Hardware / Graphics cards

ATI Radeon X/HD

discussed in 166 posts, 2004-2012 · overall tone positive

Posts per month

Key threads

Specifying a new PC for racing sims in 2006 2006-01-24 · 35 posts
RocketMan, upgrading after seven years, asked about dual-core, AMD versus Intel and graphics for sims on a 24-inch monitor. Advice favoured a stronger graphics card such as a 7800GT, noted dual core gave little benefit for current sims, and discussed RAM, drives and sound. Several members then described their own new builds and he posted his final configuration.
Getting Richard Burns Rally to run on Vista 2008-08-27 · 20 posts
Sean Black could not get Richard Burns Rally to run on a new Vista PC with an ATI 4850 card, which gave a Direct3D error. Suggestions included installing DirectX 9 runtime files and avoiding the Program Files folder, and some said games ran faster on XP. He eventually fixed it by installing DirectX 9 from another game disc and running RBR before patching.
Upgrading an older Pentium 4 for NR2003 2006-01-27 · 23 posts
A user running NR2003 and Sports Car GT on a Pentium 4 2.4GHz with a GeForce FX5200 asked how to improve performance. Most agreed the FX5200 was the bottleneck and recommended a graphics card upgrade such as a 6600GT or 9800 Pro rather than a new CPU.
Is Gran Turismo 5 on the PS3 worth buying? 2010-11-27 · 34 posts
Andrew MacPherson asked whether to buy a PS3 for Gran Turismo 5. Owners described impressive graphics and the Nordschleife but weak AI that follows the racing line regardless of other cars, a damage model locked behind levels and tedious unlockables. Andrew eventually bought one and found the force feedback excellent once he found the right setting.
Building a sub-1000-dollar rig for triple screens 2006-12-20 · 29 posts
Pat Dotson asked for a budget system able to drive a Matrox TripleHead2Go for rFactor. Tony Rickard advised that nVidia was needed for TripleHead2Go and SLI offered little gain in sims, and Dotson bought an Athlon X2 with a 7950 GX2. Others compared memory upgrades and widescreen monitor setups.
Budget PC advice for GTL, GTR and rFactor 2006-01-09 · 24 posts
A user asked whether a cheap Athlon 64 system with integrated VIA graphics would run GTL, GTR and rFactor. Respondents agreed integrated graphics and 512MB were inadequate and recommended a dedicated card, nForce or PCI-E boards, with side debates on onboard sound and AGP versus PCI-E. He decided to wait and buy a better system.
Budget upgrade and overclocking advice for a Sempron PC 2005-09-30 · 41 posts
A user with a Sempron 2800+ and Radeon 9800 Pro asked how to cheaply improve performance ahead of GT Legends. Most advised against piecemeal upgrades and suggested saving for a full PCI-E system, or overclocking instead. He then overclocked the CPU with Prime95 testing but found the 9800 Pro barely overclocked, and his motherboard turned out not to support an Athlon XP 3200+, so he considered moving to an Athlon 64 system.
Anti-aliasing, resolution and frame rates in NSR and rFactor 2005-02-18 · 27 posts
Posters compared frame rates in NASCAR SimRacing at various resolutions and anti-aliasing levels and found that 4x AA caused heavy slowdowns. Joe of Image Space explained that supersampled AA uses huge amounts of video RAM and that multisample modes are cheaper. He also answered questions about rFactor demo frame rates and said TrackIR support would be extended.
Is rFactor an LFS killer? 2004-11-11 · 51 posts
Steve Simpson praised rFactor's graphics and physics and noted its AI in multiplayer. Others debated texture quality, hefty hardware demands and multiplayer smoothness, with temporary placeholder cars used to avoid join freezes. ISI's Joe Campana explained most multiplayer problems came from servers exceeding upload bandwidth and said a headless dedicated server was coming. Some also criticised LFS's product activation.
Need for Speed: Shift tips and sim credibility debate 2009-09-17 · 29 posts
Jeff Reid posted tips on driving modes and car upgrades in NFS Shift. Andrew MacPherson enjoyed its Nordschleife and Veyron challenge despite the game elements, while Schooner and Ronald Stoehr argued its upgrades, drifting and AI made it an arcade racer rather than a sim. Uwe Schürkamp later tried the demo and found some earlier gripes fixed.
Hardware needed for iRacing, and is it a sport? 2008-10-12 · 44 posts
Returning simmer Dirt asked whether modest hardware could run iRacing, and replies said a dual-core CPU and mid-range graphics card would do, as anything that ran NR2003 well would cope. Older posters shared why they still sim race, and Mario Petrinovic and Ronald Stoehr argued over whether iRacing's laser-scanned tracks and sanctioning body made it more than a game. Dirt later joined using an Xbox 360 wheel and reported a smooth install.

Busiest threads

GTR and new video card (5 posts about it)
Specifying a new PC for racing sims in 2006 (4 posts about it)
X800XL - help me keep this card! (4 posts about it)
Best bang for the buck in AGP graphics card? (4 posts about it)
ATI Vidcard Advice Sought (4 posts about it)
Computer for iRacing (3 posts about it)
AMD alternative toTriplehead multiple screen simming (3 posts about it)
Getting Richard Burns Rally to run on Vista (3 posts about it)
OT: System Advice Requested (3 posts about it)
GTR / GTR2 demands for graphics processor (3 posts about it)
Upgrading an older Pentium 4 for NR2003 (3 posts about it)
GPL - Previous addict back for more! (3 posts about it)
Slitghly OT: Racesim with ATI (3 posts about it)
Is Gran Turismo 5 on the PS3 worth buying? (2 posts about it)
x800 GTO AGP widescreen (1800 x 1085) (2 posts about it)

Sentiment by year

Each post that discussed it was rated from −2 (very negative) to +2 (very positive).

Year	Posts	Positive	Negative	Tone
2004	28	13	2	positive (+0.50)
2005	61	18	12	mixed (+0.13)
2006	40	11	1	positive (+0.25)
2007	16	4	1	mixed (+0.19)
2008	5	1	0	positive (+0.20)
2009	7	1	2	mixed (-0.14)
2010	3	0	0	mixed (+0.00)
2011	4	2	0	very positive (+0.75)
2012	2	0	0	mixed (+0.00)