Widescreen Gaming Forum

Wotcher folks, been some time since I was really active. Anyway, just thought I'd post a teaser of some results I've got for Need for Speed: Shift in nVidia Surround on 1GB and 2GB GTX460s...

While obviously the extra VRAM makes bog all difference at 1920x1200, even with 4xAA on, it makes huge differences at Surround resolutions...





Without looking at the filenames, can you tell which SLI setup is which? ;)

Hey Paradigm

Good to see yer, & thanks for the info...can you label those graphs please, I'm finding it hard to figure out which SLi setup is which.

EDIT: I just read the file names.

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moboP8P67-M-PRO-V3 cpuI5-2500K-3.3GHZ ramOCZ8GB gpu260GTX hddOCZ-VERTEX II-SSD psuNEOHE550W hudBENQ20"

Well that's a pretty stark difference. Can't wait to see the rest. I hope you get the opportunity to throw in a 5040x1050 on one of the tests to see which side of the nosedive point its on.

Very nice, thanks for this comparison ! :cheers

The nosedives happen exactly when I expected they would - when the GPU runs out of VRAM and starts swapping to the system RAM. Basically, as long as the game in question doesn't use more than ~900MB of VRAM for a given res and details settings, it's fine. As soon as the VRAM usage goes over ~980MB, framerate tanks.

It's also interesting that some games, if they can't fit textures in the VRAM, appear to preferentially use system RAM instead.

This actually calls into question the performance conclusions of just about every modern GPU review... "oh, this card can't handle game x at these settings and res, it's not powerful enough" is far more likely to be "this game runs out of VRAM and chokes at these settings. More VRAM would help a lot!" This is particulary noticeable in Need for Speed Shift and Burnout Paradise... I can get 6064x1200 running with 8xAA on a 2GB card, but it chokes and splutters with 2xAA on a 1GB.

I've got that data too, but lots more crunching needed. Mostly of my work data that still ain't done! :(

This actually makes me want to see what tri-SLI GTX480's could do if they were given 3GB of VRAM apiece. Because there were lots of scenarios in my GTX460 testing where VRAM usage would exceed 1.5GB... and still be pretty much playable on the "underpowered" GTX460. Of course, there were also several occasions when the 460 just wasn't a powerful enough GPU to push all the pixels... ;)

ratfusion, sorry, for some reason I can't persuade 5040x1050 to work with my Surround setup. I'm guessing it's a driver bug.

Those GTX460's are little monsters :P

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P8Z68-V Pro | 2600K | HR02 | HD5850 | 2x4GB Vengeance LP | 128GB M4 + 6TB | X-Fi > HD595 | AX850 | Tai Chi | PB278Q | G110 + Deathadder 2013
P8Z77-V | 3570K | Mugen 2 | HD5850 | 2x4GB Vengeance LP | 500GB | X-750 | Fractal R3 | U2212HM | G110 + G400
P8H77-I | G860 | 4650 | 2x2GB XMS | 320GB | CX500 | Prodigy | T22B350EW | MX518
DC3217IYE | 1x4GB Vengeance | 64GB M4 | TX-42VT20E

They are.

I've given the review to Ibrin, so it's going in the wiki. I'm not really up on the wiki so I dunno when it'll be available in that respect.

Dear Paradigm Shifter, dear forum members
I watched your charts with much interest and sorrow at the same time.
For Flight Sims I am planning to upgrade my rig to nvidia surround with the following specs:
- Second GTX470 zotac amp edition
- 3 new U2711 by dell (each with 2560 x 1440 resolution).

Since the vRAM seems to be a big issue when dealing with such high resolutions. Do you think that a third gtx470 will do the job, or does every card need to have a huge vram (like 2GB or even more)?
because the u2711 does have an incredible resolution at that size, I thought that AA might be pointless from now on.

I was already in the ordering process at my favourite website until i stepped over your post. Maybe you could share your advice and thoughts.
my actual system is a i7 930 @3.9ghz, 6gb ram, gtx 470 zotac amp edition

Greetings from Germany :)
Boris

Unfortunately, if the problem is a memory limit, adding an extra card will only give you more processing power, while the memory limit will still be a bottleneck when using AA. :(
If you wonder if AA is required on such high resolution as with the Dells, I suggest you try it out first with the screens and then order cards. The use of AA and how much is needed is very user dependent. :)