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Old February 9th 18, 04:48 AM posted to alt.comp.hardware
~misfit~[_16_]
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Posts: 158
Default nVidia GPU reccomendadtion please.

Once upon a time on usenet VanguardLH wrote:
It's been awhile but I recall long ago that video games were sometimes
skewed to a particular hardware and driver feature set. Back then,
video card had to come with games to lure buyers to the overpriced
hardware. Some games were meant to play on a particular brand: either
nVidia or ATI


Yes, the 'bad old days' when the two main GPU makers optimised for different
APIs, I remember them well. However since the early part of this century,
the rise of the Direct X API and the obsolescence (at least in the gaming
world) of APIs like OpenGL and Direct3D that's not the usual case.

(which got acquired by AMD - probably when they thought
they were going to build the CPU into the GPU). The specs on Path To
Exile don't mention it is skewed toward one brand but they could be,
especially if all AMD users are complaining but no nVidia users are
complaining.


They are. A quick Google on the subject will confirm it. All of the major
streamers are using NVidia too (I've asked a few f them).

http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare...70/3649vsm7710

That shows some benchmarks between the nVideo GTX 1050 (Ti model) and
the AMD HD 7770. The GTX 1080 is outside your price range.


It sure is!

http://www.hwcompare.com/33002/gefor...adeon-hd-7770/

That compares the non-Ti GTX 1050 model to the HD 7770.

http://www.hwcompare.com/33000/gefor...adeon-hd-7870/

That compares the GTX 1050 (non-Ti) against my AMD HD 7870.



That AMD 7870 was quite a medium/high-end card in it's day (as evidenced by
it's 256-bit bus and its power consumption).

I didn't
bother searching for game benchmarks to see how the cards fared
against each other in actual use.


Neither did I. I just used a few sites to compare things like Texel rate,
Pixel rate, Memory bandwidth and power consumption between the HD 7770 and
the GTX 1050 and 1060.

Seems a lot of money to throw at just one game, especially a 2D game.


Is that a bit of 3D snobbery? The developers are making the game prettier
and prettier (with water effects etc.) which isn't really a priority for me
and sucks the GPU cycles.

Remember when I mentioned that I'm an invalid? Well I need something to
occupy my mind (rather than passively consuming TV drek or shooting pixels).
Path of Exile is a very challenging game mentally. The way skills, passive
choices and gear interact require either a lot of thought, a lot of research
or both if you want to do well.

I''ve been playing PoE daily since it was in beta 7 years ago and in that
time I haven't found another game that challenges me so much (intellectually
rather than how quickly I can shoot somewhing - though you still need to be
well-co-ordinated and have good reflexes). I've tried a few other games in
that time and I played WoW and Diablo 3 for a while but the thought required
for PoE makes those look like a childrens games.

Also diring times when I'm drained mentally I can play my character in less
challenging areas and I still much prefer that to other less in-depth games.

I might hold off a while and see if I can swing a GTX 1060 - it all depends
on what rate the developers keep introducing more graphical load.

Cheers,
--
Shaun.

"Humans will have advanced a long, long way when religious belief has a cozy
little classification in the DSM*."
David Melville (in r.a.s.f1)
(*Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders)