Graphics card predicament

[flyingbullseye]

As of late my current graphics card, an x1950xtx is starting to show some texture artifact not only in this sim but every now and then in other games that it never used to have problems with. With that in mind I still plan to ride this until it dies but am budgeting a replacment and looking at two cards.

Asus 9800 GT
ATI HD 4850

Here's the predicament. The ATI card is quite a bit faster, has better image quality and avivo is free but as some here have mentioned will still have some weird textures in this sim even though there have been some work arounds.

The nvidia card, specifically the one from asus for the same price as the other 9800 GT's has 128 SP's as opposed to 112 so for the price looks good.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121266

It, being NV, typically doesn't experience the same texture problems as ATI (not that it can't happen but seems to happen less often). However with lower image quality I'd also have to pay for purevideo as opposed to free avivo.

The only thing that doesn't matter right now is the fact that the ATI card is faster, I won't notice it in this sim as I don't have any slow down with my current card with AA/AF maxed.

Which one is the better way to go? The one that is faster (not important in this sim), better image quality and free avivo or the other lesser image quality and not free purevideo but less often or no texture problems?

Flyingbullseye

[Feuerfalke]

Nvidia does have similar texture-issues, so you won't get cured from that.

I just switched from a 8800GTS 640 to an ATI/AMD 4870. It took me a few hours to find the perfect setting for IL2, but Coasties guide is very helpful and it now looks better than with my 8800GTS, though that card was really great, too.

Most decent differences are in texture rendering (With all my nVidias in OpenGL textures had colored artifact-dots, while the ATI makes it look much smoother but with stronger contrast - more like running the game in DX-mode) and the renown "Bowwave", this ugly horizontal lines of LOD-stepping you have especially with ground-textures while flying low in IL2 or in many egoshooters.

I'm not a fanboy of any brand. Both cards have their pros and cons, driver and hardware-based. But at the moment, I recommend ATI/AMD 100%.

[JG27CaptStubing]

I know some will disagree but having my ATI X800XL die on me I was forced to go with another card. I ended up building a new machine and at the time it made sense to go C2 Duo and SLI. I opted to go SLI just because I can't stand the fact we get new cards every 6 months and I thought it would be a good option just to go with another older card and scale that way.

Anyways...

I switch to 1 8800 GT and I continue to run water=2 and special effects=2 and the ATI cards water looks way better. Everything else looked very close and the IQ on both cards was about the same. But with the 8800GT I could bump up the AA and AF over all it looked better and I got about the same amount of performance over all. I didn't run any AA and only little AF with the ATI.

I then wanted to see this sim but not kill myself by getting a 600 card so I bought another 8800GT and went SLI.

After about a month of tweaking and playing with the lame drivers I got dialed in. I have no studder anymore and I run with full settings.

So at the end of the day you can opt to go Nvidia and be fine and your card choices seem good to me. You may opt to go with the 260 just to get a little longevity and it's not that much more expensive.

The 4870 seems like a good choice too...

Yeah, a difficult one, i have 2 X 8800GTX cards in SLI but even they struggle at full settings when there is a big explosion and such like. Other than that i am generally pleased with them. However the ATI cards simply produce a better look in IL2 .

[Urufu_Shinjiro]

Sounds like it may just be overheating, have you checked to see if there is dust clogging the heatsink or to make sure the fan is still spinning?

[flyingbullseye]

Originally Posted by Urufu_Shinjiro

Sounds like it may just be overheating, have you checked to see if there is dust clogging the heatsink or to make sure the fan is still spinning?

Kind of what I thought too. I installed a zelman vf-900 on it, about two months ago and have checked to make sure it still works, everything is fine and connected as it should be. The temps max at 62C and idle around 38C so it can't be overheating. I did buy it off ebay about 6 months ago "new" but even though the box was appearnently sealed I can't be totally sure I am the first owner, lesson learned. Switching to DX mode fixed nearly all of the texture corruption but the water sucks and now have a "wave effect" on the land but its much less annoying than the texture problems.

Irregardless I'd still probably be upgrading anyway (this just gives me more of an excuess) as I plan to upgrade my monitor to a 19" LCD that has a 1680x1050 res and when BIA:HH and COD5 come out the 1950 probably won't play them at a decent fps at that resolution. Both of those cards should and won't break the bank doing it. This sim is the only wrench in the works and just want to know the best direction for money well spent. Its starting to look as if ATI is still the way to go.

Flyingbullseye

[Zoom2136]

My previous cards,


1x ATI 850XT - Great card, had great visual ran for 2 years highly overclocked;
2x 7900GTX OC (SLI) - Horrible just horrible visual, stutters, the works; and
1x 260GTX OC - Just bought this card at FuturShop (Canada) for $269 (evga). The visuals are a lot better than the 7900GTX OCs that I previously had. Still have a bit of weird shadows (they appear weird when displayed over water... like they are made up of lines and dots...) but other than that its great. I think it compares to my older ATI.

All in all I went with another NVIDIA card because I have an SLI MB. But from what I've seen, right now ATI (4xxx) and NVIDIA (2xx) are neck to neck. So its rather a question of personal preference.

I would not go for a 9800GT, this card is already outdated.