Basic question about RAM, Graphics Cards, and game perfromance

[malibu43]

...

 

I think we should standardize some kind of "in-game" test mission to note our frame rates... FPS, mission load times... Just so we can compare apples to apples...

 

I've been using the "Going Downtown" single mission from WOV to just that. It's got a decent amount of things going on, and gets us somewhat close to that Frame-Rate-Killer that goes by the name of Hanoi. Although I've found that I usually get lower fps in campaign missions over Hanoi than I do in "Going Downtown". It's close though.

 

And, FYI, after paying closer attention to my fps last night, I noticed that I may have been getting a 2-5 fps improvement with the RAM added after all, but even if I did, it was very inconsistent, and not worth the $60 in my opinion.

[iam73]

I think we should standardize some kind of "in-game" test mission to note our frame rates... FPS, mission load times... Just so we can compare apples to apples...

 

...And make sure to standardize the addons used in addition to the mission.

 

Mission A with stock terrain no addon is a lot different than Mission A with tiles repaint, tree mods and everything that eat FPS.

Edited March 14, 2008 by iam73

[Spinners]

Well, today I've gone from this;

 

Intel Celeron 2.20, 756 RAM and GeForce 7300GT

 

To this;

 

Intel Celeron 3.06, 1512 RAM and GeForce 7900GE

 

And the difference is sensational and well worth the £100 upgrade.

[Guest USNadpc]

iam73 wrote:

 

More RAM will definitely help. More CPU would even be better but I understand you're on a laptop so it's a no-go for you.

 

Sims in general are really hungry for CPU and RAM, I would place GPU at the end. From past experience, I've seen a lot more performance gain by adding more memory and upgrading the CPU than upgrading the video card... Just recently I upgraded my system. I didn't have enough cash to go the full core duo router upgrade, so I changed my cpu (P4 2.6ghz) to a P4 3.2ghz (+25% CPU) and changed my ram to a 2gb kit (previously had 1gb only). Then I bought an ATI HD2600xt 512mb DDR3. A budget upgrade.

 

I received the video card in the mail before the rest of the component so I quickly installed it with the latest catalyst drivers (8.3) and started WoE... Wow, absolutely no FPS increase. I fiddled a bit with the card settings and all I could manage was to be able to play at 1600x1200 at the same speed I was playing 1280x1024 before, 20FPS on takeoff, +30 in the air. No shadows, no mirrors, no AF, no AA

 

Then the CPU and RAM arrived... YEAH! 30fps on takeoff, +50 in the air at 1600x1200 4xFSAA, still no shadows and no mirrors

 

I've experienced the same situations years ago with Janes F-18 when I switched from a GF3 to a GF6600gt, then switched from a p4 1.8 to a 2.6.

 

Major Lee wrote:

Just remember that SF is NOT currently setup to use either dual or mutli core CPUs, nor does it use ATI Crossfire, and not sure if it even will use nVidia SLI....

 

http://bbs.thirdwire.com/phpBB/viewtopic.p...+dualcore+love/

http://bbs.thirdwire.com/phpBB/viewtopic.p...light=crossfire

 

Check out Tom's Hardware review of video cards...

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/12/12/gef...800_gts_512_mb/

 

Also, check out this Tom's hardware guide review:

9600 GT Testing

 

I didn't read this until after I bought them as an impulsive birthday present to myself. They're ok but there are better options.

 

I experienced the same as iam73 did, little improvement in TW series. I expected a significant improvement but was a little dissappointed.

 

Also, Major Lee is right. Get a better processor, mobo and memory unless your graphics are so antiquated that its an issue. I have an older processor on an older mobo w/ older memory and I upgraded the graphics at a cost of $528.00 with little improvement. It does seem a little more fluid while in flight but the bang for the buck was minimal in the TW series.

 

USNadpc

 

I plan on finishing the upgrade next month (new mobo, processor and memory) that's the other reason I bought the power supply.

[malibu43]

Well, I'm going to try something a little new. Maybe I'm even the first one, who knows...

 

Since there seems to be no hope for upgrading my current Dell laptop, and buying a new one is out of the question, I was trying to think of another way to get some better performance. And then it hit me... I have another laptop with a 2.2 ghz dual core processor, 1 GB of RAM, and a GMA X3100 integrated card. All of these are at least slightly better than what I have on my Dell, and RAM is PC5300, which means I can easily and cheaply upgrade to 4GB if I want to. The only catch... it's my MacBook.

 

But then I started looking into Boot Camp some more, which I had glossed over initially and then forgotten about.

 

Boot Camp will allow me to partition the hard drive on my mac book, put windows on part of it, and then run the laptop using either OS. Windows will have full access to all the hardware. So, anyway, once I can get my hands on a non-branded copy of XP SP2, I'm going to give this a try and see if I can get WOE/WOV up and running on my MacBook - hopefully with better performance than what was seen on my Dell...

Edited March 17, 2008 by malibu43

[malibu43]

Well, I'm going to try something a little new. Maybe I'm even the first one, who knows...

 

Since there seems to be no hope for upgrading my current Dell laptop, and buying a new one is out of the question, I was trying to think of another way to get some better performance. And then it hit me... I have another laptop with a 2.2 ghz dual core processor, 1 GB of RAM, and a GMA X3100 integrated card. All of these are at least slightly better than what I have on my Dell, and RAM is PC5300, which means I can easily and cheaply upgrade to 4GB if I want to. The only catch... it's my MacBook.

 

But then I started looking into Boot Camp some more, which I had glossed over initially and then forgotten about.

 

Boot Camp will allow me to partition the hard drive on my mac book, put windows on part of it, and then run the laptop using either OS. Windows will have full access to all the hardware. So, anyway, once I can get my hands on a non-branded copy of XP SP2, I'm going to give this a try and see if I can get WOE/WOV up and running on my MacBook - hopefully with better performance than what was seen on my Dell...

 

Got everything going on my MacBook on Saturday. Same graphics settings that gave me ~10-17 fps before now give me a steady 27-30 fps! Also got Free-track going on Friday.

 

The unfortunate result of all this is that I did not enjoy much of the beautiful weather on Sunday... ;)

[+Piecemeal]

Here's a question for all you 'screwdriver/nuts and bolts' (aka IT) guys out there;

 

I myself have got a Dell Inspiron 6000 laptop with a 1.6ghz processor and 504mb of RAM. I've had similar problems to (quote) above

when playing on a high setting.

My question to the IT guys is; would inreasing my virtual memory settings improve matters?

 

Hi guys. I submitted this question a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately nobody replied to my query so I thought I'd try again. Can anyone help me with this?

[malibu43]

Hi guys. I submitted this question a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately nobody replied to my query so I thought I'd try again. Can anyone help me with this?

 

I tired on my original laptop after you posted that, and I didn't really see any change. You could always just try it and see how it works, right?

[Guest USNadpc]

I wrote earlier

 

Before the upgrade:

Enermax 535w Power Supply

Asus A8n-SLi Premium motherboard (PCIe 1.0)

AMD 64 4800x2 processor

eVGA 7800 GTX 256mb graphics card

2GB Corsair XMS Platinum memory

250gb Sata2 hard drive

Plextor DVD Burner

 

After the upgrade:

Everything stayed the same except for the graphics card and Power Supply.

I pulled out the single eVGA 7800 GTX 256mb and the Enermax 535 power supply.

I replaced them with a Coolermaster 750w power supply and two eVGA 9600 GT's overclocked in SLi mode with 512mb each for a total of 1gb of graphics memory.

 

I thought that the dual graphics cards in SLI mode would have a substantial boost in performance but I've learned that the processor and memory reigns supreme.

 

 

I just bought my new mobo chip and memory. Money was an issue (only could spend $700.00) so here's what I bought.

 

Asus P5ND mobo

Intel E8500 Dual Core 2 Duo processor at 3.16 ghz

2 gb Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800 memory

Masscool 8WA741 CPU FAN w/Heat Pipes 775

Lite-On Lightscribe DVD burner L20A1S

 

I decided on these specifically to play the Thirdwire series. I could have bought a Quad Core Q6600 but thought the Dual Core's higher frequency was an overriding factor. Also, overclocking was a factor as well. You can get this processor to over 4 ghz easily. They only had a few left and they sold out at TigerDirect within one day. The mobo is PCI 2.0 where my old one is not.

 

I can't install until Tuesday but I think the mobo and chip will increase my speed significantly. Also, check out that fan. It Rocks, goes up to 4000rpm too. Bought it just in case I decide to O/C later on.