Now ive been toying with the idea of an upgrade, and after testing out GTA4 on my rig, ive come to the conclusion that I DO need an upgrade. Ive been looking at different gfx cards and came across this one. Price is reasonable compared to the 4870 x 2 card, and the performance is between the 4870 and 4870 x 2. So sounds good to me. Heres a review I found:
Released last November as one of ATI’s intermediary graphic cards between the HD 4870 and HD 4870 X2, the HD 4850 X2 is a product designed as a great mid-ranged card. Boasting two GPU’s with 800 stream process units, 256-bit memory each, and a combined total of 2GB on-board memory the HD 4850 X2 is not a card to be taken lightly. If you think the HD 4870 is a bit slow while the HD 4870 X2 is overkill, then this may be the exact card you are looking for.
In a series of benchmark tests conducted by Maximum PC, the HD 4850 X2 consistently beat one of its major competitors, the GTX 280 which is also a dual-gpu card. Among other cards tested for comparison were the BFG GTX 295, Palit HD4870X2, VisionTek HD 4870, VisionTek HD3870X2 OC, VisionTek HD 4850, and the HD 4850+ HD 3870. Along with the benchmark tests, several games were run in order to compare frame rates and performance including Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, Furmark, World in Conflict, Far Cry 2, X3: Terran Conflict, Devil May Cry 4, Bioshock, and Unreal Tournament 3.
The Sapphire HD 4850 X2 is currently being sold for $299 at many major online retailers and has dropped by $100 since its November release and has become a very affordable card. If you are in the market for a high-end card capable of supporting high resolutions but are looking to save some money, consider the 4850 X2. It is a very capable card as seen by the test results from Maximum PC.
So Ive been looking at purchasing a decent keyboard, one that will assist me in my gaming endevours and not fail like the rest. I came across this keyboard.
As you can see it looks sweet. Let me give you the specs..
Control
Tiltable, color GamePanel™ LCD:
The (320×240) display shows unprecedented levels of information—both
in- and out-of-game—including game stats, system information, VOIP
communication data, video playback, image slideshows, and many other
items.
User-selectable backlit characters:
Personalize the keyboard to better fit with the rest of your computer
and gaming equipment, and easily locate keys—even in the dark.
Twelve fully programmable G-keys with three macros per key: Program up to 36 single keypresses or complex macros; use the MR key to record new macros on-the-fly.
Multi-key input: Use up to five keys at once to perform multiple complex actions.
Game/desktop mode: Disable the Windows/Context Menu keys so they won’t interrupt your game if pressed accidentally.
Convenience
Two powered Hi-Speed USB 2.0 ports: Transfer data to and from peripherals—such as MP3 players and flash drives—while also charging battery-powered devices.
Intelligent cable management: Keep mouse, headset, and other cords out of the way by routing them through channels on the underside of the keyboard.
Instant media access: Use the convenient one-touch controls for volume and media playback.
To me that sounds about perfect. Was never really into the whole Gamepanel, but have since watched a buddy using a G15 keyboard, with a smaller gamepanel, he was using it to track his score, various ingame performance ratios etc. He also had his latency and b/w being displayed which for me is awesome. One draw back is the price unfortunately. Retailing at around 200 USD, that puts it above some CPU’s.
Now if youve been toying with the idea to get GTA IV for your PC but not sure whether you should get one for your XBOX instead, take a look at the video below. I dont know about you but when I select a game to play, its based on graphics primarily. Obviously game play has a big effect but thats something you can only find out once purchased. As you can see here the gfx for the PC version outdo the Xbox by miles, but this to me is to be expected, you cannot reproduce better graphics on any console than a PC. The only problem with GTA here is that there are known performance issues with the PC release, but the developers have been hard at work trying to get a patch out to correct these issue. But never the less, I think im going to go buy it. GTA has always been a game to play. Ive been following it since the very first release. Neway, heres the vid.
