CPU/GPU bound?

[jmmyz14]

Hello all,

I'm in the process of upgrading my rig, and I'm currently CPU bound. I have an ati 3870 on an athlon64 4000+ with 2gb ddr400 ram, running vista32.

my question is, which options can i enable/disable to obtain maximum fps/eyecandy?

resolution: cpu or gpu dependant?
fullscreen/windowed: cpu or gpu dependant?
AA/AF: cpu or gpu dependant?
texture detail: cpu or gpu dependant?
model detail: cpu or gpu dependant?
shadows: cpu or gpu dependant?
lighting options: cpu or gpu dependant?
draw distance: cpu or gpu dependant?

if anyone can enlighten me on some of these, or think of more options, please feel free! thanks in advance.

 

[brettjv]

Basically, um, none of those are particularly cpu dependent settings, those are all on your gpu predominately.

CPU-related settings are typically things that involve a lot of math. Common examples would be physics and water quality (due to calcs involved in the reflections), those are off the top of my head. Also things like decal-count, dead-body count, and world detail, which often translates to 'how many random decorative objects do you want laying around?'.

Come to think of it, draw distance may hit the cpu a bit, just cause more 'objects' and enemies and such may need to be kept track of. It's gonna depend on how the game's programmed though. Higher sound quality often impacts the cpu pretty hard too.

You should bear in mind that there is no such thing as being 'absolutely' CPU-bound, it's always situational. For example try running the Crysis GPU test on very high at 1920x1200 on your machine and I'm sure you'd find that even downclocking your cpu 30% would not effect your (very low fps) score in the least.

Even an older processor like an a64 4000+ should be capable of running *almost* any game out there at 30fps, unless it's *really* a proc-intensive game. Slower CPU's tend to hit you more in benchmarks (especially older ones that run at very high FPS's on the newer graphics cards) than in actual gameplay.

 

[BFG10K]

Originally posted by: jmmyz14
resolution: cpu or gpu dependant?
fullscreen/windowed: cpu or gpu dependant?
AA/AF: cpu or gpu dependant?
texture detail: cpu or gpu dependant?
model detail: cpu or gpu dependant?
shadows: cpu or gpu dependant?
lighting options: cpu or gpu dependant?
draw distance: cpu or gpu dependant?

All of those are GPU limited except shadowing and draw distances which can also impact the CPU.

Originally posted by: brettjv

Common examples would be physics and water quality (due to calcs involved in the reflections,

Water rendering these days is typically done entirely on shaders so it's primarily GPU limited.