Our ReVolt Pub

i bought parts on ebay for ok price and have put a pc together:

dfi board
core2 duo 2x 2.4 ghz
ati crossfire 2x (x1950 xtx 512 mb) video card
4x 512 ddr2 677
zalman cooler
corsair 650w psu
21 inch mitsubishi crt monitor

i installed revolt to see how it runs. what a difference! after racing through the stock tracks, i have not even seen any track loading screens, because it takes a fracture of a second to load a track!
fps on all the tracks is the same as my monitors refresh rate, which is 85 at the moment, the lowest number i have seen was 84, while revolt was set to its absolute full at 1280x960 resolution (monitor current)

the tracks are more spectacular cuz video settings are on maximum, especially the floor reflections are very nice. i think the monitor adds a lot, its an old but great ctr. (1920x1200 max resolution)

i just though i share this, i had to write it down, its so great.

I never thought a pc would one day be able to load a revolt level so fast

And glad to see I'm not the only one with a good old crt monitor (21" mitsubishi for me too). But sadly my pc is by far not that fast .

yes, literally as i said, the next what i see after the track selection screen is the track itself with the cars at the start line. i dont see the track loading screen!

i like crt monitors, especially the big ones, better for any picture and video related editing.

so how much money in dollars did that cost?
i am needing a new video card :/

Congratulations human! Are you using Antialiasing too?

Must be either the graphics card or the newer RAM. I have 2GB 266ghz RAM and a 128mb graphics card and I still see plenty of loading screen. Unless maybe having two processors makes a difference.

BTW I'm curious what your CPU temperatures are for the new rig. I was obsessive about cooling my computer for a while and, with just a stock P4 heatsink, it idles at 32C and I haven't been able to get it over 48C under full load.

I also have a junker computer with fancy heatsink that I can't get above 32C no matter what, but that's a different story. Its also extremely loud.

And how much did you pay for all that?

well, moneywise it looked like this:

i bought a pc in a charity shop, it looked decent but the guys in the shop said there was no hdd in it so no chance to test it, therefore they sold it as seen for 20 quid. i took it apart at home and tadaaaam, there was an 80 gb s-ata hard drive in it, that was just not connected to the board. so thats a decent atx case and the hdd for 20.

the two video cards, 512 mb each, that was very lucky, i got them from a guy for free through gumtree (advertising and community site if someone doesnt know) it was put up in the freebies section. otherwise it costs 60-80 quid each, i think. the monitor, cd drive, keyboard and mouse also come from gumtree for free.

parts i bought on ebay (including postage):

core2duo e6600 for 50
dfi crossfire-ready motherboard for 32
corsair psu for 58
zalman cooler for 11
dvi-vga monitor cable for 5
2 gb ddr2 667 memory for 10
thermal compound for processor for 2

so thats all together for the whole workstation is 188 gbp which is about 305 usd currently. i also bought a 500 gb external usb drive for 40 quid (65 usd) but thats extra.

i basically needed it for editing, the old pc drove me crazy with the slowness.

urnemanden @ Dec 16 2009, 07:16 AM wrote: Congratulations human! Are you using Antialiasing too?

do you mean in crossfire settings or in revolt settings? i think both are set to the maximum, but i need to check.

Aeon @ Dec 16 2009, 08:47 AM wrote: Must be either the graphics card or the newer RAM. I have 2GB 266ghz RAM and a 128mb graphics card and I still see plenty of loading screen. Unless maybe having two processors makes a difference.

BTW I'm curious what your CPU temperatures are for the new rig. I was obsessive about cooling my computer for a while and, with just a stock P4 heatsink, it idles at 32C and I haven't been able to get it over 48C under full load.

well the graphics cards are two 512 mb ati cards, thats 1 giga comparing to your 128 mb, plus they work together which makes them even more effective i guess.

and there is the core 2 duo that even taking the lowest speed one beats the highest speed single core processor because of the technology it uses, i mean two 2.4 ghz in a core 2 duo can be considered as a 4.8 ghz single core, but because of its nature its much faster than a 4.8 ghz single core.

ihave checked the temperature only once at light load, i think it was 38-39 celsius, but i dont really remember, i will check it again when its been working hard, but i am not sure i can make it working really hard with what i generally do on it. unless i run photoshop and 3dsmax in the same time while watching a movie and converting a video in the background. running revolt itself while recording the race with fraps wasnt a huge challenge to the video cards, at least i couldnt hear the fans spinning faster or louder, which they should do when under a heavier load.

human @ Dec 16 2009, 10:36 AM wrote:

urnemanden @ Dec 16 2009, 07:16 AM wrote: Congratulations human! Are you using Antialiasing too?

do you mean in crossfire settings or in revolt settings? i think both are set to the maximum, but i need to check.

I meant in the control panel of your graphic card. My own laptop is unable to run with everything above 2x, x4 will begin lack, x16 would be like 4fps.

urnemanden @ Dec 16 2009, 01:53 PM wrote: I meant in the control panel of your graphic card. My own laptop is unable to run with everything above 2x, x4 will begin lack, x16 would be like 4fps.

i have set it in game to antialias on, and i have set the antialias in the graphics control panel to x14, no effect at all to the fps, its still 84-85. never seen a number less than 84, even at the start with 12 cars, its still 84-85, amazing.

And I thought an ATI Radeon HD 4650 was Hi-Def. . .

Still, it is shiny. I dumped my poor All-In-Wonder Radeon 7500. I have two for sale, so if anyone wants them, I'll be happy to lend them to you, for a small fee.

Although specs aren't that far away, just look at T&L capability for my card.

Radeon HD 4650 VS. Radeon X1950 XTX

which properties do belong to t&l?

i think pci-e makes it difficult to agp to beat it, but im not an expert.
memory bandwidth is 4 times more on mine as well, but again, im not sure how does that affect the performance.

T&L is Vertex Operations. The higher the number, the , well, see their glossary of terms by clicking on it.