Best Video Card for Starmade

[Gristle]

The GeForce 960 is Direct X 12 compatible, you don't need to look for one, they all are....

That's not true. You can still buy video cards that are DX11 only.

 

[Panpiper]

That's not true. You can still buy video cards that are DX11 only.

Yes, you can still buy "video cards" that are DX11 only, but they are not GeForce 900 series. The GeForce 960. 970 & 980 are all DX12 compatable, all of them, no exceptions.

 

[Vakna]

I have a GTX 790 which I bought when it was top of the line, a few years back, doesn't even sweat it when running most games, Starmade isn't a big deal for any of the 700 or above series cards to be honest, I have a friend who runs it on a 550 ti even with 60+ fps, even with large ships in the sector.

From my personal experience with my GPU and CPU tracking software, Starmade puts a HUGE strain on the CPU compared to the graphics, I've had my i7 cap out at 100% usage on all 4 cores and an 80c temperature while dealing with enormous ships. The GPU barely sweats in comparison.

 

[Jake_Lancia]

GTX 790

wat.
I didn't know they released the 790... Perhaps a typo? Maybe its either a 780 or a Titan? Either way you have a beastly card

Starmade puts a HUGE strain on the CPU compared to the graphics

Yup, CPU is important too, my FX 4130 starts to fizzle out around large ships too (100% usage) I would have expected an i7 to handle it really well though...

 

[Vakna]

wat.
I didn't know they released the 790... Perhaps a typo? Maybe its either a 780 or a Titan? Either way you have a beastly card
Yup, CPU is important too, my FX 4130 starts to fizzle out around large ships too (100% usage) I would have expected an i7 to handle it really well though...

Yep the Titan sorry, always call it the 790 because that's basically what it is, think they scrapped the original 790 and released the Titan only, but they still include the Titan cards in the 700 series.

I bought it a couple years ago on it's release when it was the absolute best you could get, cost me £600 give or take a few 1's, more than the rest of my tower's components put together. Think it was the first ever card to incorporate dual-core GPU's.

Speaking of which the new Titan Z releases next week... 12GB video memory (more than most people have regular memory), requires two 8-pin connectors to power the beast, as well as filling most of the inside of your PC with it's ridiculous size.... I want it. Release price is something like £1,800 haha...noooope.

 

[Keptick]

Yep the Titan sorry, always call it the 790 because that's basically what it is, think they scrapped the original 790 and released the Titan only, but they still include the Titan cards in the 700 series.

I bought it a couple years ago on it's release when it was the absolute best you could get, cost me £600 give or take a few 1's, more than the rest of my tower's components put together. Think it was the first ever card to incorporate dual-core GPU's.

Speaking of which the new Titan Z releases next week... 12GB video memory (more than most people have regular memory), requires two 8-pin connectors to power the beast, as well as filling most of the inside of your PC with it's ridiculous size.... I want it. Release price is something like £1,800 haha...noooope.

Isn't it going to be called the "Titan X"? Or was that just a temp name given to it because people didn't know the real name?

 

[Panpiper]

Speaking of which the new Titan Z releases next week... 12GB video memory (more than most people have regular memory), requires two 8-pin connectors to power the beast, as well as filling most of the inside of your PC with it's ridiculous size.... I want it. Release price is something like £1,800 haha...noooope.

You might want to hold off for a couple of months. The rumor mill is aswarm right now with the details of the Radeon 390X which looks like it is designed to kick the Titan X in every butt direction, including price (rumored to be ~$700. US).

 

[Vakna]

You might want to hold off for a couple of months. The rumor mill is aswarm right now with the details of the Radeon 390X which looks like it is designed to kick the Titan X in every butt direction, including price (rumored to be ~$700. US).

I'm kidding anyway, no chance I will fork out that much cash for a graphics card, there is literally no game in existence my current card will have trouble playing at max settings (and if there happens to be one you can just SLI another Titan for vastly cheaper and be safe for another 5 years) and it's already 2+ years old. The Titan is incredibly future proof, I'd even wager that the card itself will degrade and stop working before games come out that require better.

The new Titan, the 390X and to some extent the higher end 900 series cards are all complete overkill. If you buy one of those you are basically guaranteed it will burn itself out before you get full use out of it, not worth the money and not in any way at all needed.

It's cool that computer technology is progressing this far but our processing power is like a decade ahead of our actual gaming needs right now.

 

[Panpiper]

The new Titan, the 390X and to some extent the higher end 900 series cards are all complete overkill. If you buy one of those you are basically guaranteed it will burn itself out before you get full use out of it, not worth the money and not in any way at all needed.

It's cool that computer technology is progressing this far but our processing power is like a decade ahead of our actual gaming needs right now.

If you are content to play on a 1080P monitor, then you are correct, a top end card today will pretty much max out your graphics for the life of the card. However if you are wanting to use an adaptive sync monitor intending 90 FPS (Frames Per Second) at 1440P resolution (a benchmark for competitive First Person Shooter play) let alone 4K, and/or are planning to play things like Star Citizen using an Oculus and want to avoid latency (which will 'require' 90 FPS at 1440P, failing which, expect nausea), then even today's top end graphics cards cannot meet that demand without doubling up (two GeForce 980's just make it). The upcoming Radeon 390x WCE (Water Cooled Edition) might just squeak in under the bar as a single card.

Isn't it going to be called the "Titan X"? Or was that just a temp name given to it because people didn't know the real name?

Yes, it is indeed called the Titan X.

 

[Vakna]

If you are content to play on a 1080P monitor, then you are correct, a top end card today will pretty much max out your graphics for the life of the card. However if you are wanting to use an adaptive sync monitor intending 90 FPS (Frames Per Second) at 1440P resolution (a benchmark for competitive First Person Shooter play) let alone 4K, and/or are planning to play things like Star Citizen using an Oculus and want to avoid latency (which will 'require' 90 FPS at 1440P, failing which, expect nausea), then even today's top end graphics cards cannot meet that demand without doubling up (two GeForce 980's just make it). The upcoming Radeon 390x WCE (Water Cooled Edition) might just squeak in under the bar as a single card.

I am content to play at 1080p, and I always limit my games to 60fps max if the option is there, I can't physically see a difference between 60 and 100 anyway. There is only an incredibly tiny percentage of gamers that can afford to dump so much money on an extreme system and set of peripherals like that, 4k/VR gaming is years away from hitting the mainstream.

 

[Panpiper]

4k/VR gaming is years away from hitting the mainstream.

The first consumer edition of VR gaming will be hitting the shelves this coming Christmas with the HTC Vive. The Oculus VR system may actually only be released in 2016.

Oculus is trying to get 1440P in front of your eyes without latency, a technical problem they are still wrestling with. They want 1440P to reduce or eliminate the screen door effect, as you can see the pixelization of lower resolution screens. The Vive has achieved rock solid 90 FPS, zero latency, by 'not' putting 1440P in front of your eyes, but by making the screen only 1080P, accepting the screen door effect. They have eliminated the latency problem that Oculus is still wrestling with due to the higher resolution, by actually generating the graphics at 1440P despite only showing 1080P. So in the case of you turning your head really fast (which is where latency induces nausea), it has the edge graphics to show on your screen in buffer, it doesn't need to generate the next frame to display it. However this does mean that your graphics card(s) still need to be able to generate the graphics at 1440P at 90FPS. Oculus to do the same with their higher desired screen resolution would have to generate the graphics at 4K at 90FPS, a task NO current consumer grade graphics cards can handle, even if doubled up.

All this to say that VR will be here by Christmas this year and will require something like two Geforce 980's to handle, or maybe one Radeon 390X WCE. I am intending to buy an HTC Vive with which to play Star Citizen and probably an Oculus when it comes out. To handle them, I am very likely to also be buying a Radeon 390X WCE, or two.

I suppose it is fair to say that the cost of that will render it non-'main stream', and that would certainly be true. However the technology and the games will be there for those who are willing to spring for it, and the gaming will be like nothing you've ever experienced. The future is golden for graphics card producers.

 

[Vakna]

I am intending to buy an HTC Vive with which to play Star Citizen and probably an Oculus when it comes out. To handle them, I am very likely to also be buying a Radeon 390X WCE, or two.

Wish I had that much spare cash!

 

[Panpiper]

Wish I had that much spare cash!

It's a couple of hours overtime, banked, every week till Christmas, and you're in.