• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

How many FPS does your soundcard eat in Q3A?

O

oldfart

Lifer
I'd like to see from AT users how many FPS their soundcard uses. Since many people have Q3A, and know how to bench with it, I thought it would be a good test. For consistency, here is the setup:

Q3A version 1.30
Demo used is FOUR.DM_66 (the one built in)
1024 x 768 x 32
High quality, trilinear, max detail video (all video options to max)
Vsync off
High quality sound

1st test with sound on, 2nd test is with soundcard disabled in device manager.

Here are my results. Please put yours in the same format.

System 1:
CPU: PIII @ 1125
Chipset: Intel 815E
Ram: 512 Meg SDRAM
Video: GF3
Sound: TB Santa Cruz
OS: Win2K
FPS Sound on/Sound off: 114.7/146.3

System 2:
CPU: Celeron @ 1120
Chipset: Intel BX
Ram: 256 Meg SDRAM
Video: GF2 GTS (Elsa 32 meg)
Sound: MX300 (Vortex 2)
OS: Win98SE
FPS Sound on/Sound off: 84.9/99.3

I'm kind of surprised at the hit the Santa Cruz causes. I'd like to see if others see the same thing. It would be great to see the Live!, Audigy, Acoustic Edge and the C-Media integrated that is showing up on a lot of boards these days.
 
CPU: DUAL PIII @ 733 each
Chipset: VIA 694XDP
Ram: 1024 Micron pc 133
Video: Creative Labs Gf2 GTS
Sound: Sound Blaster Live! Value
OS: Win2k SP2
FPS: 73.3/67.8

That's with 2x AA
 
CPU: AMD Duron @ 900
Chipset: Via KT133A
Ram: 640 MB of Crucial PC133
Video: Radeon 64 DDR VIVO
Sound: Creative Labs Soundblaster Platinum 5.1
OS: WinXP Pro
FPS Sound on/Sound off: 68.8/99.3

Bunch of stuff running in the tray, but wow, big difference! Too bad I enjoy listening to the games ..hehe. Still all my games are very playable, but 30% performance hit in Q3a is not trivial.

UPDATE: applied the Via PCI Latency Patch (Here) and rebooted

FPS 80.5/107.8 (less proggies running explains the no-sound increase in FPS and perhaps the w/sound FPS)
 
My system
CPU: Athlon 1400mhz
Chipset: VIA kt133A
Ram: 512 Megs of pc133
Video: Radeon 8500 Drivers:3286 XP
Sound: Creative labs Audigy
OS: Windows XP Pro
FPS Sound on/Sound off: 140.8/173
 
kyoshozx:

that's an awful big hit. but you're using KT133A, which has a wealth of PCI latency issues -- as well as trouble with SB! Live / Audigy.

Audigy is the least CPU-intensive card yet.
 


<< Migroo


<< My sound card eats about 12 FPS. >>


What kind of card is it? System specs, etc? >>



Sorry oldfart, I should have posted these the first time. 😱

Right to the specs:
The soundcard in question is a Soundblaster Live! Value.
P3-667 (133 bus)
256 mb Ram
Radeon VE
Windows 2000

Bear in mind that I run at 800x600 (16 bit colour), incase that matters.

If you want to know anything else, let me know, but the specs I posted seemed to be the components that mattered.
 
How do I test my fps? I can install q3a later today and give you my results:

AMD 1400mhz on EPoX8k7a
Sound Blaster Live
GeForce 3

On a side note... it's wierd how the fps engine works in Counter-Strike (Half-Life)... I used to get 99.9 pretty solid, but now it only goes to about 60... I have fps_max 100, but that doesn't seem to be the problem... any suggestions on what I can do?
 
Install Q3A. Download and upgrade to the 1.30 release. Setup as in my original post. Bring down the console with the ~ key. Type

timedemo 1

Go back to the menu and click on demos. Run the four demo (only one in list). Bring the consile back and you will have a score.

Your 60 FPS CS problem sounds like a 60 Hz Vsyns issue.
 
I'm about to test my system pre-latency patch, and post. Gimme 5-10 minutes.

EDIT: Nevermind. Just noticed my 5.5 day uptime. I'll test once I hit a week. 🙂
 
Here Tom says that the best quality sound "won't cost you more than one to three frames per second" in a game like Q3A. This is not exactly what you people see :Q. Any thoughts?
 
With all settings on high 1600x1200
Demo1 with sound=109.2fps
without=122.8
demo2 with sound=103.6fps
without=117.0
So on the avg.14fps with SB Live 5.1
 


<< Here Tom says that the best quality sound "won't cost you more than one to three frames per second" in a game like Q3A. This is not exactly what you people see :Q. Any thoughts? >>



I didn't read the whole article, but maybe he's talking about going from low quality sound to high quality?
 
Challenger, thanks for posting. Its hard to judge your resuts since you are running an older version of Q3, a different demo, and @ 1600x1200. Any chance you could set your system up like the specs in the first post?
 
I did a dxdiag (dx 8.1) dump and found something interesting :
--------------------
DirectX Debug Levels
--------------------
Direct3D: 0/4 (n/a)
DirectDraw: 0/4 (retail)
DirectInput: 0/5 (n/a)
DirectMusic: 0/5 (n/a)
DirectPlay: 0/9 (retail)
DirectSound: 2/5 (retail)

I know q3a is using ogl but doesnt it also use direct sound>?
Looks like its got a debug level set.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top