Performance - ingame frame rates

[Liberty24 0]

Hi everyone,

 

Did a frame rate test recently using FRAPS, found that is quite low around 24 to 25 fps when Graphics is set to High. Same for SF Project 1, WoV and WoE as well as WoI. When set to Medium, FPS stays at 60 fps even there are broken clouds and explosion effects.

 

What sort of frame rates you are having?

 

Is TW games generally CPU bounded or GPU bounded or both?

[Spinners 15,986]

I play mirrors off and shadows off but everything else high;

 

SFG, WOV and WOE seem to be 70+ fps (with both figures on the top of the screen matching).

 

In WOI it can drop down to 30-40 fps (with the game normally trying to deliver much more).

 

I actually deleted WOI recently. Apart from the parked up aircraft and rear-view (which I'd like to have in the earlier games) it just feels so non-standard with some aircraft handling badly and I can't get my joystick configured the same as in the earlier games. I'll probably come back to it at some time but, for now, I'm using Gepard's Israel 2 terrain in SFG to give me my IDF fun.

[Liberty24 0]

What's the spec of your machine is you don't mind me asking?

[Spinners 15,986]

What's the spec of your machine is you don't mind me asking?

 

Intel E6850 3.0Ghz 2 core duo with 2.0GB RAM and an NVIDIA 8800GT graphics card.

[Liberty24 0]

Thanks for the information. Looks to me that the game is GPU demanding.

[Fubar512 1,350]

Thanks for the information. Looks to me that the game is GPU demanding.

 

I've just assembled a new system, based on an Intel E8400.

 

After extensive testing, I've determined that this series is more CPU than GPU limited. I achieve about the same FPS as Spinners, using a mid-range GFX card, a GeForce 9600GT, with all the graphics options set to high. If I down clock the system (to 1800 MHz), I get approximately 25% less FPS. If I overclock to 3600 MHz, my FPS goes up. If I set the horizon distance to "normal", as opposed to "high", my average FPS goes up by 15%.

[Liberty24 0]

Fubar512

 

Funny that it takes you so much effort to calculate the %increase and %decrease don't you think it's much easier for you just to tell us the actual frame rates?  I am really interested to know because I am putting together a system as well.

 

I see you are deploying GeForce. I intend to go for ATi. In fact I am also thinking about E8000 series for the CPU. Why not E8500 but E8400, is it because of budget concern?

 

I am using ATi X1950 Pro 512MB AGP which is kinda low level card one of these days. Used nVidia before ATi. Found ATi displays images more colourfully beautiful. I know nVidia has the fatest card in the world - GTX 280 which is a bit expensive. But I prefer more on Raedon HD4870 and I am waiting for the 1GB version to come out I believe its code name at the moment is R700 also known as 4870 X2. Do you find nVidia's image quality good apart from being the fastest?

 

I really need to know the actually frame rate you are getting with your new CPU E8400. I probably get the E8500 too, please provide me with the information if you could many thanks!

[Fubar512 1,350]

Frame rates in this series can be all over the map, due to the plethora of models and mods. At 1600x1200x32 bpp, the lowest I've seen at the default clock speed is 35 FPS, viewing an as yet unreleased Hi-Poly ship model with the horizon distance set on far, against a back-drop of 3D water and clouds. Highs range between 76 and possibly 99 FPS (cannot tell, the frame counter is moving way too fast ). And this is with just a $100 9600GT in the PCI-E slot

 

The reason I went with the 8400 is based on experience OC'ing. The 8400 was only $6 more than the next lowest Wolfdale with a 6mb L2 cache, and it's lower multiplier (9X) should result in a more reasonable OC speed when set on a 400 mhz bus, then either the 8500, or the upcoming 8600. I've benchmarked the CPU, and discovered that there's little to gained in any of the sims/games I play, when I've gone to 3.6 Ghz. 3.0-3.3 seems to be this CPUs "sweet spot". BTW, that 3.6 Ghz was at default core voltage.

 

I will stay away from Radeons in this series until I'm satisfied that they've completely overcome the "shadow bug".

[+Dave 2,322]

If you are going to fly this series then do not get an ATI or you will be hating yourself. Nvidia is 100% the way to go. I am running an AMD 3000 Dual Core 64 with 4 GB RAM and a GF 9600 GT/512 MB RAM/DDR3.

 

So I never have any FPS issues. I am running umliimted settings on everything.

[Rambler 1-1 9]

man, I'm getting 20-25 fps on average, sometimes dropping to around 15 in combat situations and even 5 if there's 10+ bombers shooting at me, and I have everything set to "low" exept for "object texture" and Object Detail". I got an ATI card (Radeon 9250) , and even though it still preforms crappy, it's better then before, when it wouldn't run at all. It's my proscessor that's slowing things down, though.

 

If you really need to improve frame rate, customise your graphics settings and reduce everything you don't need (special effects, mirrors, shadows, etc.), and try turning speech subtitles off or turning sound down a couple channels.

[+Stary 2,427]

I intend to go for ATi.

 

You'd better not, it's making problems in the serie.

[+Brain32 265]

Well I upgraded to a new system a few days ago:

A64 5000+ Black Edition - currently stable at 3GHz

2GB DDR2 - waiting for another 2GB stick to come, to lazy to go far for it lol

ATI4850HD - yes one of the new ATI series 48xx kick @ss cards

 

Since it seems I'm the first one here to get a new series ATI card and have a habbit to collect a bunch of games from my friends and test the living sh1t out of the new hardware, let me write a short non-proffesional review:

 

1. The card is by Sapphire it seems it's a lightned edition as it came with only a few necessary cables and a driver installation CD, what I especially appriciate it came in a small box not much bigger than the card itself. Don't you get pis*ed when they sell you a freakin' USB sitck sized product in a box sized for dishwashing machine. -"Yeah sure I'll rent a pickup truck and come back to the store for my USB stick, thx." Ok enough ranting...

 

2. The card itself is nothing special, unfortunetly it comes with reference cooler so I knew immidiately it will go hot as hell, in idle it came as high as 80C and about the same at load. Fortunetly there's a nice tweak via control panel to increase the rpm of the cooling fan on the card, increasing it to 44% did the trick, the card is now 50 idle and less than 70 under heavy load and is still quite silent.

 

3. I didn't use the drivers that came with CD as I pre-downloaded the latest Cat's 8.7 this may had been a mistake...

 

Let's go for testing, not all tests were done at same CPU speed so I'll just write it next to it, card was always at max image quality only AA and AF were varied, and resolution in all games is 1024x768 due to my 17" CRT monitor:

 

1. Lock On Modern Air Combat v1.02(CPUat2.8GHz) - always wanted to play it, never had the hardware, well now I can.

The game runs super smooth maxed out with 4xAA and 16xAF! I think I saw it at 23fps...once lol

 

2. il2 sturmovik 1946 v408 - maxed out super smooth(never below 60fps online) with 4xAA and 16xAF, with standardized bench tracks things were not so good until I OC'ed the CPU to 3GHz, I still think it must go better...but generally OK

 

3. 3DMark2006 - 11100(can't remember exactly) marks, CPU at 3GHz, standard 3DMark testing

 

4. FEAR - couldn't find anything more to max out, built-in benchmark Min:48, Avg:126, Max:327

 

5. Quake4 and Oblivion - I didn't have a special benchmark I just took very messy levels and played looking at FPS, I saw Oblivion at 32fps once lol

 

6. Wings Over Israel - the biggest WTF for now... I used clean install with April patch, F-15 and my wingman over nothing but the desert, game was maxed(shadows medium) out, in def.view I only managed 29fps, when I zoomed out in wide view I only got 16-19fps!!! Something is not right here and I hope I'll solve it soon.

Other than that, there are no visual problems the picture quality is waay better than on my old GF6800

 

All in all the card is performing waay above what my monitor can display and aside from this WOI low fps issue I'm VERY happy with it, I'll experimet with it for the next few days and report my findings ;)

Edited August 5, 2008 by Brain32

[haukka81(Fin) 1]

Well I upgraded to a new system a few days ago:

A64 5000+ Black Edition - currently stable at 3GHz

2GB DDR2 - waiting for another 2GB stick to come, to lazy to go far for it lol

ATI4850HD - yes one of the new ATI series 48xx kick @ss cards

 

Since it seems I'm the first one here to get a new series ATI card and have a habbit to collect a bunch of games from my friends and test the living sh1t out of the new hardware, let me write a short non-proffesional review:

 

 

 

Let's go for testing, not all tests were done at same CPU speed so I'll just write it next to it, card was always at max image quality only AA and AF were varied, and resolution in all games is 1024x768 due to my 17" CRT monitor:

 

 

6. Wings Over Israel - the biggest WTF for now... I used clean install with April patch, F-15 and my wingman over nothing but the desert, game was maxed(shadows medium) out, in def.view I only managed 29fps, when I zoomed out in wide view I only got 16-19fps!!! Something is not right here and I hope I'll solve it soon.

Other than that, there are no visual problems the picture quality is waay better than on my old GF6800

 

All in all the card is performing waay above what my monitor can display and aside from this WOI low fps issue I'm VERY happy with it, I'll experimet with it for the next few days and report my findings ;)

 

 

Hi! I have radeon1900xtx 512mb and amd opteron 170 (2.4ghz dual core) + 2Gig of ddr400mhz :

 

I run 1360x768 4xAA and 4xAF

I get normally about 25fps in wide view in campaing, 16-20fps if lots of planes and other stuff nearby. (near target etc.. )

 

My settings in woi: Plane and Cockpit texture unlimited, shadows medium,no mirros and rest settings high.

 

My options ini:

[GraphicsOptions]

DisplayDeviceID=0

DisplayWidth=1360

DisplayHeight=768

DisplayDepth=32

AspectRatio=1.777778

LensFlare=0

DetailLevel=4

ObjectDetail=2

ObjectTexture=3

CockpitTexture=3

CockpitMirrors=0

CockpitReflection=1

EffectsDetail=2

TerrainDetail=2

TerrainTexture=2

HorizonDistance=2

GroundObjectDensity=1

WaterDetail=2

CloudsDetail=0

Shadow=1

AntiAliasing=2 (forced antialiasing won't work so i enabled it rough options.ini file)

 

 

Your system is way faster than mine so your fps are way too low.

 

I hope that TK will fix woi:s radeon support. (shadows and so on.. )

 

-esa

Edited August 5, 2008 by haukka81(Fin)

[rovert97 1]

imagine how i feel playing this game with a ati 9800pro 128mb card, overclocked with an arctic cooling system on it. the rest of the pc is up to snuff, but since ive never had luck with nvidia, they always crap out on me in a few months, i decided to give an old ati card a try. it plays every game i can toss at it well, except these TW sims, they bog down on occasion. WoE and WoI are fine, but i cant even play Wov, the flak just kills my system to to like 2fps. i get normally around 30 in the other two sims.

[Lexx_Luthor 57]

ATI-9200 here.

 

Eventually I'll upgrade.

 

[serverandenforcer 33]

If you are going to fly this series then do not get an ATI or you will be hating yourself. Nvidia is 100% the way to go. I am running an AMD 3000 Dual Core 64 with 4 GB RAM and a GF 9600 GT/512 MB RAM/DDR3.

 

So I never have any FPS issues. I am running umliimted settings on everything.

 

 

When on God's green earth did you get a GF 9600? I was thinking of getting one to upgrade from my 8800.

[Sentry 0]

I have a different experience. My CPU is Pentium D 945 overclocked to 3.4GHz. 2GB DDR RAM. X1950 Pro 512MB.

 

Used FRAPS to measure frame rates. Graphics settings set to High, frame rates vary from 20 ~ 29. This is independent on resolution. When Graphics settings set to Medium, frame rate stays at 60!! No matter how much I zoom out from inside the cockpit, whatever on the groud, buildings no buildings, vehicles war....even when I flew through / inside the thick clouds, it drops slightly to 59 at times but most of he times it holds at 60. I switched to Optimal Quality basically means 6XAA, 16XAF with temporal Anti-Aliasing on, and the frame rate remains at a miracle 60 again, independent of resolution!!!

 

And one thing is I find the image of ATi card is absolutely beautiful. There is no shadow problem by the way.

 

It is exciting to hear that 4850 is performing. I believe you could try bring in another 4850 and Crossfire it to see if the coding of TW series caters for CrossFire configuration.

 

I tend to conclude that TW games if CPU bounded.

[+Brain32 265]

Well I posted on thirdwire forum, I hope the issue can somehow be resolved, otherwise I'm gone until it is solved, the current performance with ATI is unacceptable. My card can eat GF9600GT for breakfast and ask for more in every game yet in WoI it can't perform 1/12 of what 9600GT can, that's just ridiculous.

I still hope it has something to do with current drivers, maybe they have a switch: -"perform extremely badly in WOI" or something lol

[Liberty24 0]

Brain32,

Don't mean to be offensive. WoI is for slightly high end machines. It is pretty much the same situation with FE actually.

If I were to play WoI with 60 fps which is what I reckon as "playable" fram rates, I would upgrade my system to an entire new rig.

My next upgrade would be Core 2 Duo E8500, 2x2GB DDR3 RAM, ATi 4870 X2(due to be out soon), Intel X38 based Motherboard, a 850W PSU, Western Digital SATA-1 12,000rpm 120GB Drive. I am sure with such a configuration, not only I can revive the performance of WoI but all other DX10 games too.

 

Playing PC game is luxurious one of these days. But TW series worth the money specially one of the weather mods just came out a short while ago. It is a beautiful game.

[+Brain32 265]

Sorry you missed the point by a few miles...

First of all if all other super high end games would run like sh1t I wouldn't say a thing, THAT IS NOT THE CASE here. Infact all the latest games work smooth as silk on my rig except WoI

Other than that WoI believe it or not is not as intensive as you may think actually the games that are much more intensive run very(ridiculously) smooth on my system.

Not to mention how GFX cards with less power(nVIDIA) perform better in WoI than mine, I have a mid-high end ATI card for God's sake not "Bulgarian Electronics GFX 2000" I think it's pretty sad when game can't support both MAJOR gfx cards manufacturers, I mean it's not like there are 50 different brands out there.

How can you explain that the game runs pretty much the same if not even worse now than on my 2003 system I upgraded from? There's simply no explanation, I just hope TK will drop by in a thread I posted on TW forum and tell me where I am, I would respect that....

[Fubar512 1,350]

Brain, ATI cards have issues in two areas in this series, shadows, and horizon distance. Try adjusting those two options and see if there's any improvement.

[+Brain32 265]

Well I just tried, set the horizon to "normal", shadows to "low(aka no shadows whatsoever)", then I had to turn off mirros and canopy reflections and now I can atleast play it...wonder what will happen when I add mods...

[+Julhelm 266]

I use ATI and have no major problems.

[+Brain32 265]

Can you tell me what hardware and catalyst version exactly you use?

[+Julhelm 266]

A Sapphire RX1950 and the latest drivers.