GFX Card For FFXI

[evilbau]

last day to get BFG GeForce 7900 GS OC 256MB PCI Express at Fry's for $99.99 after rebate

http://shop4.outpost.com/product/497085 ... IN_RSLT_PG

people arguing about this card said:

not to derail, but getting a DX9 card would be kinda silly when the 8600GT is about on par with the 7900GS and is DX10 compatible - at the same price AR.

actually the 8600gt isn't on par with a 7900gs. also the 7900gs overclocks super well. it also uses 256-bit memory where the 8600gt's only use 128-bit memory so for lcd's that need to run in higher resolutions the 7900gs is way better.

also all of the midrange cards from ati and nvidia get slaughter when trying to run dx10 games. the 2600xt and lower and the 8600gts and lower for dx10 cards just aren't powerful enough and the memory bottlekneck doesn't help.

there is no reason to buy a dx10 card unless you get something like an 8800gts because everything else really can't run dx10 games even though they are dx10 cards. i would rather buy something like a 7900gs or an ati x1950pro right now any day over those midrange dx10 cards. if you want a dx10 card i would wait for the second generation ones to come out.

Incorrect, the 7900GS is quite a bit faster. The 8600GT in most benchmarks is less than 10% faster than a 7600GT and in some benchmarks even slower than a 7600GT for some reason and barely faster than a 7600GS. It can't touch a 7900GS in any benchmark I've ever seen. 8600GT is a slug compared to a 7900GS.
DX10 is only a concern if you have any DX10 games you want to play. For existing DX9 games, a 7900GS blows an 8600GT away. IMO, $99AR for an 8600GT is a lot to pay for something so mediocre.

Don't know much about higher endish cards but seems like a good deal

[Thevaultdweller]

Concerning the 8800, Vista, and FFXI, is there any known solution to the issues with the game? (On my setup, it just pauses every .5 seconds, making the game unplayable--I'm stuck using the game on either my PS2, which will no longer be an option when WoTG is released since it doesn't read discs, or my other PC, which won't be an option in the fall, when classes start and I'm living on campus.)

If the issue can't be fixed on Vista, is it possible to load XP as a separate OS on a PC that comes preloaded with Vista?

[Skyylya]

I dont' know what the deal is for Vista as I have no interest in using it until it's problems are fixed. there is no real need to upgrade from the tried and true XP platform to Vista unless you just want that little desktop visual boost or whatever Vista does right now.

As for the card, the x1950 radeon card is the best for that ATI line right now, but still it doesn't perform as well as the 8800 GTX Nvidia cards. Right now nVidia is a step ahead on performance.

I run a eVGA 8800GTX 768mb card with DDR3 ram built in and FFXI runs perfectly on a high resolution with all the highest graphic settings with zero lag whatsoever. At the moment the only card better than the one I got is the 8800 Ultra which i think is clocked a little higher, not sure. But in the benchmarks i've seen of DX10 compatible cards the 8800 GTX and Ultra are the best running cards. Even the 8800 GTS runs better than ATI's cards right now, i'll try to look up the site that ran the tests after i post this.

While ffxi might run mainly off processor you can't discount the GPU completely as not all are created equal for any game, regardless of CPU power.

Gonna go try to find that benchmark test on all the DX10 compatible cards. i can't find it There are plenty out there, but i can't find the one i saw, it was so detailed and had nice looking easy to read graphs. /sadpanda

[Avanarius]

environment draw distance seems to be more dependent on the graphics card memory (aka more memory higher draw distances with windower plugin) 256mb of graphics memory seems to almost be able to max every zone with a few exceptions like zitah. The character model textures (not the models themselves) is dependent on the cpu entirely and equates most of the load on your computer in ffxi. Also the config settings for ffxi seem to do nothing to relieve the cpu of load with character models.

All in all, if you can't get 30fps (28.8 to be exact) in your mog house facing your moogle on standard draw distances with a 64mb graphics card something is seriously wrong, most likely driver/compatibility problem.

[altwight]

well that's been the case for like 2months now... it's probably my ram bogging up my CPU or something... 2001 ram with a 2007ish CPU

edit: a core 2 duo 1.8ghz OC's to 2.7GHz (idles at 28C) should be overpowered for FFXI.

[Amele]

These newer cards I hear are running XI better, even though it's completely unintentional. Then again it could just be the fact that things are going more onboard these days or the people are getting dual/quad cores with their new machines.

moving to a new board with a new single core and a 7800GTX from a Ti4200 - I added about 5 frames. (went from ~7 to ~12 in dynamis with all effects on)

SLI - added ~2-3 frames. (about ~15)

put in a dual core opteron (went to a 185 from an athlon3800+ ) added 12-15 frames. (now at ~28-30 in dynamis)

my money is on the dual-core/quad-cores.

All in all, if you can't get 30fps (28.8 to be exact) in your mog house facing your moogle on standard draw distances with a 64mb graphics card something is seriously wrong, most likely driver/compatibility problem.

29.9? 28.8 wouldn't match NTSC.

[Khalil]

This game almost entirely runs on your CPU. So, of course upgrading to dual-core or quad-core will have a siginificant impact on your FPS.

[altwight]

ATI vs Nvidia

Most ATI have a much higher core clock speed. Looking to buy a card for about 75-90$ Well while looking at ATI cards i came across the x1650 PRO 512mb PCI-E for about 75$. Has a 600MHz core clock and 12 pixelpipelines. While lookin at Nvidia i came across countless 512mb 350-400 coreclock 8pixelpipeline and stuff. I dunno what Ultrashadow II technology is that comes with nvidia but is that what enables shadows on FFXi to not drop your fps down to crap? I can't decide which is better

nvidia
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814133175
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814130285
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814136014
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814133197

ati
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814161039

i have no idea why the prices are different i dunno which is the best or w/e it's really confusing picking out a card.

[Amele]

ATI vs Nvidia

Most ATI have a much higher core clock speed. Looking to buy a card for about 75-90$ Well while looking at ATI cards i came across the x1650 PRO 512mb PCI-E for about 75$. Has a 600MHz core clock and 12 pixelpipelines. While lookin at Nvidia i came across countless 512mb 350-400 coreclock 8pixelpipeline and stuff. I dunno what Ultrashadow II technology is that comes with nvidia but is that what enables shadows on FFXi to not drop your fps down to crap? I can't decide which is better

nvidia
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814133175
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814130285
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814136014
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814133197

ati
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814161039

i have no idea why the prices are different i dunno which is the best or w/e it's really confusing picking out a card.

the architectures on ATI and nvidia cores are much more divergent than the architectures on AMD and intel cores; comparing clock speeds means -even less- here than it does on cpu's across families.

all clock speeds are good for is comparing different chipsets in the same processor family.

[Skyylya]

yeah, generally speaking the clock speed is how long it takes to process one cycle of information, it has nothing to do with how much information is being processed during that one cycle. So it could be going faster, and doing less.

nvidia right now has a better design and better memory for their cards, at least on newer cards, i couldn't say for older ones.

on a budget you'd probably get more for your money with an ATI, but the overall quality of an nvidia card is better if you're looking at the specs of the card and not cost of the card.

[Xrave]

Honestly, any crappy video card will work.

I strongly disagree to this, as I had an Nvidia Geforce FX 5200 video card that would run XI @ 15-20 fps max , swapped card to an ATI Radeon 9800 pro and the fps jumped to the 25-30 range. Card isn't everything, but it does do some work.

That's because the 5200 was the ultra-budget card of the really shitty Nvidia generation.

People in this thread are saying any (current generation) budget card will be more than enough.

[GSDragoon]

Honestly, any crappy video card will work.

I strongly disagree to this, as I had an Nvidia Geforce FX 5200 video card that would run XI @ 15-20 fps max , swapped card to an ATI Radeon 9800 pro and the fps jumped to the 25-30 range. Card isn't everything, but it does do some work.

That's because the 5200 was the ultra-budget card of the really shitty Nvidia generation.

People in this thread are saying any (current generation) budget card will be more than enough.

qft, 4600 was the best of the 4 series, but the 5200 is the crap of the 5 series. Just because the 5200 has more features, doesn't mean it's faster. When FFXI came out, the 4X00 cards were listed as reccomended.

[Amele]

4600 was better than the Ti4200? (it's been forever, honestly). what was the difference between them again?

and yeah, I'd *highly* recommend any 7 or 8 series card right now, and even top of the line 6's are still pretty good for general purpose gaming.

for FFXI? any top line 4, 5900/5950, any 6 that meets the 'minimum' specs, all 7, all 8.

[evilbau]

4600 was better than the Ti4200? (it's been forever, honestly). what was the difference between them again?

and yeah, I'd *highly* recommend any 7 or 8 series card right now, and even top of the line 6's are still pretty good for general purpose gaming.

for FFXI? any top line 4, 5900/5950, any 6 that meets the 'minimum' specs, all 7, all 8.

yeah it was, the difference was just memory and quality of the processor at that point. I owned 2 4400s and a 4600, it was a good series of cards.

[altwight]

basically a PCI 256mb card upgraded to a 512mb PCI-E card wil be a huge difference yes?

[Kimiko]

Glad this thread popped up, as I'm looking to upgrade to a PCI-E video card as well. 8)

[Skyylya]

depending on cost possibly.

Really one of the best cards to get that's not 500 dollars is the 8800 gts 320mb card. It's a great card, has more than enough memory for what's around. either that or if you wanna go ati get the x1950 pro or xt or whichever one you prefer. If you have the money to spend the 8800gtx 768mb(like 500 bucks) is one of the best cards on the market unless you wanna look at the 1500 dollar ati one with a gig of memory.

[Amele]

basically a PCI 256mb card upgraded to a 512mb PCI-E card wil be a huge difference yes?

PCI? yes. that's a -huge- jump. you'd see a huge difference going from a 256 PCI to a 32 PCI-E probably.

if they're both PCI-E, it'll be noticeably different on most games, but for FFXI you probably won't gain more than a couple frames upgrading this.

[Grandcross]

I found running the Background Resolution equal to or double your Overlay Graphics Resolution gives FFXI a performance boost. I run FFXI at 1920 x 1200 and the Background Resolution @ 3840 x 2400 and almost never drop below 28-29 fps. Even my 9500pro (softmodded to 9700) could run 1920 x 1200 with relative ease, with fps only dropping in dynamis, whitegate, dragon's aery, firaga/ballad, etc using using this method (1920 x 1200 Background Resolution, FFXI would just quit and go back to POL if I used 3840x2400 with my 9500).

Sorry if this is common knowledge, just thought I'd mention it.

[Amele]

I found running the Background Resolution equal to or double your Overlay Graphics Resolution gives FFXI a performance boost. I run FFXI at 1920 x 1200 and the Background Resolution @ 3840 x 2400 and almost never drop below 28-29 fps. Even my 9500pro (softmodded to 9700) could run 1920 x 1200 with relative ease, with fps only dropping in dynamis, whitegate, dragon's aery, firaga/ballad, etc using using this method (1920 x 1200 Background Resolution, FFXI would just quit and go back to POL if I used 3840x2400 with my 9500).

Sorry if this is common knowledge, just thought I'd mention it.

3840X2400 was making your 9500 quit because it was more than the maximum resolution the card could drive probably.

incidentally, the new drivers for nvidia series fix the firaga/ballad issues.