The Oblivion Hardware Thread...

[Spaced Cowboy]

Originally posted by bonscott
It's been delivered! According to UPS package tracker anyway. I get out of work in an hour then off to home to take apart my computer. Hopefully I'll have some screenshots and opinion later tonight. But there is a Red Wings game on tonight which may delay that until tomorrow.

Okay, for openers, I have the TV in the comp room faced where I can see it while I am on the PC.

Anyway, more concerned about overall performance than screenies.

Lastly, why bother watching the Red Wings when Da Stars are going to take home the cup.

[Asher]

Flames will sweep both Dallas and Detroit in the playoffs.

[Dis]

Originally posted by yin26
My order should arrive tomorrow. I added an Antec 500w power supply, too, because the card recommends 300+ watts and my computer only has 210w! The whole thing, including rush order and FedEx Overnight was $230.

Here's the link to the Antec: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817103937

I checked this card out at Circuit City, Best Buy, and Comp USA -- they all wanted $300 (+tax) for the card alone! Add in their price for the Antec 500w power supply, and the price would have closed in on $500.

yeah that card recommends at least 300 w. I'm still using my 250 w power supply with it. But my comp doesn't actually have many things in it. If the game never runs of the DVD, you can assume the DVD and CD aren't taking up power. Just the hard drive, motherboard, processer, sound card, and fans. And minimal power for the ethernet card. At least this is what I'm hoping. I don't want to **** around with getting a new power supply.

[bonscott]

I choose to ignore all Stars and Flames statements. That's just crazy talk.

I'll give my specs out first:
P4 2.8 ghz
2 gig ram (just upgraded from 1 gig)
just installed x800 GTO 256 meg AGP

Had a 9800 Pro. Was running 800x600, no bloom, no AA with ini tweak
Frames around 35-40 indoors, 25-30 with drops to 12-15 outdoors. Battles not too bad, some drops.

First impression: Awesome. I'm not totally wowed yet but the difference in graphic detail is quite high. And I got a good boost in frames.

First test: Default "high" settings which the game detected. 1024x768, bloom, no AA. Frame rates were around 30 outside with drops to 15 at times. 2xAA dropped frames a good bit.

Second test: Use complete ini tweak for high bloom settings. This as expected got me about 5 frames. A couple more tweaks and I got about 35 outside with drops to 20/25. Indoors around 40.

Third test: Drop to 800x600, no bloom (I hate the way bloom looks to be honest) no AA with ini tweaks.
Now we're talking. 50+ frames indoors, pushing 80 in places. Outdoors a steady 40-50 with drops to 30ish. Couple drops to 25 or so when loading an area for a few seconds.

Fourth test: Turned on 2x AA. Wow what a difference. Just that extra "pop". I lose about 10-20% on frames but still getting 40 outside easy and 40+ indoors.

Conclusion: Worth the $160. I'd say a good jump in frame rates that allow it to stay above 30 most times and the graphics quality is quite a bit richer. I plan to tweak some more like the water reflections and grass stuff so I should be able to get another 5 frames or so if not more.

Note: I don't see any real difference in 800x600 vs 1024x768. Not a lot of picture loss. In other words 800x600 does not look smaller to me and it's a huge frame boost. So try 800x600 if you want a good frame boost, even if you have a good machine.

Some screenies (AA is off since you can't take screenshots with it on):

[Solver]

Crap, looks great. And except the interface, not very similar to what I'm playing .

[snoopy369]

BTW bonscott, you might want to go into the .ini and edit the default alpha levels; with non HDR cards, you can get a somewhat "nicer" look by turning up the alpha levels a bit (or a lot...). I forget exactly where it is (the 1st thread i think) but it's near the bottom, in the nonHDR Bloom stuff.

[Spaced Cowboy]

Whats the command after the ~ to pull up FPS?

[Imran Siddiqui]

tdt

[yin26]

I have some screens to show of the new ATI X1600Pro in action! But FRAPS produces 2.5mb screen shots, and I don't have my graphic compression software on the home computer. Any ideas?

Anyway...WOW! Also the new power supply is in and running well. Very quiet.

[Asher]

My 7800GS CO Superclock came today. Installed it and I'm installing the PC version of Oblivion for future modding funness.

[Spaced Cowboy]

Originally posted by yin26
I have some screens to show of the new ATI X1600Pro in action! But FRAPS produces 2.5mb screen shots, and I don't have my graphic compression software on the home computer. Any ideas?

Anyway...WOW! Also the new power supply is in and running well. Very quiet.

bmp to jpg....xp paint will do that now.

What about fps?

[bonscott]

Yin,

You can use any graphics program to load up the bmp and save as a gif jpg.

I think paint can do that. If not you can download gimp for free.

[yin26]

Hey, great tip, Spaced Cowboy and Bonscott! Here we go:

This is 1024x768 w/ 6xAA. FPS in the upper right.


Now w/ 4xAA.


Same settings. Close up of dead crap.


Same settings. Dead Bandit 1.


800x600 6xAA. To make this comparison easier, the 1024x768 6xAA image is repeated below.


So, I gain about 12 FPS going to the lower resolution, but I think the quality drop is noticeable. I'm generallly happy between 25-30 FPS if the image is good-looking enough, as it is here.

Well, I'm taking screen shot requests if anybody is considering this particular video card, etc.

[yin26]

By the way, here is a shop keeper at 1024X768 w/ 6XAA:

[yin26]

Shop signs used to just be a blur.