GPU Megat[H]read - the cores of wrath grew heavy on the die that day

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > GPU Megat[H]read - the cores of wrath grew heavy on the die that day

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Stanley Pain: Jun 16, 2001; by Fluffdaddy

Picking up 2 970s today to replace my 2 r9 290s.

# ? Sep 29, 2014 15:12

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# ? Apr 20, 2024 02:00

eggyolk: Nov 8, 2007

Stuck with my GTX 460 and did not buy a graphics card today.

# ? Sep 29, 2014 15:29

Gwaihir: Dec 8, 2009; Hair Elf

eggyolk posted:

Stuck with my GTX 460 and did not buy a graphics card today.

Look at this shameful decision.

# ? Sep 29, 2014 15:30

uaciaut: Mar 20, 2008; :splurp:

Consensus around here seems to be that the ASUS and MSI 970's are the best but Gigabyte seems to be one of the best 970's as well in terms of noise/speed/OC potential, anyone had any issue with it? (it's what i plant to order as soon as they're available).

# ? Sep 29, 2014 15:46

Proud Christian Mom: Dec 20, 2006; READING COMPREHENSION IS HARD

eggyolk posted:

Stuck with my GTX 460 and did not buy a graphics card today.

Letting the early adopters figure things out owns

# ? Sep 29, 2014 15:54

1gnoirents: Jun 28, 2014; hello

uaciaut posted:

Consensus around here seems to be that the ASUS and MSI 970's are the best but Gigabyte seems to be one of the best 970's as well in terms of noise/speed/OC potential, anyone had any issue with it? (it's what i plant to order as soon as they're available).

I posted this before but im pretty sure its just a holdover from the Gigabyte-most-everything-else sentiment (motherboards, really spotty warranty customer service, AMD cards). If I recall Gigabyte made well reviewed 7 series cards too at least.

# ? Sep 29, 2014 16:15

DarthBlingBling: Apr 19, 2004; These were also dark times for gamers as we were shunned by others for being geeky or nerdy and computer games were seen as Childs play things, during these dark ages the whispers began circulating about a 3D space combat game called Elite

- CMDR Bald Man In A Box

go3 posted:

Letting the early adopters figure things out owns

I've figured it out, it's safe to buy, go mad, buy two!

# ? Sep 29, 2014 16:27

Professor Science: Mar 8, 2006; diplodocus + mortarboard = party

Amazon is now about to ship an Asus 970 my way, so I guess they're coming back in stock everywhere now.

# ? Sep 29, 2014 16:35

Hughmoris: Apr 21, 2007; Let's go to the abyss!

eggyolk posted:

Stuck with my GTX 460 and did not buy a graphics card today.

Holding it down with the GTX 460. :smith:

# ? Sep 29, 2014 17:01

Hace: Feb 13, 2012; <<Mobius 1, Engage.>>

Rastor posted:

Chiming in to agree. I have a 1080p display and while the 970 is amazing, it doesn't remain steady 60fps in Sleeping Dogs or Star Citizen if all the AA and options are enabled.

You should be able to max out Sleeping Dogs without any problem at all, what CPU do you have?

# ? Sep 29, 2014 17:07

Ralith: Jan 12, 2011; I see a ship in the harbor
I can and shall obey
But if it wasn't for your misfortune
I'd be a heavenly person today

uaciaut posted:

Consensus around here seems to be that the ASUS and MSI 970's are the best but Gigabyte seems to be one of the best 970's as well in terms of noise/speed/OC potential, anyone had any issue with it? (it's what i plant to order as soon as they're available).

It seems like the Gigabyte is a pretty solid card, and it's what I'll be getting. At the very least, it's consistently reported as 8�C or so cooler than the MSI under load without being louder, despite higher clocks. Unfortunately, they don't seem to be in stock anywhere and haven't for days; the places that give restocking times estimate around the 15th. Early reviews on Amazon and Newegg make it clear that some people got them, though.

# ? Sep 29, 2014 17:10

Rastor: Jun 2, 2001

Hace posted:

You should be able to max out Sleeping Dogs without any problem at all, what CPU do you have?

I have an Intel Core i5-3350P. It is certainly playable maxed out, just not rock-solid 60fps. I backed the AA off of the "super extreme" setting and now I'm very happy with it.

1gnoirents posted:

I posted this before but im pretty sure its just a holdover from the Gigabyte-most-everything-else sentiment (motherboards, really spotty warranty customer service, AMD cards). If I recall Gigabyte made well reviewed 7 series cards too at least.

Ralith posted:

It seems like the Gigabyte is a pretty solid card, and it's what I'll be getting. At the very least, it's consistently reported as 8�C or so cooler than the MSI under load without being louder, despite higher clocks. Unfortunately, they don't seem to be in stock anywhere and haven't for days; the places that give restocking times estimate around the 15th. Early reviews on Amazon and Newegg make it clear that some people got them, though.

My GTX 650 was a Gigabyte card and I had zero complaints with it (other than that it was time to upgrade to something more powerful).

# ? Sep 29, 2014 17:11

Stanley Pain: Jun 16, 2001; by Fluffdaddy

eggyolk posted:

Stuck with my GTX 460 and did not buy a graphics card today.

I'll pour one out for you homie.

# ? Sep 29, 2014 17:40

Deuce: Jun 18, 2004; Mile High Club

Stanley Pain posted:

I'll pour one out for you homie.

Lots of goons are upgrading, so there's a lot of used cards floating around these forums. Everybody can get a new card!

# ? Sep 29, 2014 18:12

No Gravitas: Jun 12, 2013; by FactsAreUseless

Geforce 8400 GS Rev. 2

Do I win?

# ? Sep 29, 2014 18:16

Wistful of Dollars: Aug 25, 2009

No Gravitas posted:

Geforce 8400 GS Rev. 2

Do I win?

Even if you win, you still lose.

# ? Sep 29, 2014 18:31

DarthBlingBling: Apr 19, 2004; These were also dark times for gamers as we were shunned by others for being geeky or nerdy and computer games were seen as Childs play things, during these dark ages the whispers began circulating about a 3D space combat game called Elite

- CMDR Bald Man In A Box

Who wants my cast-offs?

Also found an old dedicated PhysX card in a box whilst looking for a cable, anyone want that?

DarthBlingBling fucked around with this message at 18:40 on Sep 29, 2014

# ? Sep 29, 2014 18:37

Panty Saluter: Jan 17, 2004; Making learning fun!

I am working on justifying a 970 because I will be able to gift my 7850 to my brother-in-law who is still "gaming" with like a Radeon HD2xxx or 3xxx :v:

Panty Saluter fucked around with this message at 18:54 on Sep 29, 2014

# ? Sep 29, 2014 18:42

MaxxBot: Oct 6, 2003; you could have clapped

you should have clapped!!

I don't think there's really any need to justify it considering that it's such a good value. I think it's perfectly logical to go for the 970 for 1080p if you desire at least until the 960 comes out because the price/performance is so good, you might save money in the long run by delaying the need to upgrade.

# ? Sep 29, 2014 18:48

DarthBlingBling: Apr 19, 2004; These were also dark times for gamers as we were shunned by others for being geeky or nerdy and computer games were seen as Childs play things, during these dark ages the whispers began circulating about a 3D space combat game called Elite

- CMDR Bald Man In A Box

Think of it like this. The 970GTX uses around 100W less than some of the previous cards. So assuming you game for 10 hours a day every day, your electric bill will be around �35 less per year. So after 8 years it's paid for itself!

Dads will love that one

# ? Sep 29, 2014 18:59

Foxhound: Sep 5, 2007

Anyone been having or heard of heat issues with the MSI 970? Just played a bit of Thief and in a cutscene the temp suddenly shot up to 92-93 degrees and the fans started working overtime. The clock throttled down to 500 MHz after a few seconds but it seems very hot anyway. Didn't have this issue before. Did a fresh driver reinstall (save for registry cleanup) and the issue persists. Before the cutscene it was at around 80 degrees which is okay I guess but it should throttle before that with my current profile (75).

This image is about 5 mins after I closed the game.

Edit: This is with factory settings, no OC.

# ? Sep 29, 2014 21:11

Swartz: Jul 28, 2005; by FactsAreUseless

While I'm not having heat issues, I'm having artifacting issues in one game anyway.

I fired up Stalker: Call of Pripyat on my shiny new MSI 970, and regardless of graphic settings I put it at, it shows square artifacts (usually on the ground near grass, and in shadows).
I checked my GPU temperature and it's not that.

For kicks I set it to DSR 4k (I'm on 1080p), 4x MSAA, and Transperency Supersampling 4x. Artifacts were the same as low graphic settings. What's impressive is the 970 didn't break a sweat with these settings (never dipped below 60fps) and never went above 57 degrees.
I also tried using the FPS Limiter from RivaTuner, and that didn't do anything about the artifacts either.

I'm going to try a few other games to make sure it's not just a driver issue with that one game.

Just thought I'd report it unless there are ideas I'm overlooking other than temp.

# ? Sep 29, 2014 21:17

1gnoirents: Jun 28, 2014; hello

That seems to be about 25+ degrees above average so...

Is it the Gaming OC though?

# ? Sep 29, 2014 21:17

Foxhound: Sep 5, 2007

Yeah it's the Gaming OC but listen to this: It really wasn't cooling at all and the fans were VERY quiet. So I opened the case and had a look. They weren't spinning at all despite the monitor saying 80%+. I poked them a little and they started up and it looks normal on the monitor now, but still loving :lol:

Found this thread on the issue: https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=183618.50 but will call the store tomorrow and see what they have to say about it.

# ? Sep 29, 2014 21:21

Ralith: Jan 12, 2011; I see a ship in the harbor
I can and shall obey
But if it wasn't for your misfortune
I'd be a heavenly person today

Swartz posted:

While I'm not having heat issues, I'm having artifacting issues in one game anyway.

I fired up Stalker: Call of Pripyat on my shiny new MSI 970, and regardless of graphic settings I put it at, it shows square artifacts (usually on the ground near grass, and in shadows).
I checked my GPU temperature and it's not that.

For kicks I set it to DSR 4k (I'm on 1080p), 4x MSAA, and Transperency Supersampling 4x. Artifacts were the same as low graphic settings. What's impressive is the 970 didn't break a sweat with these settings (never dipped below 60fps) and never went above 57 degrees.
I also tried using the FPS Limiter from RivaTuner, and that didn't do anything about the artifacts either.

I'm going to try a few other games to make sure it's not just a driver issue with that one game.

Just thought I'd report it unless there are ideas I'm overlooking other than temp.

Sometimes either drivers have bugs or games have bugs that drivers have to account for that can cause this sort of behavior. I remember Skyrim had something similar with AMD drivers a few years ago. Other people with the same card, driver, and game version will be see the same problem if that's the case.

# ? Sep 29, 2014 21:22

Swartz: Jul 28, 2005; by FactsAreUseless

Ralith posted:

Sometimes either drivers have bugs or games have bugs that drivers have to account for that can cause this sort of behavior. I remember Skyrim had something similar with AMD drivers a few years ago. Other people with the same card, driver, and game version will be see the same problem if that's the case.

Yeah that's what I'm thinking, which sucks because that's the game I play most often (as I mod it all the time).

I just tested the HL2 singleplayer SDK stress test at 4k again using DSR, 4x MSAA. Ran fine, no artifacts at all.

I don't have any high-end games like Crysis 3 or Metro: Last Light currently installed, and it takes forever to download them. I think my best bet would be installing Battlefield 4 again and seeing if I get any artifacts there. Looks like you're right and it may be a game issue though.

*Update*: Just tried out DX10.1 and DX11 in Stalker:COP (was using DX9 before) and all artifacting is gone. Seems it's a DX9 only issue. If anyone else with a 970 has the game and is willing to play it in DX9, let me know if you get the same issue...

Swartz fucked around with this message at 21:56 on Sep 29, 2014

# ? Sep 29, 2014 21:48

Agreed: Dec 30, 2003; The price of meat has just gone up, and your old lady has just gone down

Plus the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games are coded more as artistic statements about the nature of code and the fleetingness of stability. I love 'em to death but GSC never produced a truly stable engine, just... somewhat more stable ones, and nobody with the money to do so is really interested in supporting it anymore, just a bunch of talented modders. Still, modders hacked out the awful default grass render distance, so maybe there's hope for a general stability patch if more newer cards experience issues trying to run 'em. If such a thing makes it into English is another question, but let's try to keep the factoring at a minimum here :v:

Edit: Oh, good, DX 11 still works fine. It generally ran much better for me with my GTX 680 on DX11, and does so on my 780Ti too.

I wouldn't be surprised if backwards compatibility becomes a bit of a hardware issue going forward at some point. DX isn't just DX, even when it should be, if you get me. Hence the driver packages including so many game-specific hacks for cards.

# ? Sep 29, 2014 22:01

nullpunkt: May 6, 2007; not a substitute for human interaction

I'm really kicking myself for not getting a SLI ready setup. Two 970s look really loving sweet for 1440p, but a new mobo+psu on top of that can't possibly be a decent investment. I guess non-reference 980s will be my best bet, or wait for a TI version.

# ? Sep 29, 2014 22:03

Twerk from Home: Jan 17, 2009; This avatar brought to you by the 'save our dead gay forums' foundation.

nullpunkt posted:

I'm really kicking myself for not getting a SLI ready setup. Two 970s look really loving sweet for 1440p, but a new mobo+psu on top of that can't possibly be a decent investment. I guess non-reference 980s will be my best bet, or wait for a TI version.

If you're willing to drop that much money on GPUs in the first place, you probably could swing the mobo + PSU by selling your old parts used. A single 980 looks fine at 1440p in the first place unless you need extreme AA.

# ? Sep 29, 2014 22:20

Panty Saluter: Jan 17, 2004; Making learning fun!

Has anyone played with the "Super Resolution" downsampling feature at 1080? I've seen one still that looked pretty decent but that's it so far.

# ? Sep 29, 2014 22:26

1gnoirents: Jun 28, 2014; hello

Isn't that just basically SSAA? I mean result wise, not method ( I dont know the difference in methods but I thought they were different). If so, is there some new tech involved that makes the performance hit less intense or it is just a global feature they've added now?

I mean SSAA is like the greatest AA I've ever seen but I can't imagine it being very useful for most users

# ? Sep 29, 2014 22:32

Ralith: Jan 12, 2011; I see a ship in the harbor
I can and shall obey
But if it wasn't for your misfortune
I'd be a heavenly person today

1gnoirents posted:

Isn't that just basically SSAA? I mean result wise, not method ( I dont know the difference in methods but I thought they were different). If so, is there some new tech involved that makes the performance hit less intense or it is just a global feature they've added now?

I mean SSAA is like the greatest AA I've ever seen but I can't imagine it being very useful for most users

That's all there is to it, yeah. I guess it's a way for them to keep people buying GPUs when most people are on 1080p and can run games at high settings just fine with older hardware.

# ? Sep 29, 2014 22:40

Panty Saluter: Jan 17, 2004; Making learning fun!

I'm forcing SSAA now and it does seem a bit better visually on Skyrim, no performance hit that I can see. Then again I'm only running 2x and haven't tried it on too many games.

If SSAA is forced in CCC then the game engine should be completely unable to override it, yes?

e: and now I see that I have been overriding at 1x. That explains the lack of a performance hit I guess :downsgun:

Panty Saluter fucked around with this message at 22:43 on Sep 29, 2014

# ? Sep 29, 2014 22:41

spasticColon: Sep 22, 2004; In loving memory of Donald Pleasance

drat it I want the ASUS 970 but I keep checking pcpartpicker and the sites listed to carry it are still out of stock. :negative:

# ? Sep 29, 2014 22:45

Knifegrab: Jul 30, 2014; Gadzooks! I'm terrified of this little child who is going to stab me with a knife. I must wrest the knife away from his control and therefore gain the upperhand.

So question, will the twin frozr msi 970 be able to support DK2 games at high settings? Basically I want to play elite dangerous on high settings on my dk2 without it lagging like all get out, and my current card can no longer cut the mustard. And my understanding is that twin frozr is still the gold standard for non-reference.

# ? Sep 29, 2014 22:49

Rotation Confusion: Jul 13, 2012; It's harder than it looks

SLI 970 is exactly what I'm telling ppl to buy for (edit) retail release oculus rift Elite right now.

I'm running it at maxed everything at 3440x1440 on an OC'd 780 so dual 970 should be more than enough.

This only gets tricky in that they're planning on building in graphics options that will require multiple gens of cards to reach max so "max'ed everything at release" isn't a reasonable goal

Rotation Confusion fucked around with this message at 01:25 on Sep 30, 2014

# ? Sep 29, 2014 22:51

Knifegrab: Jul 30, 2014; Gadzooks! I'm terrified of this little child who is going to stab me with a knife. I must wrest the knife away from his control and therefore gain the upperhand.

Rotation Confusion posted:

SLI 970 is exactly what I'm telling ppl to buy for oculus rift Elite right now.

I'm running it at maxed everything at 3440x1440 on an OC'd 780 so dual 970 should be more than enough.

This only gets tricky in that they're planning on building in graphics options that will require multiple gens of cards to reach max so "max'ed everything at release" isn't a reasonable goal

SLI is such a poo poo show though since it requires the developers to make extra effort and 9/10 its just wasted potential. You don't think a single 970 will be able to keep up?

# ? Sep 29, 2014 23:13

Duck and burger: Jul 21, 2006; Never a greater duo

Panty Saluter posted:

I'm forcing SSAA now and it does seem a bit better visually on Skyrim, no performance hit that I can see. Then again I'm only running 2x and haven't tried it on too many games.

If SSAA is forced in CCC then the game engine should be completely unable to override it, yes?

e: and now I see that I have been overriding at 1x. That explains the lack of a performance hit I guess

I've yet to see CCC-forced SSAA actually work in anything except a 3D work program I accidentally had it on for (and it looked awful).

# ? Sep 29, 2014 23:26

Swartz: Jul 28, 2005; by FactsAreUseless

Agreed posted:

Plus the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games are coded more as artistic statements about the nature of code and the fleetingness of stability. I love 'em to death but GSC never produced a truly stable engine, just... somewhat more stable ones, and nobody with the money to do so is really interested in supporting it anymore, just a bunch of talented modders. Still, modders hacked out the awful default grass render distance, so maybe there's hope for a general stability patch if more newer cards experience issues trying to run 'em. If such a thing makes it into English is another question, but let's try to keep the factoring at a minimum here

Edit: Oh, good, DX 11 still works fine. It generally ran much better for me with my GTX 680 on DX11, and does so on my 780Ti too.

I wouldn't be surprised if backwards compatibility becomes a bit of a hardware issue going forward at some point. DX isn't just DX, even when it should be, if you get me. Hence the driver packages including so many game-specific hacks for cards.

The source code for all three games is out/leaked, so it's more than just modding now.

In fact I think DX9 is fine, I think I know what caused the artifacts and it's my own fault...

# ? Sep 29, 2014 23:49

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# ? Apr 20, 2024 02:00

BurritoJustice: Oct 9, 2012

Knifegrab posted:

SLI is such a poo poo show though since it requires the developers to make extra effort and 9/10 its just wasted potential. You don't think a single 970 will be able to keep up?

Have you used a SLI setup recently? It works really great. Basically every game where it would be beneficially it works, and works well. If a game is funny with SLI, it is a simple toggle to go single card just for that application, but that situation is rare.

# ? Sep 30, 2014 00:04

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > GPU Megat[H]read - the cores of wrath grew heavy on the die that day

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