GF9600 excelent for CryENGINE2?

[Eternal_Z']

Here are the Benchmarks of the GeForce 9600GT 512M Graphics Card, which is comming in Q1 2008. This may be an excelent card for the EU CryENGINE2, because it offers about the same performance as the GeForce 8800 series and costs even less. So if you're thinking about an upgrade for your EU gaming rig, then a card from the GeForce 9600 and 9800 series may be the right choise.

 

[Lavawalker]

Yep or you could go for something more affordable again with relatively the same performance as the 8800 from ATI,

Many options out there, this one will be sub 100 USD by the end of 2008.

ATI Radeon HD 3870 and 3850 Hands-On - Features at GameSpot

~ Sparkz

Notice also the shader core being a lot lower frequency And the much larger number of unified shaders vs the new upcoming 9600GT
The 3870 will run a lot quieter and use a lot less power and generate a lot less heat at the end of the day. Faster shader core on the Nvidia is required due to it's limited stream processing capabilities. Pretty much ATI & Nvidia took two seperate directions at the time of DX-10 implementation. Something to consider I like both Nvidia and ATI has started to really pull up it's act of late, so most likely will upgrade to the 3870 this time around at the price it will be by then.

 

[Ethar]

I really hope my GeForce 8600 would be enough, but I doubt it.

 

[Lavawalker]

I really hope my GeForce 8600 would be enough, but I doubt it.

lol sure it is, I play Crysis atm on GE7900 and it runs beautifully. A tiny bit of glitching in the trailer starter, like 3 or 4 instances through the whole thing.

Though within Crysis itself, smooth as a baby's bottom FPS wise

Keep in mind it partly depends on your machines memory and processing spec too, Dual Core Duo2 is highly recommended 2.4 Ghz or better with min 2gb memory, 4 Gb is optimal and SATA hdds, 7200 stand run of the mill is fine, 10k / 15k models optimal though for the intensive amounts of data needing to be transferred for content intensive areas.

~ Sparkz

 

[Ethar]

lol sure it is, I play Crysis atm on GE7900 and it runs beautifully. A tiny bit of glitching in the trailer starter, like 3 or 4 instances through the whole thing.

Though within Crysis itself, smooth as a baby's bottom FPS wise

Keep in mind it partly depends on your machines memory and processing spec too, Dual Core Duo2 is highly recommended 2.4 Ghz or better with min 2gb memory, 4 Gb is optimal and SATA hdds, 7200 stand run of the mill is fine, 10k / 15k models optimal though for the intensive amounts of data needing to be transferred for content intensive areas.

~ Sparkz

I have an Intel Duo Core 2.66 GHZ and 2GB of RAM. So as I understand it's alright?

 

[ALEXANDER]

"4 Gb is optimal"
ram doesen't matter at fps.... i had a test in vista with 1gb ram and 2 gb ram after that, no differences in fps
3dmark 2006

 

[Tree-doctor]

OK guys. Time is to put somethings clear on this subject.

Cryengine 2 is an ENGINE. Its not a game.

What work with cry engine 2 actualy on the planet ? Crysis.

How work crysis ? Good.

What we need to run Crysis ? A big computer to have no lag. For exemple my computer ( Core2duo E6700, 4 GB memory Crucial balistix, GFX Calibre Geforce 8800 GTS 640 MO, now 2 x raptor raid 0 ...) It still lag in very high graphics. The better quality and game play its when its set on high or even medium.

Why ? Cause it sux big times. Cause the game is developed in this way, to puch to buy new rigs.

What about EU in that ? Crysis sux a lot, solo or online on basic maps. The servers are limited to prvent the lag, u have a limit of players per maps. This limit is low. Now, we know EU is lagged as hell on some town or event, with the ultra basic ground and sceneries we have in game (vegetation, effects ...). I dont want to imagine how it will work if all the maps and sectors of calipso are redesigned with this engine, and if we are more than 10 playing hard on the same place.

What do i need to do so ? Improve a bit ur actual PC with max memory he can handle, and wait the Cryengine implementation. Or buy an ultra kikass comp and gamble on his possibilitys in future.


Regards.

 

[Lavawalker]

I have an Intel Duo Core 2.66 GHZ and 2GB of RAM. So as I understand it's alright?

Aye that will run fine. 4Gb is optimal, though 2Gb should be plenty.

One thing in reference to HDD,
Rather than having to go for the 10k/15k RPM (drive rotation speed) units which are used in the higher end performance gaming machines mostly,

You will be fine with using a 7,200 RPM,

The best configuration to have this would be to have two smaller drives.
ie. 2 x 200Gb SATA models or 2 x 300Gb SATA models or what ever is sensibly allowable within your budget.

The way to set these drives up for best performance,

Drive 1 would contain your operating system along with windows swap file.

Drive 2 would contain your installation of any hard drive intensive applications and games such as Entropia Universe with Cry2 / Crysis / EQ2 / VG / Age of Conan etc

That way when Entropia is running it can access the seperate drive that is stored on (drive 2)

Without any delays that may be incurred from the operating system needing to access the hard drive for it's own needs, or for the swap file to be used when your memory runs low as it will have it's own seperate drive (drive 1)

Just a little something that will save you some money, give you more space as well, rather than needing to seek out a faster 10k or 15k rpm single drive.

~ Sparkz

 

[Lavawalker]

OK guys. Time is to put somethings clear on this subject.

Cryengine 2 is an ENGINE. Its not a game.

What work with cry engine 2 actualy on the planet ? Crysis.

How work crysis ? Good.

What we need to run Crysis ? A big computer to have no lag. For exemple my computer ( Core2duo E6700, 4 GB memory Crucial balistix, GFX Calibre Geforce 8800 GTS 640 MO, now 2 x raptor raid 0 ...) It still lag in very high graphics. The better quality and game play its when its set on high or even medium.

Why ? Cause it sux big times. Cause the game is developed in this way, to puch to buy new rigs.

What about EU in that ? Crysis sux a lot, solo or online on basic maps. The servers are limited to prvent the lag, u have a limit of players per maps. This limit is low. Now, we know EU is lagged as hell on some town or event, with the ultra basic ground and sceneries we have in game (vegetation, effects ...). I dont want to imagine how it will work if all the maps and sectors of calipso are redesigned with this engine, and if we are more than 10 playing hard on the same place.

What do i need to do so ? Improve a bit ur actual PC with max memory he can handle, and wait the Cryengine implementation. Or buy an ultra kikass comp and gamble on his possibilitys in future.


Regards.

Yes, but the engine's max graphics capabilities, and I mean they are out of this world are not necessary for the average person.

Agreed a lot of power gamers love the visual quality, as do I, though at the end of the day it is all really just *WANK* and you know what I mean

To keep things objective, all you need to run crysis which uses the crytek 2 engine in it's unlimited form (settings wise) and to have visual quality that is already better than anything you have seen to date is pretty much the above mentioned in my previous post.

Intel 2.4 Ghz Dual Core Duo2 or better (AMD Equivalent or better)
2 Gb Memory (Optimally 4Gb if it is within your financial capacity)
2 x 200Gb Serial-ATA drives 7,200 RPM
(10,000 RPM is optimal but really not necessary)
(One for your operating system & swap file, the other for Entropia)
And one of the above listed DX-10 cards is fine.
(You will notice a lot of mid range sub 100 and sub 150 USD cards being released this year, links to two have been provided above)
Also make sure you have a seperate PCI soundcard in the system
(Recommend Creative Labs sound cards)
(Integrated/Onboard soundcards rely on CPU cycles of which they generally chew in the range 10 to 15% depending upon how many channels are being used by the application/game you are running)

ofc MA will release before hand it's recommended spec, though this is a good starting point. For those on a budget and looking for a sensible spec to run with. Above listed stats is where you should start.

It is not required to get the BEST of the BEST of the BEST BEST BEST !
As most will say to you will be necessary, that is just rubbish.

~ Sparkz

PS. Currently I run Crysis using a GEForce-7900 without any problems FPS wise with the above mentioned optimal spec, though minimum recommend spec above will also run it just fine too. And I mean Damn Fine

 

[Ethar]

I just thought MA said they will use the new CryEngine, but I doubt they will improve graphics to the level of Crysis.

 

[Eternal_Z']

The way to set these drives up for best performance,

Drive 1 would contain your operating system along with windows swap file.

Drive 2 would contain your installation of any hard drive intensive applications and games such as Entropia Universe with Cry2 / Crysis / EQ2 / VG / Age of Conan etc

I think there's a better way - RAID 0, which actually unites your 2 HDDs to deliver a 2 times faster HDD's performance.

 

[Tree-doctor]

i think we all need optic fiber setting.

 

[Lavawalker]

I just thought MA said they will use the new CryEngine, but I doubt they will improve graphics to the level of Crysis.

Aye it will be an aggregated process, mainly framework, scenery messing and models will be upgraded first to comply with the new engine and then detail will be added in consecutive VUs I believe was the plan ...

I remember reading about this somewhere, can't put my finger on who said it though from MA.

~ Sparkz

 

[Legion]

Here are the Benchmark of GeForce 9600GT 512M Graphics Card's, which is comming in Q1 2008.
This may be an excelent card for the EU CryENGINE2, because it offers about the same performance as the GeForce 8800 series and costs even less. So if you're thinking about an upgrade for your EU gaming rig, then a card from the GeForce 9600 and 9800 series may be the right choise.

Yes it will sure work and probably get decent fps aswell. But it's still a budget card so dont expect any uber performance


What will matter most is memory sort of, if ur planning on going somewhat up and play in higher resolutions. So 512 is MINIMUM today, get more if possible.

 

[Eternal_Z']

I just thought MA said they will use the new CryEngine, but I doubt they will improve graphics to the level of Crysis.

They won't improve the graphics to the maximum possible level of course. But they will have plenty of room for improvements in the future.

 

[Lavawalker]

Keep in mind also, the Cry2 will still run on your DX9 card, though if you have anything under the 7600 range your really going to struggle with it.

The reason I suggested DX10 is ... going to be lazy ... quoted from :

https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/forums/about-entropia-universe/91699-sould-we-ask-legacy-client-so-not-rich-ppl-5.html#post1119460

Something you may not realise, though if you have the time have a read of the technical white-papers for DX-10 chipsets. A DX-10 chip (if made to the same processing capability as your current video card) will by default run all DX-9 based applications/games at roughly 30% faster. The reason for this is the removal of hardware limitations which were present in all DX9 and prior chips allowing functions previously done by software and the CPU, now to be done directly on the chip itself.

Anyway, I hope this all helps a little

Time for me to shove off to bed

~ Sparkz

 

[Lavawalker]

Yes it will sure work and probably get decent fps aswell. But it's still a budget card so dont expect any uber performance


What will matter most is memory sort of, if ur planning on going somewhat up and play in higher resolutions. So 512 is MINIMUM today, get more if possible.

Agreed something that I did not include in my listing, make sure you video card has 512 Mb, that is all that is necessary btw. Also in reference to the memory bus speed, 256-bit is MORE than enough.

All developers of games use compressed textures which do not even exceed the 256-bit memory bus for even intense graphics at high resolution, 512-bit at this stage of 3d development, again a wank, it gives only a marginal increase in performance if you are running high quality, high resolution (upto 1600 x 1200 or 1680 x 1050 widescreen)

Thanks for pointing that out legion.

~ Sparkz

 

[Eternal_Z']

Yes it will sure work and probably get decent fps aswell. But it's still a budget card so dont expect any uber performance

I've also mentioned the 9800 series, so if you need more FPS, you may wanna get 2 of them for SLI when it comes out. It will probably be enough for some time. Still no trustworthy benchmarks on these are available though.

 

[Legion]

I've also mentioned the 9800 series, so if you need more FPS, you may wanna get 2 of them for SLI when it comes out. It will probably be enough for some time. Still no trustworthy benchmarks on these are available though.

I'm getting myself the new nforce 780 mobo and then i can do tripple SLI

Just need to buy cards later on and get a job ^^

 

[aridash]

@ Lavawalker, please stop that 4gb is optimal crap, more than 3gb is a waste of time since you cant use more than 4gb total in 32bit land including the GPU memory. also, onboard sound uses no more CPU cycles than a card since it is still being processed by dedicated hardware. True the potential quality of output might be inferior, but for most people with sub $100 speakers systems and typical low bit rates used in samples/recordings, they aint going to notice. long short, onboard sound is more than capable for 95% of users.

another general observation is that GPU memory needs to be studied carfully on a card by card basis. often they double up the amount but it is inferior speed so the net performance is poorer. its a marketing ploy, if the 512MB seems cheaper than the 256MB version this is probably why. Smart money in the low-mid range might want to look at the non-DirectX10 models since with XP you arent going to be using directx10 anyway (for now at least, still hoping they'll put this right). theres bargins to found there as stocks are cleared to make way for shiney new models that are not necessarily faster.

 

[alh]

Graphics hardware evolve quickly right now.

There wont be any problem to find a pretty cheap card that is powerful enough by the time of autumn next year.

And yes, they wont fill up the environment as excessivly as in crysis... Not at once, and probable never. So there is not much use trying out hardware with crysis...

I don't doubt the engine is still being patched too, and will also be even more efficient by the time MA puts it to use.

 

[TommygunxX]

I really hope my GeForce 8600 would be enough, but I doubt it.

Lol im hopin the same.

 

[Spider]

Actually the usable memory for 32bit limits out at ~3.25GB, Windows assigns the upper limit for hardware use. If you want to get a little more power out of your PCI-E card ATI and nVidia have OC tools that are easy to use. nVidia cards do have a problem with heat so you may want to install your mobo system tools to monitor the heat in your case and add some extra cooling if needed.

If you use RAID 0 in your system, make sure you have a 3rd drive installed for all those movies and music. Nobody wants to have to spend hours downloading files all over again if a drive fails. I haven't looked lately for any benchmarking on the WD Raptor series VS. their normal hard drives, yeah 15K RPM and a faster read/write speed are nice but the 150MBPS speed is a bit dated now that we have 300MBPS speeds on normal hard drives with the same size buffer. I guess each one has its advantages though.

 

[Legion]

@ Lavawalker, please stop that 4gb is optimal crap, more than 3gb is a waste of time since you cant use more than 4gb total in 32bit land including the GPU memory. also, onboard sound uses no more CPU cycles than a card since it is still being processed by dedicated hardware. True the potential quality of output might be inferior, but for most people with sub $100 speakers systems and typical low bit rates used in samples/recordings, they aint going to notice. long short, onboard sound is more than capable for 95% of users.

another general observation is that GPU memory needs to be studied carfully on a card by card basis. often they double up the amount but it is inferior speed so the net performance is poorer. its a marketing ploy, if the 512MB seems cheaper than the 256MB version this is probably why. Smart money in the low-mid range might want to look at the non-DirectX10 models since with XP you arent going to be using directx10 anyway (for now at least, still hoping they'll put this right). theres bargins to found there as stocks are cleared to make way for shiney new models that are not necessarily faster.

As for the 250 vs 512 mem on gpu's your right and wrong i guess, sure if ur planning on going no higher than 1024x768 resolution sure the 250 meg one will do, but start to go over that and u will need 512 atleast. Myself i'm gonna get a 1gig one as soon as i can as i like high resolutions

But standard resolutions today is higher than 1280x1024 so you do need that memory to make the gpu fill up those textures fast enough.

Actually the usable memory for 32bit limits out at ~3.25GB, Windows assigns the upper limit for hardware use. If you want to get a little more power out of your PCI-E card ATI and nVidia have OC tools that are easy to use. nVidia cards do have a problem with heat so you may want to install your mobo system tools to monitor the heat in your case and add some extra cooling if needed.

If you use RAID 0 in your system, make sure you have a 3rd drive installed for all those movies and music. Nobody wants to have to spend hours downloading files all over again if a drive fails. I haven't looked lately for any benchmarking on the WD Raptor series VS. their normal hard drives, yeah 15K RPM and a faster read/write speed are nice but the 150MBPS speed is a bit dated now that we have 300MBPS speeds on normal hard drives with the same size buffer. I guess each one has its advantages though.

I cant say the nvidia cards are having any heat problems at all, mine chugs away at it's 50-60 degrees and no problem there as it can go up to 110
Also a raptor disk is like taking a piss in the ocean, the extra one or two seconds you will get in performance is totally waste of ped

 

[HvSW]

I think 8800GT is the right card for the job. It's reasonably priced already now and till CryEngine 2 will be implemented (phew, don't hold your breath ) it's price will go down further still.

Get also SLI MOBO of course, and if in few years it won't be up-to-the-speed anymore, just buy another 8800GT, this time from ebay for a bargain and you rock again

 

[Lavawalker]

@ Lavawalker, please stop that 4gb is optimal crap, more than 3gb is a waste of time since you cant use more than 4gb total in 32bit land including the GPU memory. also, onboard sound uses no more CPU cycles than a card since it is still being processed by dedicated hardware. True the potential quality of output might be inferior, but for most people with sub $100 speakers systems and typical low bit rates used in samples/recordings, they aint going to notice. long short, onboard sound is more than capable for 95% of users.

another general observation is that GPU memory needs to be studied carfully on a card by card basis. often they double up the amount but it is inferior speed so the net performance is poorer. its a marketing ploy, if the 512MB seems cheaper than the 256MB version this is probably why. Smart money in the low-mid range might want to look at the non-DirectX10 models since with XP you arent going to be using directx10 anyway (for now at least, still hoping they'll put this right). theres bargins to found there as stocks are cleared to make way for shiney new models that are not necessarily faster.

You forget the Extended-64bit functions included with Duo2 and AMD FX based chips, so no 4gb is optimal and is not rubbish, we are not taking pentium based 32-bit core machines anymore.

*cracks whip* get with the times

Think it might be time for an upgrade eh ? Or at least have a read about the new technology available

~ Sparkz

 

[ALEXANDER]

"Myself i'm gonna get a 1gig one as soon as i can as i like high resolutions "

Complete waist of money.... your performances will be lower than a 256mb board, cuz the 1gb one will have much lower frequencies, less stream pipes and overall lower fps... so u will indeed have more fps than a 256mb but only at over 1500 resolution.... at a 1024 u will have lower performances...
I suggest U all look at the technical details and benchmarks rather than cost ...
PS: I saw a 3dmark06 test in witch a 256mb 8800 beat a 512 mb one at score O and the 256 was just 20$ more expensive

 

[Legion]

"Myself i'm gonna get a 1gig one as soon as i can as i like high resolutions "

Complete waist of money.... your performances will be lower than a 256mb board, cuz the 1gb one will have much lower frequencies, less stream pipes and overall lower fps... so u will indeed have more fps than a 256mb but only at over 1500 resolution.... at a 1024 u will have lower performances...
I suggest U all look at the technical details and benchmarks rather than cost ...
PS: I saw a 3dmark06 test in witch a 256mb 8800 beat a 512 mb one at score O and the 256 was just 20$ more expensive

And your wrong, buy for example an 8800 gts with 512 meg or one with 1gig, you get the exact same card but just more memory and thus it can load heavier textures etc and do it faster. And the higher resolution you go the more vid mem you need. And as i said i'm going for high resolutions not some wimpy 1024...

Tell this to the ppl playing crysis with their 256 meg cards and to the ones with 500+mem on the same cards and playing above 1280x1024 and see who has the best performance.

 

[aridash]

Complete waist of money.... your performances will be lower than a 256mb board, cuz the 1gb one will have much lower frequencies, less stream pipes and overall lower fps[...]
PS: I saw a 3dmark06 test in witch a 256mb 8800 beat a 512 mb one at score O and the 256 was just 20$ more expensive

And your wrong, buy for example an 8800 gts with 512 meg or one with 1gig, you get the exact same card but just more memory and thus it can load heavier textures etc and do it faster

this was exactly what i was refering to ealier, make sure you are comparing apples with apples. some 512mb card will be slower memory speed than a 256mb version. if the price is the same/similar, chances are the 512mb is actually going to run slower. But a top spec cards with 512mb or more at full clock speed will obviously always be better, but you have to pay top price for it.

You forget the Extended-64bit functions included with Duo2 and AMD FX based chips, so no 4gb is optimal and is not rubbish, we are not taking pentium based 32-bit core machines anymore.

*cracks whip* get with the times

i'll admit to not being up to speed with everything sinces it changes every 6 months. However i am aware that Duo2 and AMD chips are 64bit nowadays which is great when using your 64bit OS. meanwhile, those of us using a 32bit OS for EU (which would be 100% of users, unless you are saying it runs on 64bit) are stuck with the old limitations irrespective of what the hardwware can offer. iirc you could use PAE to address 36bit memory and go above 4GB, but why use performance sapping kludges to go that high when you aren't even using that much memory? eitherway, optimal price/performance main memory is 3gb, anything more is specialist/pissing contest and an unnecessary cost for most users.

(AMD FX? isnt that 3 years old now? Athlon64/Opteron are the roots of AMD 64bit, the FX was just a marketing tag)

 

[Lavawalker]

this was exactly what i was refering to ealier, make sure you are comparing apples with apples. some 512mb card will be slower memory speed than a 256mb version. if the price is the same/similar, chances are the 512mb is actually going to run slower. But a top spec cards with 512mb or more at full clock speed will obviously always be better, but you have to pay top price for it.



i'll admit to not being up to speed with everything sinces it changes every 6 months. However i am aware that Duo2 and AMD chips are 64bit nowadays which is great when using your 64bit OS. meanwhile, those of us using a 32bit OS for EU (which would be 100% of users, unless you are saying it runs on 64bit) are stuck with the old limitations irrespective of what the hardwware can offer. iirc you could use PAE to address 36bit memory and go above 4GB, but why use performance sapping kludges to go that high when you aren't even using that much memory? eitherway, optimal price/performance main memory is 3gb, anything more is specialist/pissing contest and an unnecessary cost for most users.

(AMD FX? isnt that 3 years old now? Athlon64/Opteron are the roots of AMD 64bit, the FX was just a marketing tag)

hehe you can tell I am not an AMD man Although AMD has really pulled up it's act in the last 5 years aye.

With the new operating systems and extended-64 functionality yes, very large amounts of memory can be addressed, though correct as you are on the application/software side of things in relation to 32-bit applications.

Though in the context of the original post, 4gb being stated as optimal was primarily to give the operating system, drivers and other running processes / tray based applications their own memory space along with the allowing the operating system not to swap out any of it's kernel to VM which gives about a 15% increase in OS based performance along with allowing windows to use the additional memory for it's own win & file cache to keep loaded .DLL extensions and the such resident (Since so many of the damn things are usually loaded at any one point in time)

Thus allowing Entropia to run in it's own 32-bit application space (or WoW - Windows on Windows 32-bit session on 64-bit OS's) happily within it's own dedicated 2Gb allocated session space which should be more than enough to prevent any VM usage hence vastly increasing performance.

Agreed, 2gb is all that is required by most, though these days memory is so cheap it would cost less for a 2Gb stick than it would for a small HDD. Hence the recommendation of 4gb as optimal if within the financial reach of the participant.

~ Sparkz

PS. Good points brought up in relation to 32-bit though when looking to invest in a new machine the average person on a budget usually does so with the intention of not needing to again for another 3+ years.