5 boxing with gtx 280

[BobGnarly]

Hi all,

I was wondering if anybody had any experience with this video card, especially running across 2 monitors (but any input in appreciated).

I'm currently running an 8800gtx, and while it's pretty good, it could be better, and I'm all about better.

What I'm wondering, though, is if I'm just constrained by XP in dual-view (hor span really isn't an option without gimping the hell out of my 30"), or if I could see decent improvements stepping up to the 280.

Anybody?

[-silencer-]

I'm in the same situation. 8800GTX, Win XP w/dual view.. considering a GTX 280 as well.

I'm actually thinking of just going Vista and adding a separate card for my other monitor.

[aerows]

Yes for asking a great question!

This is a question I have myself. I am interested in the responses, too.

I wish I had the cash to lay out, because I am lagging with a tri-window set up on an 8800GT/Quad 3.2/4GB and I'm pretty sure it is going to get worse, since Shattrath is a lagfest no matter the resolution.

[Hakaslak]

I can attest that the GTX 280 is a massive upgrade from an 8800 GTX 512

Before I would barely average 30-34 fps in shatt on the main window at 1920x1200, and the clones around 20-26 at 960x600x4. With the GTX 280 I usually cap the main at 60 and the clones at 30 fps each. All in game settings are maxed out, with no antialiasing though. The GTX280 (and all other video cards it seems) has crazy artifacts with more than one D3D app running antialiasing. I would asume that having a second GTX 280 and enabling CSAA would improve the framerates if you enabled MSAA in the game settings, but not sure

The biggest benefit of running the GTX280 is that there is no micro stuttering at all - like how the whole mouse movement will seem to lag when you turn to look behind you, for example.

I run the GTX280 with a Q9450@3.8ghz and 8GB DDR2 PC8500, with the fsb at 475mhz, with 5-5-5-15 T2 timings, and 2 24" 1920x1200 monitors. Win Vista Ultimate x64

[Carnage]

Nice, might have to get one soon

[Jezebel]

for the price of a gtx280 you could have bought an average second PC with say.. an 8600GT, 2.4g dual core and 2gig of ram.

no matter how good your PC specs are.. multiple PC's is always superior to a single PC running multiple clients.

[zanthor]

for the price of a gtx280 you could have bought an average second PC with say.. an 8600GT, 2.4g dual core and 2gig of ram.

no matter how good your PC specs are.. multiple PC's is always superior to a single PC running multiple clients.

The thing is it's like microwaving burrito's...

Having ONE huge ass computer inflates your e-peen by 12"...

Having one average computer inflates your e-peen by 6"...

However, when you add a 2nd average computer, you only gain another 3", because it's still just average...

And you know, it's all about the e-peen!

[-silencer-]

no matter how good your PC specs are.. multiple PC's is always superior to a single PC running multiple clients.

Not when you factor in HEAT. I'll stick to the lower heat output and simplicity of running 5 WoW instances on one machine. When I turn on my media server, even at idle, it's a noticeable increase in heat output. The only way I'd even consider 5-boxing on multiple machines is if I put the boxes in another room..

[Hakaslak]

I play Source and other games as well, so it's not like I wasted the GTX 280

Some of us play more demanding games than just WoW

for the price of a gtx280 you could have bought an average second PC with say.. an 8600GT, 2.4g dual core and 2gig of ram.

no matter how good your PC specs are.. multiple PC's is always superior to a single PC running multiple clients.

[Nitro]

I'm in the same situation. 8800GTX, Win XP w/dual view.. considering a GTX 280 as well.

I'm actually thinking of just going Vista and adding a separate card for my other monitor.

I actually tried this out awhile back. Threw in 8gb of ram, vista 64 bit, and 2 x 9800gtx cards. I got no gains at all. Went back to xp with just one of the 9800gtx cards spanned accross both monitors and i worked better tbh.