn't know that they had this issues, I just knew of their tendency to run hot.

[TifaLockhart]

Alright, i went around looking for them and got both the Corsair HX 650 and Sapphire 5850 vapor X. Pretty satisfied with them both even though i encoutered some technical difficulties when trying to get them both to work with my package pc (which was hell...) but was a tad disappointed since i wasnt able to run SC2 at Ultra settings without encountering a little bit of delay here and there once in a while. Works wonderful with ME2 i have to say though.

Thanks for all the help.

[vuzedome]

Thank goodness you went for modular power supply units, or you'll be really frustrated trying to route the cables.

[TifaLockhart]

My HP Elite PC is now completely stuffed with cables now, it cant fit any other things in after installing the PSU and GFX. The card itself is 2X that of my old card and i had to re-route some cables hardwares just to get enough space to clear a way for the monster of the 5850 to fit in. Not only that, i also realize my motherboard was actually a custom mini version and that it was alot slimmer than it was supposed to be, had trouble getting everything to work, spent almost 6hrs trying to get everything running, amazing i managed to pull it off. Felt like a re accomplishment after lol... though i'm pretty worried about the heating problem with the new power, gfx and the crappy CPU which is pretty make shift as it is now.

[datora]

.
Glad to see that all worked out for you! 

Sorry to see it was painful ... but, y'know, silly accomplishments in life & all that.  The power supply might actually help with your heat issues ... possibly the fan is stronger/larger and will assist.  Surely you will find out soon enough. 

And, remember, if/when you are able to upgrade to a new system, these parts may still have great value to scavenge forward.  You could restore your HP system to its original config and use these new parts for a new rig or to upgrade a different one that can take better advantage.

[tomoya-kun]

I'm thinking of hooking up a 480 to my laptop through PCI-express, does anyone have done this before?

[vuzedome]

I'm thinking of hooking up a 480 to my laptop through PCI-express, does anyone have done this before?

I think there is something similar being developed, but for now, maybe not.

[tomoya-kun]

I'm thinking of hooking up a 480 to my laptop through PCI-express, does anyone have done this before?

I think there is something similar being developed, but for now, maybe not.

It's out now, i read an article about it so i'm interested.

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=5846&review=how+to+upgrade+laptop+graphics+notebook

I've got a 3.02ghz processor in my laptop, which I believe is still pretty decent.  I just need to upgrade my 9800mGTX which is getting old.

[nstgc]

How important is memory badwidth? The processing power of video cards is increasing much faster than the speed of the RAM. It seems the higher end cards tend to be the ones with the best RAM and widest bus.

Given a 5770 and a downscaled 5830, how will each of these fair?

[tomoya-kun]

How important is memory badwidth? The processing power of video cards is increasing much faster than the speed of the RAM. It seems the higher end cards tend to be the ones with the best RAM and widest bus.

Given a 5770 and a downscaled 5830, how will each of these fair?

More memory than your bus width is less useful.  Though I'm pretty sure a 4870> those cards.

[rostheferret]

How important is memory badwidth? The processing power of video cards is increasing much faster than the speed of the RAM. It seems the higher end cards tend to be the ones with the best RAM and widest bus.

Given a 5770 and a downscaled 5830, how will each of these fair?

In terms of gaming, very

Bandwidth is pretty much what determines how quickly graphical information can be stored. If the amount of RAM is the "buffer," during intensive gameplay this buffer might run low affecting the FPS you get. The bandwidth determines how quickly you can restore the buffer. At least that's what my limited knowledge tells me

As for comparisons, you can get into arguments over the benefits of clock speeds and bus widths, OR you can just look up a benchmark.
Link 1, 2. Basically, there's an improvement but it's not brilliant. The only thing I'd add is that the 4870 whilst performing well here, I reckon is really gonna suffer when tessellation starts getting big. Then again, apparently the ATI cards suck at it anyway.

[nstgc]

So what is the reasonable ratio of RAM to bandwidth? Also, does anyone know when the 6xxx come out? it should be soon.

[Sosseres]

It was launched on April 14, 2004. What are you talking about?

[tomoya-kun]

How important is memory badwidth? The processing power of video cards is increasing much faster than the speed of the RAM. It seems the higher end cards tend to be the ones with the best RAM and widest bus.

Given a 5770 and a downscaled 5830, how will each of these fair?

In terms of gaming, very

Bandwidth is pretty much what determines how quickly graphical information can be stored. If the amount of RAM is the "buffer," during intensive gameplay this buffer might run low affecting the FPS you get. The bandwidth determines how quickly you can restore the buffer. At least that's what my limited knowledge tells me

As for comparisons, you can get into arguments over the benefits of clock speeds and bus widths, OR you can just look up a benchmark.
Link 1, 2. Basically, there's an improvement but it's not brilliant. The only thing I'd add is that the 4870 whilst performing well here, I reckon is really gonna suffer when tessellation starts getting big. Then again, apparently the ATI cards suck at it anyway.

4870's are cheap, you can get a crossfire for less than an Nvidia card at the moment.  Crossfire 4870s are more than enough to run most games nowadays, my Medal Of Honor runs on Max All.

[rostheferret]

4870's are cheap, you can get a crossfire for less than an Nvidia card at the moment.  Crossfire 4870s are more than enough to run most games nowadays, my Medal Of Honor runs on Max All.

But they'll probably slow down to a crawl when tesselation is required. You can't say either way because no tesselation-intensive game has been released yet, I'm just one of those crazy people who thinks about the lifespan of the stuff I buy.

[vuzedome]

Today, no DX11, not buying.

[tomoya-kun]

Today, no DX11, not buying.

Only 10 games are out that use DX11, and some of those which I own, like Metro 2033, Medal of Honor and Civ5, seem to run fine without DX11.  Though I don't really know what i'm missing out on.  How much difference is there? 

[rostheferret]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4G9anRoYGko

[TifaLockhart]

I also realize that running any Dx 11 capable Gfx cards on Vista SP1 limits the card to run only on Dx 10 and below, i've been using SP1 ever since cause i dont really like what SP2 offers and there have been issues after i upgraded to it the very first time. So its kinda a dilemna for me now to either put up with the issues and get Vista SP2 or just keep with it and not use Dx 11 which pretty much defeats the purpose of getting the new card in the first place...