Framerate and pc upgrade.

[Rawd]

Hi all, I just wanted to let everyone know that I just did a minor upgrade on my pc, with some amazing results in FF. I was thinking I would have to spend alot of $$ for this improvement but I didn't.

Old Pc: P4 3 Ghz, 1 gb ram, X800pro AGP

New pc: P4 3.6Ghz, 2 gb ram, X800XL PCI-E.

MAX settings on ALL at 1280x1024 res.
FF Monkey:

Old pc : 30-40 fps in the base and 15-25 fps on bridge.

New pc: 120-160fps in the base and 50-80 fps on the bridge.

As you can see this is a huge difference. I needed to upgrade my CPU, motherboard, ram, and graphics card for this, but the total price was under $250.00. I was going to go out and spend like $3000.00 on a new pc, but I think I'm good now for awhile.

I'm not sure what gave me the greatest improvement. I think maybe the greatest improvement came from going from an x800pro on a 4X AGP mobo, to the x800XL on 16X PCI-E.

[caesium]

Something I've found regarding FF and framerate: lock vsync off in your gfx driver settings, and set fps_max to your monitor's refresh rate (check it on the monitor's OSD). Makes FF feel a lot lot smoother and precise for me and many others. Cba to explain why right now, but just try it and if you don't like it put it back

[Kanadwen]

Originally Posted by Rawd

Old Pc: P4 3 Ghz, 1 gb ram, X800pro AGP

Can I have your old PC?

Would be a nice upgrade.

=)

[Dospac]

Why did you buy another p4? :[

[kongor]

Dospac: What would you reccomend?

[NewKleer]

e6750 core 2 duo setup is easily one of best value setups for FF (overclocking makes it even better)
e4400 and overclock to around 3ghz would be on par or slightly better than stock e6750

roughly, 3ghz core2duo = 5.5ghz p4/pD = 3.8ghz AMD

and spam/lowest FPS scales close to linearly with CPU power (assuming video card can support general environment FPS)

[Dr.Uudge]

I think he was trying to go for a newer setup for a relatively cheap price.

Considering a decent vid card is around 150~250 usd, a new computer under that seems like a fair investment, especially with an average fps boost of ~45+

[Rawd]

Yes, I got the motherboard, cpu, 1 gb ram, and vid card for $240.00. Bargain bin at local Memory express.

My plan was to upgrade for the least amount $$ possible, but even I was surprised by the results...

Although now that I bought Bio-shock, and my X800 won't run it (LMFAO/BS), I am looking into getting a Dual core E6750 system, with the Nvidia 8800GTS. So now I'm back into the $1500 range. Not to mention the $240.00 I already spent. This is an expensive hobby.

[Dospac]

I'd have saved and gone w/a low end c2d, overclocked it, 2GB value pc800 ddr2, 8800gts 320mb version. Better in the long run. Of course you might need to get a new psu/mobo along w/that. Anyways

[Norris]

Originally Posted by Rawd

I'm not sure what gave me the greatest improvement. I think maybe the greatest improvement came from going from an x800pro on a 4X AGP mobo, to the x800XL on 16X PCI-E.

your old system just needed a new windows/driver setup and the 2gb of RAM. there is no way there's such a huge difference by looking into your old and new system. your new gfx card is around 15% faster in HL2. So you shouldn't have more than 30fps on the bridge IF your old system was working right. I'm with Dospac if you really needed to upgrade (which I doubt) then why in heavens name did you get another P4? core duo or quad core mate.

[Rawd]

Norris, I'm sure that my drivers and everything was running properly on my old pc. Like I said, my old motherboard only supported 4X AGP, and my new one supports 16X PCI-E. Could that, along with another gig of ram made the difference? Anyways, I think you are right, and I wasted my money, because I am now probably going to buy the E6750 or E6850 system. I am going to use this other pc for my mame machine So not all is lost.

[zSilver_Fox]

Originally Posted by Dospac

I'd have saved and gone w/a low end c2d, overclocked it, 2GB value pc800 ddr2, 8800gts 320mb version. Better in the long run. Of course you might need to get a new psu/mobo along w/that. Anyways

There's really no need for a DX10 card right now... he'd be better off with a 7x series.

[Norris]

Originally Posted by Rawd

Like I said, my old motherboard only supported 4X AGP, and my new one supports 16X PCI-E. Could that, along with another gig of ram made the difference

No. PCI-Express offers more bandwidth for data transmission, that's true! But we haven't even reached the maximum of AGP yet. as I said your new card is slightly better compared to your old which in case has nothing to do with the PCI-E port It's just foolish advertisement from the lovely industry.

[Rawd]

Norris, you seem to know what you are talking about. Does this look like a good deal to you? Should I spend a few hundred extra to get the E6850? Should I put a second Geforce 8800GTS in there? Or would it be better to put 1 geforce 8800 Ultra? Or amI good with just the one GTS? 2 GTS' are about the same price as one 8800Ultra.
Remember, this is Canadian pricing, and even though our Dollar is the same now, things tend to be a bit more pricey up here.



http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.p...tail.php&id=10

[Thormier]

Originally Posted by Rawd

Norris, you seem to know what you are talking about. Does this look like a good deal to you? Should I spend a few hundred extra to get the E6850? Should I put a second Geforce 8800GTS in there? Or would it be better to put 1 geforce 8800 Ultra? Or amI good with just the one GTS? 2 GTS' are about the same price as one 8800Ultra.
Remember, this is Canadian pricing, and even though our Dollar is the same now, things tend to be a bit more pricey up here.



http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.p...tail.php&id=10

8800 GTS is an amazing card , you wont really need 2 :P

[SomeOldGuy]

According to Tom's Hardware, from a gaming perspective there is minimal difference at stock speeds (no overclocking) between the E6750 and E6850.

e.g. http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu_20...=873&chart=423
and more benchmarks within.

So that one is a judgement call as to whether you feel the extra $$$ is worth the improvements.

As the the 8800GTS, you should get very very decent performance from all that I've read. However, some of the numbers I've seen state there is a marked improvement between the 320MB version and the 640MB version... ONLY IF you are running at high resolutions (above 1280 x 1024).
Here is one of those places:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/09/...ney/page4.html

hard ocp and other gaming sites have more.

[NewKleer]

for FF, 8800GTS 320MB is more than enough assuming you dont need to run 16xAA/16xAF (i get around 150fps with those settings, around 300-500 with just 4xAA).

cpu is very important, a e6750 overclocked is best bet (3.2ghz stock cooling). if you have the money, e6850 + aftermarket cooling will overclock a bit better but you're paying for it. if you dont have the money then a e4400 is a good chip, but youll need to overclock it to ~3ghz to get similar or a bit more speed than stock e6750.

general environment FPS = video card (and to much lesser extent, CPU)
spam/action FPS = almost entirely CPU.

eg with a crap cpu(eg amd/p4)/good video card u might get a unneeded 500fps in respawn, but 30fps in spam. with a lesser video card but better cpu as above, you might get 75fps in spam and 150fps in spawn - the latter obviously better as lowest fps is what hurts most (since u cant see anything more than your monitors refresh rate anyway)

[Norris]

if you need a new graphics card then go for the HD 2900 Pro one. as you can see it's even bundled with the Blackbox. Probably the best price/value ratio you can get for amazing 215€!

^ I'll get this card soon :P