The Oblivion Hardware Thread...

[Asher]

Since there's basically two discussions, we should fork the thread. Solver's thread will be for gameplay, this one for hardware.

Ask questions, discuss settings, discuss hardware, etc.

In the other thread somebody asked about power requirements.

300W is a bit skimpy for a powersupply, you may have to upgrade it. Usually the vendors post requirements on their pages.

The GeForce 7xxx series recommends 350W.
The Radeon X1xxx series recommends 420W (that seems a bit high -- other sites say 350W).

[Asher]

What to look for if you're upgrading your video card:

• Do you have AGP or PCI-Express? Only recent PCs have PCI-Express, which is replacing AGP.
  
• SM2.0, SM3.0: This means Shader Model 2.0 and Shader Model 3.0. It describes the complexity and capabilities of the processing units on the GPU: SM2.0 is older and will not support High Dynamic Range lighting (HDR), as well as some other features. SM3.0 is newer and definitely something you should look for. ATI's cards that support SM3.0 are all of the Radeon X1xxx series cards, Nvidia's cards that support SM3.0 are the GeForce 6 and 7 series. ATI's X300/600/800 and Radeon 9xxx series (excluding 9200) cards support SM2.0 only, Nvidia's GeForce FX cards support SM2.0 only. Radeon 9200 and below, and GeForce 4 and below all support SM1.1/1.2 only and will not run Oblivion at all.
  
• Memory interface: 128-bit vs 256-bit: 256-bit memory interfaces can send twice as much data to memory per cycle, so are twice as fast. Memory bandwidth is important in video cards.
  
• Pixel pipes/shaders: The number of processing pipelines the video card has...the higher the better.
  
• Vertex shaders: The number of vertex processors the video card has...the higher the better.
  
• Memory: 256MB is the sweetspot right now, 512MB is more forward-looking. 128MB isn't recommended.

[Asher]

Of course, the alternative to upgrading your PC is to purchase an Xbox 360. That's also the only way you can run both HDR and Anti-Aliasing at the same time. It's got 48 pixel shading pipelines or vertex shaders and 3 3.2GHz CPUs.

If you do not have a HDTV, consider the VGA adapter for the 360 to output to a monitor.

[Apocalypse]

You're kinda ahead on the curve...know any laptops in the future that'll have Vista and could play Oblivion well enough?

[Asher]

Any laptop today with a GeForce Go 6xxx or 7xxx or a Radeon Mobility X1xxx will play Oblivion fine as well as Vista.

Windows Vista's new UI only requires SM2.0 for full effects.

[Apocalypse]

I don't want to buy a laptop now only to have to buy vista later though.

[Asher]

So my recommendation to you would be to buy a laptop that includes Vista in January...

[Nostromo]

Of course, the alternative to upgrading your PC is to purchase an Xbox 360. That's also the only way you can run both HDR and Anti-Aliasing at the same time. It's got 48 pixel shading pipelines or vertex shaders and 3 3.2GHz CPUs.

Yet, despite all that power, people are reporting performance issues

I'm hesitating between that and upgrading. But since I don't own a HD TV, I would have to plug it in my 17 inch 5:4 LCD. That means playing games in letterbox.

Btw, what's the difference between a GeForce 6800 Ultra, a GT and a GS? And what are the good online stores in Canada? Is NCIX good, for example?

[Solver]

I recently replaced my power supply to a 300W new one, and am now having a little bit of strange issues. At least my UPS saves me.

I wonder now how long does it take for a videocard to become outdated. I still consider myself modest as far as my requirements go, my FX card is outdated now, but it runs Oblivion, and I only start getting stressed when my hardware doesn't run a game at all.

OK, a sensible question - is the 7200 btter than the 6800 or not?

[Asher]

The only performance issues in the Xbox 360 version are the odd stutters outside, mostly while it's streaming data to load. Those are few and far between.

NCIX is great, I just ordered my gig of RAM from them the other day. TigerDirect.ca is good as well when they have stuff in stock.

This chart is a good resource by the way. Click each name for more details: http://www.beyond3d.com/misc/chipcom...order=DESC&n=0

GeForce 6800 Ultra has 6 vertex shaders, 16 pixel shaders, is 400MHz with 35.2GB/s memory bandwidth.
GeForce 6800 GS has 5 vertex shaders, 12 pixel shaders, is 425MHz with 32.0GB/s memory bandwidth.
GeForce 6800 GT has 6 vertex shaders, 16 pixel shaders, is 350MHz, with 32.0GB/s memory bandwidth.

The GeForce 7800 GS has 6 vertex shaders, 16 pixel shaders, is 385MHz*, with 38.5GN/s bandwidth*.

The * is because I don't think anyone sells boards at those specs. The eVGA 7800 GS is 460MHz with 52GB/s RAM, for instance. These cards easily hit 500MHz. Also note, the vertex and pixel shaders on the Geforce 7xxx series are much faster than the ones on the 6xxx series as well. eVGA even has a lifetime warranty -- even if you fry it overclocking (which theoretically won't happen due to thermal diodes on the chips now anyway).

[Solver]

All that memory bandwidth/throughput stuff is crap. Along with the rush to switch to PCI-E. I mean, PCI-E does have theoretically better throughput than AGP, but no existing video application passes gigabytes of video data per second...

[Asher]

Originally posted by Solver
I recently replaced my power supply to a 300W new one, and am now having a little bit of strange issues. At least my UPS saves me.

I wonder now how long does it take for a videocard to become outdated. I still consider myself modest as far as my requirements go, my FX card is outdated now, but it runs Oblivion, and I only start getting stressed when my hardware doesn't run a game at all.

OK, a sensible question - is the 7200 btter than the 6800 or not?

I don't think there is a 7200...and which 6800?

[Solver]

There is a 7200 now, kind of a low-range 7xxx series card. Which is why I'm wary, it'll probably turn out slower than the 6800s or something.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Solver
All that memory bandwidth/throughput stuff is crap.

Actually, if you scale the clockspeed and memory speed on these cards you see a very linear correlation with performance...

PCI-Express vs AGP is another issue entirely.

[Solver]

Found it, the 7200 has a 450 MHz core and 525 MHz memory, along with PS 3.0 support. Definitely not crap.