For example, with the recent X3:Reunion game, I get a barely acceptable 20 fps in low quality, while with a 9800 Pro, I would have gotten nearly twice as much.
And I quote myself again
:Other than those excellent bargains form ATI, nVidias are generally better.el_muchacho wrote:For those with ~220$ to throw at a PCI Express card, I would recomment the Sapphire X800 GTO² (please note the ²), because it has an ATI R480 core, like the more expensive X850XT card, and can easily flashed and overclocked with ATITool freeware to an X850 XT Platinum Edition (XT PE), which is the top of the X850 line (sold around 400$), and a card with a fair longevity with regards to current and future games.
You easily get a perf increase of 50% over the stock card and 6000 at 3DMark2005, comparable to a 7800 GTO, when the card BIOS is flashed (unlocking the 16 pipes) and overclocked.
It's quite hard to find, but it's definitely worth it.
Articles about it.
http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardw ... to2/7.html
http://www.beyond3d.com/reviews/sapphire/gtos/
(graphics are before modding/overclocking, add another 50% boost)
Anyway, for Spring shadows, AFAIK they are mostly calculated by the CPU, which explains its slowness.
Talking of CPU, the AMD A64 3000+ is one of the cheapest and most overclockable CPUs around. With a good mainboard (recommend the DFI LanPartys), a heat sink and quality memory (Corsair, OCZ or A-Data), most can easily be overclocked from 1800 MHz (base frequency) to 2600 MHz (equivalent of a Athlon 4000+). Some report up to 3 GHz.
