Video Card Recommendations

[tizmeinnit]

Originally Posted by DABhand

I mistyped and meant to say 680 as was in your previous reply, typos happen.





Look up GCN cards, which have 2 7970 GPUs on board. So I think you will find everyones face palming since my last reply totally unwarranted.

not at all because if you remember you statement about all those multi GPU AMD cards in the range and there clearly isnt. You can not highlight a special edition card and use it to try and win an arguement.

---------- Post added at 11:32 ---------- Previous post was at 11:30 ----------

first link googling GCN cards

http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/12/22/am...s-core-next-2/

AMD’s dropped an almost unexpected Christmas present into our laps this morning: the launch of the company’s latest flagship graphics card, the Radeon HD7970. As well as stealing the ‘fastest single chip graphics card’ title back from NVIDIA for the time being, the HD7970 is the first card manufactured on its microscopic 28nm process and is the first to use the all-new ‘Graphics Core Next’ (GCN) architecture.]

where is the info on the picture you posted?

you have even totally got what GCN means wrong

[DABhand]

How many companies have used the "Special Edition" in the past just for the boost in sales, where most have misused the word and things were only special because of the looks of something.

But whether you like it or not there is Dual GPU 79xx cards out there. That is what I said, doesn't matter if they are Unique, Special Edition or made by Jesus. They still exist. And can be bought retail.

[tizmeinnit]

Originally Posted by DABhand

I have yet to see a good ATI/AMD card that can outperform the series 6 Nvidia cards, the only thing ATI cards have going for them is most of them are dual GPUs which they have to be with all those extra streams to cope with todays gaming and high end apps.

your original statement

Most AMD cards are not dual core this has been backed up with evidence and I am afraid you have floundered on trying to prove you are correct but I am sorry you are not

also there is not a 79** series card dual gpu on the market the first one will be the 7990 when it is released

[DABhand]

From the few wholesellers I can view there is plenty of variety of Dual GPU 79xx cards, some other places like DABS and Ebuyer have yet to stock them, don't blame them due to the prices and the fact 7990s will be the choice of most when it arrives.

The img I posted isn't custom built, it is a retail dual gpu 7970 card, by Power Cooler and other manufacturers are making them also. Just because you can't find them doesn't mean they don't exist.



Thats from the Overclock website someones ICEq x2, which is also a dual 7970 card.

As for my previous statement you have bolded, that was talking about current and future cards to compete with the latest Nvidia GPUs. Which as I have proven is true.

So no floundering at all from me.

---------- Post added at 12:00 ---------- Previous post was at 11:58 ----------

Forgot to mention the dual 7970 is the first 3 x 8pin GPU.

[tizmeinnit]

ok I concede there are a few 7970 dual cards but they are special editions

with a custom-design dual-HD 7970 graphics card

http://www.techpowerup.com/167377/HI...-Pictured.html that word custom goes to prove these are not mainstream cards so again you have said something incorrect

What clearly has been proven true is the fact there are not many dual core GPUs you used the word most so that quote you made which I have now shown to be totally false

[DABhand]

Custom-design does not mean it isn't retailable. Which it is, as I said several wholesalers in the UK does actually sell them.

Just like the custom-design tin of Heinz beans during the Diamond Jubilee, what wait was that not retail/mainstream?

Dunno what planet you come from to say custom is not mainstream, perhaps on items like Harley Davidson Cycles which can be custom-built. But don't confuse that with Custom-design. They are out there retail, expensive and in stock.

As to your last sentence, let me bring common sense to you.

As you notice from quoting me, I was talking about how I think ATI/AMD can't outperform the series 6 GPUs from Nvidia. Which clearly suggests current heirarchy of GPUs.

Now people with common sense will read the next sentence about the dual GPUs as current and future cards that are on the same level as the Nvidia's series 6 cards. This is clearly evidenced by the words "todays gaming" as in recent games. Its not rocket science to understand the sentence fully.

As for this Special Edition rubbish.

Never seen any fatality gear from creative?

Those are Special Edition and custom-designed stuff. You trying to say they aren't mainstream? Please, no more of this custom and special editions means they aren't mainstream rubbish anymore.

[tizmeinnit]

Originally Posted by DABhand

Custom-design does not mean it isn't retailable. Which it is, as I said several wholesalers in the UK does actually sell them.

Just like the custom-design tin of Heinz beans during the Diamond Jubilee, what wait was that not retail/mainstream?

Dunno what planet you come from to say custom is not mainstream, perhaps on items like Harley Davidson Cycles which can be custom-built. But don't confuse that with Custom-design. They are out there retail, expensive and in stock.

As to your last sentence, let me bring common sense to you.

As you notice from quoting me, I was talking about how I think ATI/AMD can't outperform the series 6 GPUs from Nvidia. Which clearly suggests current heirarchy of GPUs.

Now people with common sense will read the next sentence about the dual GPUs as current and future cards that are on the same level as the Nvidia's series 6 cards. This is clearly evidenced by the words "todays gaming" as in recent games. Its not rocket science to understand the sentence fully.

As for this Special Edition rubbish.

Never seen any fatality gear from creative?

Those are Special Edition and custom-designed stuff. You trying to say they aren't mainstream? Please, no more of this custom and special editions means they aren't mainstream rubbish anymore.

I will let the forum decide mate.

[Smilie]

this thread is getting stupid

in the end of the day
its about the budget of the end-user/buyer can afford
to see which video card is best value for performance
AMD/ATI or Nvidia doesnt win in all price ranges

if u have £300+ to spend Nvidia cards looks better

but with a budget of £200 for a video card a month ago
i went for a AMD/ATI card

and we talking about manufacturers custom cards as well now??

[boroboi]

Well the HD7970 is in itself a single GPU card, the difference being is that the vendors themselves are allowed to redesign the PCB, and some are adding a 2nd GPU and turning it into a dual GPU card.

Originally Posted by DABhand

It used CUDA also.

Well, the fact that it uses PhysX in itself means that it uses CUDA... but i can't find any evidence that it ever used anything other than PhysX to calculate physics and provide image enhancements.

Infact, i remember playing about with it back when i had my GTX 295 and it was essentially nothing more than a PhysX demo, showcasing said effects.

Nice explanation of CUDA and what its hardware function can do, but you have to remember not everyone is techy savvy on the forums.

I didn't say it helped with communication speeds between the CPU, people are starting to read invented words into what I have written. Please re-read what I have written in the previous posts.

Getting tech savvy, i would of described the hardware benefits between general computations and then offloading instructions into CUDA But indeed you are correct, i misread what you said with regards to that statement.

The only thing that ATI/AMD GPU's have is the streams many of them, but thats because they are needed without that amount the cards would be pushing hard to keep up. 1/3 of them is required for Physx and CUDA emulation, thats a hefty chunk.

AMD have more or less the same amount of stream processors as it's Nvidia counterparts, the only reason it "looks" more is because they calculate the amount of them differently.

Here is a post i made on a hardware forum back in 2010 which explains the difference in architecture between an AMD card and an Nvidia card which should explain what i mean http://forums.guru3d.com/showpost.ph...9&postcount=19

Also, CUDA and PhysX by nature cannot be emulated by AMD.

But to me for performance and what you get, overall I do believe that Nvidia is up the top for that. I have nothing against ATI/AMD cards, but I just feel their price range for what you get is not good, just because they have more streams for processing doesn't mean you can add on £50-100 on the price.

Nvidia offer (at most times of the year) the highest performing card yes, but they are not by far the best on price to performance.

If you compare head to head the flagiship cards between both companies, the AMD card is usually around 5-10% slower, but in turn it is also usually around £100 cheaper...

When i bought 5870 a couple of yeard ago, i think i paid £310, Nvidia's equivilant at the time was close to £440... and it was not £130 faster than the AMD card, being around 10 - 15% slower.

Also with regards to PhysX, there's been problems for years also with it defaulting to software emulation, depsite being supported by hardware due to the games looking in the System32 folder and not the games directory, imagine how many people wouldn't even notice the difference.

Those are Special Edition and custom-designed stuff. You trying to say they aren't mainstream? Please, no more of this custom and special editions means they aren't mainstream rubbish anymore.

Agreed.

[Jayster]

DABhand there are no 7900 series based dual gpu cards available anywhere, or ever have been yes they exist such as the iceq2 and devil13 but as of yet none have been released.

[DABhand]

Like I said, wholesellers have them but they are pricey, but they are available.

They are mostly sold in the East (as in Orient), America has to get them imported, Powercolor doesn't supply to the UK so their cards have to be imported hence the price is high even for a wholeseller.

Again because it isn't publically retailed like other products doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

Both the Devil 13 and ICEq x2 were released mid June.

Expect to see MSI, Gigabyte and Asus to follow suit in the next month with their dual GPU cards.

[tizmeinnit]

its wholesaler

[DABhand]

Tomato Tomatoe :P

[Jayster]

Fancy linking?

[DABhand]

Cant you would only get the index of the company since you won't have an account, you have to have a VAT reg no for an owned company which I did have at one time to have an account there.

So unfortunately no point in linking >.<