RAM question

**Mcstrange** · 09-27-07, 09:11 AM

No, its a dx9 card.
But the 1950 and the 7900 level card blow the 8600 and the 2600 level cards out of the water. The 8600 gts does come close to the 1950 levels, but it costs almost what a 8800gts costs.

Until you can spend the cash on the 8800gts or the upcoming 2900pro you are FAR better served by the top of the last generation than the middle of the current one unless you require DX10, and frankly no one should be requiring DX10 at this point.

And as civil is trying to be cheap I doubt he is going to be buying Vista so I am recommending what will be giving him the best bang for his buck.

**SapiensErus** · 09-27-07, 09:56 AM

Qool qool.. I agree DX10 is stagnant right now... I am afraid that DX11 or DX10b will come out before there is anything really using DX10! Which would render my TWO 8800GTS's irritatingly out of date...

I am regretting that purchase... two 8800 GTS 640's running SLI.. but most DX9 apps run better in single GPU mode! My roomate got an 8800GTX and it smokes my GTS 640. I shoulda spent that many on a single 8800GTX. Although they look pretty tough sitting there side by side taking up lots of room...

Anyway enough thread jacking. I was just considering the implication of DX9vs10; and certainly the system Civil configured with or without the 7900GS will stomp at BF2 for sure, as well as most newer (shader 3.0) games.

**Mcstrange** · 09-27-07, 10:02 AM

I have yet to find an occasion where I would recommend SLI unless you have a huge ass monitor and are buying 2 of the top of the line cards; but dont worry DX10.1 should be supported with the current hardware and DX11 will be far enough in the future that you will probably already have upgraded cards at least once.

**Adamski5000** · 07-12-09, 07:17 AM

I'm not a huge fan, but I saw the 5th (?) Harry Potter film the other night (the one before the Half-blood Prince that's out next week) and it's actually pretty good... I might even go and see the new one.

My girlfriend, on the other hand, is a huge fan of the series and decided to buy the game of the the Half-Blood Prince for £45 (yes 45 fucking quid!). From watching her play and having a wee go myself, I'd say it's pretty awful. My partner completed it in around 3 hours, has had it for about 3 days and already has all but 2 or 3 of the achievements.

It's effectively 3 mini games (potion-making, duelling and quidditch flying) linked by some aimless wandering around collecting "crests". Potion-making is basic parrappa the rappa- style follow-the-on-screen-instructions. Quidditch is flying through hoops against a time limit (which is rendered simple by the fact that the screen actually points you in the right direction, and you simply move the character to the correct position, fly through the hoop, repeat for 2-3 minutes)). Duelling (the only mini-game which is also available in two player) is fun for a short period of time, but the limited number of spells and commands mean that you tire of it very quickly.

Whilst the graphics mean that the school looks nice, they don't compensate for the fact that there's nothing to do. So most of your time is spent aimlessly wandering around collecting the aforementioned crests, which are most often "cunningly hidden" in plain sight on a wall. Collecting crests unlocks more skins and arenas for the 2 player duelling mode, yet it should be noted that there's no obvious difference in skill/attributes between the different characters.

The voice overs are (from what I can tell) half-arsed renditions of the actual actors, the plot makes little sense (it seems as though they've just plucked out random bits from the film/book and put them in chronological order in the hope that fans will fill in the gaps), and as for the big "finale"... well let's just say that Space Invaders puts it to shame.

I'd thought, what with the new film supposedly being more mature and adult than the previous installments, that they might come up with something a bit more challenging than a game that a blind hamster could complete in under a day, but obviously not. The new Harry Potter game simply reinforces the old rule that computer games based on movies will inevitably be piss-poor.

Now, I assume that most l4d gamers won't be interested in the game anyway, but just in case you were considering buying it as a present for someone/renting it for a weekend etc. DON'T!