Author Topic: Skuzzy - Question for ya (Read 454 times)

Brenjen · « **on:** May 07, 2006, 08:47:12 PM »

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"You will want to leave the two optimization options checked in the video settings for that video card. And you can preload into system RAM. Just do not use the other two options." & "do not preload skins, nor preload into video memory. Preload into system RAM is fine"

I have seen you say this, once to me through e-mail & once in a thread here, both times when refering to the top tier nvidia 7000 series cards.

My question(s) is/are; is there a particular reason for you recommending this? Is there a problem with these cards as they pertain to AH? Would it be possible to expound on this advice please sir?

Skuzzy · « **Reply #1 on:** May 08, 2006, 07:08:41 AM »

The game resources are quite a bit larger than they use to be and video cards have gotten faster. Simply put, if you preload into the video card memory, you will run the card out of RAM. Now, you can pretty much ignore the amount of video RAM being used, as shown in the game, as we have found out it does not reflect reality.

Back on track, when you run a video card out of RAM, it has to swap to/from system RAM. NVidia's later drivers have an issue when this has to be done a lot. Aside from that issue, there is no real reason to preload into video RAM. One of the manifestations of the problem is no texture being applied to a poly in the scene. NVidia seems to be happy to draw a blank poly when another frame is ready to be drawn.

The problems get exacerbated when using anti-aliasing, which is a popular option to use on high end video cards, due to the amount of video RAM used for this task. More swapping.

You will not get any performance gains from preloading into video RAM and can induce problems by using it.

Eagler · « **Reply #2 on:** May 08, 2006, 08:25:37 AM »

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Originally posted by Skuzzy
You will not get any performance gains from preloading into video RAM and can induce problems by using it.

makes one wonder why then even have this option..

I thought I would get a performance bump by going from a 128mb card to a 256 mb card and be able to store the info in vram. Wasn't the purpose of storing it in vram vs system ram was that vram is faster?

Is 256mb just not enough now that we have more skins, larger textures, etc...? Is 512mb enough? Is the gain between vram & system ram not enough to worry about?

Brenjen · « **Reply #3 on:** May 08, 2006, 09:04:10 AM »

Eagler; my video card has 512mb of ram & I was told not to check the option so I would assume it's not enough. I luckily have 2 gigs of system ram.

Thanks for the reply Skuzzy; that answered my questions.

I didn't quite understand if it was an Nvidia problem that ATI didn't suffer from or if it was just that AH needs too many resources. I bought the "best" card on the market just so AH would be trouble free....heck I basically built my current PC just to play AHII

Skuzzy · « **Reply #4 on:** May 08, 2006, 09:57:55 AM »

The option is still a valid one, but with a few caveates.

1) Texture size should be set to 256, no higher.
2) No anti-aliasing should be enabled.
3) Video resolution should not exceed 1024x768.
4) Skins must be disabled.

The above should allow the option to work for the NVidia cards with the later drivers.

With skins enabled, and the texture size set to 512, you would need a video card with 1GB of video RAM in order to preload the game resources.

Bronk · « **Reply #5 on:** May 08, 2006, 11:53:11 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Skuzzy
The option is still a valid one, but with a few caveates.

1) Texture size should be set to 256, no higher.
2) No anti-aliasing should be enabled.
3) Video resolution should not exceed 1024x768.
4) Skins must be disabled.

The above should allow the option to work for the NVidia cards with the later drivers.

With skins enabled, and the texture size set to 512, you would need a video card with 1GB of video RAM in order to preload the game resources.

Hmmm would two 512 cards in SLI be able to preload?
With texture set to 512?

Bronk

Skuzzy · « **Reply #6 on:** May 08, 2006, 12:13:22 PM »

No. NVidia's SLI does not support Aces High II.

scottydawg · « **Reply #7 on:** May 08, 2006, 05:24:57 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Skuzzy
No. NVidia's SLI does not support Aces High II.

This is something that I would want to know before buying new hardware, as I was actually going to build a new box with SLI NVidia cards. Back to the drawing board!

Have you got a supported hardware list?

How many people are there at HiTech?

Skuzzy · « **Reply #8 on:** May 08, 2006, 08:12:03 PM »

SLI is not something we can support. Support for games under SLI comes from NVidia. To my knowledge they are only concerned with the top box games.
I believe CrossFire from ATI is in the same situation, although I could be errant on that one.
Dual core AMD CPU's will work, when using Windows 2000 (as reported), but XP has issues which Microsoft has yet to address in the operating system, for these CPU's. True multi-threaded DX9 games, will do some funky stuff.

There are seven of us here at HTC. You see all our names on the clipboard at the opening of the game.

scottydawg · « **Reply #9 on:** May 08, 2006, 08:22:47 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Skuzzy
SLI is not something we can support. Support for games under SLI comes from NVidia. To my knowledge they are only concerned with the top box games.
I believe CrossFire from ATI is in the same situation, although I could be errant on that one.
Dual core AMD CPU's will work, when using Windows 2000 (as reported), but XP has issues which Microsoft has yet to address in the operating system, for these CPU's. True multi-threaded DX9 games, will do some funky stuff.

There are seven of us here at HTC. You see all our names on the clipboard at the opening of the game.

That sucks (about SLI).

Color me very impressed. 7 people for a game this awesome, I thought there were more (not on the clippy). You guys deserve a huge pat on the back (and fat paychecks too). Let me know if you ever need a sysadmin

Dunno if I'd move to Tejas though...

Brenjen · « **Reply #10 on:** May 08, 2006, 08:33:04 PM »

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SLI is not something we can support

No wonder I saw no effect in AH with my SLI set-up. My 7900GTX runs as strong or stronger than the 2 - 7800GT's I had. Even more glad I replaced them now.

Skuzzy · « **Reply #11 on:** May 08, 2006, 08:41:57 PM »

Well Scotty, as I am the local network geek for the company, if my job becomes available, I am sure you would hear about it, as would most everyone on the board, for one reason or another.

Brenjen, just to be clear. When I say SLI is not something we can support. I mean the support *must* come from NVidia. There is no "coad" we can write which would make it work.

scottydawg · « **Reply #12 on:** May 08, 2006, 08:48:24 PM »

I meant ANOTHER sysadmin.

Brenjen · « **Reply #13 on:** May 08, 2006, 10:24:02 PM »

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Brenjen, just to be clear. When I say SLI is not something we can support. I mean the support *must* come from NVidia. There is no "coad" we can write which would make it work.

OK, I thought you meant SLI would not give a benefit during AH. Either way I'm happy with my card & I think I understand the answers to my original query. Which translates too 512mb isn't enough to pre-load everything into.

I'm just tickled I can run 1024 textures & high detail with my new PC ( now that I think I finally have the crashes whupped - thermal related 99.99% sure of it )