Before I buy a P650 or P750...

[Spacey]

...could someone be so kind as to point me in the right direction of, or describe the "issues" with these cards and nforce2 mobos? I'm about to build a new system which will likely use the new Epox nforce2 board and one of the new P cards.

Also, although I very rarely play games, I will want to play both UT2K3 and Star War Galaxies. I know the P cards aren't gaming cards by any means but they should be fine with both of these yes? I don't care if I can't have every little gpx feature turned on or that they don't run at 1000000000 fps. I just want decent, smooth performance in those 2 games.

thanks

[Sasq]

UT2K3 runs acceptably at 800x600 (that acceptably is subjective) I have no idea about star wars galaxies.

The issues with the nforce mobo's as far as I know has been fixed in internal revisions of the drivers, but they havn't been released yet.

[Spacey]

800x600 is a little disappointing. I was hoping that it'd do 1024x768 and be on a par with my aging GF3.

Next stoopid question has to be, does anyone know when these new drivers will be out? I'm looking to get the kit next week.

[Sasq]

The only answer I can give to that is - when they are out

[Kusa]

Haig answered it in this thread:

http://forums.murc.ws/showthread.php?threadid=42244

Probably your system causes the problem for SWG (large texture transactions should occur in a play)

[ElDonAntonio]

Well from Sasq's benchmark results, I guess you should be ok at 1024x768 in UT2k3, right? 40fps at least is good enough for me. Check out his other thread about the P650/750 review!

[Sasq]

1024 mayb be ok, if you turn a lot of the eye candy off. when I get some time I'll check

[Spacey]

I read another review in a UK mag yesterday saying they ran ut2k3 at 1024x768 and the P750 was only pulling 20fps. I'd be more than happy with 40-50fps but 20 is a bit too low. I don't mind turning off a lot of the eye candy really, just so long as it runs smooth.

I'm gonna order it with a new Samsung TFT monitor next week. I'll wait until the month after to rebuild the rest of the system and hopefully the newer drivers will be out by then.

cheers for the replies guys

[az]

Some issues..

Your TFT will likely have a native resolution of 1280x1024, or, if it is a really big one, 1600x1200. In the latter case, you're lucky, and 800x600 would be the preferred resolution for you (1600x1200 being a multiple of that). In the former case, unless you play at 1280x1024, you will have ugly interpolation regardless of if you play at 800 or 1024, so it really doesn't make that much of a difference

Just make sure before you buy the screen that you like the interpolation. Also, for games, you'll want a fast screen, else you'll get smearing.

AZ

[Spacey]

Originally posted by az
Some issues..

Your TFT will likely have a native resolution of 1280x1024, or, if it is a really big one, 1600x1200. In the latter case, you're lucky, and 800x600 would be the preferred resolution for you (1600x1200 being a multiple of that). In the former case, unless you play at 1280x1024, you will have ugly interpolation regardless of if you play at 800 or 1024, so it really doesn't make that much of a difference

Thanks I hadn't actually thought of that. The samsung I'm planning to buy does indeed have a native res of 1280x1024. I don't think my funds will cover a 18/19" TFT with 1600x1200

[az]

Actually, 1600x1200 is native for a 20" - oh how I wish I could afford one

So you could either buy a card that lets you run games at 1280x1024 (if your screen has DVI in, then image quality will be no concern anyway), or just don't care if it's 1024 or 800, because both will have to be interpolateted. Maybe the interpolation of your screen is very good though, so it'll seem no fuzzier than a cheap CRT - which is perfectly acceptable for games

AZ

[thop]

Actually 1280x1024 looks pretty good interpolated to 1600x1200, i was surpirsed myself.