FEAR: SLI poster child!?

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: ayabe

Originally posted by: crazydingo
No improvement for 1GB -> 2GB. Guess only BF2 needs 2GB.

I don't buy that, it may not help any "benchmarks" but the consensus is that it helps with the stuttering when moving rapidly or around corners as well as load times.

Agreed!!! Adding a second GB of RAM to my system got rid of the "hitching" when entering new rooms or turning a corner quickly. 2GB may not improve framerates, but it DEFINATELY stops hitching/stuttering. No doubt.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: southpawuni
It appears SLI is a stunning success.

I dont know if I'd pay $900 for two video cards either. But SLI rocks.

The article was not to show how SLI is a stunning success. It was to show that you do not need the fastest CPU on the planet to play FEAR at its full potential and you can get away with a moderate CPU. If fear was CPU limited, you would see no increase when adding a second 7800GTX or whatever card. This does not hold true for every game of course. We are just talking FEAR here.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: StrangerGuy
FEAR's SLI performance is pathetic.

How's your 9800 doing?

 

[StrangerGuy]

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003

Originally posted by: StrangerGuy
FEAR's SLI performance is pathetic.

How's your 9800 doing?

Excellent for all the games that I actually play, with 6xAA and 16xAF to boot:

Diablo 2
Warcraft 3
Morrowind
CS 1.6
Jedi Academy
Neverwinter Nights

 

[1Dark1Sharigan1]

54/30 = 80% gain . . . not to shabby . . .

 

[gtx4u]

Originally posted by: jiffylube1024
Yes, FEAR does really benefit from SLI. Unfortunately, I'd never buy $900 worth of video equipment just to play a game. You can get an Xbox360 and a PS3 (when it comes out) for that price!

2x 7800 gt only cost 580 shipped wtf are u talking about?.

Yes you can get an Xbox 360, but can you send e-mails, surf internet, store data files, and do homework and other things that a PC can do that a gaming console can't?

Also I'll have u know that a complete xbox 360 system means you'll need an HDTV in order to display 720p, which is gonna cost you at least another 600 dollars + 300 dollar for the xbox 360.

 

[jiffylube1024]

Originally posted by: gtx4u

Originally posted by: jiffylube1024
Yes, FEAR does really benefit from SLI. Unfortunately, I'd never buy $900 worth of video equipment just to play a game. You can get an Xbox360 and a PS3 (when it comes out) for that price!

2x 7800 gt only cost 580 shipped wtf are u talking about?.

I'm talking about 2X 7800GTX's, that's wtf I'm talking about. Sure dual 7800GT's would be cheaper, we also don't have the benchmark data around so we don't know how much better it performs.

Yes you can get an Xbox 360, but can you send e-mails, surf internet, store data files, and do homework and other things that a PC can do that a gaming console can't?

I never said you had to sell your PC to buy those things, so don't bring that nonsensical argument in here. You can surf the web and store files with a GeForce 4 MX, and game fine with a 6600GT.

Also I'll have u know that a complete xbox 360 system means you'll need an HDTV in order to display 720p, which is gonna cost you at least another 600 dollars + 300 dollar for the xbox 360.

Yes but some of us have HDTV's anyways - there's more to use an HDTV for than just games.

 

[imported_Rampage]

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003

Originally posted by: southpawuni
It appears SLI is a stunning success.

I dont know if I'd pay $900 for two video cards either. But SLI rocks.

The article was not to show how SLI is a stunning success. It was to show that you do not need the fastest CPU on the planet to play FEAR at its full potential and you can get away with a moderate CPU. If fear was CPU limited, you would see no increase when adding a second 7800GTX or whatever card. This does not hold true for every game of course. We are just talking FEAR here.

You are saying that the return of SLI has not been a stunning success?

No it wasnt intended to show that. But it sure looks like a great engineering success to me judging from the improvements there.

 

[lexmark]

Key Word:

Game SPECIFIC

I wouldnt go merrily splurging on SLI just because of the miraculous returns of one game. For fear only sure, but sli setups dont offer that much bang in other fps, no where near the performance you would expect for another $350.

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: lexmark
Key Word:

Game SPECIFIC

I wouldnt go merrily splurging on SLI just because of the miraculous returns of one game. For fear only sure, but sli setups dont offer that much bang in other fps, no where near the performance you would expect for another $350.

That's not true, SLI offers huge benefits on any GPU limited game and on CPU limited games. This is just the first one you need SLI to get settings we all used to take for granted.

16X SLI AA is nice for CPU limited games, and having higher IQ and minimum framerates is great on newer games.

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: Duvie
Amazing how the min frames of like 36 stioll even with SLI though the MAX was like 230+...I haven't seen swings like that before...Look like it still needs some optimization...

Its likely some of the newer effects like parralax mapping having to be run on both cards as the entire wall would need mapped.

Does SLI use SFR or AFR for fear? i would imagine if this was the case, AFR would be more efficient in fear.

Edit: and doesnt that prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the people screaming "OMG INEFFICIENT CODE!" have no clue what they are talking about? Its the lighting, shadows, texture detail, and parralax mapping causing the performance hit. Hence the extremely high dependency on performance graphics cards.

 

[ZobarStyl]

Originally posted by: crazydingo
No improvement for 1GB -> 2GB. Guess only BF2 needs 2GB.

That game is so horribly inefficient it makes me cringe. I never play it anymore because a) I shouldn't have a sub-par experience (lag and jerkiness) when I more than double the recommended specs and b) the whole game concept was executed a lot better in PS, so I'm just not impressed. Graphics does not necessarily equal fun. Sorry, you just got my blood flowing with that one...[/hijack]

 

[Marsumane]

Originally posted by: Corporate Thug
great read, thanx

agreed

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: ZobarStyl

Originally posted by: crazydingo
No improvement for 1GB -> 2GB. Guess only BF2 needs 2GB.

That game is so horribly inefficient it makes me cringe. I never play it anymore because a) I shouldn't have a sub-par experience (lag and jerkiness) when I more than double the recommended specs and b) the whole game concept was executed a lot better in PS, so I'm just not impressed. Graphics does not necessarily equal fun. Sorry, you just got my blood flowing with that one...[/hijack]

Its the way the engine works, the entire map is rendered with a heavy LOD bias and higher resolution textures and geometry are loaded as you get within certain bands of clip.

There really isnt a comparable engine that could push that kind of graphics, so while it is an inefficient POS its the only engine out capable of what it does.

 

[aldamon]

Originally posted by: Duvie
Amazing how the min frames of like 36 stioll even with SLI though the MAX was like 230+...I haven't seen swings like that before...Look like it still needs some optimization...

Agreed. The minimum framerates are not that impressive with SLI considering how expensive the setup is. I notice frame drops more than frame boosts.

Regardless, I hope everyone is enjoying this game and not stressing over benchmarks. I finished it this weekend on my 7800GT and it was an awesome experience. I'd also like to say the sound in this game was more important than improved visuals. It really set the mood.

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: aldamon

Originally posted by: Duvie
Amazing how the min frames of like 36 stioll even with SLI though the MAX was like 230+...I haven't seen swings like that before...Look like it still needs some optimization...

Agreed. The minimum framerates are not that impressive with SLI considering how expensive the setup is. I notice frame drops more than frame boosts.

Regardless, I hope everyone is enjoying this game and not stressing over benchmarks. I finished it this weekend on my 7800GT and it was an awesome experience. I'd also like to say the sound in this game was more important than improved visuals. It really set the mood.

It is the best shooter ive played in years, hands down. The environment and story is very well done, and its thoroughly enjoyable even without AA.

 

[nitromullet]

Agreed. The minimum framerates are not that impressive with SLI considering how expensive the setup is. I notice frame drops more than frame boosts.

I don't understand...

CPU....................................................Min FPS.............Max FPS
Athlon 64 X2 3800+2GB Memory..............16...................65
Athlon 64 X2 3800+2GB Memory SLI.........36..................140

You get more than double the minimum frames with SLI...

What did you expect? You add a second video card, and get triple the min FPS...? I would say that the difference between 16 min FPS and 36 min FPS is going to improve the overall feel of the game tremendously. As you said, you notice the drops more then the boost. If your game never dips below 30FPS, you are doing great IMO.

Edit: I'm not saying that SLI is right for everyone, but I don't think you can claim its numbers are disappointing when they are doubled. Seldom does a dual hardware solution doube the performance of a single one. How often do you see dual CPU systems actually double the performance of a single CPU system?

 

[gtx4u]

Originally posted by: jiffylube1024

Originally posted by: gtx4u

Originally posted by: jiffylube1024
Yes, FEAR does really benefit from SLI. Unfortunately, I'd never buy $900 worth of video equipment just to play a game. You can get an Xbox360 and a PS3 (when it comes out) for that price!

2x 7800 gt only cost 580 shipped wtf are u talking about?.

I'm talking about 2X 7800GTX's, that's wtf I'm talking about. Sure dual 7800GT's would be cheaper, we also don't have the benchmark data around so we don't know how much better it performs.

Yes you can get an Xbox 360, but can you send e-mails, surf internet, store data files, and do homework and other things that a PC can do that a gaming console can't?

I never said you had to sell your PC to buy those things, so don't bring that nonsensical argument in here. You can surf the web and store files with a GeForce 4 MX, and game fine with a 6600GT.

Also I'll have u know that a complete xbox 360 system means you'll need an HDTV in order to display 720p, which is gonna cost you at least another 600 dollars + 300 dollar for the xbox 360.

Yes but some of us have HDTV's anyways - there's more to use an HDTV for than just games.

Can a geforce 4mx even play todays games? :roll:

U can't game fine on a 6600 gt and expect to run at 1600x1200 on 4x AA with all games :roll:

And most of us don't own a HDTV yet too, have u consider that?

 

[gtx4u]

Originally posted by: Acanthus

Originally posted by: aldamon

Originally posted by: Duvie
Amazing how the min frames of like 36 stioll even with SLI though the MAX was like 230+...I haven't seen swings like that before...Look like it still needs some optimization...

Agreed. The minimum framerates are not that impressive with SLI considering how expensive the setup is. I notice frame drops more than frame boosts.

Regardless, I hope everyone is enjoying this game and not stressing over benchmarks. I finished it this weekend on my 7800GT and it was an awesome experience. I'd also like to say the sound in this game was more important than improved visuals. It really set the mood.

It is the best shooter ive played in years, hands down. The environment and story is very well done, and its thoroughly enjoyable even without AA.

It is a Sierra / Monolith game, they're the ones who made Half life 1 and Shogo, their games are always better than ID's / Raven's in some special ways.

 

[gtx4u]

Also don't forget the fact that PC games can have lots of custome made single/multiplayer maps, mods for free download. They have much more value then the 1 way console game ticket. It's sad and stupid to see even a Halo 2 map pack needs money to buy.