CPU Scaling With X1900

[5150Joker]

I was having a discussion with someone else about CPU scaling with the XTX at another forum. The other guy claimed CPU speed (e.g. P4 3.6 vs AMD X2 4400+@2.7 GHz) made no difference as long as the settings in a game were turned up to high. He supported his statement by linking to benchmarks done by XBit that did CPU scaling only they used a 7800 GT. My contention was that newer cards like the 512 GTX and X1900 XTX are not the bottlenecks but rather the CPU so the XBit results with the 7800 GT didn't apply for high end cards.

While I didn't have a P4 to compare, what I did instead is just compare the differences I got with my CPU at stock vs. overclocked to 2.7 GHz. Admittedly in FEAR the difference wasn't very big (shader intensive) but it did make a pretty sizeable difference in the X3 Demo. I decided to use game test 2 for the X3 Demo since it had a lot of action going on. I plan to do some tests with BF2 later on as well once I get a recorded demo. Anyhow, take a look: http://www.clan786.com/files/benchmarks/

Would like peoples thoughts on this and whether or not you think the CPU speed matters when coupled with high end cards. Keep in mind this isn't a discussion about price vs. performance, just fast CPU + high end card vs slower CPU + high end card.

 

[Elfear]

Very nice Joker. My own benchmarks support your theory too, at least with some games. With max settings in Source games and UT2004, I got a much bigger jump in performance ocing the cpu than I did the gpu. FarCry and FEAR showed almost no difference with cpu scaling.

 

[5150Joker]

Originally posted by: Elfear
Very nice Joker. My own benchmarks support your theory too, at least with some games. With max settings in Source games and UT2004, I got a much bigger jump in performance ocing the cpu than I did the gpu. FarCry and FEAR showed almost no difference with cpu scaling.

Yeah I expected a bigger delta in FEAR than I got so the guy was right about FEAR not scaling very much with CPU speeds. Although if you examine the first 30 seconds of the graph for FEAR and recognize it's the portion with most of the action going on (the guys firing at each other) there are notable differences in framerate.

 

[crazydingo]

Originally posted by: Elfear
FarCry and FEAR showed almost no difference with cpu scaling.

Shader bound? Or something else ..

Nice analysis joker. :thumbsup:

 

[JAG87]

thanks!
this should give those people that ask "is my cpu bottlenecking?" a good idea.

 

[Elfear]

Originally posted by: crazydingo

Originally posted by: Elfear
FarCry and FEAR showed almost no difference with cpu scaling.

Shader bound? Or something else ..

Nice analysis joker. :thumbsup:

I'm sure they were shader bound, plus the fact that the physics in Source-based games eat up a lot of cpu power so they love the higher cpu clocks. I need to retest with my X1900XT with these games. Maybe FarCry has become more cpu dependant since I tested with a 7800GTX.

 

[5150Joker]

Originally posted by: Elfear

Originally posted by: crazydingo

Originally posted by: Elfear
FarCry and FEAR showed almost no difference with cpu scaling.

Shader bound? Or something else ..

Nice analysis joker. :thumbsup:

I'm sure they were shader bound, plus the fact that the physics in Source-based games eat up a lot of cpu power. I need to retest with my X1900XT with these games. Maybe FarCry has become more cpu dependant since I tested with a 7800GTX.

Is there a benchmark tool used with Far Cry? I can install the game later tonight or tomorrow and give it a run and add to my results. Would need some tips on what settings to use etc.

 

[Elfear]

Originally posted by: 5150Joker


Is there a benchmark tool used with Far Cry? I can install the game later tonight or tomorrow and give it a run and add to my results. Would need some tips on what settings to use etc.

HardwareOC makes some nice benchmarking tools for HL2 and FarCry. Here is the FarCry bench tool version 1.4.2. That's what I've used in the past. Works very well.

For settings, just set all details to Very High (Ultra High for water) and probably 4AA/8AF. Use at least 1600x1200 if you can or as high as your monitor can go. Maybe try some HDR settings while your at it. Looks like the new version of the tool supports it.

 

[JPB]

Well, I know Im cpu limited. I have a Athlon 64 3000 ---->1800MHZ
X1800 XL is stock at 500/500 ( 1000 Effective )

3dMark 05 Scores.....

1st run.......7009 ( CPU at 1800 / GPU Stock )
2nd run......7107 ( CPU at 1944 mhz / GPU Stock )
3rd run.......7208 ( CPU at 1980 mhz / GPU Stock )
4th run.......7310 ( CPU at 2025 mhz / GPU Stock )
5th run.......7338 (CPU at 2100 mhz / GPU Stock )
6th run........6915 ( CPU at 2100 mhz / GPU 575/1100 )

 

[Elfear]

Originally posted by: x80064
Well, I know Im cpu limited. I have a Athlon 64 3000 ---->1800MHZ
X1800 XL is stock at 500/500 ( 1000 Effective )

3dMark 05 Scores.....

1st run.......7009 ( CPU at 1800 / GPU Stock )
2nd run......7107 ( CPU at 1944 mhz / GPU Stock )
3rd run.......7208 ( CPU at 1980 mhz / GPU Stock )
4th run.......7310 ( CPU at 2025 mhz / GPU Stock )
5th run.......7338 (CPU at 2100 mhz / GPU Stock )
6th run........6915 ( CPU at 2100 mhz / GPU 575/1100 )

I think the point that Joker was trying to make is that even at high resolution/high detail, high-end cards are still cpu-limited to a degree. 1024x768 is the default res of 3DMark05. Try cranking the res and eye candy up (unless you're using the free version) and see if you are still cpu-limited.

 

[5150Joker]

Originally posted by: Elfear

Originally posted by: 5150Joker


Is there a benchmark tool used with Far Cry? I can install the game later tonight or tomorrow and give it a run and add to my results. Would need some tips on what settings to use etc.

HardwareOC makes some nice benchmarking tools for HL2 and FarCry. Here is the FarCry bench tool version 1.4.2. That's what I've used in the past. Works very well.

For settings, just set all details to Very High (Ultra High for water) and probably 4AA/8AF. Use at least 1600x1200 if you can or as high as your monitor can go. Maybe try some HDR settings while your at it. Looks like the new version of the tool supports it.

Thanks I'll use that! Wouldn't happen to have any downloadable BF2 pre-recorded demos would you?

 

[Elfear]

Originally posted by: 5150Joker


Thanks I'll use that! Wouldn't happen to have any downloadable BF2 pre-recorded demos would you?

Sorry, that's one game I haven't decided to purchase yet.

 

[Rock Hydra]

Should I ditch my P4 (2.6 GHz) or just OC it?

 

[Pete]

Thanks, Joker. You can really see how a faster CPU helps in the tough parts even in a game like FEAR, which is obviously pushing GPUs as hard as it can.