Ok... the reason this has taken me so long is that COH:OP is a new game to the benchmarking suite -- COH opposing force (I have the original COH installed) installation was tricky ... aside from not installing over COH correctly, it also is the most patched game on the planet.Originally Posted by Boschwanza
If I cannot get an identical install on each rig (the Phenom and QX9650), then I start over and make sure that everything is identical. After a few attempts, I had to wipe the original COH and install new and fresh.
What I did: This is the first in several runs -- feel free to request specific items. Also, all the runs here are geared toward a CPU perspective, I will also be doing high quality/high AA setting runs as well. The configuration has been linked previously in this thread, briefly Phenom 9850 @ 2.5 GHz (stock)/QX9650 @ 2.5 GHz, Asus boards are the M3A32-MPV deluxe/Maximus Formula (X38), DDR2-800 C5, 4870X2 with Cat 8.8, WD Raptor 150 Meg, Windows XP SP2 ....
The runs were done at two resolutions. First, 1280x1024, with all low setting except physics which was set to high (CPU duty) and effects density was set to high. Then I ran the same settings but at 1920x1200. These were done using the -novsync command line which disables the 60 FPS limit, I also ran with the Vsync on by removing the -novsync command line. Finally, I collected FRAPs for the 1920x1200 run....
Phenom 9850 @ 2.5 Ghz
1280x1024, all low physics high, effects density high
1920x1200, all low physics high, effects density high
1920x1200, all low physics high, effects density high -- VSYNC thus 60 FPS
QX9650 @ 2.5 GHz
1280x1024, all low physics high, effects density high
1920x1200, all low physics high, effects density high
1920x1200, all low physics high, effects density high -- VSYNC thus 60 FPS
Note: In a fit of exhaustive stupor .. I mislabeld the JPG filenames for the QX9650 1920x1200 runs, it is is 1200 not 1280 ..
Finally, the 4 fraps traces for the 1920x1200 runs -- NOTE: the above screen shots were not running fraps as fraps induces a few FPS hit, these were separate runs -- and were within 3-5 Ave FPS of what is shown above.
A few notes to make ....
* Though at low settings graphically, 1920x1200 is still CPU bound -- this was not the case for my 8800 GTX which started becoming GPU bound at these graphical settings at 1600x1200. Demonstrating the power of the 4870X2.
* COH: OP is not a great game to use as a bench in this case, it way favors Intel architecture ... so it is not a generalized representative statement of the population of games.
* The most important point: Either CPU is capable of supporting > 60 FPS in the capped (synced) regime ... as expected. The take away is that the CPU will not matter to the overall quality of game play for this particular game (and I have done enough to say that as a generalized statement as well).
I will be following up with CPU utilization and high quality settings too, stay tuned....
Jack
Bookmarks