XFX GTX 260 Black-opinions please

[skunksmash]

glad your having fun with it john...., i checked the link you provided & there's nothing there..??, im not sure if they removed the info b/c guru3d don't support XtremeG drivers..??

i set my ''ambient occlusion'' to high & never noticed a drop in performance, but never noticed a difference either...lol

our vantage scores are pretty much identical, but your not OCed, your four cores @ 2.66ghz are scoring about the same as my 2 cores @ 3.5ghz

OC that puppy & you'll leave me behind......12k @ performance on vantage is a ''huge'' score, if you find a scoreboard anywhere we are pretty high up there for single card solutions...

the XFX goodies may take a while to acquire, i spoke with them a few weeks ago & theyre having trouble with demand but keep on to them about it...

for the B.E membership just be sure to register here.....




SK

 

[johnwillyums]

Hi Sk. Yes I'm having tremendous fun here.
I just run 3D Mark again and got 12995. Weird, I haven't changed anything since last night.
I am slightly OCd on my CPU I just hadn't changed my sig. My Q6600 is a B3 rather than the later GO stepping model so I've got it at just over 3.0 GHZ. I probably could go a bit higher but it seems stable at this and it's quite a step from 2.4 GHZ. I believe the B3s don't like OCing as much as the GO version. Anyway, as you say this is a very respectable score and everything is playing well so that's fine with me.
I got three new games for christmas- Fallout 3, Dead Space and Mass Effect and they all look awesome with this new card. Problem is I've started all three and am getting confused about where I am and what I'm doing in each so I think I'd better stick to one.
Definitely a major noticeable improvement on my old 8800GTS OC and that was no slouch. So highly recommended:D
Thanks again for your support, John

 

[skunksmash]

NP.....

the quad cores are really starting to earn their corn now, C2D has done exceptionally well & still does but as time wears on more & more is being coded for 4 cores .....& its only gonna increase...

it wont be long before i pick up a Q6600, Q6700..

dead space is on my wanted list, but GTA4 has me ore struck at the minute.....



SK

 

[johnwillyums]

Forums are still saying that C2Duo are fastest in games but as you say there will be more games coming along that are coded for quads. I've been very happy with my Q6600.
Core i7 sounds great but with the motherboard and 6GB of DDR3 your looking at six or seven hundred pounds for the upgrade. Think I'll wait until the prices come down but it's still virtually a new pc.
Dead Space is great. Cross between Alien and Resident Evil, very moody and scary. I fancy Left4Dead but it seems to be a 4 player game. I haven't played any multiplayer games. Maybe I should but I don't want to get stuck in WOW and lose touch with reality. Also surely you have to wait until all your team is online and as some of them might be in different time zones that could be a problem. As I say I don't really know as I haven't tried.
Think I'll concentrate on Fallout3 as that's getting to some really good stages.
Sadly I'm snowed in today and can't get to work. Just don't know what to do with myself.:D
Talk soon, John

 

[Everlong]

Don't think I'd upgrade to a Q6600. I'd most likely get a Yorkfield quad core when I come round to getting a quad.

My C2D is running great, only game that's really pushed it is GTA4. It gets 97% usage in game, and there's are few games coming out this year/next year which are optimised for quad cores.

 

[johnwillyums]

hi Everlong, yeh I would probably go for a Yorkfield if I were buying now. J

 

[skunksmash]

Im a bit of a skin flint, the 45nm quads are a bit pricey over the 65nm offerings, the price vs performance ratio just does not warrant the extra cash IMO...

if i take a Q6600 or 6700 to 3.6ghz, there is only a few fps difference from a 45nm equivalent with the same clock, the 65nm will take a serious voltage beating, & its cheaper :D

the 45nm may attain higher clocks but the risk of frying it is not something i want to have to worry about....




SK

 

[Everlong]

The Q6700 is like £480 still though on scan.co.uk as it's listed as a Core 2 Quad Extreme. Q6600 are still a decent CPU, but if I had the money, I'd try go for a Q9300 or 9400.

 

[skunksmash]

you can pick up a Q6700 for much less than that...... for the time i will use it (2 years or so) a 2nd hand one that has not been OCed would do me...

its just finding one.....



SK

 

[Everlong]

Seems scan has listed it incorrectly then. Always thought it was expensive :S

 

[johnwillyums]

Just looked at Overclockers website and they have a couple of OCd Q6600s.
Well they're not OCd but guaranteed to 3GHz and 3.3GHz. The latter is just under £200.
Seems to me you might as well get a regular one for £140 and OC it yourself.
They don't have Q6700.
pip pip, John:D

 

[SCSIraidGURU]

3 Ghz is sufficient for any application. I would not overclock.

 

[koocha]

I'm in exactly the same boat as the OP.

Got a BFG 8800 GTS 512Mb OC and am either looking at the XFX GTX 260 Black (about £205 from scan.co.uk) or the 2Gb 4850x2 (for £250 from ebuyer.com).

I like the idea of CUDA and PhysX. I'll be playing at 1680x1050 using a Q6600 @ 3.33Ghz, 4Gb Corsair Dominator and Vista Ultimate x64.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

 

[skunksmash]

I'm in exactly the same boat as the OP.

Got a BFG 8800 GTS 512Mb OC and am either looking at the XFX GTX 260 Black (about £205 from scan.co.uk) or the 2Gb 4850x2 (for £250 from ebuyer.com).

I like the idea of CUDA and PhysX. I'll be playing at 1680x1050 using a Q6600 @ 3.33Ghz, 4Gb Corsair Dominator and Vista Ultimate x64.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

well the 4850x2 is more powerful than the XFX260 BLACK, but if the 260 has dropped to £200 grab it, i payed £230 for my ''black 260'' & that was cheap....

nvidia drivers are much better in terms of their frequent releases, this helps null out any compatibility issues from rig to rig, the problem with ATI is, if your machine dont like their latest driver you'll have to use an older one (which could be a few months older) & that's stupid when your buying they're latest & greatest..


the XFX260 BLACK is a super performer as is the 4850x2, what PSU do you have..??
the x2 uses a fair bit of power....


while physX is still in its infancy & there aint much out there supporting it, this WILL change, & Nvidia will have the edge in the near future (if not already )



SK

 

[koocha]

I've got a 650W PSU, can't remember who mkes it. XClio I think.
The 55nm EVGA overclocked one is £225 from scan.co.uk at the moment - worth the extra over the Black?

I'm quite into PhysX. I used to have a dedicated PhysX card so have got games that support it and patches, etc.

I thought there was a modified driver to allow ATI cards to use PhysX - is that right?

 

[Everlong]

ATI have got their own version now called ATI Stream I think, well I'm not 100% sure it uses Physx, but it's pretty much what CUDA is for Nvidia.

 

[MrNeeds]

ATI have got their own version now called ATI Stream I think, well I'm not 100% sure it uses Physx, but it's pretty much what CUDA is for Nvidia.

isnt cuda for video encoding and cpu heavy tasks?

 

[Everlong]

ATI have got their own version now called ATI Stream I think, well I'm not 100% sure it uses Physx, but it's pretty much what CUDA is for Nvidia.

isnt cuda for video encoding and cpu heavy tasks?

Well yea, it just offloads CPU intensive tasks to the GPU, such as Physx as well becasue without physics cards, the CPU would render all the physics, so now the GPU does it.

And afaik, ATI Stream is pretty much the same as this, but I'm not sure about the Physx.

 

[koocha]

GPU Technology for Accelerated Computing

GPU Technology for Accelerated Computing

ATI Stream technology is a set of advanced hardware and software technologies that enable AMD graphics processors (GPU), working in concert with the system’s central processor (CPU), to accelerate many applications beyond just graphics. This enables better balanced platforms capable of running demanding computing tasks faster than ever.

Along with leading third party industry partners and academic institutions worldwide, AMD is building a complete ATI Stream computing ecosystem, one that delivers the performance, applications, software and tools necessary to turn AMD's low-cost application acceleration vision into reality.

Characteristics of GPU acceleration:

Enable new applications on new architectures
Parallel problems other than graphics that map well on GPU architecture
Transition from fixed function to programmable pipelines
Various proof points in research and industry under the name GPGPU

 

[Everlong]

Doesn't mention anything about physics in there, but it is just the same as what CUDA does.