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Free Batman: Arkham City with NVidia GTX 5xx purchase
Posted: 11.09.2011 16:36 by JonahFalcon Comments: 45
NVidia has announced that gamers can get Batman: Arkham City completely for free with the purchase of a select EVGA Nvidia GTX card today. NVidia has had a strong relationship with the IP, as Batman: Arkham Asylum featured PhysX and 3D courtesy of the graphic card manufacturer.

The cards in the deal include many of the GTX 5xx series cards are currently on sale, including the Nvidia GeForce GTX 560, 560 Ti, 570, 580, and the high end 590. According to the press release, "Gear up with NVIDIA GeForce GTX graphics cards and take on Batman: Arkham City in all its gritty glory with NVIDIA PhysX and DirectX 11 technologies that add impact and realism to every scene. Buy the card today, and get the PC game FREE."

Those of you who played the PC version of Batman: Arkham Asylum enjoyed playing the best looking version of the game anywhere, especially with PhysX turned on, and if you played with the Xbox 360 controller - which the game natively adapts to - you got what is essentially a console experience (complete with Achievements!) with the muscle of a fully rigged PC processor. In other words, an awesome experience (with 3D if you had the glasses for it.)

For more details, check out the official site here.
Source: CinemaBlend

Comments

By stuntkid (SI Elite) on Sep 11, 2011
stuntkid
Sounds like a good deal?
By Xyfer117 (SI Core) on Sep 11, 2011
Xyfer117
If only I had the money to upgrade my pc!
By SirRoderick (SI Elite) on Sep 11, 2011
SirRoderick
How much does the card cost?
By Xyfer117 (SI Core) on Sep 11, 2011
Xyfer117
In england its about £120 for the Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 and I think thats the cheapest, I need a whole new computer tbh :( lol.
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Sep 11, 2011
herodotus
Should have held off buying my 560Ti a bit longer.
BTW, the GTX 560 was brought out after the 560Ti and is much lower in benchmark performance scores. It's cheap yeah, but it's far from the best of the mid-range cards out there.
By chiefone (SI Veteran Member) on Sep 12, 2011
chiefone
Wish I had waited a while to buy my 580.
By Revan (SI Elite) on Sep 12, 2011
Revan
I still a need a graphics card! Which one should I get? :P
By SiyaenSokol (SI Elite) on Sep 12, 2011
SiyaenSokol
Wow, this is a nice deal, I love Batman! EVGA cards rule, and I would love to have one.

@Revan: Are you more into ATI or nVidia?
By FoolWolf (SI Elite) on Sep 12, 2011
FoolWolf
Dang - and I who already have a 560 TI OC card...
By SiyaenSokol (SI Elite) on Sep 12, 2011
SiyaenSokol
I could use this card, since I still have a GTX480, though I must admit, this card is handling everything very-very well!
By unsilviu (SI Core) on Sep 12, 2011
unsilviu
Revan, I got an HD 6850 for $200, from the graphs I've seen it's got the best performance/price ratio, and I can currently run any game maxed out at 1680x1050. It's a medium-high end, so it's not really perfect, I think it'll max them out for only about another year, maybe two if I'm lucky. If money isn't an issue, I'd recommend the HD 6990. It's crazy. In every respect.
By nocutius (SI Elite) on Sep 12, 2011
nocutius
If i were buying a new GPU right now i'd either get a 560ti or a hd6950.

But i think ATi will have their new stuff out before the end of the year so i'd wait a bit. While Nvidia wont have anything new this year.
By Haluciniram (SI Veteran Member) on Sep 12, 2011
Haluciniram
Totally agree with nocutius
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Sep 13, 2011
herodotus
Depends on whether you utilise PhysX in your games. For example, I've played "DoW II" on both ATI (AMD now) and NVidea and have to say the added effects with the 560Ti are very welcome indeed.
By JonahFalcon (SI Elite) on Sep 12, 2011
JonahFalcon
I never buy ATI. It seems like games have the most problems with ATI cards because no one lead develops on it.
By bosnian_dragon (SI Core) on Sep 13, 2011
bosnian_dragon
*Sigh* I still mostly use my freaking laptop with integrated INTEL x3100 :/ Haven't played a decent 3d game since Fallout 3... And even Fallout 3 was running pretty cr4ppy on it.
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Sep 13, 2011
herodotus
@Jonah
Bang on there, despite some prominent games boasting support for AMD in their Intro's screens. Two games I bought in the last 6 months had dreadful difficulties with my 4850 (requiring unneccessary tweaking just to run - "DCS:10-C Watrhog" being one).
Then again "Civilisation V" has a notorious problem with crashing using the 560Ti Nvidea drivers. Still waiting for Nvidea to get on board with 2K on that problem. "Rise of Flight" also runs best on 6-8 month old Nvidea drivers, with no reasons offered by Nvidea.
By SiyaenSokol (SI Elite) on Sep 13, 2011
SiyaenSokol
I had the same problem with ATI when I had a HD4870, that is why I switched back to nVidia, and haven't looked back since.

Further more, there are situations where the games run better on AMD/ATI than nVidia, but that is a rare situation. I think it all depends on you. Same as Intel vs AMD.
By SiyaenSokol (SI Elite) on Sep 13, 2011
SiyaenSokol
Also, I agree, PC parts ain't cheap, especially not here in South Africa as well.
By nocutius (SI Elite) on Sep 13, 2011
nocutius
I must be very lucky since i never had any problems with Nvidia or ATI cards. But i have owned a few more ATi's since they have better p/p more often than Nvidia.
By hunter612 (SI Core) on Sep 13, 2011
hunter612
Sticking with AMD/ATI for now cause of budget issues. I'm thinking of buying the 560 Ti...or should I wait for a new ATI product? My older Nvidia cards always performed good but with ATI I have this temperature problem...sometimes it runs at 87 degree Celsius..not to mention the frequent crashes..
By FoolWolf (SI Elite) on Sep 13, 2011
FoolWolf
My old 5850 HD worked flawlessly so for an ATI card it worked very well.
Thing is that my 560 TI is doing nothing spectacular - it just works but the ATI card had some good things with auto update drivers via STEAM and cool overclocking features etc.
By SiyaenSokol (SI Elite) on Sep 13, 2011
SiyaenSokol
Once again, it all depends on the user. I loved ATI until I started using nVidia. Now I am just sticking to nVidia. And ATI has had some cooling problems in the past. Surprised that they have not fixed that by now.
By K3Spice (SI Core) on Sep 13, 2011
K3Spice
Nvidia FTW...

I can only think of one game that has a problem with AMD that was not mentioned. Arma 2 has a problem with custom faces on AMD graphic cards... It's easily fixable, but requires you to sacrifice a lot of the quality for your custom face.
By unsilviu (SI Core) on Sep 13, 2011
unsilviu
Huh. My AMD runs at 60 degrees Celsius(in load). I agree that NVidia is better supported, but AMD boards are a tad cheaper, I think. PS, for those that don't know, ATI really doesn't exist anymore, starting with 6K series, Radeon series cards have AMD written on them instead of ATI.
By JonahFalcon (SI Elite) on Sep 13, 2011
JonahFalcon
Oh, I use AMD because they're less expensive motherboard processors. :D
By nocutius (SI Elite) on Sep 13, 2011
nocutius
Well, they're still ATi as far as i'm concerned. I might go with the flow in a few years :).
By hunter612 (SI Core) on Sep 13, 2011
hunter612
Well I'm mainly concerned about the cooling issue...I have my cabinet open and the AC on and the card still runs at around 80 degrees Celsius under load...I don't want to experience the same problem with a new card. Well if you guys do suggest AMD then the question is which one should I go for?
By unsilviu (SI Core) on Sep 13, 2011
unsilviu
It all depends on the budget, and we here are really hardly experts in system configurations. You should try looking at good cards(generally, a higher number is better, but there are exceptions) and then reviews for those cards, most mention heat as well. But for an in-depth help, there are tech support forums filled with experts ready to help you choose ;) btw the 560TI is an NVidia card, you should look at all manufacturers before you make a choice.
By nocutius (SI Elite) on Sep 13, 2011
nocutius
80C is still normal for a GPU, they run at higher temperatures than the CPU so 80C is nothing to worry about.

Just get a non reference card and you're usually fine temperatures wise.
By JonahFalcon (SI Elite) on Sep 13, 2011
JonahFalcon
Is liquid cooling better than fan cooling?
By nocutius (SI Elite) on Sep 13, 2011
nocutius
Unless you're overclocking heavily or want absolute silence then i don't think it's worth spending that much extra on a good watercooling setup. But yes it's better than air if you get the good stuff, otherwise it's at best on par with good air. My 2 cents.
By stuntkid (SI Elite) on Sep 13, 2011
stuntkid
nice little debate and advice from everyone :)
By SirRoderick (SI Elite) on Sep 13, 2011
SirRoderick
Well water is physically much better at cooling, so as long as you get a decent flow rate it should be much better. Question is, do you really need it?
By Kres (SI Elite) on Sep 13, 2011
Kres
That 590 looks lovely. I'm still on my old 280 GTX. But that one costs $1200 here. Might come cheaper by the time BF3 comes out hmmmmmm. Or not...
By JonahFalcon (SI Elite) on Sep 13, 2011
JonahFalcon
I'm paranoid over my CPU and gfx card overheating.
By nocutius (SI Elite) on Sep 13, 2011
nocutius
My reference 4850 would reach 100C at the peak of the summer and it was still fine and within the limit, though that's already borderline dangerous. So i kinda decided to forget about the reference card at that point specially ATI ones, nvidia do tend to have slightly better reference coolers.

80C is cool enough if that's the load temp but if that is the temp at idle then it's time to maybe start to worry just a little bit. Not panic, just worry :).
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Sep 14, 2011
herodotus
Liquid cooling, when properly installed is an excellent, albeit expensive addition to any high end rig. Talking about temperatures, my 4850 ran at 60 degrees celsius when taxed, but my old GTX 8800 GTS used to hit 100 Celsius quite often (the label itself peeled off the card).
By SiyaenSokol (SI Elite) on Sep 14, 2011
SiyaenSokol
Liquid cooling is great, though I have yet to test it out for myself. Someday in the future, I'll get myself a cooling system.
By nocutius (SI Elite) on Sep 14, 2011
nocutius
That's exactly the problem with liquid cooling, it's too expensive. So unless you really need it or have extra cash then it's not worth it. A 50€ cooler is good enough for any CPU, and non reference GPU's are usually good enough as well and sometimes they only cost only a little bit more than the reference cards.

I'm interested in watercooling but i haven't been able to justify the extra costs to myself so far.
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Sep 14, 2011
herodotus
With Liquid/ Water cooling systems you are really looking at massive rig setups, with the very latest of everything, in SLI/ Crossfire powered by 2500 KW PSU's. "Overkill" for today's games, but many use these hefty beasts for game design and 3D architecture. The rig usually comes in at around $6,000 AUD.
By SiyaenSokol (SI Elite) on Sep 15, 2011
SiyaenSokol
That is a lot of money. I agree, I doubt that a cooling system is needed. A few well placed fans can also do the job, though it won't bring your temperature down to 5 degrees.
By hunter612 (SI Core) on Sep 15, 2011
hunter612
Well I'm more confused now than ever...well I checked the card's temperature today while it was idling and it was still around 80 degrees..so yes, I'm worrying a bit now. And for in-depth reviews of the cards, the cards all seem to perform nearly the same...at least the ones I'm looking at anyways. The 560Ti and the AMD 6XXX(I don't remember the last three digits guys!) were nearly on par, with each outperforming the other in one or the other aspect. However....people...what do you vote for? Nvidia or AMD? :D

As for liquid cooling..I'm not really a fan of circulating water around my electronics (primarily because of the expense involved)..but as mostly everyone has said most of us don't have a reason to justify such a setup. If I ever want water cooling I'll just throw my card into the pool...
By nocutius (SI Elite) on Sep 15, 2011
nocutius
560ti or a hd6950 :).

Like you said, they are very close in performance. One is better for some games the other for others but they are mostly on par. Unless you are pretty hardcore about a certain game or about a certain card's feature it doesn't really matter.

My vote: get whichever is cheaper, just make sure you get a non reference model, like the Sapphire vaporx for example.
By SiyaenSokol (SI Elite) on Sep 16, 2011
SiyaenSokol
ATI has grown, and have been a formidable competitor, but I still prefer nVidia in a lot of ways. Reviews tend to help as well. Read some reviews about the two cards, then it should be easier to decide!