Age of Conan Hyborian Adventures
AoC is one of those sword and sorcery MMORPGS. On a personal note I didn’t like playing it, but when I was playing it I had a very hard time stopping. If you want to know more check out the game’s official site or the AoC Wiki.
Here are the settings that I used in all my testing for AoC:
You may have noticed that the minimum FPS reading is 0 for each card and setting. That’s because the game basically “pauses” at 0 FPS after I press the button that tells Fraps to begin recording FPS information. At 1600x1200 the GTX 280 is about 63% faster than the 8800 GTX and at 1920x1080 the GTX 280 is a full 93% faster. For those of you who want to play this game on a nice high resolution widescreen at high settings (the game is beautiful), the GTX 280 is a major improvement over the 8800 GTX.
BioShock
Most of you probably already know what BioShock is all about. Those of you that do not can read all about it here. All you really need to know is that the game is freaking fantastic and it is the most fun that I have had in a long time. I am hoping to see something about BioShock 2 at PAX this year. I will be sure to let you guys know if I do. If you need a taste of insane underwater adventure you can get this award winning game for only $29.99 on Steam.
Here are the settings that I used in all my testing for BioShock:
I am not sure how or why it happened, but I got more FPS with the 8800 GTX at 1920x1080 than I did at 1600x1200. The maximum FPS measurement was lower at 1920, but the average and minimum were higher. I checked all my settings and such, but everything was the way it was supposed to be. Chalk it up to Chaos Theory I guess.
At 1600x1200 the GTX 280 is 88% faster and at 1920x1080 the 280 is 69% faster. If you look at the results of the GTX 280 across the two resolutions, you can see that the GTX 280 performed almost as well at 1920 as it did at 1600. Nice!
n00b
The Progenitor
How do the graphs look? Do you like the colors I used and the green stone background?
Is anything unclear? Did you have to read any paragraphs twice?
The graphs are great (looks 3d), coupled with the green background made it easier to see.
Nvidia really made a great product, but because of the price (and the expected price of the ATI cards), people just went on to bash Nvidia and dismissing the technology.
(This reminds me of people complaining of Nvidia rebranding 8800s into 9000s while people overlooks Ati's actions in renaming the 2900s into 3800s [a "new" generation])
It does seem that the article was written to justify your purchase of the GTX280 (well, I would do that if I got that card too =D ).
Member
Couple of points:
I don't like the charts. I mean, the 3D bars and background, that's all very nice, but I prefer the simple, white-backed flat 2D bars that I can glance at and not get distracted by colors and such.
The review was easy to understand, although I did notice you went on a tiny bit about the games in the test. Most people already know this information, and they're here for the cards, probably because they want to play these games in the first place.
There are some grammatical things that could be done to smooth out the review, but otherwise it was worded well and ran generally smoothly. I'm impressed.
(I would say you could give me the reviews to proofread, as I'm a writer, but that would seem pretentious, I think?)
n00b
I've read several review sites and the are all fairly scientific. Of them all, [H]ardOCP is the best because I feel like I will get the same results.
And that is where your strong point lies. You did this review in your living room - not in a sterile lab. You have the feel of a normal guy comparing his old system against his new upgrade and sharing his experiences and results. There's something trustworthy about that - I feel like I could do the same thing and have the same success, even if my numbers end up being slightly different (horrors!). If I want hard stats I'll go to Tom's or Anand (or the comparison page), but what I want to read is how it works for another guy like me. That's exactly what you did. You may want to include even a few more subjective statements about what you liked and didn't like, how the game looked, etc. to emphasize the 'real' nature of your review.
You've got something here. I'd look forward to more!
But I think the site its getting better, also the graphs appear to be giving the finger to the reader... or its just me?
Member
Did i forget to brush my teeth? oh no did i show up in court without my pants on again?
relax, its good!
I think you should cram a little more into your conclusion, touch on all the data you've collected so far (all be it, you need more cards, but thats $$$), answer the question who should buy it and who shouldn't. Get in any outstanding frustrations as well as any oustanding positives! Longer conclusion would be better.
n00b
n00b
Ya I'm obviously excited about that part, becuase I overclock EVERYTHING, thats a great review, to bad you can't do 2 or 3 way SLI, but I totally understand, GTX280 = 2nd morgage, lol. Awseom man, just awsome.
Senior Member
Member
Bring on the user review section!
GPUReview Founder
Senior Member
n00b
Senior Member
But anyways , nice review .