I finally decided what graphics card to upgrade with, and my choice was the Palit GeForce GTX970 Jetstream 4GB, and wow what a card performance wise.
I rarely update my PC, but with the increasing amount of AAA games it was becoming needed. Especially as my 560ti has been getting lower frame-rates in games than I have been wanting for a smooth experience. Unity games especially are quite resource hungry, so this should do me for quite some time I hope.
A shot of the new beast sitting in the box:
Here's a look at different frame-rates across a few select games, these are the FPS (lowest-highest) I seem to get at different scenes.
Not 'official benchmarks' here, but a general look at just how good the card is in my real-world testing of it. These are not really automated benchmarks, just proper use of the card to see how it performs for a gamer.
Tested together with an Intel i5 4670K 3.4GHZ, 8GB DDR3 RAM and Linux Mint Cinnamon 17.1 64bit. This is with the 346.35 Nvidia driver.
Borderlands 2
1920x1080, High settings, 4X AF
560ti: 37-51
970: 38 for a split second, and then mostly lowest of ~55 - 130
Metro 2033 Redux
Detail level set to High.
560ti: 30-40
970: 113-160
The Witcher 2
1920x1080, High Settings, V-Sync Off
560ti: 23-37FPS (Noticeably sluggish too)
970: 53-99 (HOORAY! I can finally play it!)
Unigine Heaven
This was only tested on the 970 due to time and impatience on my part (I want to play games!).
On Ultra settings, Extreme tesellation, and 8X AA it managed a minimum of 30.5 and a max of 79.5, I think that's amazing for something so demanding, and again shows how good the card really is.
Annoyingly, I had to buy a new power supply unit to go with it, as the 970 made my original 500w Cooler Master squeal like a pig on helium (coil whine), and it was extremely annoying. So, this became a rather expensive upgrade, but it should make my Livestreams and game-play video's much smoother. I thought it was the new graphics card making all the noise, but after careful listening when taking the PSU out of the case I found out that it was creating the noise.
It also seems to have lights on it, so that's something. Not sure why anyone wants fancy lights and stuff like that, but it was an interesting surprise:
Yes, I know my cables are a mess, and I'm okay with that.
Verdict: Bloody buy it. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
I rarely update my PC, but with the increasing amount of AAA games it was becoming needed. Especially as my 560ti has been getting lower frame-rates in games than I have been wanting for a smooth experience. Unity games especially are quite resource hungry, so this should do me for quite some time I hope.
A shot of the new beast sitting in the box:
Here's a look at different frame-rates across a few select games, these are the FPS (lowest-highest) I seem to get at different scenes.
Not 'official benchmarks' here, but a general look at just how good the card is in my real-world testing of it. These are not really automated benchmarks, just proper use of the card to see how it performs for a gamer.
Tested together with an Intel i5 4670K 3.4GHZ, 8GB DDR3 RAM and Linux Mint Cinnamon 17.1 64bit. This is with the 346.35 Nvidia driver.
Borderlands 2
1920x1080, High settings, 4X AF
560ti: 37-51
970: 38 for a split second, and then mostly lowest of ~55 - 130
Metro 2033 Redux
Detail level set to High.
560ti: 30-40
970: 113-160
The Witcher 2
1920x1080, High Settings, V-Sync Off
560ti: 23-37FPS (Noticeably sluggish too)
970: 53-99 (HOORAY! I can finally play it!)
Unigine Heaven
This was only tested on the 970 due to time and impatience on my part (I want to play games!).
On Ultra settings, Extreme tesellation, and 8X AA it managed a minimum of 30.5 and a max of 79.5, I think that's amazing for something so demanding, and again shows how good the card really is.
Annoyingly, I had to buy a new power supply unit to go with it, as the 970 made my original 500w Cooler Master squeal like a pig on helium (coil whine), and it was extremely annoying. So, this became a rather expensive upgrade, but it should make my Livestreams and game-play video's much smoother. I thought it was the new graphics card making all the noise, but after careful listening when taking the PSU out of the case I found out that it was creating the noise.
It also seems to have lights on it, so that's something. Not sure why anyone wants fancy lights and stuff like that, but it was an interesting surprise:
Yes, I know my cables are a mess, and I'm okay with that.
Verdict: Bloody buy it. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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No more Linux, as a platform for games and bussiness. I was trying to using it 3 years but that's enaugh.
For graphics cards I prefer now Zotac because of 5 years extended warranty :)
For graphics cards I prefer now Zotac because of 5 years extended warranty :)
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I have the exact same problem. An old Core 2 Quad and 560ti which have been fine till now as most games I've played under Linux aren't very demanding. Now AAA recent titles have started appearing, I have been forced to realise how outdated my poor old rig is.
Looking at upgrading to an i5 4690K, Asrock Extreme 6 motherboard, 16GB DDR3 and a 970 as the core of the system. Just need to decide on an SSD, case/PSU and cooling, and make sure all the parts operate under Linux correctly.
Looking at upgrading to an i5 4690K, Asrock Extreme 6 motherboard, 16GB DDR3 and a 970 as the core of the system. Just need to decide on an SSD, case/PSU and cooling, and make sure all the parts operate under Linux correctly.
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sitting on my Q6600 + AMD5770 until 14nm CPU and 14/20nm GPUs become available, even tho these get delayed over and over again. i just cba to buy new hardware that is just a refresh of 1-2year old equipment
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Welcome to 970 club!
New generation of console always pushes new stantard to GPU minimum requirements. Thats completly fine as most people didnt have reason to upgrade theirs rigs for years...
Last just hope that SteamOS become a huge sucess and of course linux will show its true power...
New generation of console always pushes new stantard to GPU minimum requirements. Thats completly fine as most people didnt have reason to upgrade theirs rigs for years...
Last just hope that SteamOS become a huge sucess and of course linux will show its true power...
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So, that's with the open-source driver, right? [/troll]
TBH, though that's some pretty cool specs for gaming hardware.
TBH, though that's some pretty cool specs for gaming hardware.
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Avehicle7887 Jan 18, 2015
Great choice Liam, I'm on a 760 atm but aiming for a 970 for the future. Do you mind telling me which driver version are you using? Version 346.35 was released a couple of days ago.
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Avehicle7887 Jan 18, 2015
I am using the 346.35 driver.
Thanks :-) I'll update right away.
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I have a Zotac GeForce 970 on my Linux box and it works fine.
I had previously on another box a Gainward GTX 460 which ran out of order because the mosfets did not have a heatsink... Then on that box I went with a Zotac 660 Ti and all the issues were gone.
The only issue with my 970 is that I need to use a PPA for drivers on my Ubuntu 14.04 LTS. I hope this will be fixed with the next HWE.
I had previously on another box a Gainward GTX 460 which ran out of order because the mosfets did not have a heatsink... Then on that box I went with a Zotac 660 Ti and all the issues were gone.
The only issue with my 970 is that I need to use a PPA for drivers on my Ubuntu 14.04 LTS. I hope this will be fixed with the next HWE.
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And here I am still thinking of my recently acquired Sapphire Radeon HD 6870 as a massive monster, but then of course my demands are much smaller than yours... ;)
http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?pid=1270
http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?pid=1270
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Plintslîcho Jan 18, 2015
I'm looking forward for the GTX960.
The bigger cards consume too much power.
The bigger cards consume too much power.
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Hi liam,
I just wondering what steps did you take to install the latest driver in Linux Mint?
Thanks
I just wondering what steps did you take to install the latest driver in Linux Mint?
Thanks
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It's good to know the coil whine is coming from the PSU being stressed. I plan on a new PSU anyway. I put too much faith into someone knowing their hardware brands and ended up finding out the PSU I got in the hastened case swap with them was an unreliable brand.
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Hi liam,
I just wondering what steps did you take to install the latest driver in Linux Mint?
Thanks
I've been using this PPA
https://launchpad.net/~mamarley/+archive/ubuntu/nvidia
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How do you get more than 60 frames in Witcher? It looks to be capped at 60 for me, even indoors it stops at 60 spot on. And I got a screen with a refresh rate of 120 so that should be no bottleneck.
Also, a framerate of 160?! What kind of screen have you got to handle that high refresh rate? Or are not refresh rate and fps related? You can't get a higher frame per second than the max refresh rate of the monitor, can you?
Also, a framerate of 160?! What kind of screen have you got to handle that high refresh rate? Or are not refresh rate and fps related? You can't get a higher frame per second than the max refresh rate of the monitor, can you?
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And here I am still thinking of my recently acquired Sapphire Radeon HD 6870 as a massive monster, but then of course my demands are much smaller than yours... ;)
http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?pid=1270
Yeah, exactly the same here, I chose a 6870 (not Sapphire, though) to replace my 4850. I still get abysmal performance with radeon drivers in Serious Sam 3, though.
are not refresh rate and fps related? You can't get a higher frame per second than the max refresh rate of the monitor, can you?
Not entirely. You can have your graphic card drawing frames faster than the monitor; that's not a problem, but can in some cases produce some tearing.
It is often advised (Depending on the user's preferences) to enable v-sync, or at least limit the framerate to the monitor's refresh rate to lower your energy consumption/noise/temperature/whatever. This framerate limit is often enabled by default (at least on open source drivers).
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Also, a framerate of 160?! What kind of screen have you got to handle that high refresh rate? Or are not refresh rate and fps related?Yep, they are not related. the refreshrate of your monitor and the frames per seconds your PC can pull oft are 2 entirely different things that by default dont affect each other at all.
Now there is vsync, a GPU feature that delays and caps fps to your monitors hz to force it to display 1 full frame each refresh (the effect that happens without vsync is called tearing). vsync however has major drawbacks - it adds a segnificant amount oft input lag and decreases fps just by itself. Plus if your rig cannot handle a stable 1:1 fps to Hz ratio (120fps in your case) then the input lag gets even worse.
if you own a 120 or 144hz monitor then just disable vsync completly as tearing is not much of an issue on those monitors. also dont cap your fps, as higher fps will always(!) improve your game, even if its just input lag. (and if for some reason you have to cap, pick 120)
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oldrocker99 Jan 19, 2015
My 750ti will have to do for the time being :D .
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Kallestofeles Jan 19, 2015
Congratulations on the purchase, seems like an excellent buy!
Now that the 9xx series is out, I feel kind of sad that I got my 770GTX 4GB earlier this year... though performance on that one has not disappointed me yet - besides Unity engine games... but those are crap to run with any specs anyways.
Now that the 9xx series is out, I feel kind of sad that I got my 770GTX 4GB earlier this year... though performance on that one has not disappointed me yet - besides Unity engine games... but those are crap to run with any specs anyways.
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Thanks alot for your replies, lave and MayeulC! Now I understand. Also, I'm pretty sure I have turned on vsync in witcher - I've always turned it on, as I knew the relation between refresh rate and screen tearing - but now I'll pump up the refresh and turn off vsync instead :).
Also the nvidia drivers always sets the resolution to "auto" and it appears that sets the refresh rate at 60 - that explains why Witcher seem to be capped at 60 for me.
Thanks again for that info guys, I've always wondered about that stuff.
(I'm on a ASUS GeForce GTX 680 2GB btw. Enjoying Witcher on high setting@HD res with decent framerate (typically 40ish up to the mentioned 60 "cap"))
Also the nvidia drivers always sets the resolution to "auto" and it appears that sets the refresh rate at 60 - that explains why Witcher seem to be capped at 60 for me.
Thanks again for that info guys, I've always wondered about that stuff.
(I'm on a ASUS GeForce GTX 680 2GB btw. Enjoying Witcher on high setting@HD res with decent framerate (typically 40ish up to the mentioned 60 "cap"))
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