Got the card. It's amazing. I didn't think the difference in performance would be this drastic, but it is. I now want to revisit every 3D game I've got just to see how much better it is.
For example, the old card was just fine for Source Engine games, and the like. However, in the CS:Source stress test, it did stutter at points. The new card gets an average of 250+ fps on the stress test. I can play CS:S with all the settings turned way the fuck up and vertical sync, and it never drops a frame.
I distinctly recall Scott arguing it would be foolish to buy anything better than an 8800GT or equivalent.
I distinctly recall Scott arguing it would be foolish to buy anything better than an 8800GT or equivalent.
At at time there were no decent games which required anything more than that, and the better cards were vastly more expensive. I didn't make a Bill Gates type of statement saying nobody will ever need more than this. I said that that was the correct choice at the time. Now there are newer games which require more power. I didn't think Civ V would need it, but it does.
Except he's talking about games like CS:S, which has been around since 2004.
I'm talking about the stress test. To play the actual game, the 8800GT is just fine. I just mentioned the stress test because it was the only benchmarking tool on my computer, and it demonstrated just how vastly more powerful the 460 is compared to the 8800GT.
I can see all the weather in L4D2, Street Fighter IV runs just as well, if not better than, the 360 version. It basically never lags, period. I fully expect my 8800GT to last 3 or four more years before needing an upgrade. I see no reason why the 9800GT wouldn't last at least five years before games come out that it can't handle.
At the time I looked at the list of games coming out, and didn't foreseen needing a newer card. But now CivV needs more than you would think, if you want to turn the graphics up, and also Duke Nukem Forever is going to need it as well.
Also, on that site, the 460 is still winning in Civ V tests at the 1680x1050 resolution, which is my resolution. And the 768MB (that I got) is identical to the 1GB (which cost a fuckton more money). So if they lower prices on the 460, it's still the king, for now.
A friend of mine had an ATI X1950 Pro 512MB lying about (About equivalent to an 7900GTX.) and, as he's not big on gaming, he's let me try it out. It's noticeably more powerful than my old 8600GT 256MB, I can play L4D2 at native resolution with some of the texture settings turned up a bit and still get a solid frame-rate. The main downside is that this series of cards was the last without GPU H.264 decoding support (As was the 7000 series.) so I'll have to make do without it until I get a new card proper.
Though, if it runs NS2 well enough, I might not bother.
Still rockin the ATI Raedeon HD 3650 in mah old toshiba satellite. L4D2 is no problem at all, though my computer does overheat when playing Need for speed undercover without something lifting up the back of it.
I'm considering getting a new hawtness laptop, but it's either that or PAX East, so it really isn't much of a consideration.
Still rockin the ATI Raedeon HD 3650 in mah old toshiba satellite. L4D2 is no problem at all
Have you tried L4D2 on that netbook of yours, since it has an ION gpu? I'm just wondering how well it runs since I may get a fancier netbook in 6 months or so.
Comments
I'd like the 8800GT but I've got a 8600GT so Churba's more likely to see the improvement.
It's noticeably more powerful than my old 8600GT 256MB, I can play L4D2 at native resolution with some of the texture settings turned up a bit and still get a solid frame-rate. The main downside is that this series of cards was the last without GPU H.264 decoding support (As was the 7000 series.) so I'll have to make do without it until I get a new card proper.
Though, if it runs NS2 well enough, I might not bother.
I'm considering getting a new hawtness laptop, but it's either that or PAX East, so it really isn't much of a consideration.
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/12/apple-may-drop-nvidia-for-sandy-bridges-igp-next-year.ars
Looks like Apple might get even worse video cards in the future.
And by that low end, I mean a computer that costs in the range of a decent gaming setup.