Finally ordered a real video card!

M

mrmylanman

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jul 13, 2008
Messages
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I have been rockin' an ATI X800 PRO for a while now, ever since I built my i7 actually. My computer is a beast in every area except memory and video, both of which are going to be remedied in a couple days. The thing that shocked me was Newegg had the XFX GTX260 (core 216) on sale for like $200 with two free games. That made buying it basically a no brainer for me.

I remember when my 8800GTS in my old build was that cheap and I thought that was a pretty good deal.

My how times change.

I can't wait though. At that price, SLI is somewhat reasonable for me. If I'm not happy with one of them, I can always throw another in and see what happens, lol.

Edit: Well I just checked pricing again this morning, it went back to $244. Sorry fellas.
 
I would definitely get more system ram. 6 gig makes a lot more sense on the i7 platform and will perform better.
 
Yeah I ordered another 3GB as well as my GTX260. And a pin-extractor for molex pins and ATX pins, etc. I'll be using that for my future individual sleeving of the wires in my case.
 
I actually have Windows 7 on my laptop, I did put it on my desktop originally, but it does not like my audio chipset at all. Last time I checked there was no solution available for it.

It only detected my optical out, not the regular outputs. So until then, I have no sound in Windows 7. Just decided to go with Vista.
 
i had a some probs also. it wouldnt run a couple apps that i really need. so dual booting with v64ult. suprisingly enough, it runs my xfi platty fine.
 
Yeah I have an onboard Realtek something or other. Kinda surprised me that it doesn't work, as so many computers use that.
 
Hey man grats on great buy, your specs are almost identical to mine, kudos.
Is the app support big enough to make the switch from lets say xp64 to 7?
 
Haha wow I didn't know many of us have the Biostar board. It's really good but looking around on the boards it's all ASUS this, EVGA that.

As far as applications go the ONLY application I have had problems with is AIM 6.8. I hear AIM 5.9 works, but I just installed Pidgin and was done with it.

That's all. I installed Office 07, VM Ware Player, VM Ware Workstation, VLC, Cain (wanted to play around with that some, never really did amount to anything though), Vuze, a few others...

Shouldn't be much of an issue since the kernels aren't that different between 7 and Vista.

The open demo is over though, I think so you will have to acquire it using other means.
 
mrmylanman said:
Yeah I have an onboard Realtek something or other. Kinda surprised me that it doesn't work, as so many computers use that.
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Have you tried installing the drivers from Realtek's website? Windows 7 detects my Realtek onboard audio on my ASUS P5W DH just fine.
 
Yeah I tried the Vista drivers from their site. Didn't work. I looked around on Google and some other i7 guys are having issues with sound too. I'm just chalking it up to the "bleeding edge"
 
Congrats! i am in the process of buying the same video card.
 
Thanks all. The ETA is Monday so I'll let you all know how I like it when I get it.
 
Grats man...always nice to get a good deal. I just had a computer built and ordered an EVGA 280 GTX with it...well it came in damaged and the builder returned it to where he bought it from but all the 280's were out of stock so I ended up getting a 285 upgrade for free! Should be arriving here today...patiently awaiting the Fedex truck as we speak... (IE I wish the damn truck would show up already!)
 
Oh yeah, its a sweet feeling pulling that big dog out of the box. About 2 weeks ago I got my EVGA gtx 260(216) super clocked. I will share a hearty man laugh with you... Waahhhahahahhahhahah!
 
Haha wow that's awesome news largefarrva (and good screen name by the way).

I actually got my card today I love it when UPS over performs.

I'm installing some games right now so that I can try it out (didn't even bother with my X800 with anything more intense than Red Alert 3... lol).
 
Alright did some preliminary testing of it, and I am very impressed. It is a huge step up from my 8800GTS (512) which I didn't think was much of a slouch either.

I did some overclocking to it, I think I pushed it to its limit without changing coolers, or ramping the fan way up. I think I may have a 55nm card because A) the cooler does not have the piece of plastic on the back, and B) it seems like the GPU overclocks pretty high:

726MHz core, 2320MHz effective memory (or 1160 on the slider in Rivatuner). I did see someone mention that they were able to overclock their card much higher on the memory side, which is kind of strange... How I got my memory clock is I took the XFX Black Edition as a starting point, and went from there. Needless to say I didn't make much progress on the memory, whereas I made a ton of progress on the clock.

I ran 3DMark Vantage after I overclocked the video card and my score was:
Total: P13466
CPU: 10897
GPU: 46011

(The specs in my sig are accurate now for the rest of the computer)

The fan noise on this thing is like night and day compared to my old ass X800 that sounded like it was going to explode any time I opened a 3D application. It just feels like this card is never really being stressed, except of course for the constantly low frame rates always in 3DMark Vantage... My 8800GTS I had in my previous build (that I sold) was even extremely loud compared to this.

Ahh modern technology. It's a blast ain't it?
 
I hear you! Just today I got an Inno3d Geforce GTX 260 Freezer X2, which uses the latest PCB revision. This thing is powerful, but surprisingly light. It's my first time owning a high(ish)-end Nvidia card, and I have to say I'm awfully glad with my purchase. Congratulations on your new card... now let's make 'em sweat!
 
Yeah I am not sure if my 8800GTS counted as highish end when I got it, since the 9000-series was already out for a couple months by then (even though they apparently weren't a big improvement). The GTX260 is amazing though. Have not been disappointed yet. Although I have yet to play that ONE somewhat aging game that can still own any video card out there...
 
if you havent noticed, the 8800GTS 512MB is the same card as the 9800 series and even the "new" GT250.

if Crysis is counted as an aging game, it owns everything on the market still.
 
Gratz man. I'm hearing you on this one. I just ordered a GTX 280. Can't wait for it to get here. I've been running my integrated gfx (HD 3300) for a little more than a month now. This being my first build, I think I'm kind of spoiling myself :D. But just as a reference, the 3300 can barely run crysis on everything low and no aa. I'm going to be amazed by this thing...
 
I know. The 790GX is overall a great chipset, but it was never intended for gaming. It can't even properly handle COD 2. I was playing COD2 last night on my GTX260+ and getting around 100 FPS at 1920 resolution. Too much fun.
 
Bakku said:
if you havent noticed, the 8800GTS 512MB is the same card as the 9800 series and even the "new" GT250.

if Crysis is counted as an aging game, it owns everything on the market still.
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Yeah I know.

And Crysis is kind of old. If you think about it how many games remain in the press so much after a year? Crysis is almost a year and a half old. I have personally never really played it (just a little of the first mission when my buddy let me borrow it to see what my old computer could do). Maybe now that I have an actual good computer I can give it a shot again.
 
mrmylanman said:
Yeah I know.

And Crysis is kind of old. If you think about it how many games remain in the press so much after a year? Crysis is almost a year and a half old. I have personally never really played it (just a little of the first mission when my buddy let me borrow it to see what my old computer could do). Maybe now that I have an actual good computer I can give it a shot again.
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yea same. I've just kind of used it for benchmarking as a reference. I'll probably end up getting it.
 
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