2560x1600 is not some mythical unicorn that no one runs with on modern games. It's 100% a good resolution to test in especially since it pushes the GPU and not the CPU in a test. Hardly biased since most people with these kinds of cards would be running it regardless. Battlefield Bad Company 2, which I didn't have issues with my 5870 with, was running pretty well (45-50fps most of the time) at 2560x1600 4x AA. A 20%-25% boost on that from a 480 would put it into the nicely playable territory (57-63fps). It's a brand new DX11 game we're talking about as well: same thing with games like Warhammer Online (another current MMO) where it's close to being playable but just dips and is a bit too low on average to really enjoy. Need For Speed Shift, same story really... 45-50fps on the 5870 when not encountering the issues from hitting other objects...Originally Posted by Chickenfeed
If it is true at anything less than 1920x1200 8xAA very high settings, I'll be impressed. OtherwiseAgain we've already seen the leaks with the 470 pulling ahead at 25600x1600 4-8xAA but clearly this is a biased scenario as half the time the game wasnt playble (or just barely) on either card despite the extra video memory ( in other words 10%+ crap still is crap
) I don't have many doubts that the 470 will do better at 25600x1600 on average however I still think it won't be enough as this resolution is really multi gpu territory (unless one stays clear of current titles anyways ). I don't see the point pairing a ultra highend display with a non ultra highend gpu setup ( not to say 5870/470s aren't highend, they just aren't ultra high end solutions )
In short, if the 470 is 10% faster at those settings, then we can probably safely say a 480 would be 25%, and thus extremely attractive to high-end gamers. I disagree with you that 2560x1600 would be a rarity for people buying one to two $500 videocards. I'd think most people dropping that much cash on cards ($500-1k or so for a setup) would definitely have already bought the $750-1000 monitor to really show them off with since monitors last several years generally whereas a top-end card lasts 6-8 months as high-end.
I got my Dell 30" widescreen 3007WFP-HC 2560x1600 LCD for $750 shipped (refurb, pristine condition) with a 5-year warranty from them. You can find similar ones new for $1100-1200. What you describe is like buying a super-highend projector and then using it at 40" screen with a measly $100 home theatre in box setup: no one does it. They run 75-100" or more screens and get nice bookshelf or tower speakers to make the setup actually shine. There's little-to-no point in buying crossfire 5870's, a 5970, SLI 470's or 480's just to run them at 1920x1080 or 1680x1050, and I doubt most people do. It's overkill.
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