Benchmarks IV
We've introduced Comanche 4 into our gamut of benchmarks recently. Like most aircraft simulations with huge landscapes, it requires an intense amount of CPU / memory throughput. Deficiencies in either the chipset or memory throughput can be quickly diagnosed with such a benchmark. Benchmarked at 1024x768x32,
Very similar results to Serious Sam 2, not in FPS but in the linear rise in performance as we raise the FSB from 100 to 133. Memory is being raised on a similar basis from 133 to 177MHz, so we should expect a linear rise in performance. One aspect to note thus far is that the IT7, when run at 133FSB, has been a shade faster than the EPoX I845D motherboard run at the same settings. The opposite appears to be true at 1600MHz / 100FSB, interesting.
Let's wrap up our analysis with a visit to Quake 3. We'll run at 512 Fastest and 1024 Max Quality to firstly highlight pure bandwidth, and secondly to mirror a real games-playing resolution.
And now 1024 Max quality
Pretty much what we expected.
We've previously mentioned that the onboard Realtek ALC650 CODEC is a cut above the standard AC'97 CODEC that ships with most motherboards. In fact, it is on a par with a low-end hardware solution. To test its performance hit, I reran Quake 3 with 1024 MAX settings at 2133/133/177 with sound enabled. The sound disabled score, as shown above, was 246.1 FPS. Imagine my surprise when this dropped to 194.8 FPS with the CODEC enabled. Simply switching sound off restored our 246 FPS score. The performance hit is simply unacceptable, this detracts somewhat from the CODEC's usefulness to hardcore gamers, a decent hardware solution will serve them better.
