Benchmarking

[Strazos]

Had something a little funny happen just now.

Last night, just for kicks, I ran the Video Stress Test using the Source engine. Whatwith my new drivers and Video Card, it ran admirably - 50+ FPS throughout, with spikes above 80-100 FPS.

The funny part is that I just now ran 3DMARK06. Now, I've run these things before in the past. While the results were not spectacular, for my system at the time, they were about where they should have been...

But this new version? Below 10 FPS pretty much through the entirety of the first 2 Video Tests. The CPU tests brought my FPS down to zero (I think technically, since I was seeing different frames of animation, it was some kind of decimal FPS).

Is the new version just that punishing, or do I have some sort of problem? My system has always ran everything I threw at it, and I have as good a video card as I'm going to get for the next year or two. Hell, I scored less than 1100 on the damn Benchmark - the way my rig preforms in actual gameplay, I didn't think that'd even be possible.

[Trippy]

The CPU tests brought my FPS down to zero (I think technically, since I was seeing different frames of animation, it was some kind of decimal FPS).

Don't worry about that my A64 X2 3800+ does that too.

Is the new version just that punishing, or do I have some sort of problem?

Yes it is that punishing. They want the FPS values to be meaningful for even the most high-end rigs that will be available through next year (or whenever they plan on releasing the next version). Once your FPS scores get above 100 or so (some would say 60) your eyes (and brain) stop caring.

My system has always ran everything I threw at it, and I have as good a video card as I'm going to get for the next year or two. Hell, I scored less than 1100 on the damn Benchmark - the way my rig preforms in actual gameplay, I didn't think that'd even be possible.

Do you have an older ATI card? Those don't support SM 3.0. What's your CPU and video card again? What are the individual 3DMark2006 scores (SM2.0, SM3.0, CPU)?

Edit: here are mine for comparison. A64 X2 3800+, 7800 GT (470 MHz GPU, 1.1 GHz memory, OC'd by manufacturer, reference board is 400 MHz, 1.0 GHz), ASUS A8N-SLI Premium

3DMarks: 4029
SM2.0 Score: 1637
HDR/SM3.0 Score: 1634
CPU Score: 1490

[Strazos]

VidCard - ATI AIW X800XT
CPU - AMD AthlonXP 2700+ (~2.2GHZ)
System Memory - 1024MB

I forget the exact scores, because I did not save them. No way am I wasting time to run them again either. All I can tell you is that they were hovering in the 1000-1100 range, with nothing meeting or exceeding 1100. It didn't even register a score for SM3.0, because as you said, my card does not support it.

[Trippy]

Your CPU is the bottleneck at the moment.

[Strazos]

Yup. And unfortunately, I don't seem to have many, if any, upgrade options. Socket A FTL.

(Well, it was pretty damn good 4 years ago)

[Fabricated]

The CPU tests utterly bitchslap the hell out of every CPU on the market today. I'm doubting the latest greatest conroe can get the FPS past 5.

[Engels]

I have a Gforce 7950, and 3DMark2006 kicked my puter's rear, due to having an AMD 3500+ single core cpu. Even in the pure video benchmarking, my FPS dropped to sometimes even 5 fps, and the cpu benchmark? Nada, total lock up.

I wouldn't lose any sleep over it, tho. Most games are more graphics than cpu intensive anyway, and your X800 card should serve you well for a while longer, as long as you can live without all the shinies on.

[Strazos]

Yeah, I kind of figured I was in trouble when I saw that damn PhysX logo.

[sinij]

I have top-notch hardware and 3Dmark2006 challanges it a lot, rarely above 40fps, CPU test on dual-core with DDR2 dual-channel memory run at 1FPS.

For example my score 3Dmark2006 score is 7694, with CPU score 1842. That is with AMD 4600+ AM2.

[Strazos]

So is their CPU test bugged or something? Makes no sense.

[Engels]

I have a feeling that somehow the 3dmark's test is a bit outdated, from back in the day when more of video processes were done by the CPU. Just a hunch.

[sinij]

I would be curious to see if on-board video cards will do better on CPU test?

I read a while ago about technology that allows GPU to off-load tasks on CPU, and CPU to off-load tasks on GPU. Did it ever go anywhere? Perhaps that was test for it, to see if CPU will use GPU to process tasks?

[Trippy]

I have a feeling that somehow the 3dmark's test is a bit outdated, from back in the day when more of video processes were done by the CPU. Just a hunch.

No it's intentional. Read the FAQ. The CPU benchmarks are intended to run at a *max* of 2 FPS.

Edit: In other words that fact that the GPU is at best drawing 2 FPS a second is a good thing in a CPU test. That means the CPU is rarely having to send data to the GPU. I think you guys are confused by game benchmarks where they run at 640x480 or some other lower res to see how high they can get the FPS as a test of CPU performance. That's just an indirect method for testing CPU performance. The GPU is still doing a lot of work in that situation which means tne CPU needs to feed it with a constant stream of data which means it's not doing other CPU tasks while it's doing that.