so I have been looking for Direct3D10 cards..

So, I downloaded the Word in Conflict beta and to my dismay my current PC cannot play it above an average of 30 FPS on medium with my current hardware. I have an Intel Core 2 Duo E6600, Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800MHz RAM, and an nVidia 7800GT. I am almost absolutely certain that my videocard is a big bottleneck. So, I was thinking about getting a cheap Direct3D10 videocard so I could play Crysis, this and maybe a couple other titles on higher settings.

I have been looking at these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127287

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127286

and I am not sure which one to get. However, I am assuming that the GTS is a higher quality model than the GT. However, I do not have Vista and I have also heard that these Direct3D10 cards have been made so that they will only work on Windows, meaning you can't run Linux if you use these cards. Should I get one of these considering I don't have Vista and probably won't unless I really feel the need to max Crysis out with the Direct3D10 effects and the university here finally gets it so I can get it for free. Also, I am not sure about the thing where you cannot use Linux if you have Direct3D10 card in your PC. If no Linux is the case I would rather not get one. I am not sure if these will even be that much better than my 7800GT if I am not using the Direct3D10 API..

NO!! the 8600gt is a downgrade and the 8600gts is a bit more powerful than your current card. If you want to upgrade get a 8800gts.

edit: the 8600gt has almost the same power as the 7800gt, it can be a little upgrade, a little downgrade or like having the same card.

hmmm so the 8800gts is the lowest card that would be worth bothering with eh? I hopefully can max Crysis without any Direct3D10 effects.. as least that is what I have been hearing from the developers.. and come on, what will the Direct3D10 effects be really? smoke that blows "realistically" in the wind (referring to a comment on WiC)? More particles from wood splintering? How will that even be that noticeable.. to me anyway. Ugh I just hope I can max Crysis at an acceptable frame rate with no noticeable stutters with my current hardware.. then I will be set. BTW, how Crysis performs is really the deciding factor is whether I continue to play the new PC games or not.. if I can't max it out (at least with no Direct3D10 effects) I will have to get a newer card and "upgrade" to Vista. If I can, I won't be upgrading to play any other games.

At least I can play the Wii and the X360 and not worry about how it will be graphically.. but generally PC games are more fun for me.. and yeah I don't know, an 8800GTS is an expensiv, expensive thing.. I don't know if I want to bother with that.. at least until it drops below $200.. or even better $150. And yeah, I am not crazy about "upgrading" to Vista either. And I am definitely not getting a card that wont run Linux.

hmmm so the 8800gts is the lowest card that would be worth bothering with eh? I hopefully can max Crysis without any Direct3D10 effects.. as least that is what I have been hearing from the developers.. and come on, what will the Direct3D10 effects be really? smoke that blows "realistically" in the wind (referring to a comment on WiC)? More particles from wood splintering? How will that even be that noticeable.. to me anyway. Ugh I just hope I can max Crysis at an acceptable frame rate with no noticeable stutters with my current hardware.. then I will be set. BTW, how Crysis performs is really the deciding factor is whether I continue to play the new PC games or not.. if I can't max it out (at least with no Direct3D10 effects) I will have to get a newer card and "upgrade" to Vista. If I can, I won't be upgrading to play any other games.

At least I can play the Wii and the X360 and not worry about how it will be graphically.. but generally PC games are more fun for me.. and yeah I don't know, an 8800GTS is an expensiv, expensive thing.. I don't know if I want to bother with that.. at least until it drops below $200.. or even better $150. And yeah, I am not crazy about "upgrading" to Vista either. And I am definitely not getting a card that wont run Linux.

wookieeassassin

I seen a dx9/dx10 comparison video of crysis and it looks like the dx10 version will be allot more graphical.

hmmm so the 8800gts is the lowest card that would be worth bothering with eh? I hopefully can max Crysis without any Direct3D10 effects.. as least that is what I have been hearing from the developers.. and come on, what will the Direct3D10 effects be really? smoke that blows "realistically" in the wind (referring to a comment on WiC)? More particles from wood splintering? How will that even be that noticeable.. to me anyway. Ugh I just hope I can max Crysis at an acceptable frame rate with no noticeable stutters with my current hardware.. then I will be set. BTW, how Crysis performs is really the deciding factor is whether I continue to play the new PC games or not.. if I can't max it out (at least with no Direct3D10 effects) I will have to get a newer card and "upgrade" to Vista. If I can, I won't be upgrading to play any other games.

At least I can play the Wii and the X360 and not worry about how it will be graphically.. but generally PC games are more fun for me.. and yeah I don't know, an 8800GTS is an expensiv, expensive thing.. I don't know if I want to bother with that.. at least until it drops below $200.. or even better $150. And yeah, I am not crazy about "upgrading" to Vista either. And I am definitely not getting a card that wont run Linux.

wookieeassassin

You should upgrade next gen of cards then, your card is fine and last you a bit longer.

Heres the dx9/dx10 comparison

http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/crysis-dx9-vs-dx10-comparison#more-9747

Dx9 still looks good, but DX10 does look allot better.

ya but who REALLY notices lighting when you are shooting things? I probably won't be able to tell. Regardless, with Vista's bugs and poor performance the local university here has said it will be a long time before they get it. Supposedly it does not work with their Novell server system. So, that means if I want Vista in time to play Crysis at or a month or so after its release, I need to buy Vista, which home premium is what, $240 and if your don't wanna pay for that you can get the $160 upgrade version, which sounds like a scummy trick to me. Prolly some loophole for the upgrade that will make it even worse.wookieeassassin

Ok then get a dx9 card, stop arguing over the dx10.

hehe. I'd rather not buy another card that will only be a tad bit better then my current one. I guess if my PC will not max Crysis out with no Direct3D10 effects turned on then I will have to show some self restraint and level headedness and play it on whatever settings I can. The price of a new card and possibly a new OS is not worth it for just one game.wookieeassassin

i think that no card in dx10 will trully max crysis (full AA+AF).

Actually, it's almost the same except more dramatical stuff happens in the directx 10 version. Isuppose the differnce between directx 9 and 10 is too small to be noticed unless you do something like that.Gog

But running all the new lighting, textures, shadows with a decent frame rate?
That is what DX10 is for.

Look at the huge performance hit we get in recent games with MAX settings.
FEAR is almost unplayable with all settings maxed and how old is that game?

First off Vista Ultimate costs around $200 for a brand new copy. The upgrade version is just like any other windows upgrade OS, it just requires you to have ANY previous version of windows detected during the installation. No tricks about it.

Second, there are a few games that have compatibility problems in vista yes. But i don't consider the loss of a few games that are 2-3 years old much of a loss. I've been running 64bit Vista ultimate since january. There were a few bugs that made me keep a dual boot with xp, but for the most part it has been a serious improvement over xp. Like the fact that games run in vista actually support multicore cpu's. Network activity shows a 20-40% increase over xp, and oh yeah...until someone finishes their pet project of using the DX SDK to enable DX10 in other OS's...vista is it.

There is a drastic difference in image quality between DX9 and DX10. DX10 = shader model 4.0, it's not just shadows and volumatic lighting. Go download the Call of juarez DX9/10 comparison. If you think you'll be able to run crysis or bioshock or any of the new DX10 games with DX9 hardware, don't think medium quality in 1280x1024...think low/medium in 1024x768.

But here's the thing that has been kind of down played since it was officially announced....Q1 of 2008, microsoft will no longer be supporting, or releasing ANY 32bit software. none, at all. Vista was suppossed to be 64bit only but depressingly nearing 5 years after 64bit hardware became available and 95% of people are still using their $2000+ 64bit rigs...with 32bit xp. For the people that have expeirenced problems with vista....i would bet my left nut they're using an intel C2D or some variation, and an 8000 line nvidia card. Cause the thing is...intel and nvidia wear the crown for best performance if you're running good ol Win Xp...but they both suck and blow when running 64bit software.

The 8800 nvidia cards are not native DX10. They are dx9 with token dx10 support, which iswhy the ati hd2900 512card (which is actually the firstcard designed from scratch for DX10)is about even with the 8800gts 640 card running xp, and that's the card it was aimed to compete against. But if you compare the ati hd2900 to the 8800 cards running dx10 games in 64bit vista..suddenly the $370 ati card is running even, or out performing the $600-800 8800gtx.768meg card. the same applies to intel and amd cpu's, running xp the new intel chips slaughter AMD performing 40-50% better, switch over to vista, and the 939chips leave intel with a 5-8% performance lead.

People wonder why AMD and ATI haven't been very aggressive in competing with intel and nvidia the past year? AMD has been working with microsoft to optimize their new native quad cores with 64bit vista...AMD knew when microsoft was cutting 32bit software long before intel, and AMD was working with ATI long before they announced they'd be taking them over. When people don't use 64bit software today, what's the point in rushing out more hardware aimed to perform well in a soon to be obsolete OS?

My advice would be to grab a HD2900xt 512card for $370, or the 1gig card for $465 if you want something that will last awhile. Vista is well worth the upgrade, cheapest one being $80 ibelieve. But getting anything below an 8800gts640 will be a complete waste of money, they preform horribly in DX9 and worse in DX10. the ATI HD2400 and 2600 are more aimed at media center PC's then gaming.

And btw...my x1950xt 512meg CF edition can run fear with ultra settings in 1600x1200, never drops below 50fps. Still playable maxed out at 2048x1536.

oh no. Microsoft won't be releasing anymore 32 bit software. How do you explain that when there are still 32 bit copies of Vista for sale? Also, I hear that unless you pick up Vista Home Premium, you are pretty much wasting your money, as the home basic doesn't really have ANYTHING compared to it. It might as well be XP, but with a lot less drivers, more compatibility issues and more RAM consumption because of the constant scans for harmful crap. Also, you say the HD 2900XT card 512MB is only $370, but on newegg.com which generally has the best deals it is $390 before tax and shipping.

Also, I have read that the nVidia 8800GTS 320MB cards outdo this one. http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTM1MSw2LCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

If I can't play Crysis on max while not using any Direct3D10 effects I am either going to have to a)get a 8800GTS 320MB and an upgrade copy of Vista Home Premium b) not play Crysis or accept that my rig isn't gonna max it even in DX9 and just play it on medium c)wait until the holidays and hope that my parents and family will still get me stuff since I have graduated high school now and if they don't want to get me anything d) wait until the price on a 8800GTS 320MB is $200 or under and until the local university here gets Vista working with their Novell software.. cause then I can get Vista for free.. legally.