Question regarding UT and ATi 8500 in WinXP

[Operandi]

What I need to know is how dose UT run in D3D with the 8500 under windows XP. I?m going to be doing some upgrading soon, within the month and I?m currently in dilemma over what video card I should get. Right now, I?m using a Radeon VIVO and UT performance is rather sad. Now, I?d like to get the 8500 as it is a superior piece of hardware, but if I?m going to be stuck with the same problems I have now forget it. So what I need is somebody with an 8500, UT, and Windows XP to tell me how UT performs with D3D.

*Update I'm going to try to clarify/describe the situation that I'm currently having right now.*

Ok, aside form the horridly deceased FPS there is a strange shuttering effect, this mainly what I'm referring to when I say "problems". For those that haven?t experienced this or think my "shuttering" description sucks try defragging your HD and playing your favorite game and you should get and idea of the problem.

Now, I know the GeFroce 3 kills the 8500 FPS wise but according to Anand's own tests the 8500 is still pulling 85 fps which is more the playable. What I really want determine is if the shuttering problem still exists with 8500.

 

[LuDaCriS66]

Unfortunately, the Radeon 8500 basically has the same problems with UT as far as I know. Last I checked, UT was the game the 8500 scored the lowest on.

 

[BFG10K]

AFAIK the Radeon 8500 still has the stuck vsync issue in Windows XP and Unreal Tournament. Having vsync on will detrimentally affect your framerates including causing possible stuttering.

 

[Operandi]

AFAIK the Radeon 8500 still has the stuck vsync issue in Windows XP and Unreal Tournament. Having vsync on will detrimentally affect your framerates including causing possible stuttering.

Correct me if I?m wrong but doesn?t vsync simply mean that frame rate is simply locked to monitors refresh rate? If that?s the case I can see how it would affect the overall FPS, which is why it should never be enabled for benchmarks. But it shouldn?t really affect gameplay, unless you?re running your monitor under 60 Hz if that?s even possible.

 

[Operandi]

I could really use some more input here guys. Since most of my gaming time is spent on UT I need some kind of indication as to how the 8500 is going to run with UT.

 

[LuDaCriS66]

If you're going to be playing mostly UT, then I suggest a GF3 card. The frame rates with the 8500 in UT are acceptable but not great.

 

[Vortex22]

Well, UT is the only game that I have had problems with on my 8500...

I was forced to run in D3D before learning how to take a dll from another set of drivers to make OpenGL work.
The performance is pitiful on my system, which is only a PIII 933, but everything else that I play runs extremely fast.
Some people at Rage3d have gotten their 8500s to run UT pretty decently (like 80-90 fps average), but I can't get it
even close to that in either d3d or ogl. I'm thinking that maybe something else in my system is causing the problem,
since it runs like it's on a pentium 133

 

[Vortex22]

Oh, btw
I haven't noticed any stuttering, other then the horrible slowdowns that I get when theres lots of action on the screen.

 

[Operandi]

Vortex22: What OS are you running?

My UT Radeon problems started with WinXP, it?s also the only game giving me problems right now. Just happens to be the one I play the most, go figure :|. Also what kind of performance are you getting out of your 8500? I was getting around 60+ average in direct 3D (1024x768@32) on my Radeon VIVO with WinME. Now I'm stuck at around 39-40 average.

 

[BFG10K]

Correct me if I?m wrong but doesn?t vsync simply mean that frame rate is simply locked to monitors refresh rate?

Yes but that doesn't mean that your minimum FPS will stay at your monitor's refresh rate. Enabling vsync has the potential to reduce your FPS to half of your monitor's refresh rate in certain situations and do other bizarre things.

If you're having performance problems such as stuttering, the first thing you should check is whether vsync is enabled.

 

[Operandi]

Yes but that doesn't mean that your minimum FPS will stay at your monitor's refresh rate. Enabling vsync has the potential to reduce your FPS to half of your monitor's refresh rate in certain situations and do other bizarre things.

Well, I'll check it out but I doubt it will do anything. I'm running at 1024x768@100hz, and the highest I've ever seen is 80 ish (an extremely rare event). Also I always ran with Vsync enabled under WinME without any problems.

 

[Operandi]

I disabled Vsync and as I suspected it didn?t do anything. Overall I gained 2 fps with demo I recorded for my benchmark purposes. The only way I?m able to break the 100hz barrier is to stair at a wall or down an empty corridor.