Aces High Bulletin Board
Help and Support Forums => Technical Support => Topic started by: Midnight on November 11, 2004, 11:47:26 AM
-
Is there an FPS benchmark for AH based on system specs?
I just recieved a new Dell XPS Gen 3
3.4Ghz
1G DDR2 533MHz RAM
256MB ATI X800T PCIe Video
I've gone through Skuzzy's Tips and have disabled all the stuff in his list plus many other services - I still have 39 running, so there must be more I can kill (according to Skuzzy)
Anyway, With everything cranked to max detail, max visual range, 1024 textures, 1024x768 resolution, I have
52 FPS in tower
31 FPS in a GV
24 FPS on the runway in a P-51D
85 FPS on the bridge of a CV
When I get this PC home tonight, I'll be trying to run it at 1600x1200 so I am thinking my FPS will go down even further.
I would like to think that this PC has the HP to play AH with everthing maxed out.
-
how much was it?
-
39 processes is strange. What cpu usage in idle?
Also i would think you should get way better framerates.
-
Originally posted by thebest1
how much was it?
I got everything for about $1800 when Dell had a 30% off sale one friday last month.
The PC has including the specs from my 1st post:
1 16x DVD
1 DVD-R/+R
160Gb HD
SB Audigy
5.1 Surround speaker system
17" monitor (call it an extra because I already have a 21" Trinitron)
Color photo-printer with flat-bed scanner
plus all the other goodies you would expect this type of PC to have
2.0USB ports front and back
firewire ports front and back
audio ports front and back
etc.
The Chassis is huge - 20"H x 18"D x 8.5"W
2 fans and duct work for the CPU cooler
2 fans on the Power supply (which is actually a 2" high platform that the rest of the PC chassis sits on top of)
-
Originally posted by Schutt
39 processes is strange. What cpu usage in idle?
Also i would think you should get way better framerates.
CPU at idle is 1%.. I'm messing with disabling other processes to see if I can improve the performance.
I bumped the resolution up to 1280x1024 (best the monitor here can handle) and the FPS remained at 53 in the tower, so I guess the video card wasn't straining at the 1024x768 setting.
-
I use an AMD A64 3500 and 1 gig mem with X800XT.
Sure i can run it at 1600 res and 1024 textures at decent frame rates.
But i choose not to, because once you actually get involved in fighting especially when low then you will find choppy play and low frame rates. Dependant on how many cons you are surrounded by.
I have my vid settings at about 90%, res is 1280 with 512 textures and i load into vid mem as sytem mem seems screwed to me. Last patch or 2 using system mem for caching i am getting failed disk writes etc.
Never get them with any other program.
Reason for 512 textures is if attacking buffs with 1024 tex i always get a freeze at about 1.5 to 1.0k out, usually resulting in a blown pass or me taking damage.
Using these settings i can fight in the weeds with multiple cons and still be smooth as silk, to me its more about playability than maxing the visuals.
Your best way to check the fps is always use the same plane at the same field, runway etc.
Try it but i can tell you now at some fields you will get double the fps than others, even if both fields are of the same class ie large.
-
Thanks Cavalier
I might have to drop some settings too. I just thought that this 'high end' system should be able to fire out FPS in AH with no problems with max details selected.
I've gotten the running processes down to 23, but I can't see where any others can be disabled without making the PC unstable or unplayable online (according to service descriptions for stuff like DNS service, TCP service, etc.)
With the 23 services running, I'm at
57 FPS in the tower
48 FPS OTR in a P-51D which jumps to 75 FPS once I clear 500'
Pretty good.. I'll have to see what I get in combat with fires and smoke going, etc.
-
I have a amd64 3400+ and a 9800 pro , i can max out everything except the ground range, with 6x aa and it sits at the monitior cap of 75hz@1280x768. I would really like to see a set up that can run everything maxed, and not see any studder or slow down. Nice rig midnight , u too cav.
38
Btw i have 9 proccess's running at startup , xp home , keep widdilin away midnight
-
Merc,oops Midnight
There is a website called Blackviper.This guy is very good at getting the msc.services down.I run with 14,and could do even less,but I get lil scared to shut some of them down.
You have a nice system,and once you get it tweaked,it should do ok.
That being said,AH2 is a terrible resource hog,and I wouldn't be surprised if a memory leak is found someday.Ozkansas is a very difficult map for me to get a decent fps.The fact that I hate not being able to get something to run well,is probably what keeps me hanging around.Good luck on getting your system running well.
IronDog
-
Midnight, thanks for the post! I have your system except I selected the GeForce 6800 GT card with 256 mb. I've been going crazy trying to figure out what I can do to pump up the framerates. I've had my system for a few weeks and I've been reluctant to tweak XP Pro. Black Viper's site is very thorough so check it out.
Now...I have your identical framerates with 41 processes running. So...let me know what you tweak and how you make out. I'm running at 1280x1024, 512 textures preloaded in sys mem, vid settings maxed except distance which is about a quarter to half an inch to the right. Vsync is on due to the rubber bullet issue (do a search on the boards for Vsync).
Great system, you'll love it. :aok
-
the safe way to test shutting down proccess's is to hit control alt delete and end proccess, like i said ive got mine down to 9 . these are the ones i definetly need running. explorer , svchost csrss.exe, smss.exe, lsass.exe, winlogon.exe, system, system idle,and services.
now all peeps systems are different , i also have automatic updates off as well as remote assistance, and system restore. which all require a proccess
the worst thing that can happen by turning them off in windows task manger( cntr alt del) is that it will A) reboots its self B) lockup requiring a hard reset . (hold the power button in till it turns off)
GL 38
-
Let me put you at rest. There is not a system on the market today that will allow AH to run at full on everything at very high frame rates.
With that said, it is doubtfull many people could tell the difference in the 'full' detail versus the 'medium'.
Now, if you are concerned with what you can do to make the game play butter smooth, you have the system to do it Midnight.
Try this configuration.
With Aces High at full defaults.
Set the game resolution at 1280x1024. Set the maximum texture size to 256,..maybe 512, but try 256 first.
Check both preload options.
Next, in the ATI control panel, set the anti-aliasing to 4x, set anisotropic filtering to 'Application Preferece'. Everything else can stay the same.
39 processes is way too many. Check with DmdBT. He has a system similar, but slightly faster and I think he probably has 21 running.
EDIT: Actually I just noticed you have 533Mhz DDR2 ram. It is going to be slower than DDR1 RAM at 200Mhz. DDR2 RAM suffers from very high latencies. And the 3.4Ghz Prescott CPU you have is a tad slower than a 3.2Ghz Northwood. Just FYI.
-
Re: the processes running... is it normal to have 6 separate "svchost"s running?
-
Yes. They are virtual processes, not real ones.
-
Originally posted by Skuzzy
.... I just noticed you have 533Mhz DDR2 ram. It is going to be slower than DDR1 RAM at 200Mhz. DDR2 RAM suffers from very high latencies. And the 3.4Ghz Prescott CPU you have is a tad slower than a 3.2Ghz Northwood. Just FYI.
What the frick and frack? I'm not a PC hardware buff, so I guess I'm learning this the hard way... I buy Dell's so-called top of the line gaming system and the new DDR2 RAM is slower than older DDR1 ram AND my processor that runs at 3.4Ghz is slower than an older chipset 3.2Ghz?
I know you know your stuff, skuzzy, but please tell me you are kidding me?
Well, anyway, I've gone ahead and configured a different hardware profile for gaming, so I can hack away at will. Still playing with services.
-
Nope hes not kidding.
-
Also im not sure if you noticed, but make sure you are NOT running the .NET framework drivers. The normal ones, old style (but newest release) are better performance.
The thing with DDR2 ram is that it is faster transfer but slower latency. So when you transfer large blocks of information at once its faster, but ah2 needs smaller blocks of mem at a time. So on some applications the ddr2 is faster and others old ddr is faster.
Also if you run a firewall on your system, as is default with xp sp2, that will take some processor time as soon as data is transmitted. Giving free access for ah2 will make it run but slower... saw that in another thread i think not here. Running without will make you vulnerable to attacks though.
-
Midnight, hate to tell you this but Dell is notorious for labelling something in a manner that the routine PC user will see as hot, but people in the know understand is not. Now, let me put your mind at ease, somewhat.
Skuzzy is absolutely correct about the memory and the cpu. I knew this when I bought the system. BUT, I also researched high and low, looking for the perfect combination of price and system to run AHII. When you consider the $$, and the fact that we didn't build our systems ourselves, we got a very nice system at a price the boutique builders couldn't touch. Believe me, I looked.
This doesn't mean you shouldn't continue with tweaking, etc. But don't get too bothered by the high latency memory. If it troubles you all that much, it can be replaced. Just make sure you match the motherboard. Also...I ran the game last night at the default settings and it was smooth as silk at 1280x1064, 512 textures preloaded in sys mem and looked fabulous doing it. Admittedly, we were on a large water map, but it works well. One hint...turn off the frame rate info from time to time and see if that improves the game experience. :)
Make sure to post your tweaks and how you're making out!
-
Not kidding Midnight.
Scud, actually you can get some very nice hardware from boutique builders for competitive prices and end up with a better system as well.
Here is an example.
Intel 3.2Ghz Northwood P4
1GB ultra-low latency PC3200 RAM
ATI X800Pro 256MB
120GB HD
Sony Dual Layer DVD Burner
52X CD-ROM drive
Floppy
10/100/1000 Intel Ethernet Controller
Creative Labs Audigy 2 ZS Platinum
480W Antec Power Supply
Full Height Aluminum Case (Antec P160)
Microsoft Optical Mouse
Heavy Duty Keyboard
8 USB 2.0 Ports
2 Firewire Ports
LCD Display thermal monitor
3 year warranty
Trade-in program
Windows XP Professional
$2,000.00 sans monitor, delivered
I think that is pretty competitive. By the way, is Dell shipping an OS CD with the systems these days? I know many OEM's do not.
NOTE: This is not a recommendation. Just information.
-
Skuzzy,
I did receive the OS CD, but that can change day to day. You're correct that there are lots of competitive sellers out there. My statement was probably over-broad. For the specs that I desired, at the time of purchase, my system was the most bang for the buck of those I saw. That included the monitor since I wanted to increase the size.
There were probably systems out there that may have been better, but I didn't find them. For my system configuration, the comparable AMD system, at the time of purchase, was around $1k more than I paid for the Intel 3.6 mhz. I just couldn't justify that delta. But again, prices change daily and, at the end of my search, I closed my eyes, held my nose and hit the order button knowing that the very next day someone, somewhere, would show me a better deal. Its just the nature of the pc market. And believe me, I started out wanting to avoid Dell!!!
As always, your info is bang on. Thanks for the continued lessons!
:)
-
OK
I tweaked some more. As mentioned, I'm using a seperate hardware profile for booting to play AH. I went to BlackViper's site and configured my services per his 'power user' configuration. This gets me down to 20 running processes after boot up. I still have some other services running that aren't on BV's list.
Anyway, I manually terminated a few of the other services like 'DVDsomething or other' that I know AH doesn't need, getting me down to 14 processes. Then I start TrackIR, so I have 15 total running before I start AH.
Now, OTR in a P-51D, I am reading a nice 75FPS at 1600x1200x32 with 1024 textures, range and detail sliders about 80% left. I don't get any higher than 75FPS however, even after takeoff and looking at a clear sky. (My monitor refresh rate is 75, so I am guessing that my video card won't push more than the monitor can refresh.)
So now I say.. SWEET... But I have to learn to fight again. I'm so used to <20FPS in combat, the smooth animation is making me miss too much :o
I will post a better detailed list of what processes I have going for the 'Gaming' hardware profile when I get home.
-
Midnight..you're correct that the refresh rate will put a ceiling on the FR with vsync enabled. Let me know how you configured that pc!
-
Originally posted by FBScud
Midnight..you're correct that the refresh rate will put a ceiling on the FR with vsync enabled. Let me know how you configured that pc!
Tell me what parts you want to know...
How to do a different hardware profile, how to disable services in one hardware profile but not the other? I'll give you details on whatever parts you need.
-
If you're willing...
what services you've disabled. Or should I just hit the Blackviper web site and copy his power user settings?
When you say different hardware profile, if you're talking about the video card settings, I already have that part figured out. I'm not sure what other hardware profile changes you would make. After reading your post, if you're talking about something other than the vid card settings, it would be helpful to know how to configure a separate hardwar profile, how yours is set up and how you can choose which one to run.
Thx!
-
Scud
What I did was make my services list the same as BlackViper's, but in a different hardware profile. Just to give you a preview of what I am talking about, (assuming you are using WinXP) go to System Properties and then click on the Hardware tab.
At the bottom of the hardware window, there is a section that says Hardware Profiles - "Hardware profiles provide a way for you to set up and store different hardware configurations." with a button that says Hardware Profiles.
Click on the button and you go to the Hardware Profiles window. There it says "You can setup hardware profiles for different hardware configurations. At startup, you can choose the profile you want to use." Under that it says "Available Hardware Profiles:"
Then there is a list of the existing hardware profiles on your PC. You probably just have one that says "Profile 1 (Current)"
What I did was copy that and named the new one "Gaming" I re-named the current one to "Standard". Put the one you want as default at the top of the list.
OK.. now to the services
Follow BlackViper's instruction for getting the services window open (there's other ways too, but his way is just as simple)
I made my Gaming hardware profile match BV's "Power User" column on his configuration table. For each service that you want to not have running (disabled), follow this instruction...
1. Double-click the service name and a window pops up the says "service name Properties (Local Computer)"
2. Click on the "Log On" tab. Here you will see a table with 2 columns - Hardware Profile and Service. You should also see your two hardware profile names here now (Standard and Gaming)
3. Click on the "Gaming" profile then click the "Disable" button. The table should be updated to show that service as disabled.
4. Click "OK" and then do that for each service.
When you are done, reboot the computer. You will see a black and white text screen come up asking you to choose a hardware profile to boot with. Choose "Gaming"
Now your system will boot up and all the services you changed will be disabled. The good part is, you can also boot in the "Standard" hardware profile, so all those little helper services you need for printing, networking, file sharing, firewall, etc. are available.
So now, you have a computer that works well for gaming, and is still practicle for non gaming use without having to go back in and enable / disbale services everytime you want to switch what you're doing.
-
THanks for the info!! I'll give it a try when I get the chance. BTW, I turned off Vsync yesterday, set video detail to default and my FR went through the roof. I had a couple of kills and some assists so I'll try this for a while. One of my squaddies said his kills doubled when he turned Vsync ON. I'll try it for a while and see we happens. With Vsync on, I'm getting 60s OTR and 70s-90s when flying.
LOL...since I'm so bad at this game, its going to be difficult to figure out whether Vsync is affecting my hits or not. :)
Thanks again! :aok
-
Midnight, unless you are actually disabling hardware there really is no reason to create another hardware profile. Just makes you have to reboot before starting AH.
What I do is create a batch file AHPrep.bat and put a line in for each service I want to shut down before playing AH. The lines are like this:
net stop "servicename"
You can get the service name in the services applet. If there are spaces in the name enclose it in quotes.
I also have another batch file to restore these services called AHRest.bat with the lines:
Net start "servicename"
There are also processes that are not services. Look at the process list and if you are suspicious of one look it up in google you should find good info on the process and it it's OK to kill it. Also check your registry under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
and see what's in there. Look them up to and see if you really need them.
Stuff like sound card software, digital cameras and other things will stick things in there that will eat up ram and processor time that you don't want when running AH. (also spyware, watch out for that stuff)
-
Do an internet search for a program called FSautostart. It will walk you through which services, and programs to temporaritly shut down, and then restart them when you exit the game.
Pretty slick for us.... non- programmer types.