32 replies to this topic

[macdude22]

the Battle Cat, on 18 June 2015 - 11:24 AM, said:

I'm thinking I should have gotten that 680.

it's not like a huge disparity in performance for the two cards.

http://gpuboss.com/g...GeForce-GTX-680

[the Battle Cat]

Yeah not a huge disparity but on the other hand I had the fraker in my hands, paid in full.  Where's Dr. Who when I need him?

[macdude22]

the Battle Cat, on 18 June 2015 - 12:58 PM, said:

Yeah not a huge disparity but on the other hand I had the fraker in my hands, paid in full.  Where's Dr. Who when I need him?

[Frost]

the Battle Cat, on 17 June 2015 - 01:03 PM, said:

Then 8.1 it is.  There's going to be a free upgrade to 10 from 8.  If it's better I'll take it.  I just need the OS to launch games, not going to be a user in the traditional sense.

This is what I'd recommend. I went ahead and went with 8 over 7 when I got Kestrel, and regretted it for the couple of months it took before 8.1 was released, but 8.1 changed things by getting rid of pretty much 90% of my complaints about 8. It's faster and way the hell less buggy than Windows 7 (Windows 7's myriad annoying as FRAK and complete nonsense issues being what I was fighting with The Mail Man about back in the day). It pains me to say it, but 8.1's been every bit as fast and stable as OSX for me. Just a lot uglier with its flat, lifeless UI... but hey, now OSX is copying that look, so it's not so big a difference.

If you turn off the annoying live tiles and advertising crap and get things to a sensible uniform size, the Start screen's not much different from a tiled version of OSX's Launchpad. It's actually easier to organize, truth be told. 8's also been more friendly to being run as a guest OS on a Mac via Parallels than 7 was. So if you, on occasion, want to play a Windows game under OSX without rebooting into Windows, Parallels can do that rather well as long as it's not an overly demanding title.

I feel like Microsoft sans-Gates and sans-Ballmer is actually kind of getting its act together.

the Battle Cat, on 18 June 2015 - 11:24 AM, said:

I'm thinking I should have gotten that 680.

Nooo! At this point, get a reflashed 980 from MacVidCards. Works flawlessly in Mac Pros, has the EFI screens, pulls a low enough wattage even at full tilt that it's not an issue for the Mac Pro motherboard's power delivery, and even with half its cores tied behind its back it'll dance all over the 680 and your current card. Under Windows it pretty much turns the 5,1 Mac Pros into a high-end gaming PC.

[macdude22]

Frost, on 18 June 2015 - 05:45 PM, said:

Nooo! At this point, get a reflashed 980 from MacVidCards. Works flawlessly in Mac Pros, has the EFI screens, pulls a low enough wattage even at full tilt that it's not an issue for the Mac Pro motherboard's power delivery, and even with half its cores tied behind its back it'll dance all over the 680 and your current card. Under Windows it pretty much turns the 5,1 Mac Pros into a high-end gaming PC.

I think the 7950 tOLDcat just bought will do fine. He has a large regular peen so his epeen requirements are not as high.

[Frost]

macdude22, on 18 June 2015 - 08:50 PM, said:

I think the 7950 tOLDcat just bought will do fine. He has a large regular peen so his epeen requirements are not as high.

You just don't want him to have a bigger epeen than you. Come on, admit it.

tOC, you can't let The Man hold you back.

[macdude22]

Frost, on 19 June 2015 - 02:42 AM, said:

You just don't want him to have a bigger epeen than you. Come on, admit it.

tOC, you can't let The Man hold you back.

Honestly I game more on my MBP (with paltry 650m)  than my Mac Pro with 680 or PC with 750 ti super clocked. Its, you know always in my bag, and I always have my bag (with well used 360 controller), and I can just pull it out and be beep boop I'm playing lands. That is ultra not great epeen by /pcmasterrace standards.

Plus I have a complete FT-757 set so really my epeen is unlimited already. It's over 9000.

[Matt Diamond]

Frost, on 18 June 2015 - 05:45 PM, said:

> I'm thinking I should have gotten that 680.

Nooo! At this point, get a reflashed 980 from MacVidCards.

Which is double the price range of the 680, which itself is double what he actually got. I know, it's fun to spend other people's money. :-)

[macdude22]

Matt Diamond, on 19 June 2015 - 09:39 AM, said:

Which is double the price range of the 680, which itself is double what he actually got. I know, it's fun to spend other people's money. :-)

In Frost's defense tBC does sleep on a cat bed made of woven gold.

Frost, on 18 June 2015 - 05:45 PM, said:

8's also been more friendly to being run as a guest OS on a Mac via Parallels than 7 was. So if you, on occasion, want to play a Windows game under OSX without rebooting into Windows, Parallels can do that rather well as long as it's not an overly demanding title.

I feel like Microsoft sans-Gates and sans-Ballmer is actually kind of getting its act together.

I wonder if we won't see some improvements on this front with metal. Maybe VMware and Parallels will be able to have much better direct access and pass that along to the guest. Given the legacy code bases involved I wouldn't expect to see a lot of improvements for a couple versions but perhaps come parallels 12 or something.

[Frost]

Matt Diamond, on 19 June 2015 - 09:39 AM, said:

Which is double the price range of the 680, which itself is double what he actually got. I know, it's fun to spend other people's money. :-)

Well, actually $230 more than a Mac edition 680, but yeah, that's still actually more than I thought I remembered it being.

Still a popsnizzleload cheaper than building a whole gaming PC, and lots more bang for your buck than the 680.

[the Battle Cat]

Frost, on 18 June 2015 - 05:45 PM, said:

Nooo! At this point, get a reflashed 980 from MacVidCards. Works flawlessly in Mac Pros, has the EFI screens, pulls a low enough wattage even at full tilt that it's not an issue for the Mac Pro motherboard's power delivery, and even with half its cores tied behind its back it'll dance all over the 680 and your current card. Under Windows it pretty much turns the 5,1 Mac Pros into a high-end gaming PC.

Let me see how this setup works first.  I expect to be wowed enough to start with, but it's good to know that a better card is my major bottleneck at this point.  It's a lot easier than building a gaming PC.

Edit:  the above posted while I was composing this post, great minds stink alike.

[macdude22]

the Battle Cat, on 19 June 2015 - 12:27 PM, said:

Let me see how this setup works first.  I expect to be wowed enough to start with, but it's good to know that a better card is my major bottleneck at this point.  It's a lot easier than building a gaming PC.

Edit:  the above posted while I was composing this post, great minds stink alike.

Unless the tBC has some 4k monstrosity of a monitor it's a moot point. I can run everything I have on maximum settings on a 680, I doubt the 7950 is much worse.

[Frost]

macdude22, on 19 June 2015 - 02:53 PM, said:

Unless the tBC has some 4k monstrosity of a monitor it's a moot point. I can run everything I have on maximum settings on a 680, I doubt the 7950 is much worse.

Depends... I did the Titan X upgrade because Star Citizen was slaying my Titan at 1920x1200 (well, that and because some quick research into used prices on eBay determined moving from a 4770K + Titan + 450W PSU to 4790K + Titan X + 600W PSU would only run me about $400 or so after I resold the old parts). It's good now, but the question is will it be with the games out in a couple years.