What are good graphic cards around?

[Kuciwalker]

I'm not sure if 64-bit Linux can address 2^64 bytes of memory, and I know 64-bit Windows can't. IIRC 64-bit Vista is capped at 2^48.

[aneeshm]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
IIRC 64-bit Vista is capped at 2^48.

Physical or virtual?

[Kuciwalker]

Why would there be a difference? There's not for 32-bit AFAIK...

[Asher]

Originally posted by Aeson
The 8600 GTS is generally a bit slower than a X1950PRO or 7900GS, while it costs more.

However, the capability difference between the two processors is night and day. In upcoming games, DX10 cards will outperform DX9 cards...not to mention the time when games are DX10-only.

[Asher]

64-bit Vista supports 8TB of address space.

[Kuciwalker]

So only 2^43. I was only a few orders of magnitude off

[Aeson]

Originally posted by Asher
However, the capability difference between the two processors is night and day. In upcoming games, DX10 cards will outperform DX9 cards...not to mention the time when games are DX10-only.

The 8600 GTS is not a good choice for DX10 functionality. It doesn't have enough power to run the DX10 games out now, let alone in the (rather distant) future when games will be DX10 only.

Buying the 8600 GTS for DX10 gaming would be like loading your boat up with solar powered desalinization, a year's supply of dehydrated food, and setting out to circumnavigate the globe... in an amusement park's peddle boat.

[Asher]

The 8600GTS is fine for DX10 gaming. It won't play it with everything on max, as benchmarks online always have, but you can scale things down to play them just fine. A common misconception is looking at gaming benchmarks with all settings on high and seeing the 8600GTS not being perfect for it -- why not turn it down?

The 8600GTS will play every DX9 game out today, and it'll play DX10 games (in some, with graphics turned down). Which is more than we can say about DX9 cards.

[Aeson]

Developers are very unlikely to lock out DX9 cards for quite some time. If they do they're shooting themselves in the foot. The DX10 games out on the market now have DX9 support as well.

DX10 cards are the future, no doubt. But the 8600 GTS is not a good card even right now, let alone the future. Buying it for DX10 gaming just doesn't make any sense because you'll be turning off the visual features it offers over DX9 just to get acceptable framerates, while good DX9 cards can play with more eye-candy enabled and with better framerates.

[Asher]

I think that buying a new video card with a featureset that is already obsolete and on the way out is a curious decision, but that's just me.

Which DX9 games do 8600 GTS have problems running?

[Aeson]

Originally posted by Asher
I think that buying a new video card with a featureset that is already obsolete and on the way out is a curious decision, but that's just me.

Their lifespans just aren't going to be into the "DX10 only" future. In the meantime, feature set means nothing if you don't have the power to actually use it.

Like I said, it's not a good time to buy. There's really only 2 decent options in the "value" market IMO. X1950XT if you're not worried about DX10 capability (and can still find it for $150 or so), 8800 GTS for DX10. Even both those are kinda overpriced right now though. Supposedly ATI will be offering a card to compete with the 8800 GTS (320MB) soon, so hopefully that will drive prices down and give another option.

Which DX9 games do 8600 GTS have problems running?

If by "problems" you mean running slower than cards that cost less than it does... most games.

[Asher]

I don't see it running any games at an unacceptable framerate.

I just think it's ridiculous to buy a card to play today's games and not tomorrow. You may as well save up the money to buy a more capable card, one with features that will be useful in a year rather than useless.

[Aeson]

Originally posted by Asher
I don't see it running any games at an unacceptable framerate.

Depends on your settings. Sure it (and most anything else around $100) will run today's games fine at low settings/resolutions. Demanding games will tax most any video card out there at max settings.

Why pay more for less?

I just think it's ridiculous to buy a card to play today's games and not tomorrow. You may as well save up the money to buy a more capable card, one with features that will be useful in a year rather than useless.

Of course it's ridiculous, which is why I'm opposed to the 8600 GTS. They can't just slap "DX10" onto a card and make it a good card for the future. It's not even a viable DX10 card right now.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3029

[Asher]

A lot of the reasons DX10 performance is lacking is drivers. DX10 drivers don't benefit from the years of tuning that DX7/8/9 drivers got.

Most of the DX10 games today are not designed to be mainstream. Call of Juarez, for instance, was supposed to be a tech demo funded by ATI before it was loosely turned into a game.

It's incorrect to assume all games will have low framerates on DX10 hardware just because the current DX10 games were designed with beta tools (and unrefined specs, minus tuning) and to show off the whizz-bang features of DX10 also.

[Aeson]

If you want to buy a sub-par card on the hopes a driver update will turn it into a good card, go ahead.

Buying an 8600 GTS just doesn't make any sense. The games out now that can use DX10 can't use a 8600 GTS in DX10 mode. And in the near future you'll have better DX10 cards available to choose from, and all the resulting price drops in first generation cards.

I don't know why you're defending this card. Did you get suckered into buying one or something?