SWG Tales

And man am I proud of it. Took me an 1.5 hours to get her assembled, 25 mins to install windows WITH a reformat (amazing huh?) and was finished with all drivers/software by 11:30. What does this dream system consist of you ask?

2 MSI Nvidia 7800GTX GPU's in SLI
AMD 4000+ Athalon 64
2 Gigs of OCZ platinum rev 2 DDR400 RAM
Asus A8N SLI Delux motherboard
Audigy 2 Sound card

I hopped on SWG about 1230 just to see what it looked like now. All I could do was stare at the screen. With all settings on high and Volumetric Shadows, I had no lag running into and out of ME cantina multiple times. Not even a dip in FPS below 30. I havent even begun to overclock this badboy yet.

Do you have a Mando helmet for it to wear too?

Actually, I've been thinking about making a mod case into a Slave1. Gotta get soe new dremel attachments if I'm gonna do that though. I've seen some really nice case mods done using HL2, Quake, and Doom. Case modding is the only thing I havent done yet with a comp, but it definately peaks my interest.

Out of curiousity, Why 2 Vid Cards?

Jesus, dude, serious overkill!

What did it cost you?

All together it was a shade under $2k. Not that bad really considering Its using the latest and just about the best hardware money can buy.

Why 2 vid cards? Think of it this way, this system will run every game seamlessly for the next 3 maybe 4 years with no upgrades. Saving that $400+ (And by the looks of the new 360, game systems are only going to get more expensive) a year makes my pocket feel lighter.

Sure, right now that sounds like a lot of money...but I bet in the long run I've spent much less then the console gamer is about to start spending to keep up.

So they work together? Hmm. I will have to read up on this.

Novall wrote:Why 2 vid cards? Think of it this way, this system will run every game seamlessly for the next 3 maybe 4 years with no upgrades. Saving that $400+ (And by the looks of the new 360, game systems are only going to get more expensive) a year makes my pocket feel lighter.

Now, I don't mean to make you feel bad about your purchase, because it IS a bitchin' rig, but right now the UE3 (Unreal Engine 3) barely runs at all on a 6800 card. All of their tests are run on like liquid cooled specially built 7800 cards. Even Battlefield2, with everything turned on, will not run on a single 7800 card, even the best card, at 60 fps. I haven't seen any specs for dual 7800s run in SLI, to be fair, but I imagine that even that won't get you 60 fps with everything turned on in the UE3 engine, which is like the engine of the future or something. Everyone and their Moms are developing on it.

Sure, right now that sounds like a lot of money...but I bet in the long run I've spent much less then the console gamer is about to start spending to keep up.

Doubtful. This is the age-old debate, console vs. PC. Sure, your PC graphics will look better, but for 2g I could get a PS3, an Xbox360, and 20 games, and never have to buy another piece of hardware for 4-5 years.

At any rate, I don't mean to come off as a doubting-thomas to your hardware. I identify more with the PC gamer myslef; there's something too simplified about a controller for my tastes. Unless it's a fighting game. I envy your rig, to be sure. I'll be buying either a beefy 6800 or a mid-grade 7800 card in the coming months. In fact, I'll need 2, as my wife's machine will need one as well to run Oblivion when it hits.

Isn't most of the upcomming gamming technology being geared toward the two video card technology anyway though? Wasn't the concept that one card would handle all of the vertical data and the other the horizontal or somewhere along those lines creating even more vibrant picture rendering? Been awhile since I read up on it myself. Sounds very very nice though. But, I'm guessing since you got into SWG that this is backwards compatible with current games? Someone was saying that the 2 vids might not be compatible with existing games...

Novall wrote: 2 MSI Nvidia 7800GTX GPU's in SLI
AMD 4000+ Athalon 64
2 Gigs of OCZ platinum rev 2 DDR400 RAM
Asus A8N SLI Delux motherboard
Audigy 2 Sound card

Don't be too proud of that technological terror you've created. The power to Burst Run through Nocturnus is noth....AHH who am I kiddin'? That setup is bangin'!

During my recent troubles I was very tempted to blow out to something beyond top of the line, but resisted in the end. Nasty gear, there.

However, does it speak Bocce ??

Keer wrote:However, does it speak Bocce ??

Looks like it will pwn Bocce and the moisture 'vaperator it rode in on.

I would like to upgrade from my current craplon processor...

Jabe

Sai'nu wrote:Isn't most of the upcomming gamming technology being geared toward the two video card technology anyway though?

Nope.

This would pretty much put the PC gaming business out of business, as it would have to compete with a $399 Xbox which basically has the rough equivalent of a trumped up 6800 in it.

Nobody buys top of the line gear as it is (meaning the general populace). Now imagine getting all of those non-people to buy TWO.

They might develop the games so that it works with 2 cards, but that's not what it's geared towards. You've got to aim for the Lowest Common Denomenator of card owners, and making two cards a must-own item is going to be a tough sell.

The thing about SLI is a nice word called "Load Balancing". Load balancing on a normal single graphics card system is accomplished by having the CPU kick in when the data transfer rate in the GPU reaches a critical low level. That slows your system down, creates lag, and sometimes even locks you up.

Having 2 cards in SLI means that both cards together run at the speed of 1 card, however when the load gets heavier then one card can handle, the cards literally have an extra 500mhz/1300mhz of GPU and memory to use before it even thinks about asking the CPU for help. With SLI, when the stress comes in you have 1ghz (and more if you overclock it) of GPU power and 2.5ghz of DDR3 memory just for the graphics application.

I am waiting to see what it will do with 3dmark05 tongiht when I get home. If I score better then 9k then I dont see why I couldnt get 60+ fps on BF2 with everything set to high.

SLI is turning of puddle of processing power into a lake of it. What drains faster, the puddle or the lake?

Novall wrote:The thing about SLI is a nice word called "Load Balancing"...

That's 2 words. System sounds rockin...can it drive you to work, too?