New Video Card? SWEET!
I’ve never owned top of the line computer bits, though I’ve also never really had any reason to complain. I’ve used my 7600 GeForce for a few years now without issues. I ran EQ2 on balanced (minus flora and fauna because I just disliked the way I could never see anything laying on the ground) and was quite happy with the graphic performance.
With a little extra money kicking around I decided it was time to start getting some upgrades. Even though I could use a new processor and motherboard, I think those can wait until February – today it was time for a new video card.
I didn’t go all out like a lot of people would have. I wanted an upgrade but not something that was super expensive. So, when all was said and done I went from my trusty 7600 to the 8800.
Instillation went smooth, and I loaded up EQ2 right away switching my settings to the highest possible ones. Of course I still had some lag, the change for dual core isn’t in quite yet – and the highest possible settings really are that. I know people who have the best of the best and still can’t play on those settings. So I tweaked things some, and set them to the 2nd highest settings. Turned down the fauna so I could actually see the ground, made it so I don’t see 10 spells per person and will only see two, and turned down shadows slightly.
It still made a HUGE difference. I can see all the nice little texture details now that I had missed before unless I played on the highest settings. I typically leave my lights off due to lag – and have no issues at all with them now. It’s great. I logged over to Vanguard and noticed a great improvement in frame rate, but didn’t turn my settings up any higher because the game is pretty enough on balanced. The screenshot above is on my new settings, and I can tell the difference from my previous screenshots easily.
So that’s how my weekend has gone thus far. Gotta love getting new toys to play with!