4870x2. First impressions

[sammy sung]

You don't own this forum and if I want to reply to a post here, that's my choice. If you don't like some posts within a thread, just ignore them and keep reading.

lol :headexplode:

[noko]

I'm sorry ATI dissapointed you. In the meantime, myself and the rest of the x2 users will be enjoying the Hell out of the cards. ;)

No, ATI hasn't dissappointed me, my other computer has an ATI card in it, they are doing good at the moment, just not giving what I need. I hope you enjoy your new card as well.

[Heinz68]

What in the hell makes you think your the authority on how people should and shouldn't feel about ATI or there drivers. Then to call slaWter a fanboy when he has purchased more ATI/Nvidia cards then just about anyone not to mention the fact he has spent more on video cards in the past 8 months then your whole system cost you ****ing moron.

SlaWter is one of the most objective guys on this forum and if he is a fanboy of anything its speed.

end rant.
If you want me to respect your opinion you sure can't make a post like the above.

Also good recommended reading for you is Forum Rules.

I'm not going to get in name calling contest with you, so all what I can say is GROW UP.

EDIT
Now to the point.
slaWter experience with HD 4870 x2 was EXACTLY few hours. My point was due to the fact I have no other choice than to rely on users that have much more experience with the product and official reviews but I do prefer the users experience.
My second point was, I HOPE such short experience would not resolve in CONSTANT bashing how bad the HD 4870 x2 or the drivers are.

So that should not be so difficult to get.

Now if you have problem with that it's not my problem.

[CaptNKILL]

Guys, keep the flaming to a minimum.

Every time someone posts a question or has some feedback about the topic of this thread (which is the 4870x2... not nvidia) it'd be really nice if all responses were focused on that topic rather than being some kind of personal "defense" where none is needed. I would be very surprised if you could go onto any other large nvidia or ati fan site and read posts that are as objective as the ones here.

If someone says "I had X problem with my ATI card." you don't have to defend ATI or defend your purchase by trying to discredit them or start an argument. You can help solve the problem or you can not post.

Lots of people around here are getting tired of the pointless bashing that they are getting for not foaming at the mouth over the 4870. Its also pretty obvious that the bashing is repeatedly coming from the same users.

To the bashers: ATI does not need your defense. If anything you're just making them look bad...

You know who you are.

[Destroy]

Repost I put on Rage:

I spent some stupid money lately and have enjoyed the opportunity to try out nVidia and ATIs latest and greatest vs. my trusty 8800GTX.

I only ran a few games to test with cause basically they are the few games wanted to see performance differences in.


All are at 1920x1080

Joint Task Force
Save1 area 4xaa, 16xaf, multi sampling
8800GTX->22
GTX280-->22
4870x2-->21

Save1 area 16xaa, 16xaf, super sampling
8800GTX->didn't test
GTX280-->17
4870x2-->20

Save2 area 4xaa, 16xaf, multi sampling
8800GTX->18
GTX280-->22
4870x2-->24

Save2 area 16xaa, 16xaf, super sampling
8800GTX->didn't test
GTX280-->13
4870x2-->20


Oblivion with Qarls and many other texture mods, and mods in general
Save1 area 4xaa, 16xaf, multi sampling
8800GTX->20
GTX280-->27
4870x2-->30

Save1 area 16xaa, 16xaf, super sampling
8800GTX->15
GTX280-->18
4870x2-->26

Save2 area 4xaa, 16xaf, multi sampling
8800GTX->11
GTX280-->16
4870x2-->32

Save2 area 16xaa, 16xaf, super sampling
8800GTX->9
GTX280-->14
4870x2-->22

I took some frames of The Witcher too but ATI seems to be having a problem with AA. First save load, AA is on, immediately load another or same save and AA turns off. Have to restart game for AA to turn back on again.

Stalker
Save1 area 4xaa, 16xaf, multi sampling
8800GTX->20
GTX280-->24
4870x2-->can't force AA


Save2 area 4xaa, 16xaf, multi sampling
8800GTX->13
GTX280-->18
4870x2-->can't force AA


Few things I've noticed, have no answers, just noticed them while using the different cards:

ATI is most stable by far. Not a single game or Windows crash whereas both nVidia"s would crash often in my same CPU overclocked state.

Only GTX280 had a nasty 'window on top of window' glitch that would flash the whole screen while dragging the window across the desktop.

8800GTX was glass smooth in FurMark. ATI stutters badly, while GTX280 stuttered slightly.

Both Vista64 and XP32 take a fair bit longer to fully get to desktop during boot with ATI. I'd guess 10 sec longer; definitely noticeable.

All games I've tried so far, look and play identical albeit the frame rate differences. I notice no abnormal stutters or glitches in games.

At idle, my system is definitely noisiest with ATI but because of card and my system runs hotter overall now so my CPU fan runs at a much faster rate. Need more air flow.


Conclusion:
So far I'm very happy with the 4870x2 and plan to keep it.

[CaptNKILL]

No offense, but are those average framerates? :o

I wouldn't call a single one of those even close to playable. None of those games should run that slow at that resolution with any of those graphics cards.

[Destroy]

No offense, but are those average framerates? :o

Not really average. They hover in that range in one particular spot or view direction. Move away or turn a fair bit and frame rates come back up.

Here are example pics from the tests:
http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/9530/oblivion200809052101149ht2.th.jpg (http://img165.imageshack.us/my.php?image=oblivion200809052101149ht2.jpg)

http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/7735/jtf2008090520555368bi7.th.jpg (http://img187.imageshack.us/my.php?image=jtf2008090520555368bi7.jpg)

[CaptNKILL]

Oh ok.

So they're more like minimums.

Still, I'm surprised that any of those cards are going that low at that resolution in those games. I wouldn't be able to play at those settings with framerate dips like that. This is why I still don't use AA most of the time.

[Destroy]

Almost forgot these...

http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/1811/img9143gd2.th.jpg (http://img244.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img9143gd2.jpg)

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/7985/img9145sb4.th.jpg (http://img155.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img9145sb4.jpg)

http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/2341/img9144sb2.th.jpg (http://img403.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img9144sb2.jpg)

[namuk]

:clap2:Almost forgot these...

http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/1811/img9143gd2.th.jpg (http://img244.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img9143gd2.jpg)

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/7985/img9145sb4.th.jpg (http://img155.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img9145sb4.jpg)

http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/2341/img9144sb2.th.jpg (http://img403.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img9144sb2.jpg)




:D the middle pic class they look clean no stains there ... third pic mmm cable management is the key .. lol what is with the fluffy rat lol roland rat ...

[walterman]

Repost I put on Rage:

I spent some stupid money lately and have enjoyed the opportunity to try out nVidia and ATIs latest and greatest vs. my trusty 8800GTX.

I only ran a few games to test with cause basically they are the few games wanted to see performance differences in.


All are at 1920x1080

...

Just one question: How do you force super sampling AA on the ATI cards ? :confused::confused::confused:

I had no luck with a couple of 4870 in CF, and i had serious issues to run BR2 with CF enabled. :surrender

[nekrosoft13]

there is no SSAA on ati cards, he probably got confused with super-sampling transparency aa. totally different things

[Xion X2]

Just one question: How do you force super sampling AA on the ATI cards ? :confused::confused::confused:

I had no luck with a couple of 4870 in CF, and i had serious issues to run BR2 with CF enabled. :surrender

What is BR2?

I'm just curious, because I haven't had a single issue with Crossfire yet out of about 25 games. Well I take that back.. Two Worlds played like #$^!. But that was the only one. (Edit: Now that I think about it, though, a single 4870 didn't run it great, either.)

[walterman]

What is BR2?

I'm just curious, because I haven't had a single issue with Crossfire yet out of about 25 games. Well I take that back.. Two Worlds played like #$^!. But that was the only one.

It's my fav game: http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=93361 (BloodRayne 2)

I tried it under XP32 with a couple of 4870 in CF, and it did run at 10-20FPS. I had to disable CF to run it at 140FPS.

My friend LordJuanlo had more luck running it under Vista64 with the X2, but, curiously, it was running slower than with just 1x "4870". :surrender

[Xion X2]

It's my fav game: http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=93361 (BloodRayne 2)

I tried it under XP32 with a couple of 4870 in CF, and it did run at 10-20FPS. I had to disable CF to run it at 140FPS.

My friend LordJuanlo had more luck running it under Vista64 with the X2, but, curiously, it was running slower than with just 1x "4870". :surrender

Why not just run it on a single 4870 if you're already getting 140fps?

You're kidding, right? :) That game's ancient.. although it was cool when I played it a few years ago.

[Rollo]

+1

Just run it on one card, whats the big deal?

Maybe that he can't run Stalker, Witcher, other games AA? :headexplode:

[Destroy]

BR2 running fine here on new 4870x2
http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/7995/rayne22008090621401343er1.th.jpg (http://img98.imageshack.us/my.php?image=rayne22008090621401343er1.jpg)

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/4400/rayne22008090621361677hx5.th.jpg (http://img143.imageshack.us/my.php?image=rayne22008090621361677hx5.jpg)

[namuk]

BR2 running fine here on new 4870x2
http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/7995/rayne22008090621401343er1.th.jpg (http://img98.imageshack.us/my.php?image=rayne22008090621401343er1.jpg)

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/4400/rayne22008090621361677hx5.th.jpg (http://img143.imageshack.us/my.php?image=rayne22008090621361677hx5.jpg)

i am not impressed were is the fluffy rat and the knickers you can do better i no this:thumbdwn: not happy about this post ..

[walterman]

My patch adds a lot of enhancements, and it needs more rendering power than the original version of the game.

I run it with SSAA 2x at 1920x1200, so, it means, rendering at 3840 x 2400.

My 8800GTX can run the game at 100fps with MSAA 4x, but with SSAA 2x, it's a challenge, and even the GTX280 hasn't enough power to do this.

Also, i'm creating high resolution textures for the game, and they eat a lot of bandwidth & video memory.

Now you should understand why i always complain about the video memory bandwidth.

[Xion X2]

My patch adds a lot of enhancements, and it needs more rendering power than the original version of the game.

I run it with SSAA 2x at 1920x1200, so, it means, rendering at 3840 x 2400.

My 8800GTX can run the game at 100fps with MSAA 4x, but with SSAA 2x, it's a challenge, and even the GTX280 hasn't enough power to do this.

Also, i'm creating high resolution textures for the game, and they eat a lot of bandwidth & video memory.

Now you should understand why i always complain about the video memory bandwidth.

lol.. walterman, with all those enhancements, I'd like to see your stuff. Can you put up some more screenshots?

I did like BR2 a lot when I played it, but it had issues with my 7900GTX I was using at the time that made it run terrible.

Rayne is hot. :)

[Xion X2]

Ha, I found it over here:

http://xs120.xs.to/xs120/07430/rayne2_01.jpg

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=93361&page=2

Hey, nice job.. the AA patch really seems to help. I may have to pick this up again. :D

I really did like the game when I picked it up to play on my 9800 Pro.. Rayne was hot, and it had some good fighting sequences in it.. it's just that it ran like ass on my 7900GTX (10fps) and I laid it down and forgot all about it.

[walterman]

Well, this is the enhanced 'wave pool' (reflection, refraction & bump mapping). I use the extra CPU cores to calculate the refraction effect (perlin). This way, your framerate is the same, and you are using your idling cores for something useful.

http://hosting06.imagecross.com/image-hosting-th-08/1634rayne2-2008-09-07-02-53-53-32.png (http://www.imagecross.com/06/image-hosting-view-08.php?id=1634rayne2-2008-09-07-02-53-53-32.png)

And this is the OSD that i have added to the game. It allows you to change all the options of the patch, on the fly. You even can change the resolution, while you are gaming.

http://hosting06.imagecross.com/image-hosting-th-08/23rayne2-2008-09-07-00-29-17-06.png (http://www.imagecross.com/06/image-hosting-view-08.php?id=23rayne2-2008-09-07-00-29-17-06.png)

About the HD textures, the result is outstanding. It looks like a next gen game, but, it needs a lot of work, and i'm still looking for more artists to join to the project. I can tell you that we are close to finish all the textures of the first act of the game, but, there are six acts total. Also, the rendering speed with the HD textures is higher, cause we use compressed textures to save video memory bandwidth (video memory bandwidth is god in this game). Once we finish the 1st act, maybe we'll release a demo, with the new version of the patch.

Btw, Xion, in my old 7900GTX, without AA (before my patch), the game was running at 120-130fps (1280x1024), with a minimum of 60fps. It was the perfect card to play the game. But now with all the enhancements, even the GTX280 can't handle the extra work with my fav settings.

[Rollo]

What did you just try to say jackass? that made no sense at all. :retard:

And FYI both the Witcher and Stalker run AA just fine with the 4870, I have seen it for myself :headexplode:

BTW before you go running your mouth you should know that I own a GTX 260.

Only repeating what I read from end users about spotty ATi AA performance, Politeness Man:

http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33931375[ (http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33931375)

http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33930941

I submitted a ticket 5 months ago for this. ATI replied the issue was being looked into. I've stopped holding my breath.


Of course, having to re-name executables and lose all patches and enhancements made for a game is pretty lame as well:

http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33929562&highlight=Rename

[Xion X2]

About the HD textures, the result is outstanding. It looks like a next gen game, but, it needs a lot of work

Yeah, one thing I saw is that the HD textures had some aliasing in them. Are you able to fix that? Maybe it was just the way the screen was captured on your thread that I was looking at before.

Btw, Xion, in my old 7900GTX, without AA (before my patch), the game was running at 120-130fps (1280x1024), with a minimum of 60fps. It was the perfect card to play the game. But now with all the enhancements, even the GTX280 can't handle the extra work with my fav settings.

Yeah, I'm sure it was just some sort of driver issue w/ my 7900, but it lasted through a couple of driver sets and I finally just gave up.

Anyway.. thanks for the info. We can take this to PM or discuss it in your dedicated thread. Didn't mean to hijack Juanlo's thread here. :) I like the sound of what you've done and will probably repurchase the game to try some of it out.

[Xion X2]

I just picked up a new copy of BR2 on ebay for 5.99$ (including shipping) :D