Decker

Thanks for the info. Never knew that about graphics cards. Mine is a 5770 and it works pretty well for most new games. I think eventually I'll buy a second 5770 and apparently that will speed up framerates significantly.

RichC2

Some up and coming PnC Adventure Games that might be of some interest:

Amnesia: The Dark Descent - solid little horror adventure game that plays something like Myst stuck in a nightmare.

Lost Horizon - based on the book, looks like a low rent version of Uncharted 2 but apparently has a lot of it's own merits, critically well received thus far.

Gray Matter - from Jane Jensen, creator of Gabriel Knight. It's finally set to come out Feb of 2011 in EU.

Decker

After months of nagging me, my cousin (who built my computer) talked me into buying a second 1 GB 5770 to cross-fire with. What sort of an improvement of performance should I be expecting? Will it really be twice as fast a frame-rate? Will I be able to play just about everything on high settings now?

RichC2

Depends on the games. In Crysis Warhead you'll go from 23 fps (1920x1200 resolution) to 37 fps. 26 fps to 42 fps in 1680x1050.

Decker

Interesting. That's a pretty significant improvement. If you don't mind me asking, where did that information come from? I've done a Google search, but haven't found any good informative articles on cross-firing the cards yet. That single 5770 works very well for my needs usually -- even for some very new, graphics-heavy games like Just Cause 2 and Mafia II. Others like Metro 2033 and Starcraft II do get some slowdown. And of course Crysis.

Also, I have a question : When you add the second card, is it always being used, or does it just engage when being used for graphic-intensive applications like games?



BTW I found the weirdest quirk recently : With Mafia II, when the game is just installed, it would only show the static, hanging flags and the fluttering eyelashes of the characters -- nothing else. I went to a forum discussion and found out that the default setting is anti-aliasing OFF. Turning the anti-aliasing ON made the game look beautiful. Very strange.

RichC2

I just did a google search on 5770 crossfire.

http://www.legionhardware.com/articl...ormance,5.html

I otherwise don't know a whole lot about multi-card use.

RocShemp

Keep in mind it's essentially a point-and-click adventure game. Go in expecting anything remotely close to Uncharted (which is a third person shooter with some minor exploration and puzzle solving mixed in) will leave you disappointed.

Decker

Does anybody know why Steam installs DirectX with every new game I launch? Is there any way to stop that from happening? i do notice that if you hit "Cancel", then relaunch the game, it skips that step. Still I think there has to be a more elegant solution than that.

RichC2

Yeah I should have noted that. Funny too that the third person shooter aspect is, imo, the weakest point of the Uncharted series.

JohnSlider

I've recently started playing World of Goo and Angry Birds in my free time. They're fun little time wasters. They require a little bit of strategy and thought, but they're also just fun distractions. Do any of you have some recommendations for similar games?

msdmoney

I've always wondered about that too.

Decker

Found this article on Crossfiring 5770s. Sounds like it should give me good results. Hope so -- FRAPS tells me I only get about 20 FPS on Metro 2033.

RocShemp

I thought the shooter aspects were much improved in Uncharted 2. Likewise for the brawling. The puzzles and exploration also got an upgrade but I felt they could have gone further with both. I understand their reluctance to attempt long Tomb Raider/Ico type puzzles but I wish we'd get something close to that in Uncharted 3.

RichC2

They were improved but they were still a weak point, imo, felt like tedious filler instead of adding to the experience. Still a great series.

RocShemp

Given the games are primarily shooters with minor puzzle/exploration elements tossed in, that's a whole lot of filler.

Decker

Looks like it's working well. I went from 20 FPS to 37 on Metro 2033 and in Crysis Warhead from 26 to at least 40 FPS. Totally worth the extra $115 it cost me!

RichC2

Haha -- the shooting/action elements integrated well for a good part of the game, but when the game went straight up shooter in the last 20% I lost interest pretty damn quick.

RocShemp

Fair enough. Sounds like how I felt towards the tail end of the first game. Particularly the second shootout in the monastery (as if the first shootuot in the same location wasn't irritating enough).