gunnergoz Posted March 18, 2001 Share Posted March 18, 2001 What processor/memory/video card combination will give the best performance with respect to minimizing the wait for the AI to calculate battle outcomes? It is clear that faster is better, but is there a combination that would be optimal? Is there something about the Intel CPU vs. the AMD that would lend greater effiency in playing CM? It is clearly easy to come up with a system that displays the battlefield seamlessly and without hesitation and also plays the battle replays fluidly and without pause. It is more difficult to pinpoint the factors that will optimize the system to minimize the time it takes to calculate the outcome once the "GO" button is pressed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lcm1947 Posted March 18, 2001 Share Posted March 18, 2001 I can't answer your question, but will be watching for an answer myself. I presently have a Pen ll, 128 ram and 32 card but am realising that I need faster one too. From what I can gather I'm leaning towards the AMD myself but am open to info. Since money is a factor I'll probably just go up to a AMD 700, but I just don't know if I'd see that much difference and don't want to spend it and find out I should have waited and gone to say a 900 or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mr. Johnson-<THC>- Posted March 18, 2001 Share Posted March 18, 2001 Just make sure you get a Motherboard that will be able to go to at least 1.2 if ya getting a 700. A pretty good choice if ya ask me. I don't know of any reason to stick with Intel processors. Your 32meg video card should be good for awhile longer. Go with mobo and processor first, then get a new stick of Ram, then down the line get a new 3d card. Don't know what kind of hard drive ya got but the bigger and faster the better right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Williams Posted March 18, 2001 Share Posted March 18, 2001 Gunnergoz, I don't think the video card would play any part in the battle outcome calculations. Where the video card comes into play is watching the "movies". For faster outcome calculations, what you would be looking for is pure processor power. The fastest you could get right now, I think, would be the Pentium 4. Front side bus speed would also be a factor...the faster, the better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schrullenhaft Posted March 18, 2001 Share Posted March 18, 2001 To specifically reduce calculation time you'll need a processor that handles floating point at a higher rate. The Mac's PowerPC CPUs have excellent floating point (the major reason that they do better in the Apple advertised speed tests involving some Photoshop filters). Currently AMD has a better pipe-lined floating point unit with the Durons & Thunderbirds than Intel does with the Celerons and PIIIs. I don't know how well the Thunderbirds compare to the new P4s, but the P4s will cost quite a bit at the moment. Since the AMD CPUs have greater electrical current requirements than the equivalent Intel CPUs I would recommend getting at least a 300 watt power supply for anyone considering an upgrade. The following URL has some recommendations (by category) for AMD-based systems. While the CPUs will be cheaper and faster than their Intel equivalents, the motherboards and power supplies will be a bit more expensive. http://www1.amd.com/athlon/config Your best bet for a motherboard is one based on the VIA KT133 from a good manufacturer. However, as with all things, every solution isn't going to be perfect and there are always possibilities for incompatibilities. [This message has been edited by Schrullenhaft (edited 03-18-2001).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirtweasle Posted March 18, 2001 Share Posted March 18, 2001 Originally posted by Doug Williams: Gunnergoz, I don't think the video card would play any part in the battle outcome calculations... It's my understanding though, and this obviously is not as important for CM but would be for many other graphic intensive games, that a high quality video card, a really good GPU, does take a quite a load off the processer. So in addition to having a slick hot graphics display, there is a related processing benefit to shelling out some coin on the video card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Williams Posted March 18, 2001 Share Posted March 18, 2001 Dirtweasel, In the case of CM results calculations, I don't think the video card will make much, if any, difference since the display is frozen during the time of the calculation. Certainly, a better video card will make a difference during the "movie" part of the game. I could be wrong, however.... Schrullenhaft, I tend to shy away from AMD processors, for pure compatibility/stability reasons. I like Intel processors and MBs with Intel chipsets. My fears may be groundless, but I tend to err on the side of caution in these matters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt Canuck Posted March 18, 2001 Share Posted March 18, 2001 What Dirtweasle said is very true, just a couple days ago I bought a Geforce 2 MX video card with 32MB VRAM(for 185$~Canadian), and it has sped up the game ten times fold, not only do the graphics look amazing, and that I can run all high-res mods, but the time in which the computer takes to 'think' has been cut in half. Right now I'm running a Celeron 300Mhz proocessor(within the next two weeks, I'll be upgrading to an 800Mhz processor.) Before I bought the new Video Card I was running an old Matrox G100 AGP Video Card with only 16MB VRAM and the game would periodically freeze when I was running a medium to large map... So the bottom line is that a new Video Card will take a enormous load off of the processor, I can vouch for that solution, but remember I'll be upgrading my processor to an 800Mhz processor, so I just can't wait for that to happen! Dave [This message has been edited by Capt Canuck (edited 03-18-2001).] [This message has been edited by Capt Canuck (edited 03-18-2001).] [This message has been edited by Capt Canuck (edited 03-18-2001).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunnergoz Posted March 18, 2001 Author Share Posted March 18, 2001 Thanks to all you guys for your input. I'm obviously still hoping to hear from the BTS team as to what they think. My own experiences and setup, outlined in a different thread, simply lead me to conclude that I can improve upon the wait for the battle AI to resolve itself. BTW I mentioned the video card as part of the equation because a poorly designed card and drivers can bog down the main system CPU unnecessarily, while a superior video card minimizes calls to the CPU. The same applies to audio cards and drivers, and to hard drives (especially IDE). So my goal is to get BTS to give me their best guess at the hardware combinations to use, and also to avoid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Williams Posted March 18, 2001 Share Posted March 18, 2001 Dave, Congratualtions on your new card. I recently purchased a Geforce 2 based card also and it is a great performer. I never said that a good video card would not make a great improvement in the game. What I questioned was whether the video card would improve the speed at which CM calculates the results of the turn. Are you telling us that, since you installed the new card, you have noticed a difference in the speed of the results calculations? If so, I stand corrected. I could test it myself by digging my old 4 megabyte Hercules Dynamite 128 out of the closet, but I'm not that motivated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt Canuck Posted March 19, 2001 Share Posted March 19, 2001 Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying, I have seen a drastic improvement in the speed at which CM calculates it's moves and so on, it's been an amazing improvement! Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmead Posted March 19, 2001 Share Posted March 19, 2001 Just buy an iMac, it is more than adequate for the game. Or better yet a G4 with the optional GeForce3. Yeeha and now to duck out of here before the fires rain down..... teehee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest KwazyDog Posted March 19, 2001 Share Posted March 19, 2001 Gunner, from my experience with TCPIP games the Thunderbird chips *definately* have an advantage over a similarly clocked Intel chips. As mentioned above they have a better fpu and it shows. As for graphics card I think that Nvidia is the best way to go at the moment. I have a Geforce 2 and its been great. Where possible Id recommend getting a Geforce 3 if you can stretch the budget that far, but I think I'm personally going to skip it and wait for their next product, as I usually do Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Williams Posted March 19, 2001 Share Posted March 19, 2001 Ahem! Kmead, we were discussing real computers here. Please take your iMac suggestions to www.toysrus.com... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts