Not really impressed with 6800OC and Farcry..or is this just a difficult game to render?

[jiffylube1024]

Originally posted by: stelleg151
oooo, 11000+ with 6800nu and p4 makes me bust out the wallet for 6800nu.....

He got 900 Mhz out of the memory; that's pretty atypical from what I've seen of the 6800nu's ...

 

[Jhatfie]

Originally posted by: BentValve

The difference between my A64 at 2.2ghz and it at 2.58ghz is 17% frame rate at 1280x1024 with my 6800nu.

I dont buy that, I am a long time tweaker and I have never seen that small of a CPU increase do anything besides increase bench scores.

You are correct. I went back and tested my games again. I don't know how I messed up my figures before, but they were totally wrong. Did a couple runs of a couple games. Runs were done twice and averaged.

2.55ghz 2.2ghz % gain
Doom3 1280x1024 HQ 2xAA/8xAF 73.3fps 68.9fps 6%
FarCry 1024x768 UQ noAA/1xAF Volcano level 108.9fps 98.9fps 10%
FarCry 1280x1024 UQ 2xAA/4xAF Volcano 68.1 64.25 6%
Counter Strike Source ST 1280x1024 2xAA/4xAF 106.6fps 102.0fps 4%

So, BentValve, you are correct. 350mhz makes a impact, just much smaller than I had originally posted. You've got a pretty dang fast 6800nu. Fairly recently did a 12874 in 3dMark03 myself. We got not to shabby of scores for a couple 128MB 6800nu's me thinks. http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k3=3243866

 

[BFG10K]

I assume you've patched the game to 1.3 (which allows the SM 3.0 path)?

 

[PrayForDeath]

I am 100% sure it's your RAM, when I upgraded my RAM from 512 to 1024 the difference was like night and day! Using 512mb only let me play on medium settings, and I still had some stuttering, but after upgrading to a gig, I was able to run it with everything maxed and 2xAA/16xAF 1024x768 and FPS over 40, I also tried it @ 1152x864 same settings and it was playable (~30FPS) but not enough for me

 

[BentValve]

Excellent, I am excited now. It looks like this additional 512mb of ram should round out my system nicely.


Farcry is really fun!

 

[BentValve]

I just order another pair of ram modules identical to what i am running now.


Micron's ram will always be very good quality as long as Dell is buying from them.

So I'll be running 4 x of these , both sets in dual channel operation, I am excited to see what it does!

http://micron.com/products/mod...part=MT4VDDT3264AG-40B




Its not the fastest ram but its reliable and actually its probably quite OCable if I ever put my P4 in an OCable board. I have a pair of the same exact ram in PC2700 flavor in my AMD rig and it easily runs with agressive timings and 190mhz.

 

[BentValve]

Originally posted by: Jhatfie

Originally posted by: BentValve

The difference between my A64 at 2.2ghz and it at 2.58ghz is 17% frame rate at 1280x1024 with my 6800nu.

I dont buy that, I am a long time tweaker and I have never seen that small of a CPU increase do anything besides increase bench scores.

You are correct. I went back and tested my games again. I don't know how I messed up my figures before, but they were totally wrong. Did a couple runs of a couple games. Runs were done twice and averaged.

2.55ghz 2.2ghz % gain
Doom3 1280x1024 HQ 2xAA/8xAF 73.3fps 68.9fps 6%
FarCry 1024x768 UQ noAA/1xAF Volcano level 108.9fps 98.9fps 10%
FarCry 1280x1024 UQ 2xAA/4xAF Volcano 68.1 64.25 6%
Counter Strike Source ST 1280x1024 2xAA/4xAF 106.6fps 102.0fps 4%

So, BentValve, you are correct. 350mhz makes a impact, just much smaller than I had originally posted. You've got a pretty dang fast 6800nu. Fairly recently did a 12874 in 3dMark03 myself. We got not to shabby of scores for a couple 128MB 6800nu's me thinks. http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k3=3243866

Sweet score! Man, you smoked me on GT1.

Actually your CPU scores are low for your chip there(at least compared to others in your class that I have seen) Id think you should be in the 900s ...maybe you should try again..I bet you could get a 13k with some work.


I only have this Dell because I got it for cheap in the refurbed area of Dell...I have the whole system on Ebay for about $900 ..if it sells ill have $900 to go nuts with.

If it does not sell thats ok too because I have a feeling the ram will give me that last bit of performance I am looking for. I should be good to go for at least a year.

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

Originally posted by: BentValve
First off for me , one slowdown is too many...a studder and the next thing I know is I am dead.
I can play at 30fps but it cannot be dropping below that , not even for a second.

A little overly dramatic, don't you think?

 

[BentValve]

Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor

Originally posted by: BentValve
First off for me , one slowdown is too many...a studder and the next thing I know is I am dead.
I can play at 30fps but it cannot be dropping below that , not even for a second.

A little overly dramatic, don't you think?

yes it is, sorry.

 

[eBauer]

I would blame the 1.3 patch before the RAM, simply because many people are having stuttering problems on nvidia cards with the latest patch.

 

[kylebisme]

Good point eBauer, I neglected to consider that as my 6800gt runs the game just fine. Granted, even with a gig of pc3200 in running dual channel I see framerate drop into the 20s with my Barton at 3200+; but that is simply becuase Far Cry is really demanding on the CPU.

 

[HardWarrior]

Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor

Originally posted by: BentValve
First off for me , one slowdown is too many...a studder and the next thing I know is I am dead.
I can play at 30fps but it cannot be dropping below that , not even for a second.

A little overly dramatic, don't you think?

Dramatic? Perhaps, but I understand the sentiment. If I go south of 40fps at my chosen resolution and detail level it's time to upgrade.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

more ram shouldn't give you a huge boost in FPS but it will make the game run more smooth

 

[Xyclone]

I have FarCry at all high settings, but i figured I didn't really need AA. I get like 70-95 FPS, decent for me. Btw, I have your same card.

 

[HardWarrior]

Originally posted by: Xyclone
I have FarCry at all high settings, but i figured I didn't really need AA. I get like 70-95 FPS, decent for me. Btw, I have your same card.

I really can't tell the difference in FC with AA set and all settings on very high, beyond the frame rate hit of course. Am I missing something?

 

[VIAN]

Well, lets not forget that he has a 6800.

What does this mean? 128MB of VRAM and a low OC on the VRAM. That's a big cripple right there, especially when he was trying to use AA/AF. Because then its just a 9800XT with only 128MB.

The only diff between a 6800 and a 6800OC is 25MHz on the Core. So you still have that stinky speed and capacity RAM.

If you didn't use AA/AF, you're performance would massacre the 9800XT, but soon as you turn em on. You might be able to get away with using just one of the features. and I would choose AF.

Plus it shows that OCing the card doesn't do much to framerates. But you have enabled more pipelines which will definitely increase performance.