Tech Geeks Thread

[SupaFreak2005]

Basically for all the Technology Enthusiasts out there.
Whatever is you topic of interest, ranging from PCS to Gaming and Consoles and any form of hardware or any news on upcoming products.

Last year we had some pretty exciting and interesting developments in the gaming industry. In early '04 the GPU wars continued with the unveiling of a new generation between ATI and NVIDIA’s new line of cards. Later in the year the battle of handhelds were contended by two giants in the industry, Sony and Nintendo with the PSP and DS. The PSP eventually will most likely come out on top but Nintendo had a different vision for its handheld with the idea of going back to traditional gaming. While this is a very good idea in my opinion, many consumers will be attracted to the graphics which are similar to the PS2. As only the DS has been released in the US there is a limited basis for a complete comparison. Nintendo already has a strong library of games for its DS which will be its most valuable asset in its fight against Sony who has already replaced them as the home console synonymous with the word "console" itself.

This big fight carded for this year is probably on a larger scale than any of last year’s.
Microsoft will go up against Sony this year as both are planning to release their new line of consoles all equipped with next generation technology. Gaming on the home console will be taken to new heights as Bill Gates has said that the new Xbox 2 (Xenon is the rumored name) is all part of Microsoft’s vision for a digital lifestyle and will support media integration and PC connectivity. From the little information that has been gathered, the PS3 (most likely it will be given a new name) looks as it will be superior to the Xbox but nothing is for certain! The next series of graphics chips from NVIDIA, following on from the current 6-series, will include the custom chip that is being licensed to Sony for the PS3, while ATI has also developed a new specially designed GPU for the Xenon console. It looks as if the PS3 will be released sooner than the Xenon although it may take up to 18 months before either is released. Either way it looks like it will be a very interesting year to see how each company roll out their new consoles.

[andyc]

yeah while i dont know too much about graphics and chips and that kind of stuff i have an xbox and love playing it, and know a whole lot more than is necessary about games. as to what you said about the ps3 being superior to the xbox, while it could happen, i doubt it would simply because its microsoft. the graphics and things capable from the xbox are amazing and as yet unrivalled on consoles. granted, the xbox was brought out after the ps2, but i think microsoft will ensure the xenon is the superior console on the market. the only problem is that sony has a whole lot more games.

[SupaFreak2005]

Originally Posted by andyc

yeah while i dont know too much about graphics and chips and that kind of stuff i have an xbox and love playing it, and know a whole lot more than is necessary about games. as to what you said about the ps3 being superior to the xbox, while it could happen, i doubt it would simply because its microsoft. the graphics and things capable from the xbox are amazing and as yet unrivalled on consoles. granted, the xbox was brought out after the ps2, but i think microsoft will ensure the xenon is the superior console on the market. the only problem is that sony has a whole lot more games.

You see Microsoft is essentially a software company, the level of graphics produced by the Xbox was partly due to the NVIDIA GPU that was designed for it. After the strong showing of the PS2 with its large library of games and Xbox losing sales, I think Microsoft said it was something like they lost $400 million on the Xbox in the last quarter, NVIDIA also lost alot of money on it as well. Now NVIDIA have turned away from Microsoft and is providing the new GPU for the PS3. While I'm not certain on what will be the specs on either console as Microsoft has been very protective of what they let out about it, according the Rory Ames from EA Games he said, "The rumours are that PlayStation 3 will have a little more under the hood." They only have fair idea though on the specs of the Xbox console as they would have to know how to design their games to play on the console. EA has already released a list of titles that will be available on the Xbox. As I said nothingis for certain. We will get a little more insight into what these consoles can do within the next two months.

[Langeveldt]

Am looking to upgrade my Mobo and Graphics card to the latest ATI offering when Flight Sim 2006 comes out.. Im happy with my 19 inch monitor which rules for playing Half life 2 so just need a bit of an upgrade..

PS3 is a near automatic purchase as well

[Pratters]

I am happy with the stupid cricket simulation games/icc style games and the football manager games.

[SupaFreak2005]

ATI's latest offering is the X800 XT but its hard to come by and it carries a hefty price tag around $500 USD. The GeForce 6800 Ultra is a little easier to come by. I'm sure the mobo you'll be getting wil have a PCI-EXPRESS slot but you can opt to get an NVIDIA SLI setup. The boards that support it have 2 PCI Express slots and support dual functionality. But as you said you are going for the ATI and the SLIs only support either Geforce 6 series or Quadro. They are now the ultimate in PC gaming but they are around $1000 USD for the cards alone and the mobos are around $180 USD. You can also do what I did if you want and get a Geforce 6600 GT which is both economical and good for the price. It goes at around $200 USD and as I have said before it owns all the Raadeon 9***** series.

[Langeveldt]

Well by the time I am looking to upgrade, who knows what will be released..

Im really happy to be getting constantly 30+ FPS on high graphics with Half Life 2 (Radeon 9600 PRO)

[SupaFreak2005]

Well i had a 9600 XT myself but it died on me thats why i replaced it with the GeForce. How long from now are you planning on upgrading?.. The thing with the 9600 is that you cant put on AA or AF with Doom 3 and many other new games. By the time you are ready theyll probably have the next generation of cards out along with the Xenon and PS3

[Langeveldt]

Planning on upgrading this time next year, ages away, but I will be away flying proper airplanes when FS2006 comes out, so little point in upgrading now..

Doom 3 sucks both as a game and the fact that it can only run on a top notch computer... Im running HL2 on 1280x960 and Doom 3 just manages 640X400 on the lowest graphics..

[age_master]

hmm PS3 vs xbox 2 - i doubt microsoft will allow themselves to be outdone by sony, you never know though.

[Scaly piscine]

Originally Posted by age_master

hmm PS3 vs xbox 2 - i doubt microsoft will allow themselves to be outdone by sony, you never know though.

xbox 2 will likely be more powerful, PS3 will likely have more games.

PS3 will probably win tho because people are dumb, look at all the muppets who give EA Sports titles good sales figures even tho they're virtually identical year after year.

As for Doom 3, I agree it's ridiculous the technical requirements on it - It has a frame rate of 0-5 on my machine but Rome: Total War runs fine with 1000 or so units on screen .

[Langeveldt]

Originally Posted by Scaly piscine

PS3 will probably win tho because people are dumb, look at all the muppets who

As long as they keep churning out quality games for the PS2 (San Andreas), we will keep buying.. Its as simple as that, and XBOX just does not have the choice or variation..

[Scaly piscine]

On the face of it there looks like choice because there are so many games, but there really isn't if you're after quality games because most of the Playstation games are relatively poor sequels designed to rake the cash in.

[Langeveldt]

Well Im happy with GTA San Andreas, The Getaway, The Getaway Black Monday, Cricket 2004 etc.

[SupaFreak2005]

Originally Posted by Langeveldt

Planning on upgrading this time next year, ages away, but I will be away flying proper airplanes when FS2006 comes out, so little point in upgrading now..

Doom 3 sucks both as a game and the fact that it can only run on a top notch computer... Im running HL2 on 1280x960 and Doom 3 just manages 640X400 on the lowest graphics..

Yeah its because of the new technology that Hl2 has integrated that allows it to tailor itself to the system it is playing on... even though the minimum requirements is a DirecctX 7 card, it will still run on a directX 6 card, e.g. TNT 2 and Rage 128, at a decent frame rate at 640 x 480. What it does is it disable some aspects of the game for the lower end cards. On a directx 6 card it probably looks like the original Half-Life... Do you have AA and AF on for HL2 at that resolution?