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*DAMN R6 Community => Tech Talk => Topic started by: BTs_GhostSniper on August 09, 2005, 05:34:27 pm



Title: ATi Radeon X800XT
Post by: BTs_GhostSniper on August 09, 2005, 05:34:27 pm
As I posted in my computer upgrade thread, I recently bought an ATi Radeon X800XT graphics card.  The problem I'm having is figuring out how to experience the true power of this card.  So far, everything seems the same...games look and feel the same, graphic-intensive programs seem the same, even when I run XBENCH, I get about the same results that I got with my Radeon 9800 Pro.  So, anybody have any ideas on how to get a better grasp of the power of this card?


Title: Re: ATi Radeon X800XT
Post by: l ! l Ross on August 09, 2005, 06:40:13 pm
Turn everything on high? ;D

You have the latest version of ATI Display? You can turn things even higher in there.

But I don't think you will see major improvements.


Title: Re: ATi Radeon X800XT
Post by: Civrock on August 09, 2005, 06:52:50 pm
yeah, get the latest version of ATi Displays, install it and configure it for every game you play. you can make Ghost Recon look beautiful with it on highest setting (in-game also, of course). your G5 and the X800XT should handle it.

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/21573


Title: Re: ATi Radeon X800XT
Post by: BTs_GhostSniper on August 09, 2005, 06:53:03 pm
Turn everything on high? ;D

You have the latest version of ATI Display? You can turn things even higher in there.

But I don't think you will see major improvements.

I already had everything on high in all my games.  Also, when I installed the card, I went right to the ATi website and installed the latest ATi Display driver.

Why wouldn't I see a major improvement?  I thought the X800XT was supposidly twice as fast as the 9800Pro!

Now, one problem could be the games I play aren't all that graphic intensive when I am already running them on a G5 (namely Raven Shield and Ghost Recon).


Title: Re: ATi Radeon X800XT
Post by: Civrock on August 09, 2005, 06:56:19 pm
did you configure ATi Displays right, though? for every game?


Title: Re: ATi Radeon X800XT
Post by: bronto on August 09, 2005, 07:05:49 pm
your games probably aren't good enough for your card. maybe they'll port doom over lol.


Title: Re: ATi Radeon X800XT
Post by: BTs_GhostSniper on August 09, 2005, 07:08:24 pm
did you configure ATi Displays right, though? for every game?

I'll take a look at that tonight when I get home from work.


Title: Re: ATi Radeon X800XT
Post by: BTs_Mysterio on August 09, 2005, 08:23:19 pm
X800 = 475MHz (Memory 1000 MHz)
9800 SE = 380MHz (Memory 700 MHz)

Not double the speed, double the VRAM. Most games won't run significantly better.

For test results see: http://www.barefeats.com/radx800.html


Title: Re: ATi Radeon X800XT
Post by: BTs_GhostSniper on August 09, 2005, 09:54:47 pm
Wow, based on that link, my X800XT should really scream.  It's just that visually I can't tell the difference.  Maybe when they get America's Army 2.4 out for mac it will show me its power.  ;)


Title: Re: ATi Radeon X800XT
Post by: BTs_Lee.Harvey on August 09, 2005, 10:24:44 pm
your games probably aren't good enough for your card. maybe they'll port doom over lol.

They already ported doom 3 over  ::lol::


Title: Re: ATi Radeon X800XT
Post by: l ! l Ross on August 09, 2005, 10:48:30 pm
your games probably aren't good enough for your card. maybe they'll port doom over lol.

::areyoustupid:: Yea


Title: Re: ATi Radeon X800XT
Post by: cO.twist on August 09, 2005, 11:06:14 pm
Ghost, when i installed my x800xt, i noticed a WORLD of difference.  But, i was upgrading from the nvidia 5200 ultra.

The biggest noticable difference with probably in Soldier of Fortune 2...i went from about 80fps to about 200.

edit: also, make sure you do the latest ROM update for the x800xt >> https://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&folderID=27


Title: Re: ATi Radeon X800XT
Post by: BTs_GhostSniper on August 09, 2005, 11:19:36 pm
Ah, I did install the latest ATi Display driver, but not the latest ROM update.  I'll do that tonight.  Also, I really don't have any high-end games to try this out with (last thing I bought was RvS).


Title: Re: ATi Radeon X800XT
Post by: Civrock on August 09, 2005, 11:24:22 pm
only installing ATi Displays is not enough... you have to configure it right for each game in the app's menu.


Title: Re: ATi Radeon X800XT
Post by: BTs_GhostSniper on August 09, 2005, 11:27:18 pm
only installing ATi Displays is not enough... you have to configure it right for each game in the app's menu.

I looked at that a little when I installed the driver, but it seemed like it was just a way to turn off some of the features of the card that might interfere with some games.  I may be wrong, though...I'll take a better look at it tonight.


Title: Re: ATi Radeon X800XT
Post by: Civrock on August 09, 2005, 11:33:29 pm
it's the other way around.


Title: Re: ATi Radeon X800XT
Post by: Civrock on August 11, 2005, 09:14:16 pm
ATi released a new ROM-Update for their Retail Radeon cards today, you'll want to install this one.

http://www2.ati.com/drivers/aug2005-radeon-universal-rom-update-readme.html

http://www2.ati.com/drivers/aug2005-radeon-universal-rom-update.dmg


Title: Re: ATi Radeon X800XT
Post by: BTs_GhostSniper on August 11, 2005, 09:19:44 pm
Cool, I'll update it when I get home.  I'm still not seeing a big improvement yet.  Maybe I just need to find a more graphics-intensive program to try it out on.


Title: Re: ATi Radeon X800XT
Post by: Civrock on August 11, 2005, 09:22:36 pm
Did you configure ATi Displays for each game? Did you activate the features there and increase them, like Quality, FSAA and Anti-Aliasing?


Title: Re: ATi Radeon X800XT
Post by: BTs_GhostSniper on August 11, 2005, 09:43:46 pm
Did you configure ATi Displays for each game? Did you activate the features there and increase them, like Quality, FSAA and Anti-Aliasing?

Yeah, but I still didn't see any real improvements.  I'm still getting around 45 fps in RvS.


Title: Re: ATi Radeon X800XT
Post by: cO.twist on August 12, 2005, 07:32:11 am
ghost, if you have  an apple cinema display, you wont get over 60 fps in rvs...because its running @ 60hz.


Title: Re: ATi Radeon X800XT
Post by: BTs_GhostSniper on August 12, 2005, 02:44:23 pm
ghost, if you have  an apple cinema display, you wont get over 60 fps in rvs...because its running @ 60hz.

Are you sure?  We're talking about the brand new 20, 23, and 30-in Aluminum Case Apple Cinema Displays here, not the old ones with the same name.  I have the new 20-in Cinema Display.  Maybe you're right though...man, that would suck.


Title: Re: ATi Radeon X800XT
Post by: Civrock on August 12, 2005, 03:00:27 pm
Read this, starting with part 7:

http://www.richleader.com/bargainbinreview_fps.htm

The Apple Cinema Displays (the recent ones, too) have a response time of 16ms and run at 60Hz. The picture quality is good and they're widescreen, but they are not made for gaming.


Title: Re: ATi Radeon X800XT
Post by: BTs_GhostSniper on August 12, 2005, 03:28:48 pm
Damn, guess it's time for me to get a nice 20-inch CRT display for gaming.  Hell, they're dirt cheap, too.


Title: Re: ATi Radeon X800XT
Post by: Civrock on August 12, 2005, 04:41:33 pm
Why don't you just get a good gaming TFT-Monitor?


Title: Re: ATi Radeon X800XT
Post by: crypt on August 12, 2005, 09:45:15 pm
Man, GS, you amaze me. Are you saying you'll use a non-Apple monitor for gaming and an Apple monitor for everything else? Such as switching every time you come out?

I believe there is a way to update your RvS.ini files to make your monitor refresh faster.


Title: Re: ATi Radeon X800XT
Post by: Civrock on August 12, 2005, 09:51:15 pm
he could simply have both connected to his G5 and have a nice dual-monitor setup.

and lol, you can't just make your monitor refresh faster. it's the "scanning frequency" btw, the refresh rate is something else and can't be changed by the user either.


Title: Re: ATi Radeon X800XT
Post by: BTs_GhostSniper on August 12, 2005, 11:16:39 pm
I can use a CRT that is non-Apple as long as it isn't on my desktop.  So, it will have to be on a shelf next to the desk or something...


Title: Re: ATi Radeon X800XT
Post by: Cobra on August 12, 2005, 11:45:57 pm
Howdy, GS.

Maybe you've mentioned it elsewhere, but I didn't see it in this thread: how fast is/are your CPU/s?  The X800XT is a significantly more powerful card than the 9800, and games that don't show an improvement in performance after switching may be CPU-bound.  Ghost Recon and Raven Shield are not games that will flaunt the power of that card.  Perhaps games like Halo (mm...maybe) and DoomIII might.  Games performing a large amount of per-pixel shading operations are going to see huge improvements from the X800; its pixel fill rate and shader processing speeds are around 2 to 3 times better.  Most older games don't take advantage of the newer capabilities the card has, so the most benefit will be seen in recent and future games and applications.

You said you play Ghost Recon.  Are you experiencing underwhelming performance in this game?  I think it should be performing at 100% for you.  I have a G5 with a comparable video card and the same 20" ACD as you, and I don't believe the game's frame rate ever even stutters.  If that's the case for you, too, I don't think you can really expect much more  :)  (and turn on FSAA if you're wanting higher image quality)

Raven Shield is just a dog, and I wouldn't use its performance to judge your card's capabilities.  This game must be doing some silly things to ever fall below 60 frames per second on this hardware.  It's not an ugly game (for the most part), but it's not working on (rendering or updating) a tremendous amount of data.  And yet it still manages to slow down in many places.  If, for example, I shoot out some windows, the frame rate suddenly drops by a good amount before the pieces disappear.  That's ridiculous — there are maybe 20 more transparent polygons when the window breaks...what the hell are they doing to kill performance like that?  It's unacceptable, because the hardware (2x2.5GHz CPUs, GF6800) is capable of doing much more at much higher speeds.


Title: Re: ATi Radeon X800XT
Post by: (SiX)Sheixhundt on August 13, 2005, 01:36:41 am
Cobra hit the mark with his comment that some games are CPU bound, and from my understanding, RVS is one of them.

All the reviews that i read comparing the cards, said that while it was faster for the mac, for some reason the biggest difference would be seen and felt on the pc side, and NOT for games that were CPU intesnsive. Tom Calncys games were lsited as such. they did say it was faster, but said the diff in some games wouldnt be terribly noticable.

As to Cryppts notion, i do not think you can change the refresh on LCD9 not positive, but i think thats correct) and if you do, you risk getting it out of sync with the signal the game send and cant load into the game.  Best ideea, if you arent happy with 60 frames, is to use the 9Aspyr sanctioned) graphical tweaks that i point guys with lower frames to... Using these, (although i dont, ingame, I can readh frames of over 120 in standard maps, and around 100 in Athena sword.)  You do take a hit on the visuals tho...

http://www.tacticalgamer.com/showthread.php?t=5666&highlight=frame+rates

MASSIVE TIP HERE, that is NEVER mentioned...
will make the most difference....

in teh Ravenshield.ini you will find three lines that mention cache size...the default is 32, hence until you change it to meet your cards capabilities, it will only use 32 megs of VRAM...change anyplace you see CacheSize=32 to 256, and i think youll see what youve been looking for. It made the ENTIRE difference for me ingame...i was getting only about 40 fps.  If thats not enough, use the reset of the tips on that link.  This advice goes for anyone really, and especially if you know your card has more than 32 megs, MAKE SURE you change this or the game will never use all your card offers.


Then, if thats not enough go thru the link, and the most important feature listed will be the textureMax/minLOD...that deals with multiple layers of lightmaps, maps, bumpmaps on each object...  I can max in RVS at about 130 using these, and without i stay around 50-70  dual 2.5 g5 , everything maxed the fuck out. On COD  i maintain a steady 80.

hope this helps...


Title: Re: ATi Radeon X800XT
Post by: |MP|Nomad on August 16, 2005, 07:35:56 am

Then, if thats not enough go thru the link, and the most important feature listed will be the textureMax/minLOD...that deals with multiple layers of lightmaps, maps, bumpmaps on each object...  I can max in RVS at about 130 using these, and without i stay around 50-70  dual 2.5 g5 , everything maxed the fuck out. On COD  i maintain a steady 80.

hope this helps...


For CoD, did you change a file, as you did with the .ini files in RvS? IF so, can you tell me which? and where to find them?

thanks Sheix


Title: Re: ATi Radeon X800XT
Post by: (SiX)Sheixhundt on August 16, 2005, 08:55:56 am
Sory boss, those were just my stock fps numbers for CoD..
I dont have any tweaks for that one.

:(



Title: Re: ATi Radeon X800XT
Post by: cO.twist on August 17, 2005, 11:04:21 pm
the stock maxfps for CoD is 75 or 80 i believe.  if you type /com_maxfps 250 in the console, you'll be able to get over that 80fps barrier.

edit - also, type /rate 45000 and /snaps 50 for the best results.