Testing your system for Warhammer

[Caere]

Geez I wish this game starts soon. hehe.

A really good way to test your system is with the shareware/freeware product 3DMARK06 http://www.futuremark.com/products/3dmark06/. It's one of the more common standards right now for testing system combos for gaming performance. Essentially you run the default tests, which take about 30 mins, at 1280x1024 res.

A really low number is around 4000-5000, just over 30 000 is the world's record, a common system is around 9000.

It's an excellent benchmarking tool if you want to increase system performance by changing equipment, drivers, settings, overclocking, etc.

When I first tried it with our quad core computer, I got 2900:confused: That was just awful. I put in a 8800gt video card and it immediately went to 11,600.

Some other tools I use, (which can be used for any manufacturer, AMD or Intel, ATI or nVidia), are:
ATITOOL http://www.techpowerup.com/atitool/
GPU_Z http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/115/TechPowerUp_GPU-Z_v0.2.7.html
RIVATUNER http://www.guru3d.com/index.php?page=rivatuner

Excellent, beginner, CPU overclocking guides can be found at Legion Hardwardware.
http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=717&p=1


Caere
~Eldritch, Hib Percival
~Magus, Warhammer

[Sethial]

I don't trust any of the XXMark software, the scores are highly inaccurate and simply changing your CPUID can net a 10-45% higher score.

http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/atom-nano-review.ars/6

I have found that the best way to test your system is just to download a game demo you know will be of comparable req's and give it a go. Or find a nice Tech Demo somewhere and see how your system runs it. You may not get the min/max results but it will give you a darn good idea if you can run the game.

[Caere]

It is generally advisable to avoid religious disputes lest they make you confused, paranoid, and sounding highly negative. It's better just to have a bit of fun, especially with stuff as mundane as computers.

The first line of the article you cited is inaccurate, "the PcMark 2005 is the predecessor to 3DMark Vantage". That's not true. The PcMark 2005 does not exist. It's called PcMark 05, but that's not a predecessor to 3DMark Vantage anyways; PCMark 05 is a predecessor to PCMark Vantage, which is a different test altogether.

http://www.futuremark.com/download/

Why so picky? Because for an article published on July 29, 2008, the author's reading ability betrays a serious flaw, which makes me question his testing methods. After reading the rest of page, my suspicions were confirned: that article is religious, not scientific.

Just have fun with it. Every single time I tweaked my computer with new drivers, oc'ing the frequencies, etc. my 3dmark score appeared to move accordingly, and when I compared the scores to similar systems, I found I was in the range. If this software was not reliable, I simply could not do that.

Caere
~Eldritch Hib. Percival
~Magnus Warhammer

[Radaghast]

I have always enjoyed playing with futuremark graphics testing programs.

They may not be perfect and there is always some controversy surround them, I remember something about the test favoring one graphics card manufacturer over another a few years ago, but I think that cleared up after a while.

If you have never used 3dmark, it is fun to watch the tests and it does give you an idea how your hardware is working. You do not have to compare your results with other people, the data you get is great for figuring out performance issues.

You can run the test once, change your hardware or drivers and run it again to see if your system is better or worse. It is a great tool in that sense.

For me whenever I plan to do a upgrade, I do a fresh restart, shut down all programs and run 3dmark06, then do my upgrade, restart and run again. Comparing scores is a good indication of your performance gain.

[Skadiego]

I ran the test. Here's what it told me...
I thought my computer would have done better then average though. :(


http://service.futuremark.com/resultAnalyzer.action?resultId=8066723&resultType=14

[Cillbo]

Well, those web pages are one time views. They do not save as far as I know. What was your score?

[Radaghast]

YOu neeed to go view your results and check the link button to make it public for the link to work for us.

My score last night was 7487 (http://service.futuremark.com/results/showSingleResult.action?resultId=8065660&resultType=14), I am hoping when I upgrade from 2gb to 4gb memory that is jumps into the 8000's. My memory should arrive tomorrow (sat). I will post my new score.

My motherboard is older and does not have the bus speed of newer motherboards. My memory is DDR400, the latest DDR speeds are DDR2000, I am getting behind in technology :)

[Asborjn]

I hope I read it right my system came in at 19,000+, boy do I love this new PC!

See you folks in game tomorrow.

[Radaghast]

I am jealous! :)

[Skadiego]

Your system
3DMark Score
11600 3DMarks
SM 2.0 Score
4791
SM 3.0 Score
4886
CPU Score
3765

Date Sep 13, 2008 18:16 CDT
OS Microsoft Windows XP M
CPU AMD Phenom(tm) Quad
CPU Speed 2511 MHz
GPU GeForce 9800 GT Superclocked - 512 MB
Memory 3072 MB <~~This should be 4gb... but i guess since i'm xp... /shrug.

My temperature on my computer shot up to 113. SHould I worry about that? It runs at 105.4 right now doing email.

[Gisli]

My temperature on my computer shot up to 113. SHould I worry about that? It runs at 105.4 right now doing email

F or C? If F, fine. If C, I guess your computer would already have died. :)

[Caere]

"My temperature on my computer shot up to 113. SHould I worry about that? It runs at 105.4 right now doing email" - ouch, owie, ouch!

Yea, something sounds not right if that's Celsius. Which temperature is it, the gpu or cpu?


Caere

[Skadiego]

It's F Farenheit.
I just checked the temp when I lost connection. I got booted and it was 111F.

It's weird I lose connection with the game it's done it a few times and it says it's failed to authenticate. At that point I have to restart my computer to get my internet to work again.

Okay so I'm glad I shouldn't worry.. Since it's a new system and I've never had a temperature gauge before I had no idea what to expect.

[Dall dies to much]

lol, ya.. your system would have freaked and died/restarted if it was Celsius

I think the intels auto shut down at 105 C :P

[Drakhon]

My temperature on my computer shot up to 113. SHould I worry about that? It runs at 105.4 right now doing email.

That has to be Fahrenheit. In the computing world, Celsius is almost always used. That's about 40C, which isn't too bad. I idle at 34C with my e8400 and Xigmatec heatsink. What software are you using to read the temp?

[Drakhon]

lol, ya.. your system would have freaked and died/restarted if it was Celsius

I think the intels auto shut down at 105 C :P

Depends on the chip, which can lead to misreadings if the software you are using doesn't use the correct value because the temp is calculated based on it (it's called TJmax).

The 45nm Intels are 95C, for instance.

[Skadiego]

That has to be Fahrenheit. In the computing world, Celsius is almost always used. That's about 40C, which isn't too bad. I idle at 34C with my e8400 and Xigmatec heatsink. What software are you using to read the temp?

Yes yeas. It's Fahrenheit and the program i'm using.../shrug.
My new cpu has the temp on the front of the case. Kind of a cool feature. It now reads 109.2F.

Cool. Glad I don't need to worry.