First thoughts on new 5870...

[KIAman]

Curious, what were you expecting? Then we can tell you if something is wrong or not.

 

[SgtSpoon]

Isn't this one of those games that likes quads?

I've seen people repeat this over and over again, but where does this come from? Is there a benchmark that proves this? On my i3 530, the windows task manager draws one core at 95% and the other one at 50% + i never notice any hickups. So i really don't know what good a quad would do for this game

edit : Just to make a point, i took a screenshot. I waited until a moment where there was stuff going on (being shot at + building collapsing) to take the screenshot :

(so this is not a quad, its a dualcore with hyperthreading)

The op runs : E8400@3.6
I run my i3 530 at 3.66Ghz, so this should be comparable to his cpu (i3 should be faster clock by clock, but not by much)

 

[yh125d]

I've seen people repeat this over and over again, but where does this come from? Is there a benchmark that proves this? On my i3 530, the windows task manager draws one core at 95% and the other one at 50% + i never notice any hickups. So i really don't know what good a quad would do for this game

edit : Just to make a point, i took a screenshot. I waited until a moment where there was stuff going on (being shot at + building collapsing) to take the screenshot :

(so this is not a quad, its a dualcore with hyperthreading)

The op runs : E8400@3.6
I run my i3 530 at 3.66Ghz, so this should be comparable to his cpu (i3 should be faster clock by clock, but not by much)

That shows all 4 threads at high utilization, you just helped prove that this game is quad capable and benefits from it >.>

If you're not convinced, see how much slower it runs with HT off

 

[allthatisman]

Well not to turn this into a full blown CPU thread... but how does this dual core/4 thread thing work? In gaming is it just as good as having a quad core for games that utilize more than 2 cores? I am trying to figure out if I should just keep my e8400, upgrade to a s775 quad, or go core i5 (maybe even the new AMD 6 core chip even).

 

[SgtSpoon]

That shows all 4 threads at high utilization, you just helped prove that this game is quad capable and benefits from it >.>

thread <> core

I think you are over-estimating HT.

Well not to turn this into a full blown CPU thread...

Yes, we are derailing this thread i'm afraid (my bad ...)

but how does this dual core/4 thread thing work? In gaming is it just as good as having a quad core for games that utilize more than 2 cores? I am trying to figure out if I should just keep my e8400, upgrade to a s775 quad, or go core i5 (maybe even the new AMD 6 core chip even)

I never really understood why microsoft chose to visualise hyperthreading as extra cores. I know what they were thinking, but in the end its only confusing. I'm not an expert either, but i think it is safe to say that you can simply ignore hyperthreading, because the effect is minimal (my opinion is based on old reviews, so maybe i'm wrong)

A game does not "use cores". A game uses threads. Lets say a game uses a constant number of threads (one for rendering, one for physics, one for sound, ...). Take 8 threads for example. Your OS will have to manage those 8 threads over 2 cores (the threads will fight for execution time on the cores). On a quadcore this will, of course, be more efficient. (Hyperthreading makes it possible for the cpu to execute 2 operations of 2 different threads in one instruction, if i'm not mistaking)

So what i was trying to say in my previous post : those 67&#37; cpu usage means a dualcore is sitting on its ass for 30% of the time, so i'm assuming those 2 cores are more than plenty to handle all threads.

 

[allthatisman]

thread <> core

I think you are over-estimating HT.



Yes, we are derailing this thread i'm afraid (my bad ...)



I never really understood why microsoft chose to visualise hyperthreading as extra cores. I know what they were thinking, but in the end its only confusing. I'm not an expert either, but i think it is safe to say that you can simply ignore hyperthreading, because the effect is minimal (my opinion is based on old reviews, so maybe i'm wrong)

A game does not "use cores". A game uses threads. Lets say a game uses a constant number of threads (one for rendering, one for physics, one for sound, ...). Take 8 threads for example. Your OS will have to manage those 8 threads over 2 cores (the threads will fight for execution time on the cores). On a quadcore this will, of course, be more efficient. (Hyperthreading makes it possible for the cpu to execute 2 operations of 2 different threads in one instruction, if i'm not mistaking)

So what i was trying to say in my previous post : those 67% cpu usage means a dualcore is sitting on its ass for 30% of the time, so i'm assuming those 2 cores are more than plenty to handle all threads.

So if I have digested this properly... it would be just as good, if not better to have a newer dual core(say the i5 680) with a high clock speed with 4 thread capability as opposed to my E8400 with only 2 thread capability, and even an i5 750 with a lower clock speed, if the primary usage is gaming and internet...?

 

[Tempered81]

Yikes... your quasi-attempt at sarcastic humor?

Hahah. Dude, you're looking for better framerates, but you've compared a 280 and 5870 on a 3.6g e8400. There won't be a difference at bobo homeless person settings, that's why everyone is telling you to max out everything (HBAO, 16xAF, Maximum image quality, SSAA). Then you can see the game at ~60 fps on the 280 & the 5870 (limited by the cpu) but with 10x more realism & depth from the increased image quality.

 

[yh125d]

thread <> core

I think you are over-estimating HT.



Yes, we are derailing this thread i'm afraid (my bad ...)

Not at all. Its showing that BC2 can stress at least 4 threads simultaneously at >50% utilization. Clearly it would benefit from a quad

 

[AzN]

Bad Company doesn't seem to like hyperthreading very much like other games that utilize 4 threads but it does help to an extent.

http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_pages/battlefield_bad_company_2_tuning_guide,7.html

 

[AzN]

So if I have digested this properly... it would be just as good, if not better to have a newer dual core(say the i5 680) with a high clock speed with 4 thread capability as opposed to my E8400 with only 2 thread capability, and even an i5 750 with a lower clock speed, if the primary usage is gaming and internet...?

Yes and no. For gaming and internet a fast dual core can get you there most of the time but we are starting to see more and more quad utilization.

i3/i5 is definitely better than a E8400 though for gaming or internet.

 

[Patrick Wolf]

Don't know the difference between 10.3a and b, but shouldn't people be using WHQL 10.3 now?

 

[SSChevy2001]

Don't know the difference between 10.3a and b, but shouldn't people be using WHQL 10.3 now?

Not sure about other people, but I'm using the 10.4a preview driver.
http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/ATI-Catalyst-10-4-a-Hotfix.aspx

 

[dookulooku]

You may want to check your setup again, 5870 is faster than a GTX 480 in BFBC2.

Check the reviews again. 5870 is faster at 1xAA, 480 is equal/faster at 4xAA and produces better frame rates. CF scaling is excellent in this game though.

 

[Dark Shroud]

So if I have digested this properly... it would be just as good, if not better to have a newer dual core(say the i5 680) with a high clock speed with 4 thread capability as opposed to my E8400 with only 2 thread capability, and even an i5 750 with a lower clock speed, if the primary usage is gaming and internet...?

Yes and no. For gaming and internet a fast dual core can get you there most of the time but we are starting to see more and more quad utilization.

i3/i5 is definitely better than a E8400 though for gaming or internet.

Just to make a note here, if you're going to pay for an i5 get the 750 with four physical cores. Otherwise a Core i3 will over clock just fine at a better price.

 

[Blastman]

BF-BC2 was using all 4 cores on a i7-920, in this test techspot, but the utilization was only around 33&#37;.

When they switched to only 2 cores (i7-920, HT-off), the core utilization went up, but neither core was maxed out. A dual core at 3.0Ghz is enough for the game.