Graphic cards settings NVIDIA vs AMD..

I noticed that my friends AMD rig, processor and 290 video card, defaulted to ULTRA settings throughout. (on a 1920x1080 resolution),..

Yet my Nvidia 780 Windforce (which is massively factory overclocked and about equal in performance to the original Titan), on a 4Ghz+ i7 build, with twice as much ram (16GB) etc.. defaulted to HIGH settings (same resolution).

I am not sure if this is gaming industry nonsense (a year of nvidia crippling, intentionally, last generation cards), but in all respects this nvidia card outmuscles the 290 (non X version).

Yes we have seen driver improvements on the AMD front making those cards improve consistently over their lifetime (the same not true for the '7' series NVIDIA parts, that have been purposefully held back in a range of "Nvidia the way its meant to be played"(or whatever malarky they presently call it)).

It just seems that the big N have set these cards to not default to ULTRA on purpose. Obviously we would want to upgrade to get 'ULTRA' level graphics!

Weird cause my system ninjas out ULTRA easily.

My only guess is that my 120hz monitor made this game prefer hitting 120fps framerates, 

If anyone on a GTX780 on a standard 1920x1080 monitor (60hz) wants to confirm if their defaults were High, I'd be happy to hear.

I know they eventually allowed PhysX to be on the CPU (when the whole console industry would only support this tech if made to do so-all consoles being AMD chipsets)..

Don't get me wrong; this isn't a flamewar about best video cards or any such nonsense.

I've been all over the place since My first Riva TNT, Voodoos, Apocalypse 5D (PowerVR), Matrox, and every generation of card (just about) by both major brands since.

I was sad at the death of PhysX (going to one brand only), but industry tactics by Nvidia means I will very unlikely ever buy one of their cards again.

I like that Direct X 12 will allow multiple video cards (even different architectures/brands and speeds) and the future could look good....

So long as PC gamers don't keep getting gimped on purpose to dissuade us from going through all the rigmarole that is modern gaming. 

Cause lets face it: console games just generally work and PC games are infuriating things, at random times, which really dis-empowers even power PC users such as myself (PC tech for 20+ years).

The sound issues in Battlefront have my eyebrows raised: the beta ran perfectly; yet across several PCs (the only common part a Samsung SSD, magician software not running) I have issues that have been introduced and not discovered prior to shipping. Again, the beta was flawless.

Perhaps this is so dodgy game scrubbers get a non patchable version with poor sound, and legitimate subscribers will, shortly after launch, be alright.

I know when Skyrim launched it was the first PC title I had ever played that if the sound bit rate and sampling was set to high quality, the game would not go beyond the menu. That was frustrating. (again game industry forcing me to wait to midnight of launch day to register with steam, needed a day one patch, and a video driver update (I hope it would fix the issue).) PC gaming has been on a forced decline for a long time.

It seems that now the new generations of consoles, being designed with cost cuts in mind (Microsoft taking the hardware scalpel too far and being way underpowered to the Sony system), that they have to seriously hamper us pc gamers to make us seriously consider just running consoles for ease of use....

I really hope the PC community can keep things in fairplay mode by calling out the shenanigans as they arise.

Like the eventual unborking of the Witcher 3 to run like it should on last years nvidia cards, and the 'on disc' Watchdog graphical improvements that needed to be 'unlocked' to get the graphics that would have made the 'new generation consoles' look like the five year old PCs that they are in many ways equivalent too..

Anyway, I'm not a masterracer.. 

I laptop gamed for many years after giving up my top tier desktop rigs. I now game on five year old rigs happily. With an upgrade or two (sound card/SSD/GTX780) and enjoy Ultra settings and smoooooth framerates.

For the record; I have owned just about every console released since the Woodgrain atari 2600. Yes even obscurities like the Atari Jaguar and Lynx, PC Engine Turbo Duo CDRom, 3D0, NeoGeo; Nintendos, Segas', Sonys', and Xboxs' (Present Gen not included).

Anyone else suspect intentional handicaps?

BTW Star Wars Battlefront rocks.

be cool if the 'rank up' gained at the end of a round wasn't revealed until after the experience is added.. keeps it exciting..

also, would love to be able to chat/type in the after round moment before the next one starts.. you know.. GG or GoodGame; Yo!!

This game is missing just a few tweaks, that can be implemented at a user interface level, that would make the whole experience improved. In a fun way.