• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Portal 2 |OT| Sleep. Spuds. Science.

aeolist said:
Multicore rendering on Source has been extremely buggy for me and never provided a performance boost. Maybe they updated it for Portal 2 but I'd leave it disabled.

Really? I wonder if it varies by brand... its seemed to work pretty good for me (though occasionally a patch messes i up and I have to wait for a new patch to fix it)
 
Nappuccino said:
Really? I wonder if it varies by brand... its seemed to work pretty good for me (though occasionally a patch messes i up and I have to wait for a new patch to fix it)

I always have it enabled and never have any issues on a 4-core AMD. Though I've never turned it off to compare.
 

Raxus

Member
BannedEpisode said:
I heard PCgamer gave it a 94. The actual review isnt up but they said its pretty darn good.
PC gamer indeed gave it a 94 and their editor's choice award.

Why did it get that score and the prestigious award? We described it as “hilariously well-written and acted”, “full of thrilling showcase moments” and “some of the most social gaming you’ll have.” We basically think it’s outstanding.
 
Forkball said:
I saw a Portal 2 billboard today. Nice to see Valve pushing this game so hard. Although I'm surprised people still used billboards in 2011.

Valve loves them. They had billboards all over SoFla for L4D2 as well.
 

Corky

Nine out of ten orphans can't tell the difference.
TheExodu5 said:
I have no idea. I always have it checked and haven't had any issues.

I run TF2 at around 300-500fps on average, so...

damn, I know they are a generation ( 460/570 ) apart but my old pcs sli 460s had big troubles keeping a steady 60fps. Something must've messing things up.
 
Here's a question: will the game automatically decrypt once Valve flips the switch? Just curious, because I work swing shift and I'm sure it'll be released by the time I get home. Would be nice if it had already decrypted itself and everything.
 
squicken said:
Thanks for the info. I'm at home for lunch and turned on my steam client to see if it was ready. It downloaded the rest of the game and launched. I haven't played it yet. Was just looking at the gfx options and saw some stuff I didn't know about. You can enable HDR, but there is a little check box next that option asking it you want bloom or not.

Wait! It's been released on Steam already?

Can anyone else confirm this?
 

Princess Skittles

Prince's's 'Skittle's
Quick Q (since I am not PC savvy): Would a GeForce GTX 550 be good enough to run Portal 2 at 1600x1200 with 60 frames?

I don't mind playing with no AA, if that helps.

On the other hand, will my 9700 be enough if I don't want to spend any more money?
 

Corky

Nine out of ten orphans can't tell the difference.
Princess Skittles said:
Quick Q (since I am not PC savvy): Would a GeForce GTX 550 be good enough to run Portal 2 at 1600x1200 with 60 frames?

I don't mind playing with no AA, if that helps.

On the other hand, will my 9700 be enough if I don't want to spend any more money?

a 9700? You mean a Radeon 9700?
 
Princess Skittles said:
Quick Q (since I am not PC savvy): Would a GeForce GTX 550 be good enough to run Portal 2 at 1600x1200 with 60 frames?

I don't mind playing with no AA, if that helps.

On the other hand, will my 9700 be enough if I don't want to spend any more money?

A radeon 9700 will not be able to run the game. That old boy (once glorious) is no longer able to take the field.
 

Gandie

Member
Corky said:
damn, I know they are a generation ( 460/570 ) apart but my old pcs sli 460s had big troubles keeping a steady 60fps. Something must've messing things up.

Say what? I have no trouble running it way over 100 fps with a single 460. Must've been your CPU or something.
 

squicken

Member
Dance In My Blood said:
He's just playing the first Portal.

Oh my God I'm an idiot. So sorry all. Like I said I just opend steam to see if it was up, saw "Portal" getting updated and didn't think it was the first one.
 

Corky

Nine out of ten orphans can't tell the difference.
LeadGandalf said:
Say what? I have no trouble running it way over 100 fps with a single 460. Must've been your CPU or something.

I actually had quite the i5-760 chip 3.8@silly low voltage stable. But yeah something was definitely up.

derFeef said:
Why would you need two graphic cards? ;) I assume Phenom X4 9700.
My guess is the game will run just fune.

Oh, the way the post was phrased it seemed like he had a 9700 and wondered whether or not a 550 gtx would be worth the money.
 

Corky

Nine out of ten orphans can't tell the difference.
LeadGandalf said:
Did you have similar issues in other games?

Oddly enough no, crysis worked flawlessly everything set on max, plus aa and hovering around 40-60fps depending on the scene.

So here's hoping that my new pc won't have any problems with these sourcegames.
 

Princess Skittles

Prince's's 'Skittle's
Huh? I'm Sorry.

I have a GeForce 7900 (pretty sure, not at home though).

I am thinking about getting a GeForce GTX 550.

1) Will the 7900 be okay for the game?

2) If I decide to treat myself, will the 550 run it at 1600x1200 at 60 frames per second (AA off is okay)?

Sorry for any confusion and thanks for any help.
 
Princess Skittles said:
Huh? I'm Sorry.

I have a GeForce 9700 (pretty sure, not at home though).

I am thinking about getting a GeForce GTX 550.

1) Will the 9700 be okay for the game?

2) If I decide to treat myself, will the 550 run it at 1600x1200 at 60 frames per second (AA off is okay)?

Sorry for any confusion and thanks for any help.

The Geforce 9700m was a mobile chipset IIRC. I wasn't aware they made a desktop variant. I think that's what's throwing a lot of us off. What you say 9700, most assume Radeon 9700 because it's a classic.
 
DevelopmentArrested said:
it's a very good game.. it's going to get high scoring reviews.

the comedy is gold and there is some nice plot-ish elements in the beginning with a lot of re-visiting the old puzzles.
 

Princess Skittles

Prince's's 'Skittle's
gregor7777 said:
The Geforce 9700m was a mobile chipset IIRC. I wasn't aware they made a desktop variant. I think that's what's throwing a lot of us off. What you say 9700, most assume Radeon 9700 because it's a classic.
Okay, I've got it, it was a 7900 GS. I'm pretty sure of that now, LOL.
 

TheExodu5

Banned
Corky said:
damn, I know they are a generation ( 460/570 ) apart but my old pcs sli 460s had big troubles keeping a steady 60fps. Something must've messing things up.

Another user said he was having framerate issues as well with his GTX 460 and AMD 3.0GHz quad. Strange. The lowest I've seen my framerate drop is maybe high 100s or low 200s, though keep in mind I'm running a 2500k @ 4.6GHz. I'll have to test it again in a high playercount server to double check. I was really surprised at the framerate I was getting coming off my Q8300 @ 3.0GHz and GTX 275 machine.

It sounds like it could be an issue with multicore rendering not kicking in. That might explain the huge discrepancy. It could be that you're just running off a single coer.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
TheExodu5 said:
Another user said he was having framerate issues as well with his GTX 460 and AMD 3.0GHz quad. Strange. The lowest I've seen my framerate drop is maybe high 100s or low 200s, though keep in mind I'm running a 2500k @ 4.6GHz. I'll have to test it again in a high playercount server to double check. I was really surprised at the framerate I was getting coming off my Q8300 @ 3.0GHz and GTX 275 machine.
Do you actually leave v-sync disabled why you play? A framerate as variable as that is never as good as a locked framerate and tearing kills image quality.

I'd rather play a game at 30 fps with v-sync than 100+ fps without.
 

TheExodu5

Banned
Princess Skittles said:
Huh? I'm Sorry.

I have a GeForce 7900 (pretty sure, not at home though).

I am thinking about getting a GeForce GTX 550.

1) Will the 7900 be okay for the game?

2) If I decide to treat myself, will the 550 run it at 1600x1200 at 60 frames per second (AA off is okay)?

Sorry for any confusion and thanks for any help.

The 550 is not a very good card for the money. You would be better off looking at a GTX 460 (either the 768mb or 1GB [non SE] variety), or a 6850.

But yes, you will get a perfectly smooth framerate.
 
Princess Skittles said:
Okay, I've got it, it was a 7900 GS. I'm pretty sure of that now, LOL.

Ah, that explains it. Check here:

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/...3-2009-mainstream-quality/Left4Dead,1783.html

That's from 2009 and it's for L4D1. So, with quality at low, no AA you can get 60FPS out of the 7900GS in a much earlier version of Source at 1680x1050.

I'd say your 7900GS has no shot at 60FPS in Portal 2 at 1600x1200 even on low quality.

As a test, try Alien Swarm. It's free, and supposedly running on the same version of source (or close) as Portal 2. It you can pull 60 FPS there, I'd say you're in the ballpark.
 

Snake-87

Neo Member
just finished the single player .. worth waiting definitely, i played almost 10 hours .
hitting the co-op now : Playstation Id :XSnake
 

TheExodu5

Banned
dark10x said:
Do you actually leave v-sync disabled why you play? A framerate as variable as that is never as good as a locked framerate and tearing kills image quality.

I'd rather play a game at 30 fps with v-sync than 100+ fps without.

For competitive games: absolutely. I need to avoid the input lag that vsync introduces. For singleplayer games, I don't mind, as I want the best image quality possible. But for multiplayer games, I want a competitive edge, and I'm usually moving fast and am so focused that I don't notice the tearing at all.

And yeah, don't bother tag quoting. Vsync adds some input lag, regardless of whether you run d3doverrider or not. Triple buffering can help mitigate input lag if your framerate is falling below 60fps. Above that however, it does nothing, as you can still have a frame or two of input lag introduces with vsync and triple buffering.

If I wanted a tearing free experience with nearly the competitive edge of locked 60fps vsync, I'd get myself a 120Hz monitor...that would cut the input lag in half. I'm not willing to give up my much nicer PVA panel, however (which sadly, adds a bit of input lag in itself...but not enough for me to care).
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
For competitive games: absolutely. I need to avoid the input lag that vsync introduces. For singleplayer games, I don't mind, as I want the best image quality possible. But for multiplayer games, I want a competitive edge, and I'm usually moving fast and am so focused that I don't notice the tearing at all.

And yeah, don't bother tag quoting. Vsync adds some input lag, regardless of whether you run d3doverrider or not. Triple buffering can help mitigate input lag if your framerate is falling below 60fps. Above that however, it does nothing, as you can still have a frame or two of input lag introduces with vsync and triple buffering.
Fair enough. I'm not competitive enough to care about minor input lag, but I can see where you're coming from.

As this is a Portal thread, however, I can't imagine any of that applies here. :p
 
I can max Portal 1 with my Nvidia 8800 GTX. Think I'll have any issues running Portal 2? I doubt I'll be able to max again but hopefully I'll come close...right?!?
 
Kinda off topic but I'm having trouble getting any source engine to run at 1920x1080. There's no option to select it, and yes my monitor supports it and I am looking in the widescreen section for the displays. Any help would be great.
 

Princess Skittles

Prince's's 'Skittle's
TheExodu5 said:
The 550 is not a very good card for the money. You would be better off looking at a GTX 460 (either the 768mb or 1GB [non SE] variety), or a 6850.

But yes, you will get a perfectly smooth framerate.
Well, I don't game much on the PC so I want to keep it at or under $150 and the 460s so seem to be closer to $200.

But I will take a look at both, thank you.

gregor7777 said:
I'd say your 7900GS has no shot at 60FPS in Portal 2 at 1600x1200 even on low quality.
Oh, I know that, the question for the 7900 was will it run it at all. :)

The 1600x1200/60 questions was only for if I choose to upgrade.

But thanks for the infos!
 
QuantumBro said:
Kinda off topic but I'm having trouble getting any source engine to run at 1920x1080. There's no option to select it, and yes my monitor supports it and I am looking in the widescreen section for the displays. Any help would be great.

Did you select 16:9?

EDIT under aspect ratio
 

TheExodu5

Banned
Princess Skittles said:
Well, I don't game much on the PC so I want to keep it at or under $150 and the 460s so seem to be closer to $200.

The GTX 460 768mb can be had for around $120.

dark10x said:
Fair enough. I'm not competitive enough to care about minor input lag, but I can see where you're coming from.

As this is a Portal thread, however, I can't imagine any of that applies here. :p

I am absolutely playing Portal with vsync. The art style and straight lines aesthetic makes tearing incredibly obvious. Portal is probably the game where tearing is the most noticeable.
 
I probably shouldn't post this here as people will no doubt think I'm trolling or something stupid like that... but I really wan't to know why people are so in love with Portal 1/2.

To me its a really good 3d puzzle game that lasted 2 hours and has a good song at the end that I played once and got for free.

Sure the second is longer, but the most fun I had in the game was falling endlessly in a portal for a couple of seconds....

The whole portal thing was also an old mechanic to me considering I played Prey, first.

Why do you like Portal?
 

Plasmid

Member
What's the best deal on the PS3 version? I'm double dipping since i won't have a 360 for a while <3.

Plus steam is always a good choice.
 
Top Bottom