Testing 7600x1600 in Black Shark

[Doctor Machete]

Testing configuration for Black Shark

Rig: i7 920, 6GB mem, WXP, 3xDell 3008wfp, 8800u + 8800gts320

 

no TripleHead (hotkey, no upload to left&right mons)

MH -> multihead option in SoftTh

CUDA -> using CUDA drivers for upload to left&right mons

19x12 -> rendered a full res, but uploaded at 1920x1200 to left&right mons, visually is like some sort of SSAA

 

MIN DETAIL (fps)

--------------------------------------

no TripleHead --> 47

+TH --> 24

+TH +MH --> 30

+TH +CUDA --> 35

+TH +D3D --> 22

+TH +CUDA + MH --> 35

+TH +D3D + MH --> 35

+TH +CUDA + 19x12 --> 42!!

 

No gains when CUDA+MH, wich is strange, cause both options let to more than decent fps gains.

 

 

MAX DETAIL

--------------------------------------

no triplehead --> 27

+TH --> 17

+TH +CUDA --> 27

 

 

I have yet some room for more fps:

- Soon I will upgrade to 285gtx

- Overclock CPU & memory (in this case it will be really running at their nominal speed of 1600Mhz)

- Migrate to Win7

 

 

Now, some screenies:

 

 

 

 

 

[Panzertard]

Sorry but :thumbsup:

I'd kill for that setup. Now is there any latency involved if you look around while in the cockpit etc?

 

I'm amazed that you are able to get such FPS with that number of pixels present in realtime.

I'm down to ~17 to ~25 (around airfields) at my own max, 2560x1600 with gtx295, 6gb mem, win7x64, iCore 7 940, altough I'm not O/C or anything.

 

EDIT: Note, test your setup clsoe to an airfield - thats the FPS killer IMHO.

Edited May 15, 2009 by Panzertard
Airfields ofc. silly me ;)

[Tbag]

That is a nice setup! I'm currently figuring out what I want to by as a monitor setup and it's really a shame that SoftTH does not work with OpenGL. Since I want to play Il2 and hopefully SoW:BoB one day I need to get the matrox TH2Go I guess :(

[Doctor Machete]

I'd kill for that setup. Now is there any latency involved if you look around while in the cockpit etc?

Yes, with softth I got some noticeable (but bearable at least for me) tearing in left&right monitors but central monitor is fine. If becomes unconfortable, I would switch to th2go + 2x19" (I have got already from my previous rig) + 1touchscreen.

 

A bigger problem is a bit of unstability with SoftTh-BS, especially agravated with some options of softth (multihead and using different resolution for left&right mons increases chances of not running at all, but when works, it does all the time till I quit the sim).

 

Note, test your setup clsoe to an airfield - thats the FPS killer IMHO.

Later, first I have to install Win7, overclock as far as I can, configuration of hotas, fourth monitor (7" touchscreen) with touchbuddy and test a couple more things.

 

I'm amazed that you are able to get such FPS with that number of pixels present in realtime.

It´s all about cpu and pcie bus, and BS is not particulary good looking and demanding sim (in graphics). SofTh penalizes heavily cpu, and BS is a very cpu hungry animal. Because of that, I upgraded first (before gpu) cpu&mb (i7 and a 2x16xPCIE).

 

Anyway, I tested a quick overclock (one easy option in MB) to 2.92GHz just to get a look, with no fps gains at all . It was a little dissapointment, but I still have left the real OC (I expect minimum of 3.8GHz).

 

I'm down to ~17 to ~25 (around airfields) at my own max, 2560x1600 with gtx295, 6gb mem, win7x64, iCore 7 940, altough I'm not O/C or anything.

I think maybe 295gtx is lowering your frames (or not, particulary if you play with high AA), because SLI taxes cpu heavily, and we know how important is cpu for BS. Try to deactivate SLI, to see if there is any change on performance. After my tests, I cannot be more sure there is a giant cpu bottleneck in BS.

 

I´m about getting a 285gtx, the most powerfull monogpu. If my fps don´t get higher in BS, at least it will do in some games I like. Also I get more vram room (a)

 

That is a nice setup! I'm currently figuring out what I want to by as a monitor setup and it's really a shame that SoftTH does not work with OpenGL. Since I want to play Il2 and hopefully SoW:BoB one day I need to get the matrox TH2Go I guess

Latest versions of SoftTh (1.09) works with IL-2 (directx mode). Also, there is a FOV changer for it, so use3renders option is not a must now and makes it compatible with HDR mods (with use3renders, hdr is only applied to central viewport-monitor, with left&right mons untouched).

 

I also have th2go and I´d said that if you want resolutions of 3x1680x1050 or less, th2go is waaaay better in general (but softth is more flexible) than softth and I think it worths the money. In this sim, I estimate (after some more testing with th2go) th2go has 30-80% more fps than SoftTh, and configuration and compatibility is very far away.

I like softth for BS because you can see shkval and abris with a very good res in central monitor at 2560x1600, and have the option to lower left&right mons to 1280x800 (for ex), which anyway is just like 2x2 SSAA (the best kind of antialising), regaining some fps, for peripheral vision.

 

Note: it´s curious that performance of BS in 7680x1600 is a lot better than IL-2s. I remember about 10-12fps max-min detail in IL2 with the same resolution. Maybe because It´s not a native directx game and works with a opengl wrapper.

 

 

One more image: loading screen

Edited May 16, 2009 by Doctor Machete

[Doctor Machete]

sorry double post

[Panzertard]

I think maybe 295gtx is lowering your frames (or not, particulary if you play with high AA), because SLI taxes cpu heavily, and we know how important is cpu for BS. Try to deactivate SLI, to see if there is any change on performance. After my tests, I cannot be more sure there is a giant cpu bottleneck in BS.

Cheers, thats a good tip - I never thought of that :)

 

NINJAEDIT: Maybe you want to have a look at this thread, there's some folks debating some of the methods for tripleheads etc. Quite advanced topic, looks like peers for you :)

 

EDIT2: Some results: Unlinked the GPU's - lost ~10% performance. Using 8x and 16xQ in both setups.

One of the test-missions was ~40 fps one GPU, ~45-47 fps with both GPU's.

Previously tested with the affinity to 2, 4 and 8 cores - with no significant increase in performance. (i7 940, std clock)

All tests have been performed with "training missions".

Edited May 16, 2009 by Panzertard

[Doctor Machete]

More tests done, this time with a 285gtx and OCing the CPU.

 

 

 

Seems like really playable now, with 70+fps if I lower left&right mons resolution (gpu res still being 7680x1600), and 57fps with all native. And now I have zero tearing, after a bit more tweaks with SoftTh configuration.

Edited May 26, 2009 by Doctor Machete

[Wichow]

More tests done, this time with a 285gtx

 

What was the FPS gain average, migrating to the new 285 GTX?

 

I have TH2Go with E6850@3ghz and 8800GT and I am planing to upgrade to the 285GTX

 

Salu2

[Doctor Machete]

What was the FPS gain average, migrating to the new 285 GTX?

 

I have TH2Go with E6850@3ghz and 8800GT and I am planing to upgrade to the 285GTX

In BS not much. If you use ´water=0´, most gains are from CPU. In fact, BS is playable at 7680x1600 4xAA 8xAF with a 285gtx!!!.

 

For games, I´d said about 80%, but I´ve only really tested BS with many configurations.

[S77th-RYKE]

how do you manage your borders with softh ?

 

your softh config and graphics.lua would be apreciated

 

thanks