Pulled The Trigger On A New Card

P

Parky

Guest
Yep,

Got kinda' concerned watching the Canadian dollar plunge to a nasty low and the price of video cards go up as a result. Said "to hell with it" and grabbed myself an XFX GTX280 xxx Edition. Not cheap, but you only live once and this card is an absolute beast. It's got the snot overclocked out of it right out of the box, and after running a few brief tests with it, I have to admit I'm rather awestruck.

The 8800GTX I was running was no slouch, but this thing is the icing on the cake. Pretty pleased would be an understatement:d

Review of this card can be found here:http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews.php?/gpu_displays/xfx_280gtx_xxx_edition/1
 
WOW! Parky, nice card.

Could you describe the difference between the two cards as pertaining to OFF. Pro's & con's.

Cheers,
WF2
 
Parky,

At this point, whatever info you offer on P2, will be steamrollered by P3. P3 is actually more optimized for speed, even though you can't tell from the ultra-high end scenery.

WM did a real sweet job of making OFF P3 playable on even a low-end rig like mine. I NEED to upgrade.... very soon.

OvS
 
What do you mean by "low end" machine. I'm just curious because I just upgraded and it should by all accounts do really well. I just want to be sure that my $400+ was well spent.:kilroy:

CJ
 
Polovski said:
Good choice Parky you will not regret it, stonking these things are :)
Click to expand...

Yep, pretty amazing. 1920x1200, 16xAF, 8xAA all sliders set to 5 except terrain. Still seeing frames up around 70-80 most of the time if verticle sync is off. Texture fillrate issue is virtually non-existent. This card is just plain NUTS!! :applause:

womenfly2 said:
Could you describe the difference between the two cards as pertaining to OFF. Pro's & con's.
Click to expand...

The pro's? Easy answer. A very substantial performance gain that is worth every penny invested. I'd recommend this card in a heartbeat to anyone who has the appropriate platform to run it on.

The cons?? This card isn't for anyone on a real tight budget. Also, ideally you have a PSU that has a 6 pin as well as 8 pin PCI-e plug. I don't recommend using some cheap molex to 8 pin adapter on a crappy PSU. The potential for undervolting the card particularly with a less than "efficient" power supply is a nasty reality. Most people dont' realize it, but you can often do more damage by slight undervolting than you can by moderate overvolting. In fact, I'd recommend a PSU with a single as opposed to multiple 12v rails. A single rail usually makes for much more stable power delivery. The 750watt PC Power & Cooling Silencer comes to mind ;)

(Buyer beware.....the aforementioned PSU can be a real PITA to install. It's BIG).

Other than those two issues....I don't think there really are any cons.


ovs said:
Parky,

At this point, whatever info you offer on P2, will be steamrollered by P3.

OvS
Click to expand...

The only info I have to offer on P2 is this; The new card will keep me playing it right up until the release of P3....:applause:

Cameljockey said:
What do you mean by "low end" machine. I'm just curious because I just upgraded and it should by all accounts do really well. I just want to be sure that my $400+ was well spent.:kilroy:
Click to expand...

CJ, I think Herr Schnitzelmeister was referring to his Pentium III 733 with the ATI Rage 8 Meg. I've looked at your basic hardware and if the Winder has waved his magic performance optimization wand over P3, I figure your rig should make it run like a cat with it's tail on fire.

Cheers All :ernae:

Bring on Phase III!!


Parky
 
I've only got a 9800GTX/512MB :crybaby: Why is everyone else's bigger than mine :crybaby: At least it's not ATI :crybaby: .... er I mean :jump:

Say Parky how about a vid to showcase your new rig. I recall you did one called OFF Tribute and you ain't no slouch in the vid dept. It was rather good.
 
You're suffering from a very common problem. It's called GPU-Envy. See a counsellor....lol.

Will try to get some kind of vid up over the next short while. Sadly, FRAPS and my system don't seem to get along well at all. Currently experimenting with a capture proggie called Growler Guncam. Jury is still out on that one.

Can't be putting up any third-rate vids after watching some of your's...:kilroy:

If I go back and look at one of Pol's P3 vids......I won't be putting any up at all :redf:


Cheers,

Parky
 
Parky said:
You're suffering from a very common problem. It's called GPU-Envy. See a counsellor....lol.

I have seen a counsellor and his is bigger too :crybaby::crybaby:


If I go back and look at one of Pol's P3 vids......I won't be putting any up at all :redf:
Click to expand...

:costumes::costumes:
 
Sounds like a KA system, Parky, and it's hard not to feel jealous...but now that I'm older and wiser...and poorer...:crybaby:

In the meantime, thanks to grumpybear I own a fine copy of P2 and recently the mail delivered to me, my long waited MS CFS 3. And, no sooner had I celebrated these two joyous occasions, then my 8 year old monster of a Viewsonic 22 inch monitor started to hiccup and flicker and show signs of rapid decline. Oh, nice timing you old beast! :angryfir:

Oh well, I am now looking at LCD monitors which means that I can take out the hydraulic jack that I needed under my desk to help support the weight of the Viewsonic. I think that I will go with a GTX 260 which my MB will support and which will support the Samsung LCD that I'm interested in. A 280 would be nice but the balance between other additional component costs and this route makes this path much more reasonable and economical for the moment. All this after hours of research and discussions with some friends who are "in the business" of selling these toys. :d

Bring on P3 and long live the developers! :ernae:
 
Parky; we seem to be on a parallel upgrade path. Did our systems about the same time now the vid card.
Like you I wasn't to keen on seeing the prices sky rocketing due to the Canadian dollar drop , but I did grab this on Monday night at Future Shop (customer appreciation night) for $250
http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10109557&catid=

It's not nearly got the speed of the 280 and I would have liked to have purchased the unit with the core 216 shader but I do see quite a nice jump in frame rates over my 512 8800gt.

Don't know about you but I think I should be good for a while.

Cheers and enjoy
Fawlty
 
The GTX 260 is a great card. Great value for that price-point. Very similar performance to the 280 unless you're running a very large monitor ( A 30" LCD for instance) at extremely high resolutions. (Gee...I wonder what Santa is gonna' bring me this year?)

The higher end stuff is always nice if one can afford it, but there are always more affordable solutions that will get the job done. I'm sure you'll both be extremely happy with the 260. I've looked at the benchmarks. Very impressive overall. Just don't run it on your 60" plasma screen;)

Cheers Guys,

P.S.

Good to see you're still about Fawlty. I thought perhaps Manuel had finally fed you a hammer sandwich....lol.
 
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