NVIDIA vs ATI and ATI help

[pecaboy]

Hi All!

I had a 5-year old NVidia GT8800 in my computer but it had failed. Until that it has worked perfectly, even in 1600x1200 (with anti-aliasing, using the inspector), though my monitor don't like this high res. But now I have a Radeon 6570 and I can't use the 1600x1200 res (my monitor switches off), and what is worse, even in 1280x1024 it is a bit laggy (when I look around using the mouse the screen it is a bit messy, not perfect). It is strange because for example the Witcher2 runs a LOT better with this card.

So how can it be that an old 8800 with 512 MB is better than a new 6570 with 1 GB? Maybe SF likes NVidia more?

What should I set in my Catalyst Control Center for this game? What is the ideal setting? Tessellation? Triple buffering? Surface format optimization? etc.

BTW, when I right-click on the CCC icon at the bottom right corner of the screen, I see two AMD menus: "1. AMD Radeon HD 6500 Series" and "2. AMD Radeon HD 6500 Series". I can set the normal things (3D, rotate display, set desktop area) in the first and the "extended desktop" in the second. Is this normal? Or I have installed the CCC twice?

System (a bit old except video card):
Intel Core2 Duo E6550 2,33 GHz
2 megs of RAM
HD 6570
Win 7

Thank you,
Pecaboy

[Donken]

I dont have so much experiance with Radeon or graphics card vs Steel Fury at all (i have nvidia and always had) But have you tried to turn exactly everything off in CCC? or do you have anything like: let the program decide, option? But first try to turn all off and start from there.

But what about your screen? Is it only for this game you get a weird resolution? (you told your monitor dont like the res) Can it bee the infamous widescreen bugg you have for steel fury?

And the last one is that you can have two monitors or 1monitor and a 1Hdtv for example, it is for gpu1 and gpu2, so everything is as it should there (you have that option on all cards these days)

[pecaboy]

TY for the reply!

OK, I'll try to turn off everything. BTW, it is not VERY laggy, I can play with it easily, but still, not the same smoothness as with the old GT8800.

Widescreen problem is not an option, I have a "standard", old Medion monitor. It doesn't like 1600x1200 res at all (I can switch my desktop to it but usually I can't lower the screen length enough so I can't see the left and/or right part - generally, I play everything in 1280x1024), but this isn't my main problem. I simply can't understand that an old card can be better than a new type. 

I think the game simply doesn't like Ati

[frinik]

Pecaboy there are 2 types of HD6570 the gddr 5 one or the ddr3.Which one do you have?It'simportant because the ddr5 one would be much faster than the ddr3 one.

I read a review of the HD 6570 following your post .Here's the link:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2385799,00.asp


It says that card ois not good for gaming and should be played at the resolution you are playing 1280 X 1024.

That being said I play SF with 2 ATI cards; a very modest HD3650 512 ddr3 on a Toshiba satellite laptop and an HD5670 1 GB ddr 5 on my pc.Both give me excellent framerates and absolutely no issue.I play using a res of 1440 X 900 on the Toshiba and 1650 X 1050 on my pc with everything set at high.

I suspect your gpu is probably the ddr3 version  which is why you are being forced to play at such low res.Still through the CCC you can imporve the game play and framerates and probably play at res 1440 X 900.In game cancel the use desktop refresh rate option( this is what I do and I gain fps + 10 to 15%( you ll just have to adjust upward the contrast, brightness and gamma sliders to compensate.I also set the  anisotropic filtering slider to 0 because frankly even set at the 5 max I couldn't see the difference in quality but the fps would plummet. Also in the CCC disable AMD tessalation( does not work with low or mid range cards anyway and it's an fps guzzler) and turn all the feature except mipmap to performance rather than quality.The game won't look worse and you 'll get solid fps allowing you to play at higher resolution.Do not overclock your card because through personal experience it makes the game unstable.

But it has nothing to do with Nvidia( I can't play the game on a laptop which has an Nvidia card) versus AMD.The issue is that yoru card is not an improvement over your old GT8800 that's all.For a very reasonable price you can get very much better gpus either the 5770, the 6850 or if you want to go Nvidia try the 550.My advice is read Tom Hardware( just google it) it's the best spot to find excellent and exhaustive reviews of gpus and a monthly, updated list of the best graphic cards for gaming depending on the price scale.

[pecaboy]

Indeed, I have the DDR3 version

But as I mentioned Witcher 2 runs far better than with GT8800. Although I play it at a wide-screen 1280x768 res, I can switch on almost everything, except the "high-tech" features, without substantial lag. With GT8800 it was very glitchy, but with 6570 it seems almost perfect.

I don't want to change my GPU in the near future because I am poor (I live in Hungary, that tells everything I think ) I bought this new card because the GT has been failed. I can "bake" it and then it works again, but it is very frustrating to constantly (1-2 times a week) pull out - bake - put in the card. Not to mention you never know when it fails forever

Desktop resolution has been unticked for a long time - indeed, it improves fps a lot. I have experienced this with my old GPU, too.

I'll try to switch off everything and hope for the best. Though as I said the game is absolutely playable even with this little "lag". When I don't move my head/cannon/whatever I look from, the screen is very sharp and generally the fps is very good. What I found embarrassing is when I move my head I can't really see the objects, for example tanks. So I "turn my head" (via mouse), stop turning, watch, turn again, watch and so on

[frinik]

The gpu is only one component of what I call the Holy Trinity of gaming:

1) The CPU or processor :a weak processor say celeron or old intel pentium will slow down your game and force you to lower res and play at medium settings.The more powerful your processor the smoother your games will run and higher the fps and the res will be.Yours I am afraid is not a powerhorse but adequate.

2) RAM: the memory does matter; the bare minimum for good gaming is 2 which is what you have but if you can have 4 to 8 even better because again it allows your cpu and gpu to work more efficiently.Upgrade your RAM to 4 if your pc and budget will allow it.

3)the gpu pr video card or graphic card: you need ddr5!It does not matter if it's a 512 mbs or 1gb one because most cards running at 128 bits cannot use all the 1 gb anyway.DDr 2 or 3 by comparison will be 40% to 60% slower .Better  a lower end gpu with ddr5 than a higher end one with ddr3.Sometimles the price difference between the 2 is not high and it's worth paying a bit more for the extra performance.

Finally the driver can make a difference.I update my drivers every month.Check the AMD website and see if you have the latest driver for your card.It can improve performance and qualty!

Your monitor is an old one and probably does not allow you to play at higher res.I know Medion, it's a German electronic chain but they make/sell budget electronics at good prices.Normally your card should allow you to play at 1440 X 900 or higher but your monitor may be the barrier.Go to the AMD site and see if you have the latest driver for your card!Remember while you may have bought your card just a couple of weeks ago it might have been manufactured 6 to 7 months ago and the driver you get with the installation disc is probably obsolete.

[pecaboy]

TY for the hints!