nVidia’s GeForce 7950 GX2

[Landiin]

Does any one use this video card with EQ2? I was thinking of picking one up with my new system. But wasn't sure how well EQ2 would utilize the SLi techno.

Before I toss the cash I want to make sure EQ2 will use the power of this card.

[bobbiac]

not worth it imo something like the Geforce 7950GT 512MB is much better.. save a bit of cash too

also unless you really need a card ... please PLEASE wait for DX10 cards... you wont be let down

[GeForceTony]

Originally Posted by bobbiac

not worth it imo something like the Geforce 7950GT 512MB is much better.. save a bit of cash too

also unless you really need a card ... please PLEASE wait for DX10 cards... you wont be let down

Aye, I have to agree... Unless you've got the cash to spend now (or your current card is sub-GeForce 6x00 or Radeon Xx00 Series), and then again when DX10 comes out then I suggest waiting a bit... DX10 is going to change EVERYTHING... Possibly just as big a jump as it was going from DX7 to DX8 with the first programmable shaders.

[Landiin]

Yes that was something I forgot about was the close release of DX10.

With the new windows coming out next year should I just wait to upgrade then? I've been pondering to do just that but I have the upgrade itch! lol

[Rassal]

Well, i will give you my humble opinion here... If you want to upgrade, go for it. Never let technology change stop you, why? Only because adaptation to that technology takes time.

DX10 won't be out before Vista is out. And everyday M$ seems to push the release date... so, basicly, Vista is due in late january 2007... and with every damn release of DirectX, it takes the programmers at least 1 year to adopt the new ways used with new instructions. Basicly, this means, when DX10 gets released, EQ2 and most of the existing games won't perform better under it, until they patch the core of those games to use DX10 instead of DX9.0c.

I remember playing EQ1, and it took sony over a year to release a patch that changed the core EQ1 from an older version of DirectX to the other one. So this means that for EQ2, don't expect a DX10 integration before at least low to mid 2008... this is almost 2 years... can you wait 2 years up front? And if there are released cards that support DX10 when vista is OUT in January, when games will go out that needs DX10 to run, you will need to replace that slow 1st generation DX10 card for a faster one... Don't forget, both NVidia and ATI now have 2 dev teams releasing new chipsets every 6 months or so... 2 years is a lot of time to wait to benefit the use of a DX10 card and the release of DX10... (and if i remember well, they did this twice, from DX7 to DX8 and from DX8 to DX9, that was over 5 years... )

So yes, i would say a 7950 GX2 is worth it... if you got the CPU to drive it... cause at those speed, you need a FAT CPU to process all that data... i just upgraded from an X850XT to a X1950XTX and i was using an FX57 processor, and i just doubled my video speed (according to 3DMark) but in EQ2, i haven't seen much of an upgrade... why? Because EQ2 was using my X850XT to the max already... adding a more powerful video card without upgrading the CPU didn't change much... If you get a Core2 Duo Extreme CPU along with the 7950 GX2, you will see the difference for sure (friend of mine upgraded to this and runs EQ2 at extreme quality with no visual lag) thing i cannot do... and we are only 1000 apart in 3DMark06... so video isn't the only thing in EQ2....

Decision is yours mate... don't let technology fool you....

[gm9]

What Rassal said. And you gotta listen to your upgrade itch. Feeling it too at the moment, but still being on an old AGP system it would involve changing mainboard, processor, memory and graphics card. I'm not there yet where I can justify to shell out that kind of money (but I'm close, EQ2 in performance mode just does not look good...).

[Landiin]

I was gonna go with a Core 2 Duo CPU but was gonna skimp on the Core 2 Extreme CPU as it's double the price lol. But being the author of eXtremeUI maybe I should get it:P