Quick review of the AMD Radeon 5770

Over a month ago, my beloved nVidia Geforce 8800GT died a slow, painful death.  I was devastated (well, kinda), but I forced myself to move past the pain and find a replacement.  After a lot of research, I narrowed it down to three choices: AMD Radeon 5850, AMD Radeon 5770 and the AMD Radeon 4870.

Yes, all three are AMD videocards.  AMD recently released their new line of DirectX 11 based GPU’s, the Radeon 5000’s.  Every card is priced competitively and strikes a major blow at nVidia in terms of pricing and performance.  nVidia is now losing to AMD at practically every price point.

I wanted the top notch performance of the Radeon 5850, but no one had it in stock at a price I was willing to pay!  I didn’t want to pay an extra $50 or more over the list price.  In addition, after seeing my last graphics card die an early death, I wanted to buy the card from a company that offered a stellar warranty.  That meant XFX because they offer a double lifetime warranty (if you sell the card, the buyer also gets a lifetime warranty).

After failing for a month to get my hands on a Radeon 5850, I gave in and ordered a Radeon 5770.  I had somewhat low expectations, but when I finally plugged the card into my computer, I was very impressed.  I am quite happy with my new Radeon 5770.

Every game I’ve tried so far runs silky smooth at over 50 frames per second at 1920×1200, maximum settings, 8x anti-aliasing and 16x anisotropic (My CPU is an Intel Core i7 920 overclocked to 3.60ghz).  This includes Dragon Age: Origins, Left4Dead, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Tomb Raider: Underworld and several others.  Left4Dead runs with triple digit framerates.

How can I complain about a videocard that gives me 50+ fps on every game that I’m currently playing?  The Radeon 5770 costs around $165, so I’m not paying a huge premium either.

It is a DirectX 11 card, so it has some future viability.  What really appeals to me is that the Radeon 5770 runs fairly cool and quiet and requires significantly less power than its competition.  Looking an year or two into the future, I should be able to buy another Radeon 5770 for cheap and run the pair in a Crossfire setup.  Two Crossfired Radeon 5770’s are faster than a Radeon 5850.  That is a lot of power…far more than necessary for today’s games.

I still have a pre-order at Amazon.com for the XFX Radeon 5850 at the original list price ($259.99).  I have no idea when Amazon will get them in stock, but I’m thinking about canceling it.  I have no complaints at all about the Radeon 5770.  It does everything I want it to do.  In comparison, the Radeon 5850 is total overkill.

Should you buy the Radeon 5770 or the Radeon 5850?

If a store gets any in stock, the Radeon 5850 sells out immediately.  As a result, the price is far beyond the original list price of $260.  The cheapest online shops like Newegg.com are selling them for $309 and up.  I expect the price will continue to rise, especially with the holiday season just around the corner.

The Radeon 5850 merits such high demand.  Benchmarking shows that it outperforms the Radeon 5770 by 40% to 50%.  That is hugely significant.  The big question is whether you need so much power.  Once a game is running at over 30 frames per second, most people can’t tell the difference.  If it reaches 60 fps and over, the human eye can’t tell any difference.

The Radeon 5770 offers plenty of punch for most of today’s games, excluding the truly ridiculous games like Crysis that have insane system requirements.  At today’s prices, it is nearly half the price of the Radeon 5850.

For most gamers, the Radeon 5770 is a great choice.  It’s not overly expensive and has low heat and power requirements for a performance card.  At 1080p resolutions, it is quite happy with the vast majority of games on the market.

How about the Radeon 4870?

If you have a $150′ish budget and all you care about is performance, the Radeon 4870 is your best choice.  My only issue with the card is that it runs very hot.  That means the fan is probably louder than most and some people have stability issues due to overheating.  Make sure you pick up a model with a tried and true cooling solution.

I caved in and bought a Playstation 3

After my recent frustrations with my Xbox 360 (hardware problems) and a growing annoyance with the cooling fan that sounds like a vacuum cleaner, I decided to jump ship and join the dark side (or is it the light side?).  Apparently, I’m not the only one.  Playstation 3 sales have been climbing steadily this past year, while both the Wii and the Xbox 360 are dropping.  The PS3 library is filling in nicely.  It has no hardware issues.  It plays Blu-ray disks and the price is somewhat reasonable at $299.

Another huge allure for me is the Ratchet & Clank series.  It is my absolute favorite platforming/action series and I’ve missed it greatly.  I played every Ratchet & Clank PS2 game a half dozen times.  I’ve been playing a lot of Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction since my UPS guy delivered my PS3 yesterday.  I don’t know why I love the furry little guy and his robot sidekick so much, but I can’t get enough of them.

I also installed a couple media streaming programs on my computer.  PS3 Media Server works amazingly well.  It’s simple to set up and use (and it’s free).  I also installed TVersity, which is one of the most popular streaming programs.  In terms of performance, PS3 Media Server seems to be faster than TVersity.  TVersity Pro version isn’t free, but you can download it and use it for as long as you want without paying a cent.  That’s an awful lot of trust in the customers and I wonder how well that’s working out for the TVersity developers.

The only issue I have with both programs is that they have some problems handling .mkv files.  Playback is fine, but if you try to fast forward or rewind, it crashes the streaming server and I have to manually recover and restart the program.  This is a bit of a problem because .mkv is the preferred format for high definition anime and TV shows that get posted online.

I’m looking forward to playing all the PS3 exclusives like the Uncharted series and Metal Gear Solid.  I already filled my Gamefly queue with 21 games!  That’ll keep me busy for a long time.

Hah! The Xbox 360 Towel Trick works!

I’ve been giggling like an idiot for the past two days now.

A couple days ago, I was searching the net and looking for some possible fixes for my poor Xbox 360 Elite.  I also wanted to find out how soon it dies after it starts showing signs of problems.

That’s when I ran into blog postings and short news articles mentioning the ‘Towel Trick’.  If the Xbox is suffering the RRoD hardware failure, people have found that wrapping it completely in a towel and turning it on for 10 minutes can resurrect the system.  For most people, the system returns from the dead for a variable number of hours before dying again.  Typically, if the Towel Trick worked once, it can be reused indefinitely.  There are reports of the Towel Trick permanently fixing Xbox’s.

I figured that I had nothing to lose.  My video problems were getting worse and a system failure was inevitable.

I loaded a graphically extensive game, wrapped my Xbox 360 in a huge blanket, and left it on.  I could hear the fan revving up, even under the thick layer of blanket.  After about 10 minutes, the fan whirred to a stop.  Curious, I looked under the blanket.  My Xbox was showing 4 red lights…the RRoD.  I turned it off, removed the blankets and let it rest for a while.

I was utterly shocked when I turned on the system and it booted into Xbox Live without any problems.  Hopeful, I loaded a game and started playing.

I’ve played about 6 hours since then….no video problems at all!!  (By the way, Tales of Vesperia is a great Japanese RPG.)

It’s so hilarious that a ‘next-generation’ console can be fixed (temporarily?) by wrapping it in a towel.  Reminds me of the ancient days when we used to blow on the bottom of Nintendo cartridges.

Argh! Now my Xbox 360 is dying…

I think I’m going to remember the end of 2009 as the time when I was cursed and all my beloved gaming electronics died on me.

My Xbox 360 Elite is showing signs of video failure.  I think it might be the E74 error, which is caused by a problem with the hardware scaler, but it’s too early to tell.  Right now, I’m getting color blotches over the entire screen.  It looks kinda like I’m running a game on a monitor that doesn’t display enough colors.  The game is still playable, since I’m not crashing, but it’s a rather questionable gaming experience.

I specifically bought the Elite version because I wanted to avoid the Red Ring of Death (RROD) issue that was so prevalent.  I even bought it from Costco because at the time, they had a great return policy on electronics.

After a couple years had passed, I was hoping that I had gotten lucky with a solid console.  I guess not.  I suppose compared to a LOT of other gamers, I am lucky.  Many people have gone through multiple Xbox’s.

I ordered another HDMI cable to see if swapping it will fix the problem, but I doubt it.  I get the same issues when I use a component cable.

So at this point, I’m hoping my Xbox does die in a RROD or E74, so I can get it fixed under warranty.  The Elite model was released in 2007, which means my Xbox is less than 3 years old.  Microsoft will fix RROD or E74 problems if it happens within 3 years.

I have absolutely no idea where my receipt is now, so if Microsoft doesn’t automatically fix it for free, I’m in trouble.  I hear that Microsoft charges $110 + shipping to repair a console.  At that price, I think it might be better to buy a brand new model that uses newer components.

Either way, I’m going to buy and switch to the Playstation 3.  The PS3 has very, very, very few hardware issues and the gaming library is finally decent and worthwhile.

I’m also probably going to buy a Radeon 5770 this week.  I’m tired of waiting for the 5850 and since the holiday season is upon us, it’s going to be even harder to find.  Once the 5850’s are more available, I’ll pick one up and move the 5770 to my home theater PC or give it to a family member.

Sigh.

Defense Grid tactical maps

This is a quick post about the tactical maps that someone (T@T-2-MoNk3y) put together from the images posted by the developers.  These are high resolution images of all the levels and they include flight paths.  They were hugely helpful to me when I was playing the game.

If you haven’t played Defense Grid yet, go out and buy it!  It’s a great tower defense game and it’s only $10 on Steam.  It’s also available on Xbox Live and probably selling for the same price.

Radeon 5850’s still have very low availability

I can’t believe it’s been a month already since my videocard died!  Time can pass so quickly sometimes.  At the same time, it’s been a somewhat painful wait because the videocard I still want (XFX Radeon 5850) is extremely scarce.  Occasionally Newegg or some other shop has a few in stock, but at a greatly inflated price.  Currently, the 5850’s are going for $310 or more.  A month ago, I placed a preorder on Amazon for $260 and I’m sure the price is going to keep rising.  I could spend the extra $50+, but I keep hoping that Amazon is going to flex their muscle and finally get some product.

I’m growing extremely impatient with ATI/AMD for doing such a bad job supplying the market with their latest cards.  It’s probable that the factories are having a hard time producing the new GPU, the Cypress.  With such a low supply, big computer makers get the highest priority, which doesn’t leave much for the enthusiast market.  In addition, the far more expensive 5870 is basically using the same components as the 5850.  The 5870 is also in high demand and sold out everywhere, so ATI is going to focus on making and selling the 5870’s which should have a bigger profit margin.

ATI’s newest generation of videocards completely spanks nVidia’s current offerings.  Unfortunately, nVidia is having a lot of problems, which means it’s likely they won’t provide any real competition for a while.

The Radeon 5770’s are in and out of stock, selling for around $180.  I’m tempted to just give up and buy it, but I’ve waited a month already, so I figured I might as well wait a bit longer.

By the way, if you are looking to buy a videocard right now as well, Tom’s Hardware has a great guide that provides recommendations for videocards at any price point.

I’m doing quite fine with gaming since I have my gaming laptop (Gateway P-7811FX) and my Xbox 360. It’s also a much needed break from playing MMORPG’s.  I spent several hundred hours playing Champions Online and Aion in September and October and I’m definitely burned out.

I am loving Dragon Age!

I’m about 30 hours into Dragon Age: Origins and loving every minute of it.  DA is Bioware at their best and shows why they are one of the most respected development houses in the business.

DA is a great throwback to the games that cemented Bioware as one of the best RPG developers: the Baldur’s Gate series.  It’s what a Baldur’s Gate game would look like if it had millions of dollars thrown at it.  Bioware’s polish and willingness to go the extra mile shows in all aspects of the game.  On top of a engaging storyline, unique characters and a deep combat system, the game looks and sounds great.

I’m running DA on my gaming laptop, a Gateway P-7811FX.  Running a game at 1920×1200 on the 17″ screen is a bit hard on my eyes, so I hooked it up to a 24″ LCD.  It’s giving me 30+ fps at high graphics settings, which is far better than I expected.  Unfortunately, DA heats up my laptop like crazy, which means I can’t play for more than a few hours at a time.  I just ordered a $20 Antec USB-powered laptop cooler from Amazon.  When I’m not using my laptop for gaming, I can use it to cool my Xbox 360.  Hopefully, it’ll quiet the loud Xbox fans a bit.

Every single line of dialogue in DA is voiced, which is an incredible feat for a game of this size.  It’s a great indicator for why Bioware is spending untold dollars to voice their upcoming MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic.  When I first read all the press releases from Bioware boasting that every character in SW:TOR is going to be voiced, I was a bit skeptical.  It seemed like a waste of money that would be better spent on other things like creating more content.  But now I’m sold.  I have to admit that it adds another level of depth to the immersion that I haven’t encountered in other RPG’s.

Another great thing about DA is that the game is not a cakewalk, unlike so many other RPG’s.  Many of the encounters are quite challenging.  In addition, Bioware made a good choice when they enabled friendly fire even for normal mode.  You can’t spam devastating spells without hitting your own allies.  This simple change adds so much dimension to the tactical nature of combat in this game.

Unfortunately, DA isn’t the most balanced game.  There are some classes and powers that are rather ridiculous, so if you take advantage of them, it does make the game far easier.  For example, Arcane Warriors are mages that are tougher and more effective than warriors.  The worst spell is probably Cone of Cold, which is a close range AoE attack that freezes every single monster in the game, even bosses.  With two mages spamming CoC on cooldown, you can keep all the mobs frozen while you beat on them without much risk.  There are other spells that are nearly as overpowered (i.e. Force Field, Glyph of Repulsion, Sleep, etc.).

According to the game, I am 27% done with the content and I’m already dreading the moment when I run out of things to do.  I haven’t looked into the modding community yet, but I’m really hoping Bioware has given modders enough tools to create more content.

Right now I’m playing normal mode with a level 10 Blood Mage specialized in cold magic and crowd control.  Alistair is my tank.  Morrigan provides backup to my primary mage with more damage, control and debuffs.  Leliana is the rogue I’m using for opening locks, disabling traps and providing some damage.  When I get Wynne, I’ll probably swap her for Leliana.  Wynne’s healing and spells is far more useful.  I am trying to romance Leliana, though, so I hope talking to her in the camp and giving her tons of presents is enough.

I was originally planning to rent DA for my Xbox 360, but I’m extremely glad I decided to pick it up for my PC.  Playing on the PC gives you far better control over your characters.  You also can’t mod the game on the 360.

Playing DA has made me nostalgic for the older Bioware games.  Once I finish and replay DA, I’m seriously considering digging into my archives and finding the discs for the Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights and SW:KOTOR games.  In comparison to DA, they will look horrible, but the core gameplay should be as solid now as it was years ago.

According to the game, I am 27% done with the content and I’m already dreading the moment when I run out of things to do.

Gah! MMORPG’s are making me horrible at action games

I’ve been totally spoiled by MMORPG’s.

Most MMORPG gameplay is too easy and might as well come with a guarantee that you will succeed.  As long as you stick to the clearly labeled areas and monsters that are appropriate for your level, it’s smooth sailing.  After a while, you can almost shut off your brain and go into cruise control.  I often find myself daydreaming, instead of focusing on the onscreen action.

In many MMORPG’s, it is possible to challenge yourself and find tougher encounters, but it’s often not worth the effort.  For efficient and effective leveling/grinding, it’s usually best to stick to monsters that die fast and easy.  Dying slows your progress, even in games without a death penalty.

As a result, I’m used to playing easy games and constantly winning.  I’m not used to dealing with difficult challenges.  MMORPG’s typically don’t require fast reflexes or good coordination.  When you level or quest grind, it’s like a leisurely stroll.  No fast movements.  It’s like a marathon that tests your patience and endurance.

In comparison, action games are fast and furious.  They test your reflexes…your ability to think and react quickly.  You’re constantly bombarded by challenge after challenge, which grow increasingly difficult.  It’s completely different from how it feels when you are playing an MMORPG.

I’ve been playing my Xbox 360 a lot recently and I’m finding that I’m horrible at action games.  I used to be really good (years ago…).  I’m trying to play Bioshock and Resident Evil 5 and I’m unable to react quickly enough to do well.  The 360 controller is horrible for shooters (compared to the keyboard+mouse) and that doesn’t help, but that’s not the primary problem.  I get flustered easily now.  When I’m supposed to see incoming attacks and perform split second blocks, I can’t do it!  I’m no longer used to dealing with so many urgent encounters one after another.  The feeling of constantly being on edge is almost foreign to me now.

I have to play the EASY or BEGINNER difficulty!!!  My gamer’s pride is taking a severe beating.

Other than MMORPG’s, I’ve been mostly playing strategy, adventure and role-playing games for the past few years, so that doesn’t help my reflexes either.

I’m going to train myself hardcore to get back my gaming edge!!  No more leisurely gaming.  No more cakewalks!

I resubscribed to Gamefly

I miss gaming on my PC!

I’m very impatiently waiting for Radeon 5850’s to be more available.  Unfortunately, in the meantime, that means I’m stuck using a craptastic Geforce 9400GT in my gaming computer.  This is not a gaming card!!  It’s fine for home theater PC’s (passive heatsink), but it chokes when I’m trying to run any current games.  I have to turn down the settings so far that the games are too ugly to play.  I feel like I’m spitting on the hard work that the developers poured into creating these games.

I’ve been playing Torchlight for the past few days, but it’s too repetitive and simple to hold my interest for too long.  It offers classic Diablo 2 gameplay and does it extremely well.  It also runs amazing on subpar computers (it even has a netbook graphics setting).  Unfortunately, the lack of multiplayer is a big problem.  The developers are working on a ‘MMO’ version, but it’ll be an year or two before that comes out.

So I turned on my Xbox 360 yesterday for the first time in several months.  I was greeted by a huge whirrrrrrring sound.  I had completely forgotten just how loud the fan can get into the 360.  After relocating it behind my media center furniture, the sound was a bit more bearable and I got reacquainted with my 360 game library.

Unfortunately, my brother ransacked my library a while ago, taking all my best games.  So I resubscribed to GameFly.

It’s a bit expensive (~$23 a month for 2 games out at a time), but it works surprising well.  Gamefly has a distribution center in a neighboring state, so turnaround is only 3-4 days for me.  I always feared that mailmen would be tempted to steal the games, but it’s been reliable for me (there was a mailman who stole 2,200 games before getting caught).

A tip for Gamefly users.  Popular games and new releases are in high demand, which means low supply.  If you want to get a popular game as soon as possible, it can help to keep your queue as empty as possible and only list the games you want right now.  Sometimes you might wait an extra day or two, but if you really want a particular game right now, that’s your best option.

I’m currently replaying Tales of Vesperia, which is a great example of a traditional Japanese RPG.  I have Batman and Dragon Age in my Gamefly queue as well as some older games which I’m dying to play like Resident Evil 5 and Fable 2.

I’m extremely tempted to drop the cash to pick up a Playstation 3 or a Nintendo Wii.  The PS3 is only $300 now (120gb drive, which is easily upgradable) and is a great option for a Blu-ray player.  It’s also extremely quiet (I’m slowly getting aggravated with the 360 fan).

The last time I played a Nintendo game was Super Mario Bros!  I feel like I’m really missing out because I’ve never played a Zelda or Metroid game nor have I played any of the recent Mario games.

Blood Moon portal map

I’ve logged in for maybe an hour to check out the new Blood Moon content, but my current 9400GT is so horrible that it’s hard to play.  I have to play at half screen resolution and low settings, which makes everything super fuzzy.

From what I can tell, there is no easy way to find the Blood Moon content.  You have to either run around all over the place, or use the chat channels to work together with other people.  I guess that’s not a bad thing.  It does promote teaming up, but I’m so used to soloing in CO that it’s a bit of a pain.

The Champions Online Wiki page now has all the relevant quest and content information for the Blood Moon event.

Cryptic posted a nice summary page of all the Blood Moon content, including the perks, figurines and other rewards.

The new Zombie Apocalypse PvP minigame is actually kinda fun.  You end up killing dozens (hundreds?) of zombies, which gets really annoying.  But once people start dying, it gets a bit crazy and hectic.  I’m not sure how much strategy is involved, other than keeping together and using AoE attacks.  But it’s kinda similar to the Left4Dead zombie survival gameplay, which is a good thing.  In all my games, I was one of the last people to die and turn into a zombie, but playing as a zombie and picking off heroes looks fun.  I received around 2200′ish acclaim for each 10-15minute game.  I don’t know the experience reward, since I only used my level 40 to play.

Here is a nice map that someone put together that highlights the portals for the 13  undead heroes in Millennium City.  Right now, there is an annoying 2 hour timer for each portal (and I think a couple are bugged).  But by tomorrow, the timers are being reduced to 30 minutes, which should make it more bearable.  Try to team up and share missions as much as possible.  It’s far easier than trying to do it solo.

http://www.champions-online-wiki.com/wiki/Blood_Moon