Hi,
I did a bit of testing with various configs.
Hardware tested:
Intel E6600 2.4GHz, stock and overclocked
Intel E8500 3.11GHz, stock and overclocked
Corsair 3GB RAM DDR2-533
Corsair 4GB RAM DDR2-800
Constant:
Asus P5W DH Deluxe motherboard (975X chipset), BIOS 2801
MSI Nvidia GTX 280-OC graphics card
First I must apologize that I've ran some tests at different settings of AA and AF. I've been testing graphic settings, didn't find they mattered much with a GTX 280 (and actually I am getting better fps with all on that with all off), and I sometimes forgot to put them back to max for the next tests, and am too lazy to redo them.
The GTX-280 seems to have enough horsepower to offset any graphics cards issues, so my tests focused on trying to have a playable game by messing with the CPU and RAM.
E6600 2.4GHz
DDR2-533
DRAM Freq: 267
Code: Select all
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X3 - Terran Conflict
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Game Version: 1.2.0.0
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Ultimate (6.0, Build 6001) Service Pack 1 (6001.vistasp1_gdr.080917-1612)
DirectX Version: DirectX 10
Graphics Card Info: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 [2291 MB] Driver: 7.15.0011.8048
CPU Info: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU 6600 @ 2.40GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.4GHz
Usable System Memory: 3070 MB
Video Settings During Benchmark:
Screen Resolution: 1600 x 1200 * [32], fullscreen
Using Shader Profile: 3.0
Antialias Mode: 4x
Anisotropic Mode: 16x
Graphics & Shader Settings:
Texture Quality: high
Shader Quality: high
High Quality Bumpmaps: enabled
Environment Mapping: enabled
Glow Filter: enabled
Ship Color Variations: enabled
More Dynamic Lights: enabled
Used Vertexsize: 40 bytes
Framerates
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scene "Trade" 31.6 average fps 9.0 minimum fps 70.0 maximum fps
Scene "Fight" 62.8 average fps 22.0 minimum fps 148.0 maximum fps
Scene "Build" 82.2 average fps 43.0 minimum fps 182.0 maximum fps
Scene "Think" 37.9 average fps 19.0 minimum fps 70.0 maximum fps
Overall average framerate: 53.6 fps
DDR2-800
DRAM Freq: 259
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X3 - Terran Conflict
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Game Version: 1.2.0.0
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Ultimate (6.0, Build 6001) Service Pack 1 (6001.vistasp1_gdr.080917-1612)
DirectX Version: DirectX 10
Graphics Card Info: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 [2291 MB] Driver: 7.15.0011.8048
CPU Info: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU 6600 @ 2.40GHz (2 CPUs), ~3.1GHz
Usable System Memory: 3070 MB
Video Settings During Benchmark:
Screen Resolution: 1600 x 1200 * [32], fullscreen
Using Shader Profile: 3.0
Antialias Mode: 4x
Anisotropic Mode: 8x
Graphics & Shader Settings:
Texture Quality: high
Shader Quality: high
High Quality Bumpmaps: enabled
Environment Mapping: enabled
Glow Filter: enabled
Ship Color Variations: enabled
More Dynamic Lights: enabled
Used Vertexsize: 40 bytes
Framerates
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scene "Trade" 36.6 average fps 11.0 minimum fps 85.0 maximum fps
Scene "Fight" 71.1 average fps 25.0 minimum fps 170.0 maximum fps
Scene "Build" 92.3 average fps 51.0 minimum fps 184.0 maximum fps
Scene "Think" 43.0 average fps 21.0 minimum fps 77.0 maximum fps
Overall average framerate: 60.8 fps
Didn't want to waste too much time finding the correct cpu and ram voltages on the E6600 and old 533 RAM to see how far I could in terms of dram and cpu freq. Here are some better numbers:
E8500 3.11GHz (no overclocking)
DDR2-800
DRAM Freq: 333
Code: Select all
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X3 - Terran Conflict
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Game Version: 1.2.0.0
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Ultimate (6.0, Build 6001) Service Pack 1 (6001.vistasp1_gdr.080917-1612)
DirectX Version: DirectX 10
Graphics Card Info: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 [2291 MB] Driver: 7.15.0011.8048
CPU Info: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8500 @ 3.16GHz (2 CPUs), ~3.2GHz
Usable System Memory: 3070 MB
Video Settings During Benchmark:
Screen Resolution: 1600 x 1200 * [32], fullscreen
Using Shader Profile: 3.0
Antialias Mode: 4x
Anisotropic Mode: 8x
Graphics & Shader Settings:
Texture Quality: high
Shader Quality: high
High Quality Bumpmaps: enabled
Environment Mapping: enabled
Glow Filter: enabled
Ship Color Variations: enabled
More Dynamic Lights: enabled
Used Vertexsize: 40 bytes
Framerates
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scene "Trade" 47.9 average fps 15.0 minimum fps 102.0 maximum fps
Scene "Fight" 102.6 average fps 36.0 minimum fps 254.0 maximum fps
Scene "Build" 125.7 average fps 74.0 minimum fps 185.0 maximum fps
Scene "Think" 56.3 average fps 30.0 minimum fps 89.0 maximum fps
Overall average framerate: 83.1 fps
Feels much better already.
E8500 3.11GHz manually overclocked to 3.8GHz
DDR2-800
DRAM Freq: 400 MHz
Code: Select all
--------------------------
X3 - Terran Conflict
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Game Version: 1.2.0.0
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Ultimate (6.0, Build 6001) Service Pack 1 (6001.vistasp1_gdr.080917-1612)
DirectX Version: DirectX 10
Graphics Card Info: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 [2291 MB] Driver: 7.15.0011.8048
CPU Info: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8500 @ 3.16GHz (2 CPUs), ~3.8GHz
Usable System Memory: 3070 MB
Video Settings During Benchmark:
Screen Resolution: 1600 x 1200 * [32], fullscreen
Using Shader Profile: 3.0
Antialias Mode: 4x
Anisotropic Mode: 8x
Graphics & Shader Settings:
Texture Quality: high
Shader Quality: high
High Quality Bumpmaps: enabled
Environment Mapping: enabled
Glow Filter: enabled
Ship Color Variations: enabled
More Dynamic Lights: enabled
Used Vertexsize: 40 bytes
Framerates
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scene "Trade" 57.6 average fps 20.0 minimum fps 123.0 maximum fps
Scene "Fight" 120.8 average fps 43.0 minimum fps 305.0 maximum fps
Scene "Build" 136.2 average fps 86.0 minimum fps 191.0 maximum fps
Scene "Think" 62.8 average fps 37.0 minimum fps 107.0 maximum fps
Overall average framerate: 94.3 fps
Good, similar performance to an E8600 at 4.5GHz. To make sure, I re-ran the latter with
8xAA and 16xAF:
Code: Select all
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X3 - Terran Conflict
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Game Version: 1.2.0.0
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Ultimate (6.0, Build 6001) Service Pack 1 (6001.vistasp1_gdr.080917-1612)
DirectX Version: DirectX 10
Graphics Card Info: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 [2291 MB] Driver: 7.15.0011.8048
CPU Info: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8500 @ 3.16GHz (2 CPUs), ~3.8GHz
Usable System Memory: 3070 MB
Video Settings During Benchmark:
Screen Resolution: 1600 x 1200 * [32], fullscreen
Using Shader Profile: 3.0
Antialias Mode: 8x
Anisotropic Mode: 16x
Graphics & Shader Settings:
Texture Quality: high
Shader Quality: high
High Quality Bumpmaps: enabled
Environment Mapping: enabled
Glow Filter: enabled
Ship Color Variations: enabled
More Dynamic Lights: enabled
Used Vertexsize: 40 bytes
Framerates
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scene "Trade" 57.1 average fps 21.0 minimum fps 122.0 maximum fps
Scene "Fight" 117.9 average fps 42.0 minimum fps 276.0 maximum fps
Scene "Build" 124.4 average fps 84.0 minimum fps 169.0 maximum fps
Scene "Think" 59.0 average fps 36.0 minimum fps 106.0 maximum fps
Overall average framerate: 89.6 fps
A bit worse but still in the same ballpark. Of course, rOBvAN ran his test at 1920x1080 but I cannot do that with my 1600x1200 native LCD, my resolution does about 8% less pixels.
Anyway, I've tried some of my saves, and the places where I was flying in a quiet sector at 17-20 fps I am literally doing 30+. Heck, I was doing 7fps with SETA on the E6600 at stock speed, I am doing 30+ now with the OC'ed E8500. System is rock stable, my cores go to 38-41° max, but I also have Noctua ventirad. Now, if only Egosoft would rewrite the Properties menu
.
So in short going from an E6600 to an E8500 was a good move, good enough to wait a few months for the i7 prices to go down. That first "Trade" scene is totally watchable now, the drop to 21fps lasts like a second when the camera shows that station right before the big ship blows up.
