Benchmark results

[Grauniad]

can you still buy it and put it in? Many laptops still has the slot and everything. Just a matter of a few screws...

[Michionlion]

can you still buy it and put it in? Many laptops still has the slot and everything. Just a matter of a few screws...

I looked into that a while ago, but never really determined anything...  but since I am getting a new PC soon anyway, I probably won't through down more just for a couple weeks of Radeonness.

[Blaze]

BTW, blaze, your PC should be much better than that, you probably have something that is bogging everything down...

Whatever it is it's only for the benchmark, I run most of my games really well.
Currently running over half of my games at beyond max settings with at least 40+ fps with the rest on medium and similar frame rates.

I have some exceptions, such as Company of Heroes 2, even on low settings I get low frames, though it is playable.
Then again I used to play L4D2 at 5 fps when all I had was a tiny little laptop to play on. ::)

It's probably the CPU, I think it's only counting the base speed for the benchmark, and not the 4.0 GHz OC I have on it.
And even elsewhere my CPU seems to be the bottleneck now, as physics heavy stuff has an impact on my frame rates.
Such as Vindictus, on the boat there is a lot of physic props that can be destroyed, using a character with a large attack radius and destroying a lot of stuff makes my fps fall over and die for a second.
Then again that is one game I can really say is lacking in the optimization department, as removing the UI brings me from 45 fps to a solid 60 in most areas.
Not to mention somebody reduced the bitrate of the music by a tiny amount and seen an fps improvement...

Such a great game ruined by a bad company. :-\

[miquelfire]

Home Machine, my main game machine.

[Grauniad]

Home Machine, my main game machine.

That's very interesting. You have the same CPU as Virgil, yet the rest of your configuration slightly edges him out.  Which makes me want to organize these benchmarks by rank... :)

I'm interested in your RAM configuration. Do you have 6MB per channe (4+2 GB) l or do you have an asymmetric 8/4 GB configuration? I thought the latter would drop your memory into single-channel performance.

[Helper]

[Grauniad]

Wow Helper, that's impressive.

[Helper]

@G - thank you.
I haven't noticed any lag on any of the CW games.
:)
Total cost for components was about US$1350.

[Grauniad]

@G - thank you.
I haven't noticed any lag on any of the CW games.
:)
Total cost for components was about US$1350.

About that. I was checking back on your thread and you did not list a OS in the build cost. Were (are) you still on the preferential Microsoft subscription plan?

[miquelfire]

I have 4/2/4/2 (I assume that's what you meant by the 4+2), the 4GB chips are like the ones shown on the benchmark.

Basically, I built it with 4 GB, then later on when I had too many VMs to run with that amount, I tossed in the 8. Normally how I build my systems.

[Grauniad]

I have 4/2/4/2 (I assume that's what you meant by the 4+2), the 4GB chips are like the ones shown on the benchmark.

Basically, I built it with 4 GB, then later on when I had too many VMs to run with that amount, I tossed in the 8. Normally how I build my systems.

Ah thanks! I've come across big-name builds that have the memory allocated unevenly over the channels and thus it runs in single-channel mode as opposed to dual-channel.

[Grauniad]

These results are incredibly intriguing.

For my own analysis I made this little spreadsheet comparing current results:



My main observation would be that Michionlion would get a LOT of extra mileage out of that laptop (look at the CPU measurements) if he could put a better graphics card in it as well as maybe a SSD.

[Helper]

About that. I was checking back on your thread and you did not list a OS in the build cost. Were (are) you still on the preferential Microsoft subscription plan?

Sorry for the delay - been out having a Second Amendment day.

I still have some left over licenses from before I shut down the business. A legitimate cost would include whatever flavor OS was chosen to run.

RAM and graphics card were always two of my solutions for perking up an older system, and since the common release, an SSD. For a workstation, the SSD can be a fairly inexpensive upgrade if you just get one big enough for the OS and use the old SATA drive for data/storage.

[Echo51]

CPU running 2.78ghz really, and the low-end motherboard probably chokes the entire thing real bad...

[Grayzzur]

My gaming/whatever desktop. I like to go with the sweet spot on the price/performance curve when I buy. The point where you start to get serious diminishing returns for your extra dollars. This is why I have, say, an i5 instead of an i7. I also like quiet systems. I don't overclock my cpu or gpu. I put a big-ass heatsink and fan in there so it can keep it cool without the fan running crazy. I built this, and a near twin to it for my son, for Christmas 2012.