Suggestion on upgrading

[ricroma]

Hi,

I'm pondering the pruchase of a new video card.

One of the game I play the most is CM, so I would like to buy what fits better this game.

Right now I'm considering these two options:

- RADEON HD6950 2GB RAM

- GAINWARD GeForce GTX 570 (some overclocked version, like the Phantom or something else).

The GeForce price is quite higher (50 € or so), but for all the review I've seen, it seems better than the 6950. That's fine, since my budget can stretch up to 350€.

From a CM point of view, what would it be better?

Thanks,

Ricroma

[Ranger33]

I think you would be fine either way. I have two Radeon 5770's in Crossfire (I don't think CMBN uses it) and there seems to be a performance "ceiling" so to speak. I can run Crysis maxed out but in CMBN I still get textures popping in even on small battles.

I can't speak for which company is better, I've used each over the years and it seems there will always be a couple games that don't like whichever card I'm using at the time.

[Pak40]

Yea, both of those cards are pretty smokin' fast and will run CM equally well as far as the human eye is concerned. Assuming that you don't have a preference for ATI and since your budget isn't an issue, you might as well get the GTX because it will be relevant longer especially if it's overclocked.

[c3k]

Of course, the 2Gb of memory in the 6950 may be more beneficial with other games. Also, you may be able to unlock some shaders or even flash the 6950 up to a 6970.

I'm video card agnostic (used to be a big nvidia fan, now I'm neutral - I'm running two of each). What resolution do you game at? Will you upgrade your monitor? Do you foresee playing game with a lot of textures? (That's where that 2 Gb will come into its own.) Look at the myriad of review sites. Focus on the types of games you play as well as the resolution you use. That should help you decide.

(Also, power requirements, noise, heat?)

[ricroma]

Hi, thanks for the answers.

Well, I was slightingly favoring the GTX because I've read somewhere that Nvidia is better with physics calculations. And I figure that there's a lot of physics going on in CM. But I'm not expert and I may be wrong or misleaded by other factors... like the price: why the heck a 1.2Gb card would cost almost 100€ more than a 2Gb card (or 50 in case of a 6970)? That has to be because it's better! :-)

Not have an opinion about noise and heat... I mean, as long as my 750w power pack is enough to power the card... I understand that heat can lessen the performance, so I guess less heat is better.

My screen resolution is 1920x1080 and I'm not planning to upgrade my monitor... bought a LG Led monitor a couple of months ago... not the top of the line, but for now I'm happy with it (forgot the model number).

That's it... thanks again for the help...

Ricroma

[c3k]

Others smarter than I can correct this, but the Physx (sp?) touted by nvidia is something that has to be coded into the game. AFAIK, BF.C does not utilize this.

Another thing to think about: there has just been a press release that the new 28nm process is online. That means nvidia's Kepler and amd's 7xxx series - the next generation - will be released soon. Possibly by Christmas, if not then sometime in Q1/2012. That should mean some big performance leaps, or lower prices for old-tech.

Then again, there'll always be something better just around the corner.

[Redwolf]

NVidia consistently makes drivers that are better for us people who like older or obscure games than ATI. They also have the better Linux drivers. This has been going on for 15 or so years and will continue.

I had some problems with long-term reliability of cheap and medium priced NVidia designs but I can't judge whether ATI is worse because I only own one, and that one had the cooler take a dump pretty quickly. Now carries the Zahlman from the 6600GT that dies on it's own. Not impressed with either brand here.

I just got a 560 Ti (the Ti is much better) and I'm very happy except I got a model with noisy cooling.

[DaveDash]

I have one of the best graphics card on the market, the MSI GTX580. It runs the game slightly better than my 2-3 year old ATI 4890. The performance is "lackluster" at best.

There is a problem with CMBN. It's not very well optimized. You won't get a good framerate until they optimize the engine somewhat (especially shadows).

Also the 570 GTX is a "poor" card for gaming AFAIK.

Nvidia IMO usually produce better cards than ATI but always review the individual card first.

[Redwolf]

I can't really imagine that you can max out a 580 with CMBN, unless you have a billion pixels to drive.

Since CMBN is single-threaded I bet that you are CPU-bound.

[ricroma]

Thanks for all the answers and suggestions.

Due to some unexpected events, I have to give up the upgrading ideas. I guess I'll wait at least until Christmas when, maybe, I will be able to put my hand on one of the new super-duper video card.

If you like to keep discussing video card settings and such, go on. I will take any useful advice, considering that (at least in my mind), the upgrade is only delayed not canceled.

Thanks again,

Ricroma

PS. Since the first days of CM, I've got that game speed is mostly influenced by CPU more than vga card. I really don't feel comfortable with overclocking stuff, but I was wondering if adding some ram would matter the same. I have Win7 64bit with 4GB of ram. Adding other 4gigs can make any improvement? While waiting for the new video card, I can manage to scrap some 50 euros for new ram.

[DaveDash]

I can't really imagine that you can max out a 580 with CMBN, unless you have a billion pixels to drive.

Since CMBN is single-threaded I bet that you are CPU-bound.

Nope. It's definitely GPU related (since zooming in speeds up framerate) and almost certainly shadows are highly unoptimized. Turning off Shadows alone boosts FPS from roughly 20fps to 30-40fps.

I do not get the same "Bottleneck" in CMSF, even with battalion sized engagements with trees all over the map.

CPU is not the bottleneck here.

Ricroma - I believe CMBN is 32bit meaning it cannot take up more than 3GBish of memory. In fact, I've never seen it take up more than 1.5. I'd say you will be fine with 6GB.