SMP Gaming: Is It Here Yet?

[Verran]

So there's always a big debate between dual-cores and quad-cores. Every time someone's spec'ing a gaming system, the question comes up: Dual or Quad? There's never a "right" answer, of course. It depends on what you play, how long you want your system to last, and also your interpretation of what's coming down the pipe software wise. So I figure, let's try to get some solid evidence either way here.

 

So here's my challenge:

 

If you're pro-quad, let's see some documentation showing that any specific game is multi-threaded. Or let's see some benches showing that equal or similarly clocked duals and quad perform very differently in said game.

 

If you're pro-dual, let's see some evidence that games aren't benefiting from the extra cores. Same deal, really.

 

A lot of people (including myself) are making claims one way or another, but it's all just opinion and rarely backed by anything solid. So let's try to change that. Let's try to make a database of games that are and aren't multi-threaded, based on hard evidence.

[Verran]

I'll start, albeit with an oldie:

 

Supreme Commander has shown significant benefits from quad-core CPUs, based on this [H] article (with FPS graphs). You can find the old OCC discussion here.

[KK_]

Great topic Verran , il have contribute to this , im running a Quad @ 3.00

 

EDIT:

 

Call of Duty 4 , 1440x900 everything maxed 4AA 16AF average frame is 91 < low 53 < high 190 (probly multicore supported)

Team Fortress 2 , 1440x900 everything maxed 8AA 16AF avg fps 140 < low 90 < high 200 multicore

Counter Strike: Sorce , 1440x900 everything maxed out 8AA 16AF average frame is 299 <low 100 < high 299

Edited August 2, 2009 by KK_

[XxHellxRaizerxX]

With benchmarks would setting affinity for a game to two cores apply as a dual core?

[KK_]

With benchmarks would setting affinity for a game to two cores apply as a dual core?

 

test it ,make benchmark only able to use 2 cores

[airman]

With benchmarks would setting affinity for a game to two cores apply as a dual core?

 

Nope. If I recall correctly, default affinity for every process is already set to run on all cores. Whether or not a certain process takes advantage of the multiple cores is dependent on whether or not it's coded to run on multiple threads simultaneously.

[ClayMeow]

Proof enough that SMP gaming is here and here to stay:

 

Dragon Age: Origins Recommended Specs

 

RECOMMENDED SPECS

 

* CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4Ghz Processor or equivalent

* RAM: 4 GB (Vista) or 2 GB (XP)

* VIDEO: ATI 3850 512 MB or greater

NVIDIA 8800GTS 512 MB or greater

AMD Phenom II X3 Triple-Core 2.8 GHz or greater

DVD ROM (Physical copy)

20 GB HD space

Think it's the first game that actually specifically recommends a QUAD CORE.

[tkrow21]

 

Lost Planet and Supreme Commander are the only two games from this benchmark that show the quads in favor:

 

http://xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/c...ad-q6600_8.html

[ClayMeow]

 

Lost Planet and Supreme Commander are the only two games from this benchmark that show the quads in favor:

 

http://xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/c...ad-q6600_8.html

Actually, if you look clock-for-clock, Quad Core wins out in all those games.

[Verran]

Call of Duty 4 , 1440x900 everything maxed 4AA 16AF average frame is 91 < low 53 < high 190 (probly multicore supported)

Team Fortress 2 , 1440x900 everything maxed 8AA 16AF avg fps 140 < low 90 < high 200 multicore

Counter Strike: Sorce , 1440x900 everything maxed out 8AA 16AF average frame is 299 <low 100 < high 299

Just fyi... the fact that you get pretty high framerates with a quad does not prove that it's SMP. Showing that you get higher framerates with a quad than with a dual would, however.

[ClayMeow]

Just fyi... the fact that you get pretty high framerates with a quad does not prove that it's SMP. Showing that you get higher framerates with a quad than with a dual would, however.

KK_ clearly said "multicore" and didn't say quad-core yielded better performance than dual-core.

 

Regardless, it's a well known fact that the Source engine has supported dual and quad core CPUs for a couple of years now. It was one of the first to do so, either in the update when Episode 1 came out or Episode 2, I don't remember which.

[KK_]

if anyone wants to compare my frame rates to a dualcore go nuts.

 

The Last Remnant requires a quadcore