Feedback: X4 Foundation + Intel Alder Lake 12900k

[Berni]

I recently switched from an Intel 9900k to a 12900k system with DDR5 memory. Here are a few impressions of my performance increase:
Resolution 3440x1440

Dense asteroid field:
- 9900k ~35-45fps
- 12900k steady 60fps

My HQ (with over 1000 modules):
- 9900k ~40fps
- 12900k steady 60fps

during Sinza:
- 9900k ~20-25fps
-12900k~40-45 (!performance almost doubled!)

My game (4.20) is heavily modded (VRO, ROR, Rebirth Ships, faction enhancer with additional sectors and factions and a few others) and has about 70h on the clock.
Even the loading times for my savegames (almost 1gb) feels noticeable faster.

The 9900k wasn't a slow CPU now, but the gains with the new 12900k (maybe paired with DDR5-6000 CL36) were amazing, I really wasn't expecting that much^^ The X4 engine seems to really like the new Alder Lake technology.

[-=SiR KiLLaLoT=-]

Wow

This is an amazing boost! Thanks for info sharing

[Maebius]

Nice info to have.
If you remove v-sync or whatever you're using, how up do the first 2 scenarios go?
(assuming you "cap" the framerate, since you say steady 60fps)

edit: also, are you running windows 10 or 11?

[Artean]

Yeah, that seems impressive. Which GPU are you using?

[chew-ie]

The X4 engine seems to really like the new Alder Lake technology.

Actually, I'd somehow expect that result to be like you described it. Upgrading a 4 years old tech should yield those numbers, especially for a simulation which depends on a lot of data / calculations.

Having faster memory certainly did help, too. I had a similar experience back when X4 was released and I upgraded my i7-3820 (from 2012) to i7-9700k (2018). We had that discussion at the german boards - CPUs are more then their GHz. (not widely known it seems )

Lucky me - I'm playing vanilla with almost non-existant stations and only some fleets, so my 9700k is still sufficient to yield your numbers (steady 60 fps cockpit, 35-45 fps map) but with my playstyle. (for the record: I'm playing in 4K UHD)

[Berni]

Nice info to have.
If you remove v-sync or whatever you're using, how up do the first 2 scenarios go?
(assuming you "cap" the framerate, since you say steady 60fps)

edit: also, are you running windows 10 or 11?

I'm running Windows 11 and have a RTX3090 - which isn't under full load due to my 60FPS v-sync setting.
I'll try the asteroid field and my HQ without v-sync later!

[Maebius]

I'm running Windows 11 and have a RTX3090 - which isn't under full load due to my 60FPS v-sync setting.
I'll try the asteroid field and my HQ without v-sync later!

Nice! Looking forward to it.
So far I'm not sold on the benefits of DDR5... and I'm contemplating on upgrading next month
It might good for improved load times, but due to their high latency, fast DDR4 with tight timings might be better for gaming (at the moment).

[spookywatcher]

Really wish the game saves from here viewtopic.php?f=146&t=427248&hilit=post+your+cpu were still available so you could "benchmark" it compared to the others. Would love to add it to the list.

Maybe we should do an updated Post Your CPU Scores thread? Much Thanks for the info on your performance. Also looking forward to vsync off performance on that chip.

[Falcrack]

I'm planning to get an i5-12600K. Very close in terms of performance (at least based on what I have read), but a lot less expensive. I usually always aim for the best value for the money, rather than the premium top of the line components when I upgrade.

[Berni]

Bad News - i think i've fried my (650W) power supply during the asteroid field test with my RTX3090 fully unlocked

I've disabled my voltage curve (1800/0.875v) and v-sync. I flew through Second Contact II Flashpoint and the results were really good! min. fps was 70 and most of the time i had around 85-95fps (with a peak of over 125fps with no asteroids around me).

But all of a sudden my PC turned itself off and rebooted. Now he turns off every time i try to start a game.
I think the power supply took some damage and since it wasn't the newest anyway, i've ordered a new 1000w PSU^^

[Falcrack]

Bad News - i think i've fried my (750W) power supply during the asteroid field test with my RTX3090 fully unlocked

I've disabled my voltage curve (1800/0.875v) and v-sync. I flew through Second Contact II Flashpoint and the results were really good! min. fps was 70 and most of the time i had around 85-95fps (with a peak of over 125fps with no asteroids around me).

But all of a sudden my PC turned itself off and rebooted. Now he turns off every time i try to start a game.
I think the power supply took some damage and since it wasn't the newest anyway, i've ordered a new 1000w PSU^^

Yup, power supplies are always a concern when getting top of the line stuff.

[Maebius]

Oh, sorry to hear that.
I now feel bad suggesting you test it with V-Sync on

If it's a modular PSU, you can try other rails for the GPU power cables, but best wait for the new one as 12900K+3090 is obviously a nasty power drain combo.
Since you say it turns off when you start a game, it's very likely only the gpu power rails are malfunctioning, so your system is otherwise ok

[af_2017]

Considering the fact that hardware is limited but an ability to design and write not very efficient applications has no limits the suggestion "the game uses one core and it is better to have more gHz than cores is preferable" is weird at least. Because that raises the question "Why the product was not developed considering real state of actually available hardware?". Most of the modern PCs have multiple cores which the game does not utilize. But the game with the goal to simulate everything still uses one core... I agree though, there should be hardware requirements and expecting that something will work with low-specs is not correct. But 20gHz single-core cpus do not exist.

[Berni]

Oh, sorry to hear that.
I now feel bad suggesting you test it with V-Sync on

If it's a modular PSU, you can try other rails for the GPU power cables, but best wait for the new one as 12900K+3090 is obviously a nasty power drain combo.
Since you say it turns off when you start a game, it's very likely only the gpu power rails are malfunctioning, so your system is otherwise ok

Don't worry, if the PSU was too weak, it would have happened sooner or later.
To get access to the power supply i have to disassemble the whole pc including the water cooling. And if i have to do that, i can install a new power supply right away^^

Edit: yea, everything that is 2d-related is working fine on my machine. Only 3d like games or benchmarks turns off my PC.
I don't think it's the 3090 because i don't have any anomalies like artifacts or flickering or lockups or something. Like you said one of the rails must be broken^^

[Berni]

Really wish the game saves from here viewtopic.php?f=146&t=427248&hilit=post+your+cpu were still available so you could "benchmark" it compared to the others. Would love to add it to the list.

Maybe we should do an updated Post Your CPU Scores thread? Much Thanks for the info on your performance. Also looking forward to vsync off performance on that chip.

Okay, after dumping my old 650W for a new BQ Dark Power12 1000W PSU i'm back in action^^

12900k@stock
DDR5 6000@CL36
Game ver. 4.2
3440x1440

Young Gun: 159-161 FPS
Dense Emp: 39-41 FPS
Dense Emp/Empty: 138 FPS


EDIT:

with Ultra Graphics Settings and FXAA Low:

Young Gun: 156-157 FPS
Dense Emp: 33 FPS
Dense Emp/Empty: 130 FPS

[Maebius]

Okay, after dumping my old 650W for a new BQ Dark Power12 1000W PSU i'm back in action^^

12900k@stock
DDR5 6000@CL36
Game ver. 4.2
3440x1440

Young Gun: 159-161 FPS
Dense Emp: 39-41 FPS
Dense Emp/Empty: 138 FPS


EDIT:

with Ultra Graphics Settings and FXAA Low:

Young Gun: 156-157 FPS
Dense Emp: 33 FPS
Dense Emp/Empty: 130 FPS

Super relieved that your rig is OK

I'm not sure I understand the new comparisons in contrast to your first post!

What's the Young Gun and the Dens Emp/Empty scenarios?

It would be nice to know , compared to your starting post:
Dense asteroid field:
- 12900k uncapped XXX FPS

My HQ:
- 12900k uncapped XXX FPS

If it's not too much trouble and you can approximately replicate the conditions.

[Imperial Good]

If it's a modular PSU, you can try other rails for the GPU power cables

Modern PSUs only have a single 12v rail. This is how they achieve such high efficiency levels. The bigger the rail (total power), the more efficient it can be made. The individual outputs might have over current protections and filters to help conform to standards, but all 12V are all driven by the same converter circuit.

Nice! Looking forward to it.
So far I'm not sold on the benefits of DDR5... and I'm contemplating on upgrading next month
It might good for improved load times, but due to their high latency, fast DDR4 with tight timings might be better for gaming (at the moment).

Hard to speculate if DDR5 would be a win for X4 or not. People would need to measure since both frequency and timing has been reported to make a significant difference to performance with X4.

[Sassbarman]

Looks like the power draw for the 3090 is 450w and 12900 power draw is 240w. 650w power supply was always going to be a problem.

[Berni]

I'm not sure I understand the new comparisons in contrast to your first post!

What's the Young Gun and the Dens Emp/Empty scenarios?

It would be nice to know , compared to your starting post:
Dense asteroid field:
- 12900k uncapped XXX FPS

My HQ:
- 12900k uncapped XXX FPS

If it's not too much trouble and you can approximately replicate the conditions.

Hey, my starting post was about my "problematic" zones in X4 where my old system struggeled to deliver steady 60fps.

But then spookywatcher asked me to run tests with his provided savegames (maybe to add my results to his GPU and CPU scores thread).
viewtopic.php?f=146&t=441417

Now you can compare my results with the ones from his thread

@Egosoft: good news, it looks like X4 doesn't have any problems with E-Cores - in contrast to Star Citizen where I have to turn off the e-cores in the bios to make it run properly.

[spookywatcher]

Really wish the game saves from here viewtopic.php?f=146&t=427248&hilit=post+your+cpu were still available so you could "benchmark" it compared to the others. Would love to add it to the list.

Maybe we should do an updated Post Your CPU Scores thread? Much Thanks for the info on your performance. Also looking forward to vsync off performance on that chip.

Okay, after dumping my old 650W for a new BQ Dark Power12 1000W PSU i'm back in action^^

12900k@stock
DDR5 6000@CL36
Game ver. 4.2
3440x1440

Young Gun: 159-161 FPS
Dense Emp: 39-41 FPS
Dense Emp/Empty: 138 FPS


EDIT:

with Ultra Graphics Settings and FXAA Low:

Young Gun: 156-157 FPS
Dense Emp: 33 FPS
Dense Emp/Empty: 130 FPS

Big Thanks for taking the time doing that!! Much appreciated! I'll add it right now. Was the first result with the graphics turned way down?