Please respond to this thread if you are getting adequate performance from mid-range card. Too many people are wasting money on high-end cards when they don't have to, often on recommendation of others who tell them they need high-end hardware when they don't. I have a 5900 series and can run most tracks on high or full even with only one gpu. Don't listen to people who tell you to spend $500 on a gpu. If needed, I will happily provide a video and also links to examples in this forum of others with acceptable performance from mid-range cards but would prefer that sim racers reply to this thread as most examples I see are, ironically, in response to other who can't get there high-end cards to work.
I've been in the process of upgrading my pc from an i7 860 with a GTX 470 running one 27" monitor to a killer i7 4770K, 2-GTX 670's in SLI running 3-27" monitors. There has been a 6950 in between for triple monitors but I've only seen my performance running rF2 go from OK to GREAT! Most tracks run into 200fps. So looking at my experience with rF2, I will have to disagree with your statement but I would be curious to hear from other people.
Running rF2 at 1920x1200, 60hz, vsync, all tracks except silverstone at full/max/quality @ 16x CSAA, and silverstone at texture detail high, ai car detail high, and all the rest full/max/quality. Running with high reflections, and all the bells and whistle. FPS is capped at 60 most of time, with drops in the 40-50s in some parts of some tracks. Hardware is very humble nowadays, still decent, but aging. CPU: Phenom X4 9650 @ 2.3 GHz iirc (first gen phenom) GPU: Nvidia GTX580 1.5GB RAM: 3GB DDR2 1066 OS: Win 7 32bit Check out my youtube channel, I have lots of my best time videos there.. you'll have an idea of the performance/quality. http://www.youtube.com/pleclair75 Keep it mind, it is recorded with fraps at 30fps capped, with drops in the 25ish at time... so it's only better when playing and watching replays live. As a side note, AC runs at full details with 8x AA, shift 2, dirt 3 and iRacing as well. nVidia all the way EDIT: It should be noted that I hardly ever race large grid... if I want to race 18+ AIs, I need to lower some stuff, as my vid card only have 1.5gb... but the hardware would be ok tho... only need more vid ram... (and most likely more ram as well)
Well. more expensive hardware might give me better frames, and better fps at silverstone at max quality, but I highly doubt that having 120+fps would make my lap time that much better to be honest. I have no problems matching the AI at 105%-110% depending on the cars/tracks... and will beat it at 100% in most cars/tracks. Seeing my lap times on rf2rank also confirm that I'm having competitive lap times on the tracks I'm more comfortable with. So, yeah, if I had unlimited budget, I would most certainly upgrade as well, but I can live with this quality/performance until rf3 comes out, or next gen sims in a few years.
I still use my 3,5 year old PC that was only midrange when I built it. ATI 5770 (1GB) / Phenom II x3 720 (running at stock and without unlockable 4th core) / 4GB RAM. It is enough for a 22" 1680x1050 screen if you can do without all the eye candy: View attachment 8744 (Shadows at medium actually. FXAA on / HRD off.) This runs 40/50 fps at start and 60/80 in race once the field starts to spread out (Multiplayer-tested only, I don't care about AI) and definately looks better than your average rF1 track. I have no reason to complain as it's running reasonably well on this old rig, and since the introduction of FXAA, AA-Jaggies are not as big of an issue any more (they used to at the start of the beta. I was forced to lower details and run SSAA...) I do think about getting a Nvidia 660 (non-ti) though. It's gotten pretty resonably priced and should just be enough for my old CPU to handle, but I could run some more eye candy.
LOL, is there really that much visual quality difference between geforce / radeon. Because I am looking to upgrade, I use a radeon 4870 Was going to get a 770 gtx, but now think a budget stop gap of a 580 gtx 3gb could be a good option. I am using something else with the radeon, so not quite sure of relative performance. Is it hopeless using an old quad core extreme. QX6700 or QX6800 ( I forget which it is now ) E.g. Has anyone tried (got a similar setup). It is an nforce 680i with 4gb ram. Could easily put that up to 8gb tho.
I can't say regarding the visual quality difference of nVidia vs ATi, as I only experienced it with nVidia... but seeing the many comments on here, nVidia cards perform much better in rF2 than ATis... The gtx580 3gb should be a pretty good card for you... my 1.5gb version falls short of memory on silverstone or when having large grids, but the 3gb version should be fine. Heard from Tim that Silverstone needs 2GB+ VRAM to be run at full settings.
This has always been an option too, very similar price points (for a 3gb ti version), will do some research. I only have single screen, as you may expect! So I might be ok!
If you want to run this game to a 2013 graphical standard (i.e. Silverstone at max settings), then yes, you will need a high-end card. Maybe when the next generation/s of cards come along a lower price card will be sufficient but for now rF2 requires some serious raw power.
Hey don't joke...I still have one Seriously though... Nobody should be buying hardware for any one game. As to rfactor2, no one solution work for everybody. I've had great fps with a single GTX560Ti-2GB card at 2304x1440 resolution with everything maxed out...while others have struggled with triple Titans. Until it's done, there are just too many variables to call. That said, a good card still gives you a leg up and the best chance for success moving forward.
Hey folks, GTX is not mid-range cards, to begin with I run RF2 on an Asus N56 laptop (i7, 8Gb of RAM), and a fairly consumer-grade NVIDIA GT650m 2Gb. I run it at 1920x1080. On some tracks (Sebring, Poznan, Brianza and some other) everything more or less full/high I get 60 fps with vsync on, maybe also with HDR on. Some other tracks (Spa, Malaysia, and others) with everything on full and HDR on I get 25-35 fps, so I have to tune down settings and I generally choose to disable HDR too. Having at least 40-50 fps is absolutely necessary to drive nicely. The more the better of course. Haven't tried Silverstone yet cause it's been released the day after I left for vacation... I'm so looking forward to drive it, but I know I'll have to tweak down the settings. Would be cool, as it's been mentioned, to save/restore per-track video and quality settings. That said, I look forward to a round of "magic wand" optimization in rfactor2.exe itself.
That said my graphics look nothing like what I see others post. Maybe it is all post production fx :/ just wish I had something more reliable and looked at least reasonable. Seem to get between 25 FPS and 40 FPS. So definitely due an upgrade!
I know there are some (a few?) folks who get some improvement with SLI but I own two cards (560ti 1.28M) and am very disappointed about how it works for me. That said... I can use one card and one monitor (1680x1050) and run Silverstone (a heavy performance track) with 15 AI (60s F1) and everything maxed except special effects low and shadow blur off and get 40 FPS at the back of the grid. After 1/3 lap I am in the 50s and by the end of the lap I see 60s. Even down the pit straight on lap 2 I see mid 50s. And it is all very smooth! That is with mirrors on, HDR on, AA at Level 3, and 8x AF. So yes, I would say you can get good performance with a mid grade card. Cards like mine are on Ebay for $180-$200 so I think they qualify as mid grade. ( may be selling mine soon! ) Why don't you try to add something to the discussion instead of baiting with an off topic comment?
You'd be surprised, it's not noticeable... The graphical wheel matches exactly my steering wheel movement... there is sure some, as you can't have none... First do some of your own testing before speaking things you have only heard of... I see no difference in input lag with it on/off... however, I do get some tearing here and there with it off... Refer to my rf2rank profile, and try to match my time with your top of the line system with vsync off