I'm outta the game, but still hear a plane! - PSU Upgrade

Badger · Post by **Badger** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 9:53 am

.... and it heats the room nicely too!

After much deliberation, I've gone for the 8800 GTX oc and a new 800W PSU. The wife is just about talking to me, so all is well (we don't need any more furniture

) and it's overtime for the next month!

When you get the card out of the box it demands respect - heavy duty, sleek and seductive! Easy to fit, but it does need quite a bit of space.

The last time I fitted a PSU was (I estimate) back in 1992, to an old IBM. But, even with this unfortunate streak of noobness, it only took an hour to put everything in and clear any airflow obstructions. Unfortunately it took an hour to get the old one out.... yes, I resorted to wire clippers

.

Well it's time to walk the UBI forums for tips and start tweaking the settings! Interestingly, the default install settings don't offer that much more quality in the game as you would think moving from GC spec to GC spec. Chaps in the UBI forums have been posting this fact since the card came out. However it is nice flying over city and looking around when the buildings are already there. Lock On however is breath taking and I look forwards to seeign what I can do with thay at the weekend!

Not much of a review and only my first impressions. Much more tweaking to be had, but it's looking good!

AltarBoy · Post by **AltarBoy** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 1:14 pm

Good. Getting one soon also.

:FI:TacticalS! · Post by **:FI:TacticalS!** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 2:12 pm

Great stuff mate! What a nice card I hear. Glad to see that there are other good options with just one video card opposed to needing two cards.

Does your system run cool with just air cooling or do you have something more? When I upgraded my machine in 2005 with just a 350W PSU the power unit was a lot heavier and noisier than my previous one. However, the weight is a good indication of quality.

Finally what are the energy requirements for this card? Maybe you're using the new PSU also as a generator to run the home appliances too?

Tact - "everyone is getting new toys but me" - S!

Badger · Post by **Badger** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 3:07 pm

Hi Tac!

I had to get the new PSU primarily for the card, but also because I've also got an extra USB boards (total 18 ports in total) which has no end of stuff hanging off it which is powered by the machine. It was recommended that the card needed a minimum of 500W but 600W+ would've been better. So with that and the fact that I'm probably going to add another HD and other bits later in the year, I went with the new PSU.

The PSU is a Tagan unit and so heavy you'd think it contained 'dark matter'! It was nice and easy to fit too, so mustn't grumble!

I'm just cooling with air at the moment, but I'll keep an eye on this as there's a lot of cabling in the box now which is taking up air circulation space. It's a Dell 9150 case, so it's reasonably spacious, but I think I'm really close as to what I can do with it.

I've spent the last few months reading as much about GC, system configuration and using that to judge what to get. The single card config still has a lot of life to it and there's a fair bit of bad press about SLi configs and drivers. I was just reading that quite a few chaps are decoupling their SLi connections and running IL2 on just the one to combat anomalies, but I'm sure that this isn't the case for everyone. I must adimit that I'll get 2 PCI E slots on my next board though to extend future possibilites!

I can't wait to get home and start tweaking!!! Hurrah!

:FI:TacticalS! · Post by **:FI:TacticalS!** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 3:46 pm

Awesome mate.

Badger · Post by **Badger** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 12:14 pm

Well as reported on the UBI forums the latest WHQL (97.92) driver doesn't play well with the OpenGL driver in IL2, which is a shame. FPS don't get over ~22 even on basic driver settings.

Luckily DirectX flies under maximum IL2 settings with obscene FPS rates, so at least that's something. I won't get my wibbly water for a while, so it's lucky we're on the Eastern Front!

I'll tour some forum threads to see what others have done. All in all a great card for LOMAC (&FC) and the BF series. I'll just be waiting in line to find the best driver with the other 8800 users!

Badger Out!

AltarBoy · Post by **AltarBoy** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 1:12 pm

I can't wait to try out the card on the Splinter Cell 3 game that's out.

Badger · Post by **Badger** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 10:24 pm

I have walked the Cursed Earth..... looked around a bit.... and got all the changes I needed for the openGL set-up!! Huzzar!!

Wibbley water here I come - any one up for dip!!? Last one in's a girl!!