AMD 6000 series vs Nvidia gtx500 series who will win? Poll included.

[railven]

Well, the HD 6970 isn't much faster than the HD 5870, unless if you play at a resolution or eye candy levels that aren't playable on a HD 5870 2GB. DX11 performance improved more, so if you really care about DX11 performance in future games, sell it on ebay and get an HD 6950 2GB and unlock it, pretty much a free upgrade if you sell your HD 5870 at a reasonable price.

At this point in time it is more of an itch to upgrade than a neccessity. There are barely any games out now that my rig can't handle on High/Very High even with the DX11 features on (Metro 2033 being the exception.)

I'd want the improved DX11 of the 6950, but I don't need it. Why I'm on hold for the 7 series. Hopefully by then games make the hardware worth upgrading for.

EDIT: It might jsut be more cost effective to get a second 5870 1GB and go CFX, I have the board and PSU for it.

 

[taltamir]

consoles are not holding PC gaming back. if anything they help mitigate the real issues.

the issue is that it takes too much effort to develop AA graphics when you can make just as much money without. Even in AA titles AA graphics are a thing of the past.

Even PC exclusive many companies are holding back, simple arcade games for the PC are making tons of money, and the best games come from indie developers who don't have the money for top of the line graphics.

 

[railven]

consoles are not holding PC gaming back. if anything they help mitigate the real issues.

the issue is that it takes too much effort to develop AA graphics when you can make just as much money without. Even in AA titles AA graphics are a thing of the past.

Even PC exclusive many companies are holding back, simple arcade games for the PC are making tons of money, and the best games come from indie developers who don't have the money for top of the line graphics.

And that is an issue. So more damn consoles!

Lost dedicated servers. Getting charged for DLC. Hatting out for easier development routes for greater returns. Yada yada yada.

And sure throw the piracy issue out there too. In the end, things have changed for the worst (being a long time PC gamer) and if it weren't for the higher resolutions and more flexible tweaks, I'd be a consoler haha.

 

[insurgent]

Did you flash yours to 6970 speeds?

Part of me is itching to drop my 5870 2 GB for $150 (paid $500 just one year ago ) and picking up a 6950 with intentions to flash.

Or just hold out and see if the 7 series is any better. But that is a whole year away (as I know it). Damn you TSMC!

Nope I bought the pre-unlocked model from Powercolor. It has around $10 premium over the other 6950s but the assured unlock is worth it IMO. I then overclocked it

You already have a 5870, I'd wait if I were you. I came from a 4870 512mb so the upgrade was significant and I can really say I got my money's worth.

edit:
BTW this poll has more to do with one's ability/decision in interpreting graphs from review sites than actual knowledge.

 

[taltamir]

1. The PC piracy argument is baloney. MS banned millions of consoles they actually CAUGHT pirating. And look at legitimate services like GOG or impulse compared EA's crap.
2. Loss of dedicated servers is a shame, but hardly the fault of consoles... with the xbox you actually need to pay for those.
3. DLC is inflicted on the consoles as well, and its just EA and its ilk's pulling their BS. I haven't seen any such crap come from indie or rising (not big league, but more then indie) developers (eg: stardock).

If anything, things got bad for the console gamers. The video gaming industry crashed entirely in the 80s due to tons of shovelware that didn't even work properly. We are back to that time, tons of shovelware, and none of the games work right on release.
All current gen consoles "allow" over the internet updates to games... as a result all their games come out broken and buggy, just like on PCs (well, almost as bad, but not quite there). They take the approach of release now and fix never.

 

[bryanW1995]

Yes, but now at least it's possible to fix/patch the games via the internet. If a major issue slips by QA it can typically be solved in a few days, so the end user is still able to obtain his enjoyment/benefit. In the 80's if a game shipped broken then it was up to tech support to walk the consumer through the fix, and even that wasn't always possible.

 

[railven]

1. The PC piracy argument is baloney. MS banned millions of consoles they actually CAUGHT pirating. And look at legitimate services like GOG or impulse compared EA's crap.
2. Loss of dedicated servers is a shame, but hardly the fault of consoles... with the xbox you actually need to pay for those.
3. DLC is inflicted on the consoles as well, and its just EA and its ilk's pulling their BS. I haven't seen any such crap come from indie or rising (not big league, but more then indie) developers (eg: stardock).

If anything, things got bad for the console gamers. The video gaming industry crashed entirely in the 80s due to tons of shovelware that didn't even work properly. We are back to that time, tons of shovelware, and none of the games work right on release.
All current gen consoles "allow" over the internet updates to games... as a result all their games come out broken and buggy, just like on PCs (well, almost as bad, but not quite there). They take the approach of release now and fix never.

1) I agree with you, but that is the stance once noble dedicated PC developers are taking. I boycotted Gears of War 2 and 3 because Epic's Mark Rein (or whats it CliffyB) went on and said the reason there is no PC version for Gears 2 is due to piracy. I'm sure the money Microsoft slipped into their pockets had no influence on the decision.

2) But it is the fault of consoles. Activision directly implemented IW.Net as a means to start their own closed system due to the success of pay-to-use services such as Xbox Live. If you follow these agreement you'd notice that Activision reintroduced dedicated servers after Microsoft increased Xbox Live subscriptions which was documented a portion of the money would go directly to Activision. Call of Duty was OUR game, now it's their game

3) Remember when Besethda (sp?) went down that slippery slope with DLC for Oblivion IV. Horse armor if I recall. The PC community threw an up roar. Console people bent over and took it. Map Pak, sure! PC community - map Pak? Hello no! I'll download user created content. Then suddenly SDKs weren't being released and Activion actively bans people using custom content on IW.net even in a closed/private match (since you can't have dedicated servers.)

The console people never experieced what the PC community had. So when they started to see "hey new characters and weapons for $2 bucks! Sure" and that practice slipped into our realm and now we're all complaining Crysis 2 is DX9!

I'm still a gamer. I just didn't like how these changes happened. I own the consoles too, I'm not just picking a side and arguing.

 

[taltamir]

PS. I forgot to mention, the piracy argument is just an excuse they make to include DRM that is entirely uneffective at stopping pirates... but completely eliminates the second hard market. "Free to first buyer DLC" are also meant to stop second hand market.

As for 2 & 3. I see now, you aren't blaming the consoles, you are blaming console gamers for taking whatever the companies give them, bending over like good little suckers to be exploited. I am also amazed at that... Heck, they even pay an additional 10$ a game.

 

[railven]

PS. I forgot to mention, the piracy argument is just an excuse they make to include DRM that is entirely uneffective at stopping pirates... but completely eliminates the second hard market. "Free to first buyer DLC" are also meant to stop second hand market.

Yeah, and this DRM is starting to get more intrusive with the stupid "always on-line" BS Ubisoft tried to get away with. The pirates seem to be the only ones enjoying the games, us paying customers are jumping through hoops and still getting shafted.

As for 2 & 3. I see now, you aren't blaming the consoles, you are blaming console gamers for taking whatever the companies give them, bending over like good little suckers to be exploited. I am also amazed at that... Heck, they even pay an additional 10$ a game.

Yes! Maybe my wording was wrong on it. But the industry saw how it could exploit its user base (I mostly blame Xbox/Xbox Live, but then I'd be accused of being a fanboy) and suddenly that is the industry gold standard. I cried into my Honey Nut Cheerios when I paid $60 for Starcraft 2. Now it seems every PC release is $60. Just last year I was paying $40 for new releases. Where did this $20 price hike come from? I know, consoles! GRRR

 

[Skurge]

Yeah, and this DRM is starting to get more intrusive with the stupid "always on-line" BS Ubisoft tried to get away with. The pirates seem to be the only ones enjoying the games, us paying customers are jumping through hoops and still getting shafted.



Yes! Maybe my wording was wrong on it. But the industry saw how it could exploit its user base (I mostly blame Xbox/Xbox Live, but then I'd be accused of being a fanboy) and suddenly that is the industry gold standard. I cried into my Honey Nut Cheerios when I paid $60 for Starcraft 2. Now it seems every PC release is $60. Just last year I was paying $40 for new releases. Where did this $20 price hike come from? I know, consoles! GRRR

My fave studio, codemasters, still sell new games for $29. I waited for SC2 to drop to $39, but I got it so late that im getting my ass handed to me in MP.

 

[insurgent]

Dragon Age 2 I bought from a store is cheap although it was over too quickly... but I did play almost non-stop

Why is the steam version so expensive? It's almost double what I paid for a retail DVD.

 

[taltamir]

Yeah, and this DRM is starting to get more intrusive with the stupid "always on-line" BS Ubisoft tried to get away with. The pirates seem to be the only ones enjoying the games, us paying customers are jumping through hoops and still getting shafted.

This one is a double whammy, not only does it target the second hand market, it also target families.

Remember way back when, games came with "spawn install" or the option to play several installs over lan with a single key? well not anymore... this DRM is targeted at making each individual in a family buy one.

Not just siblings, spouses, by law, share property. Blizzard recently had won a lawsuit for one such case by a husband and wife who wanted to share one WOW account. Spouses share property, but blizzard was aware of that and made sure that the terms state that the account is owned by blizzard.. "your" account with blizzard is actually owned by blizzard; and is used to uniquely identify you so that they may let you be the single individual who plays the games you "buy" from (but that they still own, not you) so that spouses cannot use the "shared property" laws to only buy one game between the two of them. I am mostly baffled that blizzard actually won that lawsuit.