UT3 Performance Review -- HD 2900XT vs. 8800GTS 640 vs. 8800GTX || 2600XT vs. 8600GTS

[Soulburner]

There are no graphics options to be found in the demo.

[NickS]

There are no graphics options to be found in the demo.

Yes there are under advanced. Just some basic things like texture quality, etc.

[Eastcoasthandle]

UT3 update patch

If you have Windows XP 64-bit or Windows Server 2003 and you are receiving the "Modified executable code is not allowed" error at startup then you should replace the game's executable with the one from this patch.

[DilTech]

True...though the max a GT will clock to is what a GTS is at stock..which says quite a bit for a card that is cheaper than the GT, beating out at stock what the Nvidia card fully clocked can get to.

Again, this is all ATI`s late-to-the-game performance that we are seeing.

Perkam

Possibly, but we'd have to see it re-benched with a epic approved driver. It even says in the readme that the lowest driver you should be using is the 163.71 driver, and everything below that can cause hitching(which obviously drops the overall framerate).

So, essentially, we aren't seeing the full nvidia performance in the review. You can check the readme file, or check the link I posted earlier where epic themselves made the statement on their forum.

[PyroFire]

havent played since ut1 properly, ut2k3 was crap as a ut game but good as just a stand alone game, never tried 2k4...

this is make or break for me ;P

edit: pretty sure i got a constant 60 fps with textures and geom at 2 :\


some things though

vehicle ctf.. not unreal
having a deathmatch but then a poonsauce lightning walker thing pops up to own you all - not unreal
no ripper (i think ? ) - not unreal

overall though the gameplay is ALOT faster than i expected, its even faster paced than ut1, one thing i wish for is instagib and some kind of weapon skin+map pack that brought back the skins of original weapons + deck16][ mmmm i loved that map as well as iCTF eternal caves/face1 /lavagiant

good times... good good times

[Soulburner]

They need to bring back Assault mode. As one of the funnest gameplay modes of UT I cannot believe they have ignored it for this long.

PyroFire...don't know what you're on, but everything here is classic UT. They have taken the best of what has kept the franchise alive and made it better.

[Jodiuh]

...overall though the gameplay is ALOT faster...its even faster paced than ut1...instagib...deck16...

That's all I need right there. They had this in the UT2K3 demo.

EDIT: Wait, this too...

...Assault mode...

[Papu]

Possibly, but we'd have to see it re-benched with a epic approved driver. It even says in the readme that the lowest driver you should be using is the 163.71 driver, and everything below that can cause hitching(which obviously drops the overall framerate).

So, essentially, we aren't seeing the full nvidia performance in the review. You can check the readme file, or check the link I posted earlier where epic themselves made the statement on their forum.

, you forgot to mention that with new ati drivers the ati cards will in turn have greater performance ,

[rozzyroz]

i have an e6600 @ 3.0ghz 333fsb and a single 7900gto not overclocked ran at 1280x1024 and max quality settings no aa or af i get this:

Frames=14813
Time (ms)=396034
min=15
max=57
avg=37.403

ill try to get some with af enabled soon..

*taken with fraps benchmark utility.

[Soulburner]

That's all I need right there. They had this in the UT2K3 demo.

EDIT: Wait, this too...

We can only hope.

[Syn.]

guys its a BETA DEMO, what you see here is only the begining.

[DilTech]

, you forgot to mention that with new ati drivers the ati cards will in turn have greater performance ,

The 7.10 was an increase for cross-fire, or should I say it was for making X-Fire work.

Also, they used the 7.10 beta, which there wasn't much of a change between 7.10beta and the full version.

However, with the NVidia driver, it's cited clearly in the readme NOT to use anything lower than 163.71 with unreal tournament 3's beta demo as it causes hitching.

[The0men]

I'll be interested to see SLI and crossfire scaling when the FPS cap is gone, like hopefully in the final build.

[SafeFire]

hmm, when one changes the FPS cap, ones framerate drops.
I was running @ 62fps constantly, then I set the fps cap to 200 my framerate was pulled down dramatically, perhaps the 62fps at all times was wrong, after all.

[The0men]

Might just be a bit buggy. I'm still going to wait untill final build before I make up my mind to get it.

[kiwi]

Quad core vs dual anyone? Or at least open your task manager those with quad cores

[Soulburner]

hmm, when one changes the FPS cap, ones framerate drops.
I was running @ 62fps constantly, then I set the fps cap to 200 my framerate was pulled down dramatically, perhaps the 62fps at all times was wrong, after all.

That can happen if you are running VSync but cannot push 60fps. Smoothness is more important than framerate, if you can run 60 just cap it. There is no reason to need any more.

Or if you have a higher refresh rate like 75, 85, or 100Hz cap your framerate to that but keep Vsync on.

The 7.10 was an increase for cross-fire, or should I say it was for making X-Fire work.

Also, they used the 7.10 beta, which there wasn't much of a change between 7.10beta and the full version.

However, with the NVidia driver, it's cited clearly in the readme NOT to use anything lower than 163.71 with unreal tournament 3's beta demo as it causes hitching.

I don't know, I used 162.18 just fine in the demo.

[perkam]

The 7.10 was an increase for cross-fire, or should I say it was for making X-Fire work.

Also, they used the 7.10 beta, which there wasn't much of a change between 7.10beta and the full version.

However, with the NVidia driver, it's cited clearly in the readme NOT to use anything lower than 163.71 with unreal tournament 3's beta demo as it causes hitching.

Diltech you know well that ATI`s comparable drivers come out at least a month after a game is released, when tweaks for the game show up in the driver logs.

If you want to compare ATI`s with 163.75`s, then wait for 7.11 or 7.12.

Perkam

[RPGWiZaRD]

Diltech you know well that ATI`s comparable drivers come out at least a month after a game is released, when tweaks for the game show up in the driver logs.

If you want to compare ATI`s with 163.75`s, then wait for 7.11 or 7.12.

Perkam

Good that you bring this matter up, this will be one factor to take into consideration when picking between 8800GT/2900Pro/XT. I love trying out different drivers and NVIDIA spits new drivers out currently almost every week and they have a lot wider driver tweaking community and I like especially the XG drivers.

[SafeFire]

Quad core vs dual anyone? Or at least open your task manager those with quad cores

core 1, 3 and 4 were sitting neatly at 60-70% usage, while core 2 was hovering around 3-40% usage

[josty2]

Yeah, I got exactly the same thing. Sort of
core 1 80%
core 2 60%
core 3 40%
core 4 40%
Seeing as that is 220% all together, it's pretty well optimised!

[Jodiuh]

...ATI`s comparable drivers come out at least a month after a game is released...

This sucks. I tried to play World in Conflict w/ a bro last month and it just wasn't happening. (2900xt vs 8800gtx) He had cheetah spots and all sorts of issues that made it virtually unplayable. Then TF2 came out and he couldn't stop crashing. I suppose once we get past this "Q4 of 07 shotgun game release" we'll finally have some stability to play in 08.

[DilTech]

Diltech you know well that ATI`s comparable drivers come out at least a month after a game is released, when tweaks for the game show up in the driver logs.

If you want to compare ATI`s with 163.75`s, then wait for 7.11 or 7.12.

Perkam

It's not driver tweaks I'm talking about. It says clearly in the readme for UT3 not to use lower than 163.71. Not for performance, but for an actual hitching/all out STOPPING issue.

http://forums.epicgames.com/showpost...79&postcount=4

From epic's own mouth.

Like I said before, I'm not saying it'll turn the tables, but I am saying that epic themselves say not to use any driver lower than 163.71 with unreal tournament 3, and the performance review used lower than that. See what I'm saying?

You must be on a supported driver! We can't emphasize this enough. From the release notes:

http://www.nvidia.com/
NVIDIA ForceWare 163.71

ATI—http://www.amd.com/
ATI Catalyst driver 7.9 (with the exception of 9x00 cards, which should use 7.8)

[Soulburner]

Is this "hitching" an issue with very short pauses in the framerate, sort of like .1 second blips as you run around?

If so, UT3 did not have that issue for me with an 8800GTS and 162.18. However, Call of Duty 4 did, and 163.76 fixed it.

[DilTech]

Is this "hitching" an issue with very short pauses in the framerate, sort of like .1 second blips as you run around?

If so, UT3 did not have that issue for me with an 8800GTS and 162.18. However, Call of Duty 4 did, and 163.76 fixed it.

Yep, something like that. I experienced it until I updated my driver, so I can confirm it definitely exists.

Either way, I just find it odd that a site would review performance of a title using a driver that's not recommended by epic themselves.