Athlon 64 and gaming

[ZrO-1]

Here are some links to reviews:

http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NTI0

http://www.motherboards.org/articlesd/hardware-reviews/1269_1.html

http://www.tecnation.co.uk/article.php?id=20

http://www.ukgamer.com/article.php4?id=153&page=1

http://www.hardtecs4u.com/reviews/2003/amd_athlon64/

http://www.anandtech.com/cpu/showdoc.html?i=1884

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-3000_7-5079609.html?tag=prmo1

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,1276955,00.asp

Those should get you started :)

[kwshipman]

Awesome links ZrO-1 thanks. and a fast reply as well:thumbsup:

but I guess I am looking more for info as to what the CPU is responsable for in a game since so much emphasis is put into the vid card. and what 64bit games will do better that 32bit of the same title. For example, this email from Alienware says that Far Cry, Unreal Tournament 2004, and Americas Army are upcoming 64-bit games. will this just improve framerate or will the new chips allow for better features, ie enhanced graphics, physics, etc.

And the Anandtech link talked about registers and that stuff was way over my head, could someone please translate that to dumb-speak for me.

[GregHess]

Yo Kw,

The most simple explanation is this.

The cpu provides the data for the video card. If the video card is substaintally faster then the cpu, it'll sit there waiting for data.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.html?i=1650&p=3

Here's an example of video card scaling.

The same video card on a 1000 tbird, is much faster on a faster cpu. This of course doesn't apply when the card's power is already max'ed out. (Like the MX)

Here's some scores on a P4.

http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/daily_column/article/1544.9/

More complex answers basically involve the interface of the cpu/memory/agp/pci.

In the case of the Athlon64's, the memory controller is actually intergrated onto the cpu itself, which actually removes one of these links from the equation.

It also basically removes the "traditional FSB" as well.

The Athlon 64 has a single DDR memory controller on die, and the Athlon 64 FX-## has a dual channel DDR memory controller on its die.

Other refinements to the chipset and cpu allow for streamlined communication between the processor and the rest of the computer, resulting in massive amounts of bandwidth.

And this is all ignoring the fact that there are 64 bit applications and games coming out.

[kwshipman]

thanks Greg,

So let me see if I get this.

The new bit environment is basically going to open the bandwidth pipeline significantly, which will intern make high-end cards, faster drives, etc. more useful and help relieve potential bottlenecks on the CPU end.

Now for some specifics.

My PC is an Athlon XP 2000+ with a Ti4200 128MB(4xagp) and a single 512MB of pc2700 on the ASUS A7V333. This system is used mainly for games, internet, and lite modeling(just game mods so nothing too high polly) I am pretty satisfied with my framerates thus far. If I were to upgrade my CPU+MOBO to the Athlon 64 FX-## I would probably see a pretty good increase in performance, but not as much as say a person with an FX5900 and two stick of ram that was doing some high polly animations and such.

So, the biggest benefit will be to those running multiple apps at the same time, esp if the apps are memory hogs.

Am i getting close?

[GregHess]

Computers are all about bottlenecks.

If you remove one with addressing the other, you won't see as much performance increase as if you addressed all problems simultanously.

In your case, upgrading to an FX would give you a performance increase yes, but not so much as jumping to an FX AND something like a 5900 Ultra or the new upcoming 9800 Pro XT or what not.

[Aearon]

what 64bit games will do better that 32bit of the same title.

the whole '64bit games' thing is total hype. they will perform faster on 64bit cpu's, nothing else. it won't make a difference to either have an Athlon FX or a fast P4, all it gives you is more speed, not directly any new features... although developers can of course implement new features because of the additional speed..

[Sieb]

64bits just means an unreachable memory limit as opposed to the 4gig limit of 32bit. And now with the inclusion of the memory controller, a northbridge chip isn't needed as the gopher between the proc and the ram.

Since we don't even have games that take advantage of the latest video cards, there is only one game that can take advantage of the 64bit: UT2k3-64. And the advantage isn't all that much.

64bit and gaming is hype like fist said. Like with any new processor, the game will perform faster, but that is in no relation to being 64bit. The only thing that can take advantage of 64bit is a game compiled for 64bit running on an OS compiled to run 64bit. 32bit games run as native 32bit on the chip, not 64, which is the selling point for the Athlon64.

It will be quite a long time till 64 bit really matters outside of the server/AV world.

[kwshipman]

alrighty then, it is making more sence now. I'll not worry about this for a nother year or two(upgrading that is) afterall, if I make a level that will work on my machine at a decent framerate then it should be good for most people. (although I would love to have an engine that would people to max out the abilities of some of the new cars with 256MB of ram on them)

Becides dont game usually lag behind technology a bit for the sake of being compatable with more consumers?

*EDIT* Sieb, you posted before I finished, and thanks for your input. good points

[CGTalk Moderation]

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.