Supreme Commander
Supreme Commander is one of the better RTS games to be released in recent memory although we are still huge fans of Command and Conquer 3 along with Company of Heroes. We chose Supreme Commander as it is both a GPU and CPU hog when it comes to systems resources. We utilize the built-in performance test to benchmark the game. We set all of the settings to high and only change the resolutions or AA settings between benchmark runs. This benchmark provides a cornucopia of results but for our tests we will report the average frame rates during the benchmark. We generally find this game to be playable across the network with frame rates at or above 30fps.
Company of Heroes
Company of Heroes was released last year and is still proving to be a very addictive RTS game around the office. The game is extremely GPU intensive and also requires a hefty CPU at times. The game contains a built-in performance test that utilizes the game engine to generate several different action scenes. We found the performance test gives a good indication of how well your system will perform throughout the game on average. We have found some of the in-game action sequences to be more demanding than the performance test and are working on game play benchmark that is repeatable. We generally found the game to be enjoyable with an average frame rate above 35fps.
Prey
Prey offers some superb action sequences, unique weapons and characters, and is a visually stunning game at times. It still requires a very good GPU to run it with all of the eye candy turned on. We set all graphic settings to their maximum except for AA/AF and utilize a custom timedemo that takes place during one of the more action oriented sequences. We generally found the game to be enjoyable with an average frame rate above 35fps.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is one of the favorite first person shooter games around the office as it continues to provide a great deal of replay value and the graphics are very good once the eye candy is turned on. What we especially like about the game is the atmosphere and the fact that it makes for a great system benchmark.
Gaming Summary
We were not expecting significant improvements in Supreme Commander as the game will take any system you throw at it and send it flying back to you at maximum settings. The one positive is improved memory timings at DDR3-1333 resulted in an almost 3% performance improvement. In Company of Heroes and Prey we see the familiar 1% improvement when lowering the memory timings. The most significant improvement in our game testing is in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. with the DDR3-1066 setup showing an 11% improvement when lowering the memory timings indicating this game is very sensitive to both bandwidth and latencies. We tripled checked out setup and scores, each time we had the same results.
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eamon - Tuesday, January 22, 2008 - link
It's a bit of a shame there's nothing about the power consumption of the various motherboards.lopri - Thursday, May 24, 2007 - link
While reading this article I couldn't help but thinking "what for?". Summary of this article could be:1. Using Beta BIOS
2. and Beta Drivers
3. We didn't find anything significant.
What's more interesting is,
Then it goes on,
I went on to look through the comments section in previous P35 article, and I haven't seen ONE comment regarding DDR3 '1T' performance nor DDR3 CrossFire. Most users seem to take interest in performance increase over existing chipset (using DDR2) and overall usability of newly introduced features (eSATA with port multiplier, USB/RAID performance, Turbo memory(?), etc.), as well as the upgrade-ability to Penryn.
If AT thinks at this point DDR3 is the #1 topic in enthusiast community, I should say they are living in a different world. It could be a different story, though, if there is a different motif/agenda to 'push' DDR3 (1T is an icing on the cake). Is there? :)
When P965 just got mature after so many headaches that users go through, I suggest AT to take a cautious approach to P35. To many (all?) users, P35 is just a P965+ and DDR3 isn't even a factor. Instead of 1~2% of performance increase using DDR3, I'd like to see thorough testings on overall system stability and usability of newly introduced features from AT reviews. (I hope others would agree)
P.S. And what is this?
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/PenguinBell...">http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/PenguinBell...
yacoub - Thursday, May 24, 2007 - link
I'm also interested to know why they switched their testbed's GPU to something few people own instead of the more standard 8800GTX that offers at least as good performance but is also used by a wider percentage of readers and has a more mature driverset.Why does Anandtech seem to go out of their way to find the most incongruous system possible compared to their audience?
JarredWalton - Thursday, May 24, 2007 - link
P965 CrossFire is supported, and SLI is not, so that's one reason to use a 2900 XT. It's a feature that is touted as a selling point of the motherboards.yyrkoon - Thursday, May 24, 2007 - link
You guys sure are 'harping' heavily on this new fan dangled P35 chipset . . . Surely there are other, better things to write about in this day and age ? I am all for reading about impressive benchmarks, and new technology etc, but man, I think you guys have beat this horse to death.Personally, I would rather be reading about the possibilities of PCIe v2.0, more camera reviews, Virtualisation, or even what Linux people think about Vista.
Some new content for your readers would be appriciated . . .
yacoub - Thursday, May 24, 2007 - link
I was sorta with you until I read your list of alternatives. Then I immediately wanted to read more P35 reviews if those are the alternatives. =Ptungtung - Thursday, May 24, 2007 - link
" Considering the performance of the P35 chipset when set up correctly, we would love to see a manufacturer utilize a different PCIe controller chip setup and bring 8x8 CrossFire capability to this chipset. "Kinda confused by what this means. I mean isn't the PCIe controller built into the northbridge (or southbridge). So if someone were to use a different controller wouldn't it kinda defeat the purpose of having the P35 and ICH9 pairing in the first place? Or does it suggest adding an extra southbridge chip to get a better PCIe performance?
JarredWalton - Thursday, May 24, 2007 - link
I believe that a motherboard manufacturer could make an 2 x X8 PCIe configuration with P35 if they were so inclined. Gary can correct me if that's wrong.Nailer - Saturday, May 26, 2007 - link
http://plusd.itmedia.co.jp/pcuser/articles/0705/26...">Asus Blitz Extreme and Blitz Formula Computex Preview - Cross Link (2 x X8 PCIe)Haltech - Thursday, May 24, 2007 - link
How exactly can by switching motherboards can up FPS in games? Is it just one northbrige chip better then the other or just the layout.