My Dually just celebrated its 6th birthday last month

[3line]

Yep, that's the "primary" in my sig. The "secondary" was sitting at home being a server while I was in college. The DGU is still rock solid; Supermicro sure makes quality boards.

When I first built the computer in '99, it was configured like this:

Dual PII 400Mhz
256 MB Ram
2x20GB HDs
Viper V770 TNT2 Ultra 32MB

The next year, I added 128MB of RAM, and a 40GB HD, and I replaced the 400Mhz PIIs with 600Mhz coppermines.

The year following that, the TNT2 card went out and in went an Abit Ti4200 64MB. The 40 gig HD burned out (&*^&*^ Western Digiblow), and I replaced it with an 80 gig one.

Back in 2002 or 2003, I finally figured out that this board actually has overclocking features. Luckily I had bought PC133 Memory, so all I would need would be a raid card to handle the 44mhz PCI. Now the computer had 512MB of memory, and the 600s got pushed up to 800Mhz.

Finally, just last year, I overhauled the system. The old 600s went out, replaced by a pair of 1ghz slot 1s I got from Ebay. The old hard disks, I retired the 20s and gave my dad the 80. The Ti4200 also went to him, and I replaced it with a Ti4800 I got at a clearance. I bought an additional 512MB of RAM, and got 2 Samsung Spinpoint 160s. Also, I transferred the computer to a lighter, more transportable aluminum case.

So there you have it. It's been quite a ride, and I feel rather proud of it.

 

[funnyperson1]

Well congratulations man, that is quite a ride from a Dual PII-400MHZ. The fact that it is still running (and from looking at the components still has some slick performance) is a tribute to the Intel 440 chipset and supermicro as a server board company.

Long live the P6 core!

Although if I may ask, why would you let a beast system like your "secondary" one sit in a room for a year.

 

[3line]

Although if I may ask, why would you let a beast system like your "secondary" one sit in a room for a year.

Simple, it doubles as my dad's computer

 

[Ad Rock]

Simple, it doubles as my dad's computer

I like that your dad has a x800pro . I dont think my dad even knows what ATI is...

 

[Sjaak]

2xTualatin [email protected]
Radeon X800 Pro 256MB w/VGA silencer

Talk about the CPU being the bottleneck..LOL

 

[3line]

Talk about the CPU being the bottleneck..LOL

That's a bloody myth. Actually my old 9800Pro-mod-XT broke, and I just got this X800Pro, and I tell you, there is a SIGNIFICANT difference in performance in Far Cry. Modern games like that are so GPU intensive that any improvement in GPU would result in a good performance boost overall.

I'm now running Far Cry on High/Very High details with 4xFSAA/8xAniso and averaging about 30 fps in outdoor areas.

I like that your dad has a x800pro . I dont think my dad even knows what ATI is...

Well, the gaming card is mine . Yeah, I get this computer back during the summer. My dad is currently content with the backup rig, with a PIII 600 oc'ed like a ***** to 900.

 

[Sjaak]

Well from what i heard out of recent reviews with the faster cards, the CPU has become the bottleneck. Even with the fastest P4 / A64 ones.

 

[3line]

Well from what i heard out of recent reviews with the faster cards, the CPU has become the bottleneck. Even with the fastest P4 / A64 ones.

Well, judging from this report (which tests for the bottleneck), the bottleneck is not as large as they make it out to seem:

http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/digest3d/0205/itogi-video-fc3-wxp-1280-agp.html

Still, the results speak. Far cry runs far better now on this computer.

 

[Sjaak]

Looking at that chart now.

With the slower video cards, the results are the same no matter what CPU speed. This indicates that the VGA has been maxed out.

With the high speed video cards, there is a great improvement with every CPU speed increase. This indicates that the CPU is performing to it's max, and the card is easily keep up.

Thus, the CPU is the bottleneck...

 

[3line]

Looking at that chart now.

With the slower video cards, the results are the same no matter what CPU speed. This indicates that the VGA has been maxed out.

With the high speed video cards, there is a great improvement with every CPU speed increase. This indicates that the CPU is performing to it's max, and the card is easily keep up.

Thus, the CPU is the bottleneck...

Not reading it carefully. For an A64 underclocked to 1400Mhz, performance increases fairly steadily up to and including the X800 Pro.

The hype would have you believe that a 3ghz P4 is bottlenecking an X800 Pro, but that simply is not the case.

 

[Sjaak]

Not reading it carefully. For an A64 underclocked to 1400Mhz, performance increases fairly steadily up to and including the X800 Pro.

Re-read my post ^^

The lower speed cards don't get an improvement with a faster CPU speed --> the card has become the bottleneck, the extra Mhz on the CPU don't matter.

The higher speed cards get alot of improvement with a a faster CPU. More CPU Mhz = more performance, with the cards easily keeping up.

 

[3line]

Re-read my post ^^

The lower speed cards don't get an improvement with a faster CPU speed --> the card has become the bottleneck, the extra Mhz on the CPU don't matter.

The higher speed cards get alot of improvement with a a faster CPU. More CPU Mhz = more performance, with the cards easily keeping up.

I still don't see where I am getting one hell of a CPU bottleneck, which is what you meant when you said "Talk about the CPU being the bottleneck..LOL," right?

The fact that I've been getting more than 50% fps increases compared to my 9800XT probably means that the bottleneck is not as large or significant as you describe (or imply for that matter). Last time I checked, this system was running the same tualatins it's been running for the past year.

 

[Sjaak]

I still don't see where I am getting one hell of a CPU bottleneck, which is what you meant when you said "Talk about the CPU being the

With Far Cry, your CPU is running its pants off to keep up with the video card. If you would be using a faster CPU you would easily see much higher FPS.

- That is what i ment

 

[3line]

With Far Cry, your CPU is running its pants off to keep up with the video card. If you would be using a faster CPU you would easily see much higher FPS.

- That is what i ment

Well, it's better to have a little GPU headroom than be held back like I was with the 9800XT

That's the thing, though. The tremendous increases are for newer games such as Far Cry; older games that are not as graphics intensive don't get as big of a boost.

But as games are getting more graphically complex all the time, GPU headroom is not unwelcome

P.S. Si cela n'est pas un lapin, alors qu'est-ce que c'est?

 

[Elif Tymes]

Simple: Your 1.4 Ghz PIII's can't keep up with your X800 Pro.

I shall demonstrate using an example from my life...

I had an Athlon 64 3000+. I also had a 6800 Non Ultra, which is comparable with an X800.

Now, if I increased my CPU clock speed, I would notice significant leaps in 3D benchmarks, Aquamark, 3DMark2K3, and even 2K5.

Once I reached 2.4 Ghz however, the leaps subsided and it did not improve my score as significantly as it once did.

If I set my CPU at stock, and overclocked the 6800, I would also not see huge benefits. I would see some minor improvements, especially in GPU dependant areas, I.E. not a huge amount of models, but specular lighting effects and particle effects.

Now, what you sa of the X800Pro is a powerhouse, even with the 1.5Ghz Chips, I would have to agree with you.

Even though the CPU is a bottleneck, your X800Pro should perform well, however it will propably perform about on par (on average) with a far cheaper card. It may not do AA and AF as well(as those are primarily GPU dependant) but for general rendering it shouldn't be a huge deal.

Just my 2c

 

[3line]

Even though the CPU is a bottleneck, your X800Pro should perform well, however it will propably perform about on par (on average) with a far cheaper card.

Again, I replaced my 9800XT and got more than 50% improvement in frame rate in Far Cry, all while boosting detail level.

I don't see how I was getting "on par" performance with a far cheaper (or in this case, more primitive) card. With the 9800, the only thing I noticed was it holding me back.

 

[johan851]

It may not do AA and AF as well(as those are primarily GPU dependant) but for general rendering it shouldn't be a huge deal.

Wouldn't it do AA and AF better? If the CPU is holding it back, then there should be some extra room to turn up the GPU-based effects.

Either way, those are two really cool systems. I'm impressed, especially with you getting that much out of a dual P2 system.

 

[3line]

Wouldn't it do AA and AF better? If the CPU is holding it back, then there should be some extra room to turn up the GPU-based effects.

Either way, those are two really cool systems. I'm impressed, especially with you getting that much out of a dual P2 system.

That was what I was thinking. As I posted earlier, I've noticed the greatest boost in new games like HL2 and Far Cry. It's probably because newer games are more graphics intensive and thus are able to utilize the GPU more. This is why Far Cry, according to those test results, ( http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/digest3d/0205/itogi-video-fc3-wxp-1280-agp.html ) gets GPU bottlenecked like hell on a 9800XT and even 6600GT while oldassed games like Unreal Tournament scale according to processor speed.

As I have said, the problem of CPU bottlenecking is greatly exaggerated, especially when new games are concerned.

Yeah, but anyway, I'm going to keep this old system running as long as possible

 

[Elif Tymes]

Again, I replaced my 9800XT and got more than 50% improvement in frame rate in Far Cry, all while boosting detail level.

How did you determine this?

Also, I have a couple questions on your 9800 XT, what Drivers(for one) and what levels? If the levels are primarily ones that are GPU intensive, and what kind of frames were you getting? Saying a 50% increase is all well and good, but when its from 30 FPS average to 45, thats not a huge deal

 

[3line]

How did you determine this?

Also, I have a couple questions on your 9800 XT, what Drivers(for one) and what levels? If the levels are primarily ones that are GPU intensive, and what kind of frames were you getting? Saying a 50% increase is all well and good, but when its from 30 FPS average to 45, thats not a huge deal

Latest Omegas. I didn't do a formal test, but I used the first savepoint on the research level, with the large outdoor area overlooking a large patch of water. With the 9800xt, I was getting 20 or so frames on average. With the new one, it's hanging closer to 30.

That, I think, is quite a difference.