The Solution to TrackIR screen tears & jaggies!

[Barkhorn1x 14]

Those graphs are quite an eye opener.

[Tamper 9]

Sorry for the delay, had to step out for a while...Now let's see some graphs from the ATTO disk benchmark. On the left, a single SSD (non-RAID). Middle is 2x SSD on the 'onboard' RAID controller; and on the right, 2x SSD on the hardware RAID controller. Note the SSD reads on the hardware controller are 435MB/sec - the maximum theoretical bandwidth of these drives would be 600MB/sec (assuming no overhead at all). Almost double what it was on the 'onboard' controller - which itself was only faster than a single drive in the writes, not the reads.

[Tamper 9]

And now the 'platter-based' drives (Seagate 7200RPM Barracudas). As before, single drive left; onboard RAID middle, hardware RAID controller on the right. You can see here that the 2 drives on the hardware controller hit right at 550MB/sec transfer, plus hit over 450 at several block sizes as well. Not at all slouchy - better than the SSDs, in fact, for this test - and volume wise pretty cheap too. Just can't really compete with the burst and random access speeds of SSDs.

[Von Paulus 8]

Thanks Tamper, but bad news.

So not only I won't be satisfied with a single SSD, but I will have to have a pair. And the bad news didn't stop here.

I really need to have another raid controller.

By the way what is the brand and the model of your controller?

[Tamper 9]

Thanks Tamper, but bad news.

So not only I won't be satisfied with a single SSD, but I will have to have a pair. And the bad news didn't stop here.

I really need to have another raid controller.

By the way what is the brand and the model of your controller?

 

The controller is a 3Ware 9650SE. For what it's worth, I think you should at least consider benchmarking your present mass media storage subsystem before making a conclusion. If you'll look at the graphs, note that even a single SSD outperforms a single platter-based drive by about 2:1 (ATTO), and a single platter-based drive can't even come close to an SSD in terms of random access. This is the area I believe contributes most to the performance gains in OFF.

 

Even if you bought two drives (cost, about $200) and if your motherboard supports onboard RAID, I think you'd see a tremendous improvement.

 

Still, to each his own I do realize it's not for everyone. In any event, you should check the two (free) benchmarking utilities out (ATTO and HDTach) - and take a look at what kind of performance you get now.

[Von Paulus 8]

I use HDTach and HD Tune for benchmarking. That burst speed and random access (maybe the most important) kills me.

I'll have to wait at least one more year before moving, but I'm imagining those two beasts in ARMA II.

[Parky 8]

Wow,

 

 

Ok.....did I remember to say "Wow!"? The graphs there pretty much speak for themselves. Most impressive results indeed. Not only are the random access times untouchable (mine are 12.3ms) but one thing that jumps right out at me is the consistency of performance the hardware controller brings to the table. I'm looking at what it does for read speeds on those platters alone....impossible to ignore that kind of difference. I think I at least need one of those....lol.

 

Here's the interesting thing as well. You see your two RAID-0 Seagates on the onboard controller? Even they're kickin' my RAID-10 in the ass by about 50 MB/s. I have a feeling it might have something to do with my data strip size. With RAID-10 I'm forced to use 64KB.....please tell me you're using something larger than that on the Seagate RAID-0. Mirroring also has a negative impact on my array's performance, as with a 2 disk RAID-0, my performance was almost identical to that of your two Seagates. So much for ICH10 being so fantastic.

 

Now....if I wasn't such a sucker for redundancy, I could put all 4 of these disks in a RAID-0 and I'll bet you a beer I'd see some impressive results. Thanks, but no thanks. I like the fact that when one of my drives fails, all I need to do is replace it and good old Intel RST rebuilds the volume for me in a couple of hours. Works like a charm...

 

One thing you mentioned was what a pain imaging a RAID-0 boot volume can be, and you're absolutely right. Not sure which software you were using for that task, but Acronis True Image is worth a real good look. I've successfully created and restored RAID-0 boot images with it with virtually no grief at all. I tried that once (and only once) with Norton Ghost...I'll let you figure out how that worked out for me...lol.

 

Tamper, thanks once again for an extremely comprehensive report and also for answering my questions. Much appreciated. I'm about ready to take the leap and at least grab myself a decent hardware controller for the RAID-10 array. I'd heard good things about them in the past, just figured it would be more hassle than it was worth. After looking at your results, I'm sold.

 

By the way......guess what I just happen to have sitting here doing nothing on this motherboard?? Two SATA 6.0 Gb/s ports. Those are not hosted by the ICH10R but rather by a Marvell 88SE9123-NAA2 PCIe controller....which I must admit, I know absolutely nothing about. Guess I've got some more research to do, but those two ports are going to need something plugged into them eventually. Would seem a complete waste to hook up a couple more platter-based drives dontcha' think?

 

Oh.....one other thing, just so I'm a wee bit closer to being on topic. Oddly enough, I never really see any "stutters", even if I'm recording a clip.....it's those damned triangles...

 

 

Oops....almost forgot. Played around with Affinity/Priority settings. I've also toyed with completely disabling one GPU on the 5970 and disabling multi-threading on the i7. No joy.....but anything that can be tweaked is worth a try.

 

 

Cheers,

 

 

Parky

Edited June 2, 2010 by Parky

[Tamper 9]

ser·en·dip·i·ty

 

1.an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident.

2.good fortune; luck: She had the serendipity of getting the first job she applied for.

 

As the debate raged on here, I decided I'd look into getting myself a TIR. And (swear to God) on 30 May, a gentleman no more than 30 miles from where I live just happened to list his like-new TIR5 w/TrackClip Pro on Craig's List. Only used 3-4 times; he's cutting back his gaming...he and his wife are in their mid-20s, and just had their first child. Yup, your attention will be distracted for gaming for awhile. 'Bout the next 18 years, by my count

 

Anyway...I marvel at my good luck sometimes (it's rare, trust me), but a few phone calls and $125 later, yours truly is now ready to lop that hat switch off his joystick (sounds painful ).

 

I don't feel overwhelming motion sensitivity after the first hour or two of flying. God yes, this will take some getting used to (need to learn about curves now and so on...all leads appreciated). And I've been reminded I'm blind and need new glasses...hard to hold my head right and keep my focus at the right pointwhile still centering TrackIR properly, I have 'vari-focal' lenses (a hi-tech word for trifocals...I'm 48).

 

But it does work, and already seems to beat the hell outta that hat switch in terms of 'natural' tracking.

 

And (drum roll) NO JAGGIES, triangles, stuttering, what-have-you. I haven't done much else as yet due to R/L goings-on...but I'll be testing and making videos as soon as I can.

 

Parky: Answers for you sir, as soon as I return.

Edited June 3, 2010 by Tamper

[Von Paulus 8]

Off topic: So you aren't feeling any motion sickness?

That's good news for at least one friend of mine.

[Over50 0]

Off topic: So you aren't feeling any motion sickness?

That's good news for at least one friend of mine.

 

 

Just to comment on the motion sickness. As I wear trifocals it was a problem for me initially (about a month ago) after I bought TIR5. While it does take getting used to visually (as most here said it does), for me the major reduction in motion sickness and disorientation tendancy was not setting up TIR for 360 scan range and instead limiting my "normal" head scan view to 90 - 100 degrees right or left of forward with a .8 speed setting. This setting still permits a near full rear view if I turn my head quickly to where my actual view is at the monitor edges. And while the purists here frown on it, I also use the target lock to help me stay oriented while I get my aircraft turned to where I can follow the enemy using TIR alone.

[Von Paulus 8]

Thanks for your feedback Over50.

[Tamper 9]

VP - nope, not a bit. I was amazed - I am *very* sensitive to that sort of thing. And imagine, all this time, that's probably the biggest factor that kept me 'on the fence'.

 

O50 - thanks for the insight (pun intended). I recall reading about your adjustments earlier, and will certainly be trying that. I've already fiddled a little with the curves and that, plus the speed. Lots to try; lots to learn. The glasses, as you know, have 'sweet spots' for the focus at different distances....so it take getting used to. To be honest, though? I'm way overdue for an eye exam. Nothing a lot of money won't fix

[almccoyjr 7]

VP - nope, not a bit. I was amazed - I am *very* sensitive to that sort of thing. And imagine, all this time, that's probably the biggest factor that kept me 'on the fence'.

 

O50 - thanks for the insight (pun intended). I recall reading about your adjustments earlier, and will certainly be trying that. I've already fiddled a little with the curves and that, plus the speed. Lots to try; lots to learn. The glasses, as you know, have 'sweet spots' for the focus at different distances....so it take getting used to. To be honest, though? I'm way overdue for an eye exam. Nothing a lot of money won't fix

How about trifocals? You'll have cockpit, convergence and horizon covered then.

 

plug_nickel

[Tamper 9]

almccoyjr...that's what I wear now (they're called varifocals, because they are the 'no-line' type). While I do need new ones, the three different lense areas only work like that in real life. In the game, all three (near, far, and very far) occur at the same exact focal length. So, it's a disadvantage to have trifocals. It just means you have to hold your head such that the one area - the "near" part of the lens - can focus on the screen. All that other area does no good.

 

Sadly, this may be the thing that means TIR isn't going to work for me...trifocal lenses are pretty much made to only require eye movement to sweep across your normal FOV. In no more than the distance (on a curve, yet) between the bottom and top of my glasses (about 1"), I go from near, to far, to very far lenses. Lot of movement for the eye, but relatively none for the head - which TIR depends on.

 

To be honest, I know I need new glasses anyway. So, I'm telling myself for now that this is the problem. Working on a computer screen shouldn't be a problem, and I would think that includes gaming.

 

 

[Morris 2]

Gentlemen,

 

I have been silent about the topic. Although i have an extreme high end computer I was change the settings every time somebody gave good input to see if it HELPS.

I then change everything back to my original settings.

 

A critical solution on my system was to lower the speed in the TrakIR 5 settings to 0.6 - 0.7 and smooth to 30.

 

Although it feels different because you cant turn ur head like a owl during combat it is more realistic.

 

Cheers

 

Morris

[Olham 164]

Guys, I have tried to look at the graphics, and to read the voluminous expert words, but I got kind of "see-sick".

I am technology-wise a caveman.

Can anyone of you experts sum up what you found out, in a short and layman-proof manner?

What are the main things to make better fraps here?

What is a hardware controller?

Does every computer have one already or is it a new "tool"?

Does it only work together with those new SSD drives?