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So... do all these people buying these super-high-end cards really have 30" monitors?

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Except I'm not talking about benchmarks and graphs. I don't trust them anyway.

I'm talking about I, personally, have never noticed any significant slowdown on any non-Crysis game during normal gameplay. I have to do things like spawning a zillion boxes in Gmod before I get slowdown. I have no idea if I'm sitting at 60fps at all times: my eyes aren't that sensitive. Just like I can't tell the difference in colors or response time between my girlfriend's cheap 19" TN-panel and my gorgeous 26" Doublesight (I got it for the viewing angle so we can watch movies from the bed).

I'm just curious what other people's reasons are for upgrading from "last years' mid-high-end" when games coming out this year don't seem any more system-taxing than last year, so far.
 
people upgrade to there level of "likeness" what feels shakey and unsmooth to them , may be ok for you 🙂

i upgrade when i feel i need a system overhaul
 
Thanks for the compliment.

If you actually bothered to READ, I'm asking what the motivation is for the (numerous) people who have sub-1080p monitors upgrading from a capable GPU to a more powerful GPU instead of getting a nicer monitor or otherwise improving their gaming experience. I'm NOT saying "8800GTS is good enough for everyone why bother upgrading?". I genuinely want to see and understand different viewpoints.
 
I did actually read it and I loved getting called an idiot by Louisss. I have built and bought some great systems only to play them at low resolutions. Why, I have no idea. Maybe I thought I wanted to make sure I had the power to play at any resloution even if I didnt want to play it at it.
 
Am I Louisss? I don't think it's stupid to upgrade. Hell, I did it myself once (I was using an 8800GTS 320MB on a 1024x768 CRT for about six months). I got a 19" 1600x1200 CRT at a hell of a price afterwards, and then I determined that having a nicer monitor made more of a difference than upgrading the video card FOR ME.

I'm wondering why other people have come to different conclusions. What am I missing? Is it just the games I play? Why can't I tell the difference with AA/AF turned on or off?
 
Originally posted by: Jax Omen
... what?

I'm saying that, except for Crysis, you would not be able to tell the difference between a 4850 and a GTX280 at 1680x1050. They both max every game out at that resolution.
Click to expand...

I think he meant that there's better image qualities with the 4850 than the 280, at least from his perspective. Some people can see differences between the cards, with AA or without, etc.
 
Some of the newer games (Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect, etc) feel a tiny bit slow at 1920x1200 with my system, especially in combat. It's all very playable, but I would like it to be smoother 🙂

Even WoW can slow down a bit when there's a lot of people around. For the most part though, it's perfect at 8xAA with max details 😀

8800gt is the most impressive card I've ever owned (considering I got it for free as a step-up from a GTS320 - thanks eVGA!)

The most impressive bump was when I went from a radeon 9600 non pro (on a Barton 2500+ with 1GB of RAM) to a 7800gt (on a Venice 3500+ with 2GB of RAM). Wicked fast. Wicked.

~MiSfit
 
I can't max LOTRO with an 8800GT or 4850. DX10 completly kills these cards... Even with DX9 mode these cards still get wupped on in raids.
COD4 also isn't as smooth as it could be with even just 2X AA. There IS a still a need for fast cards IMO.
 
Originally posted by: krnmastersgt

I think he meant that there's better image qualities with the 4850 than the 280, at least from his perspective. Some people can see differences between the cards, with AA or without, etc.
Click to expand...

😵 really? I've never been able to see a difference in (older) games whenever I've changed GPUs. EEENTERESTING.... Any examples? Now you've piqued my interests >_>





for the people mentioning WoW, it's a singlethreaded CPU-limited game. Of course it slows down in crowded areas. A new GPU isn't going to help, the only thing that would is a faster CPU and/or more RAM if you don't have lots of RAM already.
 
Age of Conan at times drops to 20 or less fps. It's the first game I've played since my last upgrade that I can't stay reliably at 60 so out goes the 8800gtx =)

I only upgrade when I can't stay reliably above 60 min. It's very noticeable to me when I drop to 30 or below and it drives me nuts.
 
Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS
Originally posted by: Jax Omen


Umm... an 8800GT can max out EVERY SINGLE game in existence except for Crysis. Why would you spend more money for no benefit?
Click to expand...

QFT Icannot agree more. an 8800gt/3870 plays every game i play on high settings and plays crysis good enough for me to get tired of it within 20 mins (its a crappy game)

i play on 1680x1050.

my next upgrade will be a monitor before any faster graphics card.

never understood those idiots that buy high end sli setups to game on 1280x1024 or 1680x1050.
Click to expand...

So you decided to hold off on the offer to me that would've gotten you a 4850 for a net of -$7 😛
 
Going 8800GT to HD4870.

Gaming on a 42" 1080i Plasma via HDMI.

I am upgrading mainly because I really want to prepare for DX10 and the HD4870 will help me. My dad is buying my 8800GT OC off me at retail price which pays for half of my upgrade... so it really put two fingers up to an SLI connection.

This benefits both my dad and me so its a nice upgrade.
 
I'm not sure how you guys play games on your 30" computer monitor. I can understand for HDTV it's great, but a for a typical computer setup that extra screen area actually gives me motion sickness when playing FPS. I've concluded that the perfect monitor size for me is a 20" non-widescreen LCD. I love my Dell ultrasharp 2007FP. I have the 24" also which goes with the community computer. Even though I got the 24" for cheap on CL, I kinda regretted getting it because it's overkill.
 
Easy..

My previous system was an s939 AMD with an x850xtpe ATI card for a bit. Used it for years.

Back in October to November, I decided to do some upgrading. I bought a new 24" LCD, quad core comp, motherboard, 4GB of memory, and an 8800GTX.

Been doing great with that since. However, I saw the deal at bestbuy for 4850's at $150 a pop. I bought two, and have turned around and sold my 8800GTX which I bought for $270 for $225 as it was capable of reaching a nice overclock beyond ultra speeds.

So, all in all, I'm out a few bucks for a bigger performance boost, and a bit better "future proofed" so I probably can wait another 2 or maybe 3 years before doing another major overhaul upgrade.

To me, my decisions were a no brainer.
 
At this point in time, I don't feel the need to upgrade either system. I currently game on a 24" & have no complaints & don't see a need for a 30" to replace it.

However, I am in the market for a 58" (1080P) plasma for my HT & plan to connect Rig 2 to it. I haven't seen a PC connected to a display this large yet, so I'm seriously hoping I won't be disappointed. Everything will be connected via HDMI, so we'll see what happens.

Back to the OP's topic though, if your cards are playing the games just fine, I don't see a reason to upgrade.
 
There are other reasons to upgrade than sheer speed (UVD2, HDMI audio etc).

As for gaming, on my 24" at 1920x1200 I don't see any speed difference between my old 8800GT and the 4870 in "older" games (HL, HL2) however, being able to crank everything to the highest settings with full AA in DX10 games is something I couldn't do with the 8800GT and get comfortable, to me, framerates and the IQ that I crave.

While my existing rig isn't top notch, for the money I spent on the 4870 theres not much I could have upgraded that would get me as much of a gain as the GPU did.

Another couple of improvements that were kind of important to me were overall case temps and noise:

Since the 4870 is dual slot and ejects hot air out of the rear of the case my internal temps have dropped a bit, even though the card idles really hot.

I went with the 8800GT on a new build because I wanted a single slot card. The problem was I had to notch the case fans up a bit to reduce the heat and, while at idle the 8800GT was reasonably quiet, under load it was a screamer!

So to answer the original question:

I upgraded the GPU because I couldn't afford to upgrade anything else and I'm an upgrade addict (as well as all of the above reasons) 😉

 
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