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  1. J

    AMD Cat 12.x (12.9) August 9 Unofficial release beta driver

    These are the best drivers for someone running multi-GPU 6-series and playing newer games. I have 3x 6970 and play at 2560x1600. Sleeping Dogs - some of the older driver sets ran fast although the low/med AA didn't have great IQ. 12.8 seemed to have high IQ but with TERRIBLE multigpu...
  2. J

    AT Fermi OC/benchmark thread

    I prefer to keep those and turn shadows down one notch while leaving the high res shadow option turned on. Unless you sit around and closely scrutinize the shadows, they arguably look better that way because they are a lot more defined. I found that neither a pair of overclocked 480s nor a...
  3. J

    GTX 470/480 TIM replacement, Afterburner, updated w/SLI temps

    Where did you hear that two bridges are recommended for 2560? It sounds a bit outlandish but I'll buy another if it works. Any idea if I could use a 3 way bridge with just 2 cards? That would give the dual SLI connections but the connectors for the third card would be unoccupied.
  4. J

    AT Fermi OC/benchmark thread

    I've got my pair of GTX 480 at 870/2150. One of the cards could go to 2250 on the memory. This is on air slotted right next to each other but with extra case fans. Temps and noise are alright...I have a set of open headphones (audio technica ADH-AD700) which don't block a lot of sound and the...
  5. J

    12 Display 4GB Oc'd 5970 by Powercolor

    No AA and HBAO off...ie middling settings. Turn HBAO on and give it a reasonable (but not extreme) amount of AA like 4x MSAA and those framerates will cut in half...actually the review says it's "unplayable" with even 2x AA on a 5970. Even at those settings, the graph is ugly...that's not a...
  6. J

    12 Display 4GB Oc'd 5970 by Powercolor

    Modern Warfare 2's tech is way more than 2 years old and it's designed for consoles. Thanks for proving my point, none of those games are remotely stressful or advanced, (except of course the ones that you admittedly have to turn down the settings on) and I call shenanigans if you're trying to...
  7. J

    When to Upgrade from my GTX 280

    Unless you're gonna go dual GPU and get the 5970, I say wait for better single gpu cards. Your best upgrade path right now is just getting another 280 at a good price...the pair should be faster than a 5870 for the most part and you'll probably take less depreciation when it's time to sell...
  8. J

    12 Display 4GB Oc'd 5970 by Powercolor

    Maybe if you're playing two year old DX9 games and don't mind running medium settings on any newer game that is even remotely stressful.
  9. J

    12 Display 4GB Oc'd 5970 by Powercolor

    lol, just because it has 12 ports doesn't mean it can "drive" those resolutions. eyefinity framerates are already crap with just 3 displays.
  10. J

    GTX 480 - Quad SLI @ ~1500W!

    ROFL This calculation is only relevant if you subtract out the alternative cost of a more reasonable high end gaming PC, which would still use half the watts. And the real difference is even less than 750w since neither system will be anywhere close to peak wattage most of the time during...
  11. J

    gaming at 1920x1080 what do I need

    If you want the most performance per dollar I'd think about two or three used GTX 280.
  12. J

    gtx 480 @ 857 core is really impressive!

    just the afterburner beta. they are volted to 1.1. The temps change a lot from game to game. Assassins Creed 2 at 8X AA 2560x1600 with vsynch on barely even stresses them so they're like 75c at 70% fan. The hottest I saw on on a wide selection of games is 87c at 88%. I don't find them...
  13. J

    gtx 480 @ 857 core is really impressive!

    I got my SLI pair of GTX 480 up to 870mhz each and they're not even all that hot with the fans I put in the case. Just keep fans blowing across the heatpipes and you can do this on stock cooling.
  14. J

    Air cooling the GTX 480

    Any time you want to put a large overclock on the card it's going to take some extra cooling. The difference here that is instead of spending a lot on custom HSF, you can spend a small amount on case fans. I didn't just buy these fans for the cards, I had always planned to add on to this case...
  15. J

    Air cooling the GTX 480

    Yeah I know this is the conventional wisdom but the setup seems to work best this way. I felt around in the case for what you're talking about while I was setting it up. If I were to flip that top intake fan, it's just going to be exhausting room temperature air and lowering the pressure on the...
  16. J

    Air cooling the GTX 480

    So far it's looking like I'll settle on a 25-30% overclock with a bit of extra voltage added. That's very good for a multicard setup on air. I've had plenty of cards that could not even manage a 10% overclock on stock volts and didn't improve much with extra voltage.
  17. J

    Air cooling the GTX 480

    I've discovered that cooling on these cards is actually *excellent*. The thing is that unlike other cards, the exposed heatpipe design is really helped by your case airflow, allowing you you add a massive amount of cooling without going to water. Basically it's a double edged sword. These cards...
  18. J

    Sapphire Radeon HD 5970 TOXIC 4GB REview

    What a crappy review. It should have been compared to GTX 480 sli, which is the same cost. And it also doesn't tell us the max OC potential, which is pretty important since it's already heavily overclocked so may not have as much headroom. It seems silly to score it so highly when there's little...
  19. J

    GTX 470 SLI or 5970?

    Again, tell me what law would make this illegal (reminder: graphics cards are not securities and do not fall under SEC jurisdiction) and also support your assertion that "artificially" high prices have been created by the current behavior. Face it commie, you made an argument based in emotion...
  20. J

    GTX 470 SLI or 5970?

    ROFL, this is America, not Soviet Russia. Tell me what statute would potentially make it illegal to buy and resell video cards. You need to do some self-study of basic economic principles. Having less than 1% of the total 480s auctioned off doesn't artificially create high prices. In fact, the...
  21. J

    The full truth revealed: GTX480 is one power sucking monster --Fudzilla

    Gaming in general does heat up a room during an extended session. It's definitely noticeable during an all night BFBC2 marathon. However, the difference between GTX 480 sli and 5870+5970 trifire isn't that much.
  22. J

    GTX 470 SLI or 5970?

    Don't blame ebay, blame supply and demand. The few cards on ebay didn't keep you from getting one. In fact, the 480 wasn't hard to get at all if you were flexible on vendor. It's better that cards are on ebay so that people who have money and want them at least have the option of buying them.
  23. J

    The full truth revealed: GTX480 is one power sucking monster --Fudzilla

    Nothing to see here. A high end card tested against a midrange card using nonstressful games and probably low resolutions so the midrange card somewhat competes on performance. Everyone already knows you don't need a gtx480 to play company of heroes. But if you want to play metro maxed at 2560...
  24. J

    Good 5970 vs. 480 reviews? Who's the peoples' champ

    5850 = roughly $330 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...n=5850&x=0&y=0 GTX 480 = $500 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...tx+480&x=0&y=0 hth
  25. J

    Get 3 GTX 480s or wait for 2 4GB 5970s??

    The quadfire scaling has looked universally terrible. Trifire scales all right but you need 2GB or it suffers badly on a 30 inch monitor. My suggestion: if gaming at 1920x1200, go 1gb 5870 + 1gb 5970 if gaming at 2560, triple 480s all the way.
  26. J

    GTX 480 2x SLI vs. 5970+5870 trifire impressions

    I had the 5970 first then added a 5870 because I wanted moar powar. I'd also consider a 4GB 5970 but I don't think it will be fairly priced, and it's also only going to have the same raw power as a normal 5970 which was a bit less than I wanted. I'd also have to buy an overpriced 2gb 5870 to go...
  27. J

    GTX 480 2x SLI vs. 5970+5870 trifire impressions

    Yes and no. Like FC2 at 2560 8xAA uses a bit over 1200mb of memory according to the afterburner beta for the GTX 480. So it's clear that lack of memory causes the worst of it. But there's still some stuttering even in situations where there shouldn't be a lack of memory. Overall the 480s seem to...
  28. J

    GTX 480 2x SLI vs. 5970+5870 trifire impressions

    Well I received my pair of Galaxy GTX 480 and stayed up all night playing with them, so I'll give you all some initial impressions. I didn't bench them much because that's boring, instead I checked out a variety of games to see if they improved on the problems I had with the trifire setup. For...
  29. J

    PSU for GTX480 sli + GTX280 physx?

    The scaling is a mixed bag. Sometimes it was phenomenal, especially in benchmarks. Like on unigine tropics, 5970 oc was 2126 and adding the 5870 bumped it to a staggering 3582. Crysis at 1920x1200 also scaled really well. The problem I kept running into though is while they often post gaudy...
  30. J

    What is a solid but inexpensive CPU cooler for overclocking

    the sunbeam core contact cooler is also pretty decent. design is very similar to a lot of what has been posted already.
  31. J

    PSU for GTX480 sli + GTX280 physx?

    That doesn't match my experience at all. With vsynch turned on with my 5970+5870 setup, card usage percentage and temperatures are both much lower. Like a game may stress the gpus 80% with vsynch off and 40% with vsynch on. I would assume that with the lower temperatures also comes lower power draw.
  32. J

    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 Overclocking with Voltage Adjustment

    The 5970 is a 5870x2. A 470x2 isn't a very compelling card. Yeah, it's theoretically possible but to me the whole draw of Fermi is that it's #1 for performance and a 470x2 would be beat by a 5970.
  33. J

    Pretty shocking poll numbers I'd never thought I would see

    It's a shame he's so dangerous on foreign policy and national security issues. I also think he may be a bit of a loose cannon economically. On one hand it's refreshing to see a politician who clearly understands microeconomics, macroeconomics, and monetary policy (ie, the exact opposite of...
  34. J

    Ask the card-carrying socialists: Is Obama one of them? - Wharton, co-chair of...

    Show me some evidence that modern America has not been number 1 in the things that matter: economy, technology, military. Well, there may not be much point to actual debate for you since you don't have the ability. You're very skilled at arguing against straw men though. I don't recall...
  35. J

    Ask the card-carrying socialists: Is Obama one of them? - Wharton, co-chair of...

    Good to see that you can debate on substance. I guess this never happened. http://www.breitbart.tv/obama-in-03-id-like-to-see-a-single-payer-health-care-plan/
  36. J

    Ask the card-carrying socialists: Is Obama one of them? - Wharton, co-chair of...

    No doubt he's a socialist to the core. Obviously hardcore socialists aren't going to be happy with him because he's not able to openly and honestly admit who he was lest he see unrest and popular revolt far in excess of what's occurring now. There would be no way for him to get elected on a...
  37. J

    PSU for GTX480 sli + GTX280 physx?

    http://www.maingearforums.com/entry.php?23-So-You-Want-To-Buy-A-GeForce Well check out Batman here. At 2560 16xAA and high physx, dual 480's only average 42 whereas trip 480's average 77. I'd probably like to play at 2560 4xAA and keep the minimum above 60 at all times. Not knowing how...
  38. J

    Sapphire Radeon HD 5970 TOXIC 4GB preview

    That article looks like pure hackery. I'm almost positive the price on that card will be closer to the cost of a pair of GTX 480's than a single GTX 480, yet they only bench it against one 480. It may even be the same or more. I paid $910 after cashback for a pair of 480s and I wouldn't be...
  39. J

    PSU for GTX480 sli + GTX280 physx?

    Yeah broseph but are you being facetious or am I doing something genuinely risky in this specific situation? I also have a single slot 9800gt I could toss in for physx but that might actually slow down the system from what I understand.
  40. J

    PSU for GTX480 sli + GTX280 physx?

    I'd sell the 280 and just overclock the 480s instead of undervolting. That 624w isn't representative of what I do since I don't mess around with furmark. It's all 2560x1600 gaming with vsynch on, which usually keeps the cards well under 100% load. Maybe I'll just try it and see what happens...