Firingsquad PF results show heavy CPU dependency?

[arcadeace]

I haven’t been following the 7800 discussions much but I thought these recent tests looked revealing. Maybe not so much with the vid cards but what appears to me to be more dependency on CPU usage than I thought. It’s a very powerful processor and yet even though there's a significant discrepancy in high-end vid card quality there’s not too much difference in final results.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y194/Steevo37/my%20album/graphs.jpg http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y194/Steevo37/my%20album/setup.jpg

http://firingsquad.com/hardware/nvidia_geforce_7800_gt/page3.asp

[arcadeace]

I haven’t been following the 7800 discussions much but I thought these recent tests looked revealing. Maybe not so much with the vid cards but what appears to me to be more dependency on CPU usage than I thought. It’s a very powerful processor and yet even though there's a significant discrepancy in high-end vid card quality there’s not too much difference in final results.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y194/Steevo37/my%20album/graphs.jpg http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y194/Steevo37/my%20album/setup.jpg

http://firingsquad.com/hardware/nvidia_geforce_7800_gt/page3.asp

[Tully__]

This game requires a powerful and balanced system. No single system component can be ignored, you have to have good performance accross the board for it to run well.

On the other hand, it is still surprisingly scalable. I have "only" a P4 2.0GHz / 1GB PC2100 / GF4 Ti4600 128MB but still get quite playable performance in Excellent settings @ 1024x768x32.

[arcadeace]

What surprises me is when a 7800GT SLI gets 70fps and a single 6800GT 62fps. That’s a huge difference in vid card power and an FX-57 is the most powerful gaming CPU on the market. I agree with you Tully a well balanced system is very important and it appears you’re getting the most for your money. I just thought there would be much more of a discrepancy?

[-HH-Quazi]

Not only does it require a well balanced rig to get the most out of it, but this is one sim that if, and that is a big if, you can get playable fr's with a rig with similar components like yours Tully, it really has to be kept lean, clean, and tight.

I was getting playable fr's with a 2.4GHz 533MHz FSB, 1GB of PC2100, a Gf4 420MX, and a SBLive! sound card. But to keep it playable, I had to keep the adware, spyware, excess useless files and registry entries cleaned out, along with a daily defrag. All of these things are important for higher ended rigs, but they are that much more important for m8's with lower ended rigs. It really surprises me just how scalable this sim really is.

I am running an FX-53 now. I wish I could test this sim with a FX-57 just to see if there's any more performance available. I just can't see how there could be. It would be interesting to find out. Maybe in 6 to 8 months the chips may be cheap enough for me to consider an upgrade. Who knows. But truly, I couldn't be more satisfied with my rigs performance playing this sim at this point.

[Tully__]

One other thing to consider Arcadeace. Looking at those numbers there's a strong possibility they ran the test with V-Sync on. That would cap framerate to max out at monitor refresh rate. On many monitors that's 75Hz @ 1024x768, 72Hz @ 1280x1024, 70Hz @ 1600x1200 & 60Hz @ 2048x1536...... look anything like the numbers in the tests?

I'd guess turning V-Sync off would result in some rather different looking charts. http://forums.ubi.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

[Urufu_Shinjiro]

And there are so many graphics variables in this game (setup.exe, conf.ini, etc.) that without knowing all the details there's really no way to judge anyones benches.

[-HH-Quazi]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Urufu_Shinjiro:
And there are so many graphics variables in this game (setup.exe, conf.ini, etc.) that without knowing all the details there's really no way to judge anyones benches. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Another great point Urufu, Didn't even consider this.

Just curious as to what you guys think. How fast of a proccessor, Intel & AMD, do you think one needs to have this sim completely covered to get the most out of it?

[ytareh]

...bit surprised/disappointed as an ATI user to see the 6800GT beat the X850XT PE in every real world test (2048x1536 not that relevant to vast majority I guess)

[arcadeace]

Yes I was surprised too ytareh. I have seen NV do better than ATI in past FB tests also. Still, my preference would be ATI http://forums.ubi.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

Quazi my guess is about an FX-70 or P4 6,000.

[FiReLiOn1800]

i run a 3700 clawhammer...and a 6800 gt and i feel like i have a nice balance...upgraded from my overclocke barton 2800 @ 2.55...and i see a world of differecnce...not sure of the actual fps increase...but i can notice a smoothness i did not have before...even in perfect with the water 2 it runs above 37 fps at all times....