Shadow NX

I just made the mistake of clicking trough the user gallery... :o

Most likely going to buy the Supporter later today when at home, seeing the DLCs ( And i guess there will be at least 3 of those ) and other stuff included makes this a fair offer i think. After over 10+ years of playing BIS games that seems the best choice for me anyway. Personally i would really love to own a Boxed game though, seems the Era of Boxes is really over :(

For those interested what the outcome was for me: Got the Asus HD7970TOP and the 3570K @4Ghz and the game runs extremely nice on all ( exept the uggly postprocessing ) Settings maxed including 8xAA. So it seems the newer ( beta 13.2 v6 ) drivers do well in A2, also had no noticeable microstutters and no white dots in trees. Combined with sweetFX the game looks incredible now.

I was about getting a GTX670 4gb from Asus as it was the only one i found with 4GB and a custom cooler and said of less fps but if it runs smoother then ok, then i read a review and dues to the 4gb and lower memory timings it seems to be 3-5 fps slower than a standard 670... I saw a Gigabyte 670 4GB before but now the store where i ordered doesnt list it anymore plus i couldnt find any review. I used AMDs for years now and if the 7970 isnt significant worse in regards to stutten than my 6950 now then i can live with it, in the end it costs 380Eur compared to the price of a 4gb 680...

Pretty old CPU with 2,8Ghz so its definatly not the GTX680 causing the low FPS and stutter. @Kualus Just when i though i made a conclusion all is at 0 again. Aynway i stick with the HD7970, if it isnt what i hope it is it goes back and i go for a 670.

After banging my head on the desk for a while and searching for a decent GTX670 with more than 2GB ( looked at my modded Skyrim and i regulary hit the 2GB limit of my card with it already in 1680x1050 ) and reading lots and lots about this issue and the recent improvements in these regards i came to the conclusion to get the HD7970, see it in action and then decide to keep it or not, main factor was the catalyst 13.2 and the huge improvement in the frametimes. http://techreport.com/review/24218/a-driver-update-to-reduce-radeon-frame-times The stutters on camera movement itself seem indeed a ArmA engine thing, checked some GTX680 videos of the Benchmarks from A2 and the stuttering camera is there aswell even on high fps... odd.

Correct, fits to people reporingt having low fps in demanding regions like Chernogorsk and even a high OC of the GPU wont bring any FPS more because the CPU limits.

With the Macho there should be a good bit of OC possible, yet i dont plan to max this out, if it goes to 4ghz im already ok with it, in the end its also a question of costs in reagard to power usage. Last 3570K i used in a PC i build for a friend went to 4ghz without the slightest problem so i guess a lot more would have been possible. @cjph How is the Windforce in regards to noise? Especially when gaming, also how fast ( in % i mean ) do the fans go when gaming? Bonus points if you heard a Asus DCUII before and can give me a idea of how you would compare the two. The Gigabyte 7970 with 1100Mhz seems quite impressive yet im spoilt by the DCUII cooler being so silent under load.

I already regret building the new gaming rig, the last days most likely causing a few extra grey hairs i think :( The thing is the discussion back then was 1Q 2012 and since then a lot happened driver wise, looking at newer benches the new drivers gave the 79XX a impressive boost. I dont have the slightest doubt that the GTX680 is a excellent card yet one also needs to consider that there is like 100-150Eur difference between the 7970s and the GTX680 cards especially when you want to get one with a good custom cooler and more than 2GB vram. Id gladly switch to a Nvidia this time but as it happened every time so far there ist one that is in the Price Power ratio that is interesting for me, i looked at lots of GTX670s because as you said i was hoping it felt a little more smooth but there arent many 4GB models and then again these have the price of the good bit faster 7970s that are equal to the lot pricier GTX680... i feel like in a loop as this happens each time i wanna upgrade. Well, well, till monday i still have time to consider. Froggyluv, as a ex 7970 owner can you describe what causes the better feel the GTX680 gives? On my HD6950 as on my HD4870 before i always got microstutters in scripted camera scenes like the takistan benchmark ( E8? ), so far i though that is more of a typical ArmA engine thing or is this a AMD thing and absent on a GTX? Also did you have a older AMD before the 7970 and can compare the filtering quality? Due to mistake in the code the older series had a strong flickering and in ArmA2 i get grainy looking gras when i dont have the AF on max settings, when i tested a GTX460 this wasnt there, yet it also showed lop popups, possibly even worse tha my 6950. How would you consider the filtering on the 7970? I mean in case you had a older AMD before you can maybe give me a idea of it being improved or not. I know the flickering is fixed and read about the filtering being close or similar to the Nvidias now, yet i rather take first hand info from you on this. Also i searched Youtube up and down for comparable HD videos but you wont find a AMD and Nvidia video that is even halfway compareable it seems.

Normally AFRF is rather shy with WIP pics but our screeny specialist Zenger made two beautiful shots that we have to share with you guys. Love how it looks with Vaskmds great texture upgrades and Kenjis newly edited models. Like a scene from a war movie Look what the tank fairy brought

Hehe, thaqt is what i heard 90% of the time when i asked this on forums, guess the guy on mindfactory order hotline will kill me for switching my order back to exactly how it was before i changed it few days ago. So 3570K with the HD7970 Top it shall be then.

According to Benchmarks it seems to have no problem with the Hypertreading: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2012/04/23/intel-core-i7-3770k-review/7 Personally i hope HT gets more important when new consoles come out and games get optimezed for more cores, if not then i burned 100Eur and should have taken a i5 3570k instead... well so far my order isnt shipped...

After lots and lots of setups i had in mind i now decided to got a bit different way, i keept everythign i listed but swapped CPU and GPU mainly with A2 and A3 in mind and also because i think this way its bit more future proof. So the GPU is decided to be the Asus HD7950DCUII Top, close to a 7970, also 3gb vram, bit more room for OC, yet the jump from my 6950 isnt extreme but as i sell the old PC anyway i needed a new card and 15-40+/- extra frames per game seem ok to me. CPU wise i decided for the i7 3770k @ 4ghz instead of the 3570k, in most games the difference is like a few frames yet a CPU eater like A2 seems to make bit better use of the hypertreading so it was more a investment in the future when new consoles come and hypertreading gets more important. In the end the price was the same for the whole package.

Because it isnt a Bumpmap, Bumpmaps are also there but they dont create the overall look that you mention. Downside is as you said it sometimes look like things float from some angles.

Cooler wise the Macho is basicly already decided because i already used it in friends PCs and its effing huge but also showed excellent cooling ( with lots of room upwards for bigger OCs ) and was relative silent. http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/07/26/thermalright_hr02_macho_cpu_air_cooler_review/4#.URoM_x288k4 About the GPU, well it is supposed to stay in there for at least 2 years so id planned to take one of the fastest cards this time and finally enjoy all the benefits of high AA/AF settings and maxed options plus have lots of room for texture mods. The 7950 and 660ti are too close to what i currently have to make a huge difference although they are great cards for sure. Also one must consider that i plan to get a card with at least 3GB vram because as said i already see my current 2gb filling up when using games that are heavy modded in a one monitor setup. About the Rams, well Corsair is Corsair and with them you rarely can go wrong from what i saw over the years, once switched to g.skills and already the problems started when the board would recognize them right. The one i picked are the LP ones so they are low profile and dont have and high heatfins or anything like this. In the end most HW is decided and i looked long and deep into the setup mixing in some stuff i saw when building friends PCs, the only major question mark is the GPU actually. HD7970 or GTX670 both would be Asus DCUIIs because the cooling solutions is excellent for a stock cooler, GTX670 is a option because of Cuda, Physx ( although that is low priority for me ) the tiny bit better filtering and generally because it seems most company rather optimize on Nvidias. Then again i read the forums hear and still hear about people with GTX670 and good cpus that get like average 35fps in Cherno with a 400Eur ( 4gb version ) card which freaks me out. The HD7970 on the other hand judging by some ArmA benches i found seems to deliver up to 10fps more at the same settings but yet it also has downsides like higher power draw or being a3 slot design because of the massive DCU cooler, on the plus sides apart from power there are also two really nice games you get when buying one atm ( Bioshock 2 and Crysis 3 ) that could also be sold to make the card even cheaper in the end. Currently most speaks for the 7970 when ArmA2 is my focus point but id like to hear from people having both cards about frames and stuff. Also offcourse any other new card can be discussed maybe there are some i dont even consider yet but surprise me with working great in ArmA2. @Kualus As said 3GB are a must for me so both no options, also i would always pick the 7870 over the two as the 660 is too slow for my taste, if it were a 660ti i would choose that over a 7870 offcourse and so on.