A new floortop PC

Originally Posted by CelticFrost
Most ever on a video card was for Counter Strike back I want to say in 1999ish and it was 1400ish.

That's a lot of cash. I don't remember what I was using in 1999, but it was probably one of Nvidia's TnT cards. I recall that I had a 3DFX Voodoo II before that and a ATI Rage(?) prior to that. I think the most I ever spent before Nvidia released the Geforce series was around $300.

Barring extreme bleeding edge tech that entices people with more money than sense, ATI and Nvidia cards are quite comparable to one another. I used to like AMD for the efficiency in their drivers… but that was before they got just as bloated as Nvidia. For me, the only tangible difference in the long run is [easy] Physx support in the case of Nvidia.

Nevertheless, current gpu tech is pretty anemic. If I absolutely had to buy something right now, it would be a decent ~$400 card with 4gb VRAM to tide me over until some tangible improvements are made to the chip architecture.

Originally Posted by Moriendor
@pibbur who: Excellent choices there. My second PC also lives inside a Coolermaster HAF-X. It's a little dated case by now (unless there is a newer revision?) since it doesn't have real USB 3.0 ports on the front panel but then again I've never had a use for more than the board's USB 3.0 headers either so who cares… it's definitely a decent case for a well ventilated high end rig.



I'm constantly monitoring my VRAM usage via MSI Afterburner and just about the only game I've ever seen use lots of VRAM is Star Citizen which is in alpha and far from optimized yet. Skyrim pretends to be using a lot but that seems to be allocated VRAM and not actually used VRAM.
Granted, I have not played Shadow of Mordor yet which IIRC was the first game to require (or recommend) 6GB VRAM for ultra textures but that reeked of poorly optimized console port rather than a real technical requirement.

It's actually amazing how many games, even with the highest settings in 1440p (my monitor's native res) and AA cranked up all the way, use fairly little VRAM.
For example Assassin's Creed 3, which I'm playing right now in full DirectX 11 glory with TXAA, HBAO and all the bells and whistles turned to max, is using ~1500 - 1800MB of VRAM max.
Or Risen 3… PB's engine leads a very frugal life at requiring just over 1GB (often times it's in the 850MB - 1GB range) with everything maxed.

VRAM is vastly overrated. This might change with more SoM-type poorly optimized games of the new console generation where the devs can't be bothered to save VRAM (like "hey we got 8GB unified RAM so why waste time optimizing for nothing"). But for now 3GB - 4GB VRAM is just fine and it's reasonable to wait until 6GB or 8GB VRAM cards become the norm rather than plunking down huge amounts of extra cash on lotsa VRAM you'll never need.

Yes, I agree that 4 GB VRAM is enough for sure, and will be for quite a long time. But as you said shadow of Mordor already recommend 6 GB for ultra textures. It wouldn't surprise me if more games start getting ultra textures. I am really not sure why people keep speaking about "poorly" optimized games all the time. If you want really high-res textures it'll take a lot of VRAM, not to mention high amount of complex AA, high poly meshes, and so on. Actually just one character can easily get into the 400-500 MB territory even after compression and optimization in high-res. It wouldn't surprise me if TW3 for example had something like super high res mode, which require more VRAM. They had a super high-res in TW2 ( which was last time I updated my PC, so I could play with that setting only ).

Originally Posted by GothicGothicness
I am really not sure why people keep speaking about "poorly" optimized games all the time. If you want really high-res textures it'll take a lot of VRAM, not to mention high amount of complex AA, high poly meshes, and so on. Actually just one character can easily get into the 400-500 MB territory even after compression and optimization in high-res.

In the future, yeah. I'm pretty sure Moriender was talking about the present though.

4Gb VRAM is not enough for some Shadow/Mordor blasphemy game ultra setting.

Currently nVidia has the best power/cost efficient card that runs everything high or ultra. Which is good - usually ATI answers fast on this so expect a new card from them soon.

Two big competitiors in GPU market, neither dumbing down their product nor sucking up to masses.
This is the healthy competition, unlike what we have in games industry where lack of any competition made the worst Sims game ever and where noone wants to compete actually but is making clones of grinders as all they need is to pay for a good review to sell it.

ATI or nVidia in the end doesn't matter. The "war" is pumped by scandalseeking journalists. Both make great cards.
It's all your choice - where in the end you can't fail!
I'm with nVidia because I will never forgive ATI not fixing their driver for months that caused Icewind Dale 2 problems. Some others have something they dislike on nVidia, who cares. Buy a card, make sure it's not some low end crap and don't worry.

Some superb advice in this thread. Kudos to rpg watch community! Ill make sure to post here when I decide its time to upgrade my little darling.

@pibbur
We're from the same city (Bergen, Norway), so I assume we use somewhat similar ways of getting our hardware. I recently ordered this from Komplett:
https://www.komplett.no/komplett-gam…-edition/10949

I changed the case from Komplett HAF to Fractal Design Black R5 in the "configure" option and that's about it I think. The rest is very solid, especially since they build it and send it for free.

@Maylander

Yes, I ordered from Komplett as well, and actually based my order on the same machine as you did, but I did a few more changes, so all in all I payed around 18K (NOK) for it.

pibbur who wonders when they will send the PC.

EDIT: Just got a mail from them, seems like I can expect it next weekend, or shortly after.

If komplett had the same service in Sweden as they appear to have in Norway.. they might still have been around here….

Originally Posted by GothicGothicness
If komplett had the same service in Sweden as they appear to have in Norway.. they might still have been around here….

You know, we still like to take revenge for losing Jämtland and Härjedalen and the whole 1814-1905 period. So, bad service to swedes is as it should be.

I'm quite happy with their service, out of 80+ orders during 15 years or so, I've been somewhat dissatisfied with them 1 1/2 times.

pibbur who would like to inform the watch that the first part of this post is meant for entertainment purposes and as such should qualify as a joke. A very predictable and not particularly funny one, but still a joke.

Now, I've got the PC. What remains is to find a game that really would push it to its limits. Even better if it also is a good game.

Recommendations?

pibbur who needs a real reason to brag about it

Dying light was just released in steam and it taxes even the best pc:s.

The last Metro game is also pretty taxing. Or Crysis 3.

Originally Posted by pibbur who
Now, I've got the PC. What remains is to find a game that really would push it to its limits. Even better if it also is a good game.

Recommendations?

pibbur who needs a real reason to brag about it

DA:I on 1440p. Looks fantastic.
Or wait for Witcher 3.

Thanks for the advice. Lots of goodies to try out.

p