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[OT] nVidia vs AMD - old games

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Andrew Rybenkov

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Apr 6, 2013, 9:23:45 PM4/6/13
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I want to upgrade my HD5770 to something significantly better. My 500Wt PSU
has only 1 6-pin connector. Right now I see only one choice - HD7850.
(It is short - 20-21cm, and uses only 20Wt more at peak)

My major concern is compatibility with old games. With 5770 I am able to run
85% of old games, another 10-12% with older drivers on Win7-32.
(Old games are Tomb Raiders, M&M6-9, Fallouts, Thief, etc.)

Would I be able to run 7850 with 10.x drivers?
How nVidia 6xx cards behave? (I see some nVidia customers experience significant
difficulties with old games like PoP - Sands of Time, Tomb Raiders.
I remember I had to downgrade Detonator to 2.x version to play Lands of Lore 3
when I had FX 5700)

What is your experience (and advice), please?


--
Andrew Rybenkov

Rin Stowleigh

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Apr 6, 2013, 10:47:11 PM4/6/13
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IMO the real reason to go the Nvidia route has to do with an
increasing awareness on the need for testing frame times / frame
latency and not just frame rate.

Microstutter, or general frame time inconsistency is an issue that can
actually become more of a problem with faster cards rather than slower
cards.

Every article I've seen on the subject shows nVidia cards faring much
better than AMD with regard to frame latency / consistency.

Here's one article on the subject (others have posted similar articles
to this NG recently):

http://techreport.com/review/21516/inside-the-second-a-new-look-at-game-benchmarking

While this doesn't directly answer your question about compatibility
with older games, I personally have never had a problem retro gaming
on NVidia cards, and that includes running some pretty old stuff (Duke
Nukem 3D, Doom 3, etc).

I'm pretty sure you would not want to buy a card that's inferior with
newer game engines just to get better compatibility with older
engines.

Just my $.02

Trimble Bracegirdle

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Apr 6, 2013, 11:39:14 PM4/6/13
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I am surprised you have any problems with older games.

I have an HD5870 & over a 2 1/2 years playing of a very wide variety
of games from the mid '90's onward I can't think of one
that had a problem due to the Graphic Card.

Perhaps 'Outcast' a 1999 action adventure where it wanted a strange
variation
of 640x480 that I can't get to display full screen - it comes up as a
window.

I play in various resolutions & synch rates on a CRT Monitor .
I guess there would be problems If you wanted to get older games up to
a 'modern' high resolution on a LCD .
Perhaps you refering to difficulties due to Monitor.
(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(") mouse (....!-!...snuffle)

Peter Huebner

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Apr 7, 2013, 8:17:55 AM4/7/13
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In article <op.wu5ctvxbowpbh0@obscureserver>, aryb...@gmail.com
says...
I'm running a geforce 570 - this is a huge beast, I had to actually
knock out some hdd bays in my dear old antec case. It also wants an 8
pin plus a 6 pin power connector directly from the psu, thanks. My 500W
psu handles it without a problem.

It wasn't leading edge when I bought it (that was the 580) yet it hasn't
let me down. I don't play fps, some people may have a different
experience. It runs everything I've thrown at it, although I must say
that 640x480 in 256 colours looks like shit on a 30" monitor {laughs}.
I think the only thing that would not fly is 2560x1600 mode in Anarchy
Online but I know that that's related to my HP monitor somehow, the Dell
I had here for a short time would handle that, too. (the dell was crap
though, and soon developed a bad fault so it got sent back).

-P.
(going on a holiday for 3 weeks in 4 hours, I won't be answering any
queries for a bit, sorry)

Andrew Rybenkov

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Apr 9, 2013, 8:04:53 PM4/9/13
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On Sun, 07 Apr 2013 07:39:14 +0400, Trimble Bracegirdle <no-...@never.spam> wrote:

> I have an HD5870 & over a 2 1/2 years playing of a very wide variety
> of games from the mid '90's onward I can't think of one
> that had a problem due to the Graphic Card.

For example: "Scarface" is not playable with drivers 11.x and later
12.x break "Bloodrayne"
I ran "Pool of Radiance 2" on HD3470 (forgot drivers version) on Vista no problems,
not so with 5770 on Win7. (Same with "Nocturne", well there were problems with 3470,
but resolvable)



--
Andrew Rybenkov

Trimble Bracegirdle

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Apr 9, 2013, 9:28:30 PM4/9/13
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HD 5870 - Intel Quad Core - Win 7 64 bit.

I have run POOL OF RADIANCE II: RUINS OF MYTH DRANNOR Demo & it looks OK.
Perhaps with older games setting the games property Compatibility Tab to Win
XP
Maybe Run Windows Test Utility Dx Dialog C:\Windows\System32\dxdiag.exe
checks that the Graphics & Sound is working properly.
@@mouse@@

Trimble Bracegirdle

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Apr 9, 2013, 9:36:15 PM4/9/13
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>>>"... My 500Wt PSU has only 1 6-pin connector. .."<<<<

The 500w PSU will be fine for anything you might want to get.
Don't worry re. the single 6 pin plug.
You can get an adaptor to turn an HD connector into another 6 Pin.
A new card would likely have such adaptors.
(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(") mouse (Totally !)
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