PCFormat Forum Archive

yes. I have punny graphics

THE_STIG wrote:No. it claims to increase frame rates. But does nothing of the sort from what i can see, but yep everything runs a bit smoother than before with it turned off

Virtu does a lot of things, actually. For one, it buffers frames and works a bit like Nvidia's Adaptive V-Sync by filling in for any missing frames to keep up the 60fps fluidity. It doesn't turn V-Sync off like Nvidia's approach, but it does its bit to help. It also switches to the Intel integrated graphics if you've got the Balanced or Power Saver profile active. Its a lot better than how things were set up previously - in the past sometimes games couldn't switch between active GPUs, especially on laptops, which is the achilles heel of AMD's Enduro tech. Virtu sort of acts like a proxy, handles the graphics in an agnostic way and doesn't let drivers get in the way of the switch.

I can't actually see how it enables higher frame rates, that's impossible when you're already running out of juice on as high-end card. But I can possibly see it as a third-party solution in the future to the frame stuttering that SLI and Crossfire users. If Lucid Logix can accommodate a big enough buffer and is the last component connecting the PC to the image you see on the screen, then its possible that it could be the end of stuttering once and for all. All it needs is some intelligent coding and things could work out.

THE_STIG wrote:Well tried turning off page file. Made no difference...but windows booted faster though

Besides that all is well, build quality of the mobo is a bit on the flimsy side compered to what I have been used to from gigabyte but otherwise no problems. The sound card on this mobo aint bad either

Yeah you have issues, with the GPU, you going to have to knock down some settings.Lower bandwidth cards completely suck with AA, AF irrespective of how much ram

Nice upgrade, now you just need to ditch that PSU, if you are planning on the GPU upgrade.

Also irrespective of how much ram, please don't reduce to the page file zero, you eventually going to get a program or game that is going to need it.With 8gig ram you can reduce it to 2 gig

The games in question was call of duty 4 and other games of that time. With the infernal lucid disabled I get constant 125fps on cod 4 with 4x aa. With it enabled it is still 125fps but choppy, newer games don't seem to have any problems....

Seriously want to ditch the graphics card, pretty sluggish old thing, not sure I will need to ditch the psu though. Probably going to go for a GTX650ti which is not really any more power hungry than the 450(which is an oddly power hungry old thing) so 550w will be fine there. PSU is only a year and a half old anyway

Yep, left the page file at a system managed size.

MSI gtx660 OC. Needs 1 6-pin. Should run all games 60fps on high/max detail. But its R3k so yeah. Same price as any other mainstream card.

3k is still a lot just for graphics. 660 would be the better option though

Will keep watching the classifieds to see if something faster than a 650ti comes up for about the same price

Dude the PSU is not the best of brands, period It's made by HEC, noise and ripple isn't smooth at full load, while still in spec, is not what you want.There are far better brands, and if you do get a 3k GPU I wouldn't risk it, with a PSU like that.It is more suited to an office PC than a gaming PC

I know. But it's "ok". Have had much worse before, but I wont really go 3k for a gpu

The sort of sub 2k is where i am looking and 650ti seems best there

650Ti is a good card.rather try for a secondhand 7850.Between the 7 series amd and 6 series nvidia, amd is ever so slightly better pending card, if you are set on nvidia 570GTX no question.But really 8 series is around the corner, will drive prices down might get a better deal

the 570gtx uses more power than the 670gtx. 650ti for the games that uses physx isn't a bad idea. Can't comment on the grade of the card though. Last time I went for a sub R2k card was with my radeon 9000 that was around R1k. Upgraded to a radeon 9600 pro a while after that and from then on I was always looking at the R3k option.

Looking at benchmarks the 650ti looks ...acceptable.

wizardofid wrote:650Ti is a good card.rather try for a secondhand 7850.Between the 7 series amd and 6 series nvidia, amd is ever so slightly better pending card, if you are set on nvidia 570GTX no question.But really 8 series is around the corner, will drive prices down might get a better deal

Yes the 7850 does seem like a good amd option. Has a wider 256bit memory bus too

of course it does have a wider bus. And best AMD bang for buck as well

That it does. The 650ti's narrow 128bit bus does put me off a little, narrower even than its predecessor the 550(had 196bit I think)

And over priced ;)Seriously HD5 series is going now for cheap cheap.Got my self a 5870 for 1.4K which beats the 6870, not that the 6870 was a replacement card for it.But I manage to play far cry 3 on ultra

The 5870 was an amazing card but it is 3 generations old. The nvidia equivalent is the 560ti. My concern with AMD is the stability of drivers. I only updated drivers 4 times with 5870 and all that time it still had the ati banner. But a 5870 for 1.4k is a bargin. But perhaps so is a 560ti. You will need a 550w psu though.

5870 is still a good little work horse ;)It beats the 6870, plays any title, it's still good even being 3 gen's old.The problem is for the budget it's either a 5870 or 6950 and 480 or 570.

I would not recommend the 480 or the 570. I know they are power suckers. Where did you get the 5870 for 1.4k anyway?

StarBound wrote:I would not recommend the 480 or the 570. I know they are power suckers. Where did you get the 5870 for 1.4k anyway?

You get them for that on Carbonite sometimes. Got my 5850 for R990 and am very happy. I might be inclined to upgrade further to something in the R1.4k range. Only thing with the older cards is that they are more often than not already out of the warranty period, not that my card shows any signs of packing up any time soon.

KALSTER shjoooooooooooooooo !!!!!!

wizardofid wrote:And over priced ;)Seriously HD5 series is going now for cheap cheap.Got my self a 5870 for 1.4K which beats the 6870, not that the 6870 was a replacement card for it.But I manage to play far cry 3 on ultra

1.4k . I must find one of these

lol you can buy mine then I can upgrade to a 7850

Offer him 1k if its not overclocked

lol it's a 2gig OC version, 1k gets you a 5850