|
Sunday, June 10, 2007 09:22 PM
Benchmarking
the Beast…or just how fast is it.
Understand
that I only changed the processor and this resulted in a very low cost of
upgrade. Its important to keep the RCS (radar cross section for you non
flight sim fanatics) of any upgrade below the detection level of the wifey…<VBG>.
Processor and Slocket Adapter came to around 380.00 dollars. And as you will
see for the purpose of improving my framerates in flight simulations it was
money well spent. So here without further ado is my current machine
configuration. (Yes the Voodoo 2’s are near the end of the line as my main
3d Cards these tests make that much obvious…<VBG>)
My
machine consists of
Abit BH-6 Revision 1.01 motherboard
128mb of Mushkin Samsung PC-100 –GH SDRAM
Windows 98se
Tseng ET6000 2d Video Card
Twin Voodoo 2 12mb Cards clocked to 100mhz See notes 1
Three hard drives: See notes 2
a.
IBM Deskstar 4.1 Gb Ultra DMA drive partitioned C:, F:, G:,
b.
Quantum Fireball 12.9 Gb partitioned D:
c.
Western Digital 1.6 Gb E:
-
Notes:
-
1.
The Voodoo 2 Cards are reaching the end of their usefulness. Only
problem is I cannot make up my mind on what to get.
-
2.
The hard-drives have proven to be the most difficult problem for
overclocking my particular setup
Results
from 3D Mark 99 Max
|
|
Celeron
458
|
P-III
550e
|
P-III
682e
|
|
3D
Mark Result
|
3,113
|
3,587
|
4,368
|
|
Synthetic
CPU 3D speed
|
3,742
|
7,880
|
9,853
|
|
Game
1 Race
|
31.3
|
40.2
|
42.2
|
|
Game
1st Person
|
30.9
|
32.4
|
45.3
|
Looks
to me like we are bumping up against the fill rate max for the Voodoo 2’s
in the Race Bench. Note that all 3d Mark tests were run at 1,024 x 768.
Results
from Si Soft’s Sandra
|
|
Celeron
458
|
P-III
682e
|
|
CPU
Benchmark
|
CPU:
1113 MIPS,
FPU: 550 MFLOPS
|
CPU:
1699 MIPS,
FPU: 853 MFLOPS
|
|
CPU
Multi-Media Benchmark
|
CPU:
Integer MMX: 1041,
Floating-Point FPU: 605 it/s
|
CPU:
Integer MMX: 1517,
Floating-Point FPU: 921 it/s
|
|
Memory
Benchmark
|
CPU/Mem:
219 MB/s,
FPU/Mem: 200 MB/s
|
CPU/Mem:
308 MB/s,
FPU/Mem: 286 MB/s
|
Game
Benchmarks
This is the beginning of the pure game benchmarks. If the chip doesn’t
rock here then all the speed in the world in synthetic benchmarks doesn't do
any good. Theory is good and
valuable but you must confirm that its correct with benchmarks in the apps
you use.
Results
from Falcon 4 Timedemo
This is a very reliable way to test your entire system. Because I have been
using this time demo for such a long time I am able to get within a .5
difference on an unchanged system. The repeatability of the time demo is
crucial for a worthwhile test.
Dont
forget to visit the Falcon 4 Benchmark page
|
All
settings on Max Detail
|
Falcon
1.08Ia 1024x768
458mhz Celery
|
Falcon
1.08Ia 1024x768
P-III 682e mhz
|
|
Average
Max Framerate
|
16.9
|
26.4
|
|
Average
Min Framerate
|
9.6
|
15.5
|
|
Average
Framerate
|
13.9
|
21.7
|
As
you can see with this probably the most important benchmark for me that
indeed the upgrade has improved matters significantly.
Results
from Flanker 2.01 benchmark mission
This was the sim that got me thinking that maybe it was time to move on from
my Celeron 458 combo. I put
together a mission that stressed the system extremely hard and was
repeatable. I am confident that this Benchmark has no more than a 1-frame
error either way. Not terrific but still worthwhile as a benchmark.
This sim is remarkable in that turning off the textures doesn’t
make any difference in the framerate. Its all about moving those polys, or
that’s my take on the textures not making any difference.
|
|
Celeron
458
|
P-III
682e
|
|
Flanker
Benchmark 1024x768 Max Details except smokestacks
|
10
frames a second
|
17
frames a second
|
So
here is all the proof that’s needed for those of you who own 450’s and
are thinking that a video card to replace your Voodoo 2 is what you need to
improve your frame rates dramatically in this or in fact any Flight sim. In
case its not obvious, get a new processor first…<VBG>
Results
from Janes F-15 Benchmark Mission
This is a terrific flight sim that honestly ran extremely well on my old
Celery 458 processor. I just include it here cause it’s a flight sim and I
can reliably bench it to within a frame or so.
|
Max
Detail
|
Celeron
458
|
P-III
682e
|
|
Janes
F-15 Benchmark 640x480
|
20
frames a second
|
30
frames a second
|
Results
from Janes new F/A-18 Benchmark Mission
This is the newest flight simulator out and as is tradition it pushes the
best computers harder than anything else. With a 3D Cockpit that absolutely
sucks the life out of a 458 Celery I was really looking forward to pitting
my newest beast up against the sim that’s humbling a lot of puters.
|
Max
Detail
|
Celeron
458
|
P-III
682e
|
|
Janes
F/A-18 1024x768
|
7-fps
|
11-fps
|
|
Janes
F/A-18 800x600
|
7-fps
|
11-fps
|
|
Janes
F/A-18 640x480
|
7-fps
|
12-fps
|
Alrighty
then someone needs to explain why the different resolutions don’t make any
difference to the Frames Per Second. This mission has lots of active
objects. Yet I was surprised to find that even when I reduced the active
objects a significant amount not much difference was found.
Results
from Quake III Timedemo
No test would be complete without the Mack daddy of time demo benchmarks. I
ran this test on high texture details with my Voodoo 2’s using the 3dfx
Open GL. (yes I know its slow but this is a comparison between CPU’s not
video cards).
|
|
Celeron
458
|
P-III
682e
|
|
Quake
3 High Detail 640x480
|
22.1
|
31.8
|
|
Quake
3 High Detail 1024x768
|
18.1
|
24.7
|
Closing
thoughts and would I do it again...?
Absolutely
I would do it again. Even though I havent played too many games yet since
Ive been busy writing this damn article hehe, I can tell from the Games
Benchmarks that this system rocks. Do I need a video card that matches the
system...oh yea. But like I said earlier I have to keep that RCS down around
nothing so the wifey doesnt cut the little friends off. But there area
few benchmarks where I can tell the Voodoo's are holding me back. Was it
wise to upgrade the CPU first. Well considering that in Flanker I saw a
nearly 70% increase in Framerates and nearly a 55% increase in Falcon 4
framerates. I don't know of a video card upgrade over a Voodoo 2 that will
give that type of increase in a Flight simulator. You need the CPU first,
then you get the Video Card. So any and all advice on how to slide a GeForce
DDR or Voodoo 5 past the wife will be heard. I think that with a new Video
Card and my 682mhz CPU that I will see Janes F/A-18 finally getting the
framerates a sim like that deserves. But still a 57% increase is nothing to
sneeze at by any stretch of the imagination. Its just that I believe that my
Voodoo 2 cards could be holding that one back significantly as well as Quake
3.
Back
to Part 1 Dancing the Coppermine
|
