So, what actually is the Truth re: video cards and FarCry2?

[dadzilla]

I've been on about 10 review sites, and boy does the story ever vary depending on which site you are on. For example:Far Cry 2 performance in-depth - TechSpot lists all the nvidia cards as the top performers for this game, they have the 9800gtx+ ahead of the ATI 4870! On other sites, the 4850 ATI is listed higher than the 9800gtx+, and the 4870 well above either? So......is it all just a crock? or is there a site out there that any of you trust to do an unbiased evaluation?
BTW, I plan on using the 9800GTX+, since that's what I own.
Your thoughts?
Zilla

[Squeetard]

Just shows you can make the numbers say anything.

ATI and nvidia proccess graphics in a totally different way from each other and so each has its strengths and weaknesses. It depends on how the game developer optimizes the rendering pipeline for each card.

A lot also depends on what resolution the test is run at. I'd suspect the 4870's gddr5 memory would give it the edge at higher resolutions.

Also shows how much favoritism and general lack of integrity there is on the internet.

[DarKStar]

I don't really care about these things - as even if they said ATI performs better it would never make go to ATI over my NVIDIA. Difference is probably not even worth mentioning sine most people won't notice it - when you already get decent frame rates, there is only so much your eyes can see, and if your frame rate is decent at the resolution you are playing that's what counts.

Far Cry 2 uses a custom made engine called Dunia, and given Ubisoft's relationship with NVIDIA :D I wouldn't be surprised if the engine was optimized for NVIDIA cards....but honestly that's irrelevant :) I have an 8800GT OC 512MB and the game runs flawless, at its highest setting, I haven't seen ANY slowdown or lagging yet.

Oh and don't forget that NVIDIA's recent drivers have built-in far cry 2 optimizations (but be VERY careful - sometimes some graphic card companies will TRICK extra performance by playing with IQ claiming most people don'T have a good eye.........) and it's very easy to cut some corners in game coding and the use of clever textures and action that distract you from the flaws. The water rendering in Far Cry 2 is a major joke - we've all seen much better more realistic water - so yeah to be honest i'm not surprised the game runs so well.

[rjbarker]

I agree the Water Rendering is terrible, even HL2 looks better in that regard. As for the 180.43 Driver, sure maybe optimized for FC2, but had some serious problems with it in Warhammer and have since gone back to WHQL Driver.

[DarKStar]

Originally Posted by rjbarker

I agree the Water Rendering is terrible, even HL2 looks better in that regard. As for the 180.43 Driver, sure maybe optimized for FC2, but had some serious problems with it in Warhammer and have since gone back to WHQL Driver.

The 180.xx series drivers so far is a big disappointment - Aren't those to be labeled Big Bang 2 ? Very disappointing - I'm using 178.24 the official ones and it works fine - Far cry 2 runs flawless, so what more performance gain do I want really.

The way the water is rendered it looks like frozen ice with a very thin layer of water on it - it's pathetic - I've seen a 3 year old game with far more realistic water than that. While the graphics are decent overall it is nothing outstanding, new, unique, extraordinary, i'Ve seen better - and honestly, for a game that took them 3 years to make it's a disappointment.

Also about NVIDIA drivers, in a past revision there was this filtering bug that caused IQ to go down (maybe THAT is what NVIDIA does to gain performance, use filtering, make textures softer, so less IQ, but conceal these changers and mislead you with the driver settings. In my drivers I always use HIGH QUALITY mode, that turns off iltering - but in previous driver even that did not turn it off from what I recall, that is very misleading - it seems NVIDIA is not able to release decent drivers to take full advantage of your GPU - there will always be optimizing for some games and reducing performance in others - that's the price you have to pay for when using unified drivers :D

[kirk_d]

I think, any card you get is going to be fine for the most part, there are always bugs
associated with any New Product (Not The card, the video game) ...or the drivers.

So take anything you hear with a grain of salt.
This, coming from a guy ready to spend hundreds on crossfire, and then bought a $100
8800Gt from a BIGBOX.....and I've always felt Ati has "Better Rendering"! WHO Cares!
(ATI fanboy)

Not long after I bought the card, this Cuda, Physics thing came along. I couldn't be happier, No issues anywhere. Runs great! Better performance than when I bought it.
Then again, I game at 1280x1024, on a Samy 793DF.

[Eagle Eye]

FarCry2 runs flawlessly on my current setup.

The best thing I hope for in any new release is stability if a game crashes during a save point, a loading screen or randomly I start to get a little pissed off. Its happened to me quite a bit especially with new releases, although its generally fixed after a couple of patches.

[yamawho]

It runs good on the system in my sign but crashes to the desktop now and then.
Using the FarCry hotfix drivers & DX10. Res 1280 x 1024

My 8600GT runs good at 1024 x 768 in DX9 but lags in DX10. Using the lastest WHQL Driver.

[Jon_di2]

Originally Posted by Eagle Eye

FarCry2 runs flawlessly on my current setup.

The best thing I hope for in any new release is stability if a game crashes during a save point, a loading screen or randomly I start to get a little pissed off. Its happened to me quite a bit especially with new releases, although its generally fixed after a couple of patches.

Runs great on my setup, running everything on high. No crashing for me as of yet... but I've only played it for about 30 mins.

[yamawho]

Originally Posted by Jon_di2

Runs great on my setup, running everything on high. No crashing for me as of yet... but I've only played it for about 30 mins.

The crashing I'm referring to happens after a few hours or so ...