Single ATI 1950 XTX 512MB - is it enough?

[UltimaBoB]

WIll a single ATI 1950 512 MB card give me goo performance on 24" widescreen at high rez with lots (not necessarily every last bit) of eyecandy turned on?

Or do I need SLI or Crossfire? If so, which Mobo goes with SLI or Crossfire and a E6700 CPU?

 

[josh6079]

Depends on the game. What are the specs to the rest of your rig and what do you plan on playing?

 

[Kromis]

I would so say...yes.

 

[PoopyPants]

yes bob the answer is yes.....
you dont need xfire or sli to get great performance out of any of the current games that are out today.

but with the directX 10 video cards coming very soon you may think about waiting

as for the mobo. you have the Intel 975x BadAxe the Asus P5W-DH Deluxe the new Abit 975X Max the Asus P5WD2-WS Pro and the WS64 (similar models although i wouldnt put either ahead of the other) there are others but i wouldnt waste your time.

my choice would be the bad axe or the Abit.

 

[akshayt]

most current games should run just fine at 1600*1200 or even 1920*1440.

 

[akshayt]

most current games should run just fine at 1600*1200 or even 1920*1440 but I would prefer CF. Also, 1950XTX is relatively new and Ai takes time to get the right drivers out. So there is much to hope.

 

[UltimaBoB]

Thanks

My new system is going to be (provisionally)

Acer 2423w 24" LCD monitor
1 x Asus ATI x1950XTX GPU
Intel E6700 CPU
1x Western Digital 150 GB Raptor HDD
4 x 1GB DDR2 800 RAM (work and live in Korea as a teacher - this is best I can do)
ASUS P5W DH Deluxe motherboard

I'm holding back ~$1,200 USD of my purchase money for Q2 2007 to upgrade to dual or quad GPUs after DX10, Vista, and better SLI support for Conroe. The single ATI 1950 is a 6-9 moth placeholder card. It will do the job ok then?

I am unsure if my monitor does 1:1 fixed aspect scaling though and wonder if I would have been better going Nvidia as a placeholder for that. But I heard there is a problem getting good SLI and Conroe support in a mobo right now and I don't want to wait. Also heard that a single ATI tends to beat a single Nvidia - but that crossfire itself is less mature than SLI, however neither is fully mature when used with Conroe. So a single ATI seemed best bet as a placeholder solution and then to throw down the real money after DX10.

I am really a computer noob and have just been trying to make my best call after doing a lot of reading about stuff I don't truly understand firsthand/. But what else can one do? If you don't know the tech yourself (or have a friend who does), in the end there will always be a bit of gamble and guesswork and going with your gut.

The main game I intend to play is Neverwinter Nights 2 when it comes out and it supports widescreen - so perhaps the lack of 1:1 scaling isn't really an issue.

 

[Kromis]

Originally posted by: akshayt
most current games should run just fine at 1600*1200 or even 1920*1440 but I would prefer CF. Also, 1950XTX is relatively new and Ai takes time to get the right drivers out. So there is much to hope.

Lol, just admit you double posted.

Those resolutions are INSANELY high for an X1950XTX, in my opinion.

 

[UltimaBoB]

btw I think the native rez on the Acer will be around 1920 x 1200

so I will need my single card - even as a placeholder - to handle that pretty sweetly for 6-9 months.


What would be a better mobo and GPU set-up to handle things if a single ATI can't handle that rez? I *want* to play in my native rez.

I can drop $US 1,400 now for my Mobo and GPU set-up if I really have to and still upgrade post DX-10 as well (pricey - but I want top notch performance the whole time and will pay for it).

 

[TanisHalfElven]

if yu can i'd recommend getting a xfire x1950xtx. eg. you can't play oblivion at 1920x1200 using a single card. same will probably apply to cysis.

 

[CodeBasher]

Mine owns on 1920x1200 with everything maxed out. i think you also will be fine.

 

[UltimaBoB]

Since my monitor might not do 1:1 scaling I decided to go with an Nvidia.

My understanding is that Conroe/True SLI don't work out so well in terms of motherboards and I am tired of waiting.

Plus, since I will upgrade in 6-9 months, I don't need the expense of true 2 card solution.

I am thinking of getting a single Geforce 7950 GX2 card to go with my E6700 and Asus P5W DH Motherboard.

NWN2 won't be as intensive as oblivion in terms of pure graphics BUT it isn't really designed for massive PvP gaming. It is designed for the kinds of effects you get when a party of 5-6 go up vs. 15 or so bad guys in a single area. But inevitably it gets modded for PvP and you suddenly have 16 on 16 high end characters chucking off a bazillion spells and graphical effects all in the same area - something the game wasn't designed for and that. I hear, the code is usually pretty inefficient at handling. NWN1 really taxed the CPU at high end because of this and also the Graphics card. If this pattern repeats itself I wonder how well I will be able to handle it on a 24" Widescreen LCD with a single 7950 GX2.

However, at the end of the day, maybe there is nothing wrong with drawing the spending line there and just turning down some graphical options dureing the heavy periods until I can upgrade to dual G80 cards.

BUT if I did go crossfire what mobo and vid cards? Same for SLI: what mobo and vid cards work well?

 

[Sentry2]

Yeah, get a 7950GX2. :thumbsup: Sounds about right for your situation.

I would say an X1900 CF setup and the P5W DH would be your best bet for the money though. Yeah, they get hot but not that bad if you don't overclock them.

Do you plan on overclocking your E6700?

 

[UltimaBoB]

no overclocking.

I'm useless when it comes to computer tech really.

Just like playing the games.

I imagibe the CF set-up and the 7950 GX2 are not that far off in terms of performance, eh? The 1900XT CF set-up being a bit faster of course - but more complex etc... as well.

 

[Ackmed]

It really depends on your games, and what you call playable. Some games are more demanding than others, and some game types do better with more frames. Overall I would say yes, but not with all games. You may have to lower other settings to get playable frames.

 

[KingGheedora]

I never really got into learning about 5:4, 4:3, 1:1, scaling and stuff with LCD's and such. I have a question about something you said on this, why would you need 1:1 scaling if you are running at 1920x1200? And why would the NVIDIA card be better if you need 1:1 scaling? Help a n00b out.

 

[m21s]

He would need 1:1 scaling if the game does not support Widescreen resolutions.

Nvidia allows this option in the control panel if your monitor does not support this feature, where ATI does not do this in the control panel.

So to play a game at 1600x1200 on his monitor he can run it at that with black bars on the sides. If he uses ATI the game will be streched to fill the screen.

I think thats right

 

[Ichigo]

You're getting 4GB of RAM? Cut it down to 2GB and go with SLI 7900GT's.

 

[KingGheedora]

I think I understand. For example, I play CS:S on a 2405, 9800pro. Since CS:S lets me select 1600x or 1920x resolutions, I wouldn't need to worry about scaling at those res.'s?

 

[m21s]

No scaling involved if the game supports your RES.
If it doesnt support it, the image will be streched to fit.

Nvidia allows you to do a custom res so its not to be streched, apparently ATI does not allow this feature.

 

[jkyle]

Running at 1920*1200 resolution here with no slowdowns. Though my games might not be what you will be playing. Civ 4 1920*1200 No slowdown, Madden 2k7 1920*1200 no slowdowns, Civ 4 1920*1200 no slowdowns and Quake 4 1920*1200 no slowdowns. Samsung 244t with BBA x1950xtx.

Joseph

 

[1Dark1Sharigan1]

Originally posted by: m21s
No scaling involved if the game supports your RES.
If it doesnt support it, the image will be streched to fit.

Nvidia allows you to do a custom res so its not to be streched, apparently ATI does not allow this feature.

Actually 1:1 scaling with an ATI card will work on many newer games (AOEIII, GRAW, Company of Heroes, etc.) if "centered timings" are set in the ATI control panel. But it depends on the game. (HL2 strangely does not support this for instance)

 

[mazeroth]

The X1950XTX will be just fine. I used to have the X1900XT with an Opteron 165 and I could play Oblivion at 2048x1536 with 8xAF and 0xAA just fine.

 

[Ackmed]

Originally posted by: m21s
He would need 1:1 scaling if the game does not support Widescreen resolutions.

Nvidia allows this option in the control panel if your monitor does not support this feature, where ATI does not do this in the control panel.

So to play a game at 1600x1200 on his monitor he can run it at that with black bars on the sides. If he uses ATI the game will be streched to fill the screen.

I think thats right

This is wrong. I have played BF2 before, and used 1600x1200 because they cant seem to get real WS support. And had two black bars on the side. It was not stretche at all.

 

[m21s]

Originally posted by: Ackmed

Originally posted by: m21s
He would need 1:1 scaling if the game does not support Widescreen resolutions.

Nvidia allows this option in the control panel if your monitor does not support this feature, where ATI does not do this in the control panel.

So to play a game at 1600x1200 on his monitor he can run it at that with black bars on the sides. If he uses ATI the game will be streched to fill the screen.

I think thats right

This is wrong. I have played BF2 before, and used 1600x1200 because they cant seem to get real WS support. And had two black bars on the side. It was not stretche at all.

I do not think its wrong.

I think your monitor probably supports a fixed aspect and does not stretch.

What monitor are you using and what video card?