I was thinking and...

[ShadowOfMyself]

So theres all this talk how any cpu will be fine to game at high res nowadays... First lets suppose most gamers will want their cpu to last longer than their video card, so we need something more futureproof, which is what conroe is... BUT, since AMD fans still arent convinced, how about testing one of the major new things coming in the next years?

Physics..

Did anyone benchmark Cell factor or so with top end gpus and conroe vs fx? Now if conroe would be able to process physics alot faster, wouldnt it become even more attractive, since most people wont be buying a 300$ card to do it? Just a thought...

 

[broly8877]

"AMD fans" aren't debating that C2D isn't a much better/faster chip, just that any modern CPU is pretty much even when it comes to "real world/GPU limited" games/settings.

Frankly, I think they're just trying to justiy their recent purchase

What we're thinking: C2D is for those stuck on 754 (like me!), not for high-end K8 owners to upgrade to.

 

[ShadowOfMyself]

Originally posted by: broly8877
"AMD fans" aren't debating that C2D isn't a much better/faster chip, just that any modern CPU is pretty much even when it comes to "real world/GPU limited" games/settings.

Frankly, I think they're just trying to justiy their recent purchase

What we're thinking: C2D is for those stuck on 754 (like me!), not for high-end K8 owners to upgrade to.

Sure... I agree that top end K8 users shouldnt bother unless you're rich and want the top line all the time lol but were those thinking of upgrading in the first place?

 

[broly8877]

Just look around.

It's almost like people felt relieved to see the difference be minimal in GPU limited tests (which, frankly, is just common sense to expect).

 

[NoStateofMind]

I agree with the OP. Throw 2 systems together with high end Graphics cards and a physics card. One AMD and one C2D. Let's see how THAT plays out.

 

[theprodigalrebel]

Benchmark Cell Factor. If the results are tied, I know what will be coming next:

Oh noez, the PCI-Bus is bottle-necking the PhysX card. Give us a 1337 PCIe PhysX card, Ageia!

Wait a min...the PCI-bus is believed to be a bottleneck in PhysX performance, right?

 

[NoStateofMind]

Originally posted by: theprodigalrebel
Benchmark Cell Factor. If the results are tied, I know what will be coming next:

Oh noez, the PCI-Bus is bottle-necking the PhysX card. Give us a 1337 PCIe PhysX card, Ageia!

Wait a min...the PCI-bus is believed to be a bottleneck in PhysX performance, right?

Ahhh didnt know that....

<takes notes>

 

[Keysplayr]

Can cell factor be benched without a physics card? And just let the CPU's go at it? Or is it only doable with the physics card?

 

[theprodigalrebel]

@ keysplayr, a PhysX card is required to run Cell Factor.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: theprodigalrebel
@ keysplayr, a PhysX card is required to run Cell Factor.

Gotcha, thanks.

 

[ShadowOfMyself]

Well Cell factor was the first game that came up to my mind.. huh.. would GRAW work? Also my idea isnt quite using the physx card.. its how the system performs WITHOUT one.. since everyones so interested in "real world performance" I wanna see how cpus perform with some CPU generated physics

 

[Pederv]

Aw heck,
Just wait for a 4X4 system. Drop a physics co-processor in the second socket. Communication with the memory and the CPU take place over the hyper-transport........

Hey!
Or maybe get a graphics co-processor that plugs into the second socket....

 

[Avalon]

I heard it was possible to force Cell factor to process the physics in software instead of through the Physx card, but I can't remember who said they did it. I do remember that he still had to have the Physx card present...maybe it was an ini file setting that can be changed to force such a thing?

That would make it viable to bench.

 

[dexvx]

Originally posted by: theprodigalrebel
@ keysplayr, a PhysX card is required to run Cell Factor.

Demo has a software physics mode.

 

[theprodigalrebel]

Originally posted by: dexvx

Originally posted by: theprodigalrebel
@ keysplayr, a PhysX card is required to run Cell Factor.

Demo has a software physics mode.

From the Hot Hardware Review,

Despite a grayed-out checkbox in the settings menu for selecting Ageia PhysX support, we were not able to get the game to run when the BFG PPU was not installed and enabled.

From the PC Perspective Review,

Because Cell Factor requires a PPU to play, comparing screenshots or videos against a system without one is impossible and thus our opinions are simply decided on our feel for the game and performance.

From the X-Bit Labs Review,

Since we couldn?t analyze the performance difference in CellFactor with and without the PhysX processor, we decided to offer you a time diagram.

I think Avalon is correct: these reviews are a little old - I guess an update or patch enabled running the game through software physics, although a PhysX card had to be installed anyway.