Oblivion card suggestions?

[betasub]

I don't think I have the patience to wait several months to the next release of mid-to-highend cards, and have ~190UKP to spend on graphics for my Oblivion rig. I'd like to play at 1280x1024 / 1680x1050 with Ultra/full LOD settings, but my budget only seems to stretch to a 8800GTS-320 or 1950XTX-512.

My motherboard and budget would also handle Crossfire pairs of 1950pro-512 or 2600xt-512. Would either of these be an improvement on a faster single card?

Edit: don't plan to use AA, just HDR and AF, with those Ultra/full LOD settings.

 

[aka1nas]

Don't crossfire the mid-range parts. Get a single 8800GTS. The X1950XTX might be all right too if you don't do AA, though I can't imagine playing without at least a little bit of token 2x or 4x AA applied.

If you ever decide to use one of the high-res texture packs, you will probably need a card with 512MB or more of graphics RAM.

 

[will889]

8800 640 for upper midrange and the X1950XT (you don't need and XTX) for solid midrange (albeit DX9 only). I say the 640MB 8800 because if you're going to get an 8800 along with a DX10 card you might as well get the 640MB to use some extra eye candy and better WS frame rates in new DX10 games.

 

[betasub]

Agree that the larger vRAM cards will come in handy for the high-res textures and LOD - that's why I've picked out 512MB cards rather than their 256MB versions.

I'm struggling to find a 8800GTS-640 within my budget - are there gaming situations where the 320MB version struggles, while the 640MB card pulls through? I ask because there's bound to be a point where the 640MB struggles as well...

 

[will889]

Yes, new games like Call Of Warez and probably games to come in the future where Vista demands and DX10 textures, and WS resolutions all will play a part. New benchmarks that I have seen lately show a big difference in frame rates with the 320 vs the 640 and that's the first time I have seen that big of a difference.

 

[evolucion8]

Originally posted by: aka1nas
Don't crossfire the mid-range parts. Get a single 8800GTS. The X1950XTX might be all right too if you don't do AA, though I can't imagine playing without at least a little bit of token 2x or 4x AA applied.

If you ever decide to use one of the high-res texture packs, you will probably need a card with 512MB or more of graphics RAM.

I used to max Oblivion with my old X800XT PE with 4xFSAA and 16x AF (Albeit 1024x768 LOL) Not all the sliders to max, but selecting the option were it said max or high (Don't remember clearly, anyways that option moves all the slides to pretty high settings) , and always played smooth and fast, even I used the Fake HDR mode that allowed me to run a weird HDR that looked slighly worse than the one implemented on the Source engine. If you play the game at 1280x1024 you should be able to max the game with no issues, higher than that the VRAM or the lack of GPU horsepower will come an issue, not sure of which one. Just try not to get a card with less than 512MB (Ie 256MB) or 640MB (Ie 320MB)of VRAM.

 

[biostud]

Originally posted by: will889
Yes, new games like Call Of Warez

 

[will889]

 

[Piuc2020]

That made me LOL, I wonder if people even know the correct pronunciation for that game... maybe thats why it did so bad, 90% of people in the US can't say it heh just kidding.

As for the topic at hand, the VRAM issue is taken out of proportion, get a 8800GTS 320MB, end of story.

 

[bryanW1995]

definitely the 8800 gts 320 is significanlty better than x1950xtx. I can't imagine that the x1950xtx is much cheaper, either, since x1950xt is now creeping back up to 200 usd and 8800 gts 320 is 270 usd.

 

[Borealis7]

i wouldnt buy a card for a 40 hour game...you better think ahead in DX10 terms.
sadly, all cards that are out right now perform poorly in the overwhelming flood of 3 DX10 games.

 

[kmmatney]

I play Oblivion with the system in my sig at 1440 x 900, and often run at 1680 x 1050 if I'm indoors for a long time. To get things to run smooth, I applied a few mods, such as the shorter grass mod and better texture mod. No AA, but I can keep most of the graphics sliders at high levels and use some AF. The game looks great. You should have no trouble with an 8800GTS-320. Upgrading my cpu helped as well, but I was able to beat the game the first time around using a Sempron overclocked to 2.3 Ghz.

 

[betasub]

I really don't believe that an x800xtpe is going give satisfactory results (even with Bloom instead of HDR). The full-distance outdoor views and the Oblivion Gates are bound to bring it to a crawl.

As for the "shorter grass" mod, is that the one that makes it look like Cyrodil worships the god of lawnmowers, with kept rolling lawns instead of wilderness?

8800GTS seems to be the way to go. Still trying to find a bargain 640MB version to go with large texture packs.

 

[evolucion8]

Originally posted by: betasub
I really don't believe that an x800xtpe is going give satisfactory results (even with Bloom instead of HDR). The full-distance outdoor views and the Oblivion Gates are bound to bring it to a crawl.

As for the "shorter grass" mod, is that the one that makes it look like Cyrodil worships the god of lawnmowers, with kept rolling lawns instead of wilderness?

8800GTS seems to be the way to go. Still trying to find a bargain 640MB version to go with large texture packs.

Then believe it, even though the X850XT is an old card, is a very capable card, I used to own the X800XT PE and I was able to run Oblivion (Albeit a lowly 1024x768 due to CRT restrictions) with 4xFSAA, 8x AF with Texture Mod packs, Short Grass mod and even the FakeHDR mod, and it was smooth in the inside as in the outside. The FakeHDR mod has a considerable impact in performance, in the indoors I was getting like 90fps and when I activated it went down to 50 and in the outside, It used to run like 50's average and went down below the 40's and sometimes to the high 20's, once I deactivated, the fps jumped considerably.

 

[will889]

Originally posted by: Piuc2020
That made me LOL, I wonder if people even know the correct pronunciation for that game... maybe thats why it did so bad, 90% of people in the US can't say it heh just kidding.

As for the topic at hand, the VRAM issue is taken out of proportion, get a 8800GTS 320MB, end of story.

If by people you mean 'I', I would hope so since I know Spanish fluently. I haven't actually played the game itself though. I thought it was pretty funny and wondered how long it would take someone to notice Warez. Also, I don't condone piracy in any form or fashion.


Back on topic though, there is a GeCube X1950XT 512 at the egg for about $190.00 AR iirc, but for that price might as well nab an 8800 320. I'm still milking a 7950 512 myself, and probably will be for about another year.

 

[dennilfloss]

Haha. I bought Oblivion when it came out (because I wanted an Imperial coin) and I'm getting close to installing it now. Really enjoyed Morrowind & expansions with tons of mods.

Unless I decide to play IL-2 games instead.

(dennil still has games from 1999 he's never played, like Aliens VS Predator and Drakhan).

 

[will889]

Originally posted by: dennilfloss
Haha. I bought Oblivion when it came out (because I wanted an Imperial coin) and I'm getting close to installing it now. Really enjoyed Morrowind & expansions with tons of mods.

Unless I decide to play IL-2 games instead.

(dennil still has games from 1999 he's never played, like Aliens VS Predator and Drakhan).

I keep some older games. I still have NOLF1, Morrowind, Baulder's Gate series, Anachronox, and a few others. Also recently bought Deus Ex and RTCW on STEAM (I had long since sold my original CD copies).

 

[boglwe]

I played Oblivion at 1900x1200 with an X1950XTX. I had all settings on highest with a e6600 CPU. My FPS was never under 35ish fps outdoors. That was a great card to purchase at the time, really outlasted so many other cards of that time. I suggest the X1950xtx.

 

[will889]

^ yeah the x1950xt or xtx, heck event the 250mb xt is faster than my 7950 512. Not way I can play Oblivion @ 19*12. 16*10 medium or 1152*864 high HDR is about the best I can do. I can do very well in any other game though.

 

[boglwe]

the Xt does not compare to the XTX. ~smiles~

 

[evolucion8]

Originally posted by: boglwe
the Xt does not compare to the XTX. ~smiles~

The difference in price doesn't worth the small performance difference. If someone can get the XTX cheaper than the XT do it, otherwise just overclock the XT and get similar performance. http://www.gpureview.com/show_...hp?card1=442&card2=467