What video card for a 3.0ghz DUO CORE?

[MustangSVT]

always get the fastest card with the best value. no point getting something slower because of the cpu "bottleneck" just to upgrade again in a year.

with that, i suggest 260 as well.

 

[MarcVenice]

Originally posted by: nRollo

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd
That entirely avoided my question.

Where is the benefit to the gameplay? FPS means little when you're already at playable and enjoyable levels. Physix doesn't make me say "wow I gotta have that for the new game" because there is nothing it does to the core gameplay that makes me have to have it. You see where I'm going? Developers are not dumb and won't make a game unplayable on ATI cards just because Nvidia is the only one who uses physix. Right now it's just about getting more FPS when you enable it, the gameplay is not affected by physix at all. Meaning the game is the same on both cards, just losing a few FPS if you choose to enable physix.

I don't know if I understand the question.

UT3 performance with and without PhysX in the PhysX levels

So on the Physx levels with their added effects a GTX280 is getting 41.9 fps at 16X12 0X0X with PhysX enabled, and 14.5 fps using the CPU as an ATi card would.

14.5 fps to 41.9 fps isn't a few frames, it's the difference between playable and and not even close.

The question will be in upcoming PhysX titles how much difference it will make, and whether their will basically be two versions of the game like UT3.

The physx argument is moot. The games you mention are very few and far between ALL other upcoming titles. I've talked with several developers, and physics (havok or physx) are not a priority. Do you know how much time it adds to the developing cycle to implement physx in a meaningfull way? With meaningfull I mean, UT3 heat ray levels throughout the whole game. Start guessing, coz you don't know, and developers simply sighed when I mentioned it.

Did you know that on that list of yours, sacred 2 was also mentioned? Have you played that game? Physx acceleration does roughly nothing in that game.

As for mirror's edge, there's a few things I read about, like tearing cloth for example. It's gimmicks, not gameplay altering features.

With the HD4850 being cheaper, I'd go with that one. If the 9800gtx+ was cheaper, I'd go with that one.

 

[ViRGE]

If you guys wish to discuss PhysX, please make a new thread. This one is veering way off-topic, especially since the OP hasn't asked about PhysX.

-ViRGE