Witcher 2 - VERY FRUSTRATED :'(

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RussianSensation

Elite Member
Sep 5, 2003
19,458
765
126
As you can see your 6450 is ranked number 17.

Great chart by Tom's. 6450 isn't ranked 17th though, I am pretty sure you meant 17th tier! 6450 is only about as fast as an X1800XL (ah that brings memories), a card that came out in October of 2005. :eek:

The Witcher 2 is one of the best looking games on the PC (if not the best), and pretty much crushes any videocard at Ultra Quality. At HQ, you need an HD6850 or so to get 30fps average.

This Performance Review ranks the cards specifically for this game:
http://gamegpu.ru/RPG/Rollevye/The-Witcher-2-Assassins-of-Kings-versii-1.2-tect-GPU.html

This game seems to run faster on AMD GPUs at competing price points. I would say HD5770 is a starting point for ~ $100 on Newegg.com. This game loves GPU power -- the faster the better. HD6950 and you are playing it comfortably on HQ. :)
 

Carfax83

Diamond Member
Nov 1, 2010
6,841
1,536
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This game seems to run faster on AMD GPUs at competing price points. I would say HD5770 is a starting point for ~ $100 on Newegg.com. This game loves GPU power -- the faster the better. HD6950 and you are playing it comfortably on HQ. :)

Patch 1.3 increased performance on Nvidia GPUs substantially (especially for SLi) just to let you know, and the upcoming 280xx drivers which are due out next week are rumored to have the long awaited Witcher 2 optimizations in them.
 

cronos

Diamond Member
Nov 7, 2001
9,380
26
101
Great chart by Tom's. 6450 isn't ranked 17th though, I am pretty sure you meant 17th tier!

I apologize as this is way off topic but I'm a little curious and I think we've successfully helped the OP so please bear with me :)

This is probably a language situation (lost in translation, etc) but the way I see it the use of words 'tier' and 'rank' in that situation is interchangeable. To me there are ranks (or tiers) of video cards on that page, and the OP's card is listed as number 17th. When I said 'rank', what did you interpret it to be?
 

DominionSeraph

Diamond Member
Jul 22, 2009
8,391
31
91
This is probably a language situation (lost in translation, etc) but the way I see it the use of words 'tier' and 'rank' in that situation is interchangeable. To me there are ranks (or tiers) of video cards on that page, and the OP's card is listed as number 17th. When I said 'rank', what did you interpret it to be?

"Ranked 17th" makes it sound like it's the 17th fastest video card, when it's actually ~120th.
 

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
110,509
29,090
146
stores closed in Utah tomorrow...

seriously, don't go to Best Buy (I actually don't mind them as much as most people here, as they can have great sales on single items like movies and such), but their hardware, cables, blah blah...let alone the "advice" you will get:

"Duuuude--see, you need this 6450, brah! it will totally blow away that 5870 man! see, higher number! that means it has more, uh, pipes....for graphics processing! total FPS, brahahhahhh!"

you're better off with finding a quick deal on Newegg, Fry's or Amazon.
 

GodisanAtheist

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 2006
6,715
7,004
136
You guys need to remember that he has an HP Pavillion. There is no guarantee that it is going to have the necessary power connectors for a 6850 or even enough spare molex connectors to convert to a PCI-E power connector.

A 6670 would be his safest bet in this situation, unless he can poke around in his case and find out the power specs on his PSU.
 

crailberry

Junior Member
Jul 23, 2011
11
0
0
I just got home from the store, purchased an Invidia PNY VERTO GeForce GT 545. Wasn't even on the list at Toms cause I guess it's new, but woohoo! About to turn off my comp to install it. I would have gotten something better, but it was the only card that my power supply could run, only about 300 watts or whatever. And I was not in the mood to spend another 100 bucks on a new power supply. So here it goes, wish me luck!
 

Arkaign

Lifer
Oct 27, 2006
20,736
1,377
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Well, that's not an awesome card by any measure, but it should be a dramatic improvement over the 6450. Pretty good for a low power card at least, I bet you'll be able to tweak the settings and get things running fairly decently. In my experience, playing with shadows and AA makes the largest typical difference in playability.
 

GodisanAtheist

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 2006
6,715
7,004
136
Not my first choice but its certainly going to be a pretty big upgrade from your older card. Did you get the DDR3 version or the DDR5 version and how much did you pay for it if you don't mind my asking?

Edit: AND MOST IMPORTANTLY HOW IS YOUR GAME RUNNING NOW?
 
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crailberry

Junior Member
Jul 23, 2011
11
0
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Honestly I dont even want to tell you guys whether I got ddr3 or 5, cause I'm afraid you'll tell me I made a big mistake! haha it's a ddr3. I'm about to try the game out, but ya I realize it's not a crazy good card or anything, just needed something decent that wouldn't make me have to upgrade my power supply. Maybe in the future. But from some of your responses it sounds like I did pretty good for what I'm going for.

And I paid $130 I think? And ya ya I went to Best Buy. But guess what. Thats the only place around here that could fulfill my instant gratification needs. Comp USA stores closed down awhile ago, no FRYs, no Microcenter, nada. At least nothing else that I know of. So my only other option was to order off amazon or newegg, and I'm not about to wait, haha.
 

crailberry

Junior Member
Jul 23, 2011
11
0
0
And also, when I went to put my new GPU in, I was little bummed out by the fact that there was only 1 pci input. So I had to take out the 6450 to put in my new Invidia. I wanted to have both in so I could plug in my other monitor and have dual monitors. Maybe the VGI/DVA ports on the bottom that don't appear to be plugged into a GPU will work for a second monitor. But they do have plastic cover tabs over them that say 'Do Not Remove'. And yes, my computer is dual monitor capable.
 

crailberry

Junior Member
Jul 23, 2011
11
0
0
Well ok then! Still not what I was hoping for, still had to disable a lot of things, but I'm happy. Getting between 25-30 frames per second. My god this game is brutal! But at last, I can embark on this journey. Tally ho!
 

shurato

Platinum Member
Sep 24, 2000
2,398
0
76
Congrats.... one of the best games I've ever played. You'll be glad you made the upgrade to play it. It's a bit frustrating and hard in the beginning though. Have fun :)
 

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
110,509
29,090
146
And also, when I went to put my new GPU in, I was little bummed out by the fact that there was only 1 pci input. So I had to take out the 6450 to put in my new Invidia. I wanted to have both in so I could plug in my other monitor and have dual monitors. Maybe the VGI/DVA ports on the bottom that don't appear to be plugged into a GPU will work for a second monitor. But they do have plastic cover tabs over them that say 'Do Not Remove'. And yes, my computer is dual monitor capable.

call me crazy, but I'm not sure if that dual GPU--monitor scheme would have worked very well.

But, you can always save that 6450 for a future, cheap, HTPC build if you want a more robust, dedicated media center for your TV and movies and whatnot.
 

busydude

Diamond Member
Feb 5, 2010
8,793
5
76
Maybe the VGI/DVA ports on the bottom that don't appear to be plugged into a GPU will work for a second monitor. But they do have plastic cover tabs over them that say 'Do Not Remove'. And yes, my computer is dual monitor capable.

Hmm.. your video card can easily drive two monitors.. just remove that tab and plug in your other monitor.
 

DominionSeraph

Diamond Member
Jul 22, 2009
8,391
31
91
*sigh*
A 6850 actually uses 20W less than a GTX 550 Ti, which is the same chip that the GT 545 uses. So if the GT 545 works, there's no reason the 6850 shouldn't.
The 6850 rather well spanks the GTX 550 Ti, and the GT 545 only has 75% of the GTX 550 Ti's SP's at 80% of the clock speed. And when a 6850 is $130 after rebate and it comes with a coupon for a free copy of Dirt 3...

Personally, I would've waited the few days it takes a Newegg order to get to my door.

And you're not gonna be able to drive a monitor off your integrated video when you have a discrete card attached. If the GT 545 doesn't have two ports you're not gonna be able to drive dual monitors.
 
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Arkaign

Lifer
Oct 27, 2006
20,736
1,377
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Now that you mention it, it seems utterly bizarre that someone could find a discrete card that isn't a low-profile model that doesn't have at least two video outputs. Usually at least D-SUB (VGA), a DVI, and sometimes also a displayport or something extra.

OP, you do know you can use a VGA port or DVI port to connect to either type of monitor, even if you have to use an adapter, right? I'd be willing to bet money that that 545 has more than a single output.
 

crailberry

Junior Member
Jul 23, 2011
11
0
0
Man, this just keeps getting better and better. You're telling me I can hook up 2 monitors into the same video card? woohoo! Cause ya! It has dva and vgi! And both my monitors will go either way.
 
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homercles337

Diamond Member
Dec 29, 2004
6,345
3
71
Dont bother. You will play the game then get to the first "boss" called a Kayran. This Kayran will be impossible to kill. Game over. Dont waste your money.
 

mindcycle

Golden Member
Jan 9, 2008
1,901
0
76
YESSSS!!!! Thank you!!!! It worked!! Man, I uninstalled the game like 6 times. Thought it was a random glitch or something. Haha I'm sure you're all shaking your heads. But thank you all so much! Hopefully I'll be able to run to the store tomorrow and pick up a new card. Sundays in Utah, everything shuts down :( makes everything a real pain in the arse.

I just installed the game from a retail disk a few days ago and the same thing happened to me. There's some glitch in the automatic download of the latest patch. I eventually downloaded it from the website and installed it manually like mentioned above. Glad you figured it out as well.

I actually left mine on overnight because I figured it was downloading some huge patch in parts or something and that's why it kept starting again. Woke up the next morning and it was still downloading shit, then I realized something was probably not right.. What a huge waste of bandwidth. lol