XFX GTX 260 Black-opinions please

[johnwillyums]

Thanks Skunk. Are they from Nvidia (185.20)? Already said I like the avatar, happy new year,J

 

[skunksmash]

CHEERS MATE...:D & A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU & YOURS..

no these are modified drivers, i believe they have been posted in the Geforce section

but they're very good.


SK

 

[NormCameron]

Congratulations John on your new card. Oh, and shoot lots of bad guys for me.

Norm

 

[johnwillyums]

Thanks Norm and a happy new year to you and yours. Actually I get shot quite a lot because I'm looking at the scenery and these rad dogs in Fallout 3 have been killing me for days now but i don't mind that much.
You got a new avatar as well! Kangaroos don't really run like that do they?
Can't wait for monday, all the best, John:D

 

[SCSIraidGURU]

Have you tried Crysis on it?

 

[johnwillyums]

It will be arriving on Monday Michael. As soon as I've got in in I'll try Crysis and post some frame rates on this thread.
Cheers, John

 

[fieseler]

crysis should run fine id imagine, the only problem i have right now with my 8800 gts512 is the AA & when im in the spaceship!

 

[skunksmash]

i hope your all talking about Crysis warhead..??

the original was very poorly coded, hence the fact not even supercomps at Nasa could pull 30fps while maxed....

warhead is able to produce much better results, with the same visual splendor of crysis using the same GFX engine.



SK

 

[johnwillyums]

I agree. I have both games and could not get a decent gaming experience with the original Crysis.
Crysis Warhead is quite playable with my 8800GTS 512mb. Hopefully it'll be even better with my new card.
According to some of the reviews I've looked at I might just about be able to play Crysis 1 with the ocd 260 I'm getting. I'll let you know.
pip pip, J:D

ps. Skunk- your avatar no longer striding purposefully, what's up?

 

[skunksmash]

someone else said that to me john..?? its moving on my screen..??:huh:

in regard to warhead, i can max it (every setting on ''Enthusiast'')@ 1680x1050 with my CPU @ 3.5ghz, & get a steady 38-40fps IT LOOKS IMMENSE

but i struggled to get 20fps in Crysis with only ''High'' settings..



SK

 

[johnwillyums]

Stupid game has caused no end of trouble. Thinking about it I never ever read a post by someone who had played right through and said it was a good game.
All the discussion around it has been about how it fries graphics cards, frame rates etc.
Maybe nobody's ever played it!
Maybe it was an elaborate trick to make us all dissatisfied with our GPUs.
S**t, fooled again, J

 

[skunksmash]

lol....yeah, or a joint venture between crytek, Nvidia & ATI to keep us buying & trying to max a game that cannot be maxed...

i made it about 3hrs in & gave it away..

nothing can prepare you for the sheer size of this card, ''its MASSIVE'', but completely enclosed in a sleek black case, no ugly PCB for us anymore...



SK

 

[sygnus21]

Errr...Crysis played pretty well on my rig with a single 4850 on high settings in DX10 mode @ 1280x1024. So, I suspect most of the newer cards can handle Crysis on high setting at higher resolutions pretty well.

Here's a tweak guide, should you venture to try the game - TweakGuides.com - Crysis Tweak Guide

As to the game itself...it was pretty good.

Just my two cents

 

[Everlong]

someone else said that to me john..?? its moving on my screen..??:huh:

in regard to warhead, i can max it (every setting on ''Enthusiast'')@ 1680x1050 with my CPU @ 3.5ghz, & get a steady 38-40fps IT LOOKS IMMENSE

but i struggled to get 20fps in Crysis with only ''High'' settings..



SK

Is that with full AA too?

Crysis Warhead for me has its on and off days. Some days it will play great at full graphic settings and resolution with 2xAA. Other days it goes really sluggish.

I also don't find Warhead to look totally the same as the first Crysis. Warhead still looks great at full detail, but I guess they needed to sacrifice some graphical quality to improve performance.

 

[xguntherc]

I played crysis with a old G80 8800GTS 640 with no problems.. and I finished it on my GTX260.. and then I played warhead with the 260 as well. I personally would rather play the First Crysis.. there was something about Warhead that didn't seem as real to me. I'm not sure why..

Personally I didn't think Warhead played all that much better.. framerates weren't much better, it was slightly smoother though. I played crysis with the Ultra High Config mod and it was very very fun. I never had a single problem with the game.


the link there is the one I used. crysis looked and played great on it. Get it and enjoy it.

Also see how high you can Oc that Black edition. I personally don't like getting Pre overclocked graphics cards.. they cost more for something I can do on my own. but whatever works.

Enjoy. and I have Far Cry 2 that i don't play. I'm waiting for a good game to come out that I can enjoy. maybe SC2

 

[johnwillyums]

Hi everyone. My XFX 260 Black Edition arrived today and I've just installed it. You're right Skunk-it's a thing of beauty.:D
I'm using 180.48 drivers at the moment. Do people advise trying the 185.20 ones?
I haven't had a chance to try any gaming yet. Literally just got it up and running.
I set the fan at 60 in Riva Tuner and I'm idling at 44c, does this sound about right?
Also registered the card with XFX-does the Black Edition membership just happen or do I have to do that separately?
I'd love to do some gaming now but I've some work to do:sa:
I'm very happy so far and thanks to you all for your support.
Best wishes,John:D

PS Skunk, you're avatar is marching again

 

[SCSIraidGURU]

I usually run the fan to 100% to keep the card cool better. I don't trust the variable controls. I would stay with those drivers till you try them and get some benchmarks. Then, you can upgrade and see what improved or got slower.

 

[johnwillyums]

Yes, thanks I will. Hopefully here are some current benchmarks with 3DMark Vantage:
Hope that's worked. I never attached a file in this forum before.
I'll carry on with these drivers until I hear more about the 185.20s
Can't wait to try a game but I haven't time now. Installing and running £DMark took a while. That and Farcry2 came with the game:D
Cheers, John

not sure why this hasn't appeared as an image like Skunksmash's did but as you can see I'm just under his results in most areas but not far off. Maybe it's those drivers.

 

[skunksmash]

hi john.......

glad to hear there were no problems with the install, im using 185.20...... first i was using the Xfastest driver, but the XtremeG 185.20 has just been released...grab these mate...

i gained 300 3dmark points, & 5fps on GTA4 over the Xfastest offerings ....great drivers

but as Michael says all cases will be different.


SK

 

[johnwillyums]

Hi Skunk and all. You were right this is a great card. Was playing Fallout 3 last night and it looks incredible.
I tried the 180.84 drivers and they got me a few more 3DMark points so then I thought ok 185.20.
As you can see this got me even more. Also quite enjoy looking at 3DMark mindlessly.
Interesting to look at the differences in our gpu/cpu scores. Not sure what it means but presumably each score contributes to our total(?)

They seem like great drivers but some people are having problems with them in some games. see here:
NVIDIA Forceware Xtreme-G 185.20 !! - Guru3D.com Forums

Haven't tried the ambient occlusion yet but I will. Performance hit apparently but it looks good from the comparison shots I've seen.
I'd recommend this card as a great card for great price and package.
Cheers folks, John:D