UE3 performance

[zakee00]

i just watched the UE3 trailer for the first time in a while, and this time i looked at the framrates. ovbiously its a bit hard to tell but it appears to me in the neighborhood of 25-30FPS for the most part.
someone said that they were using "SLI 6800 Ultras" for that demo, which i SERIOUSLY doubt. that demo was made quite a while before SLI was available, wasn't it? plus, i would think that they would be getting better framerates then that unless the res was over 12x10 with AA or AF. my guess is that they are using a single 6800 Ultra, maybe overclocked.

i was just thinking, i bet that current high end hardware (6800U, x800XT+) will be able to play UE3 games at 10x7 at perfectly acceptable framerates. my guess would be about 40FPS average.
i mean, that video was a techdemo...it was ment to show off the engine, right? like the VST....how often do you see framerates that low in HL2? not too often, right? i would think that once UE3 games are released that you will see far better performance. the engine will be much more optimized, and i dont think the games will usually have as much going on that stresses the GPU at once.
HDR with FarCry kills performance (but again, no idea what the final implementation will be like...its beta right now) and UE3 has HDR built in. thats a factor as well.

this is all based on assumptions...what do you guys think? think that it will be playable on current hardware?

 

[Pete]

If you think they're using a single OCed 6800U for their tech demo, and it's pulling just 25-30fps, why would you think a game based on that engine would pull 40fps with the same card at the same visual settings? If anything, you'd expect the extra overhead to lower the framerate.

I don't think the 6800U will be fluid with the tech demo graphics, but it'll probably be playable ... at some lower res. Here's a previous discussion of the UE3 demo and framerates. I think this quote summarizes my cynicism well :

UE3 runs at about 30 fps on the 6800U. And that's void of any action and without a screen full of it's 100k poly characters. I wouldn't call that playable.

 

[Yanagi]

I cant say I really care anyway. Its due out 2006 what I've heard. 6800U will be the budget card by then and you'll have loads of more powerfull alternatives.

 

[TantrumusMaximus]

Originally posted by: Yanagi
I cant say I really care anyway. Its due out 2006 what I've heard. 6800U will be the budget card by then and you'll have loads of more powerfull alternatives.

Exactly.

 

[Fenuxx]

That all may be true, but you can bet that the UE3 engine will at least play acceptably on the 6800s and the X8x0s. No, it won't be at 100fps, but it should at least be acceptable. Remember, there will be some optimizing done to the engine code that should make it more efficient, and thus, faster. I say don't worry about it, but as said previously, nothing based on UE3 will be out until late 2005 at the best, or 2006.

 

[Gamingphreek]

From what i remember they are running at minimal settings. Additionally this game will be DX10 based therefore whatever features are in the DX10 spec the 6800U is not running.

I thought i remembered them running 2x 6800U's in SLI and having them barely able to run the game. Guess we will have to wait and see.

-Kevin

 

[SynthDude2001]

I could have sworn I posted to this thread last night, but I guess my computer BSOD'd before I sent my reply (I've been having some problems lately that I'm working on).

Anyway, the main idea of what I was going to say is that I'm sure current hardware (6800/X800) level will run UE3 games "playably" - in that it probably won't be as bad as running Quake3 on a Pentium 90. Maybe medium resolution, medium details, no AA, minimal AF, let's say at 45fps or less (as a wild guess).

However, I would most certainly be upgrading before then, for two reasons. First of all - I have a relatively high-resolution LCD monitor now, and I much prefer playing at native resolution if possible. Secondly - I would rather experience the new graphics engine and have it actually look like "new graphics". I don't see the point of running a new engine if you have to turn the settings so low that it looks like what you've already been playing for two years (obviously this is just for the graphics). I've seen FarCry running on a Geforce2MX (I'm pretty sure it was a 2MX and not 4MX), and it wasn't pretty.

Just my opinion.

 

[VIAN]

As far as the Unreal thing. Here's what I found so far: http://www.esreality.com/?a=post&id=753129 - Look at response #42 and 43. http://www.spymac.com/forums/showthread.php?ppp=15&threadid=73953&sthreadid=&c=0

Damn, I can't find it but there was a video where it was a presentation, where you would see the the person talking about the technology and then it would show it to you. Don't know where it is now though.

It was back when the 6800 Ultra was just released. A video of the e3 presentation was released that showed the representative of the Unreal team talking about the technology. He said that the 6800 Ultra was the first to be able to run Unreal at decent framerates. That is 15fps at medium settings. Remember the game was said to require 512MB of VRAM for Highest IQ. That first scene with all those polys sure looks like 15fps too. But not the later scenes.

 

[zakee00]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
From what i remember they are running at minimal settings. Additionally this game will be DX10 based therefore whatever features are in the DX10 spec the 6800U is not running.

I thought i remembered them running 2x 6800U's in SLI and having them barely able to run the game. Guess we will have to wait and see.

-Kevin

where did you hear that?
it looks like the unrealtechnololgy.com site is down; but i dont remember reading anything about it being DX10. its all about SM2 and shader model 3.
i have the engine demonstration video and they say nothing about what hardware it's running on.

im betting that it will work on a 6800U at playable settings, but not that great. <50FPS is my guess. i mean a few years ago, did anyone think that they would be playing HL2 on high settings (no aa or af, 10x7) with a GF4Ti 4200? same concept im thinkin.
i'll probably upgrade before then.

 

[Goi]

Playing the techdemo with a 6800U is like playing the Doom3 alpha 2 years ago with a 9700Pro. Today's flagship cards are meant for today's games, not tomorrow's.

 

[Lonyo]

And a techdemo is a demo of tech, which in this case looks to have been graphics initially.
Add in physics and AI etc, and then ask if the rest of your system would be able to cope.

But it's not even out in any games yet, so really, does it matter?
You will probably upgrade in the next 18 months before something IS released using the engine (late 2005 est).
And since we are looking at quite a way down the line, isn't it reasonable to assume they WILL aim to make it something very powerful, that will exceed current capabilities? Yes!

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: geforcetony
That all may be true, but you can bet that the UE3 engine will at least play acceptably on the 6800s and the X8x0s. No, it won't be at 100fps, but it should at least be acceptable. Remember, there will be some optimizing done to the engine code that should make it more efficient, and thus, faster. I say don't worry about it, but as said previously, nothing based on UE3 will be out until late 2005 at the best, or 2006.

Why would you think this?

If it comes out late in 2006, nobody who really cares about playing this game will be doing it on June 2004s best card?

That would be like playing Doom3 on a GF3? :roll: