FPS Responsiveness to Overclocking

HughHugh CameramanSan Francisco, CA Join Date: 2010-04-18 Member: 71444NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Onos, WC 2013 - Shadow, Subnautica Developer, Pistachionauts
<div class="IPBDescription">Some pleasant results</div>Hi everyone,

In my eternal quest to squeeze more fps out of NS2 for my videos, I discovered something quite nice. It's Autumn here in Oz, so now that the temperatures are dropping I thought it safe to start some overclocking. I took my AMD 1090T from 3.2Ghz to 3.8Ghz, an 18% clockspeed increase, and found that my fps increased by almost exactly 18%. For example, at the menu screen I used to get 100fps, I now get 118. In a certain part of a Tram I use as a FRAPs stress test, I used to get 25fps, I now get 29. In the same spot with FRAPs engaged, I used to get 18fps, and now get 20.

These results are in some ways not surprising. They seem to corroborate the well established fact that NS2 is almost completely CPU bound (evident if you look at the frame-times in the profiler), and my earlier testing that revealed almost no difference between fps with a Nvidia GTS 450 and an AMD 5870.

I wouldn't advocate overclocking to anyone solely for the sake of NS2 fps, but I thought this information might be useful to someone.

Comments

  • craecrae Join Date: 2005-01-30 Member: 39035Members
    Hi Hugh,

    Thanks for that info, very helpful. I watch all the video you upload to youtube. Although I can't play the game with my 5 year old system (with integrated graphics) giving me 10 fps, I already know my way around Tram and even a couple of vents thanks to watching you play :)

    A polite suggestion on what I would like to know more about:

    Alien armor upgrades: maybe testing with various weapons to see how much difference they make
    The vent network: where they go in and where they come out on the map

    Keep up the good work, I really enjoy them.
  • SN.WolfSN.Wolf Join Date: 2010-03-29 Member: 71115Members
    Running at 3.8 been stable for you? What voltage are you running at?
  • playerplayer Join Date: 2010-09-12 Member: 73982Members
    <!--quoteo(post=1841250:date=Apr 17 2011, 04:35 AM:name=NS2HD)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (NS2HD @ Apr 17 2011, 04:35 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1841250"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I wouldn't advocate overclocking to anyone solely for the sake of NS2 fps<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    NS2 is pretty much the only game right now that won't run properly on standard commercially available CPUs, so you _would_ be doing it just for NS2 (unless you're into distributed computing or similarly number-crunching stuff). I'm not sure if overclocking your CPU is a good idea at this point, as there are bound to be people who can't do it properly and credit NS2 with the oddities of their botched up overclock (which there already have been if I'm not mistaken). Unless you're stuck with a pretty old CPU, in which case you don't have all that much to lose.
  • HughHugh Cameraman San Francisco, CA Join Date: 2010-04-18 Member: 71444NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Onos, WC 2013 - Shadow, Subnautica Developer, Pistachionauts
    <!--quoteo(post=1841279:date=Apr 17 2011, 11:39 PM:name=SN.Wolf)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (SN.Wolf @ Apr 17 2011, 11:39 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1841279"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Running at 3.8 been stable for you? What voltage are you running at?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    Funny you ask SN.Wolf! Rock solid so far at 1.375, but it actually crashed while recording NS2HD[164] at 1.3! <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/NaturalSelection2HD#p/u/2/Abd-P-VMPH8" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/user/NaturalSelecti...u/2/Abd-P-VMPH8</a>. Worth it for the fps and decreased encode times...
  • SN.WolfSN.Wolf Join Date: 2010-03-29 Member: 71115Members
    Thanks HD, I don't have a need to overclock it just yet and will most likely upgrade to something faster before I did but from my experience with AMD, I was always impressed with the clock speeds you could get from them although I think they are set way to low from production. If i did overclock it your voltage specs give me a good reference point for the percentage increase i would get if i did.

    @Player
    You are very correct, I wouldn't recommend anyone attempt this. The only reason I am interested is that I have had many successful overclocks in the past and I like to tie into my work security feeds on my other monitor amongst the occasional daily tasks while i shoot stuff in a virtual world but at the moment i am happy with the performance of my 1090T B.E. processor and would never overclock it for a single program that will eventually be optimized to run much better in the coming months.
  • Kouji_SanKouji_San Sr. Hινε Uρкεερεг - EUPT Deputy The Netherlands Join Date: 2003-05-13 Member: 16271Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
    OC-ing if done wrong can result in worse FPS though...
  • SkiddywinksSkiddywinks Join Date: 2011-01-12 Member: 77239Members
    <!--quoteo(post=1841315:date=Apr 17 2011, 07:48 PM:name=Kouji_San)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Kouji_San @ Apr 17 2011, 07:48 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1841315"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->OC-ing if done wrong can result in worse FPS though...<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    I think you mean VERY wrong. I've never seen it happen, for example.
  • playerplayer Join Date: 2010-09-12 Member: 73982Members
    Not the most common symptom of an improper overclock (that would be crashes and data-corruption), but I suppose it could be the case if your voltage is set to high, leading to a temperature exceeding specifications, leading to the built-in speed-throttler to kick in.
  • Kouji_SanKouji_San Sr. Hινε Uρкεερεг - EUPT Deputy The Netherlands Join Date: 2003-05-13 Member: 16271Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
    <!--quoteo(post=1841340:date=Apr 17 2011, 10:52 PM:name=Skiddywinks)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Skiddywinks @ Apr 17 2011, 10:52 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1841340"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I think you mean VERY wrong. I've never seen it happen, for example.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Actually I didn't mean "VERY wrong", I meant what player said <img src="http://members.home.nl/m.borgman/ns-forum/smileys/wink.gif" border="0" class="linked-image" />
  • QuovatisQuovatis Team Inversion Join Date: 2010-01-26 Member: 70321Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
    I've seen similar gains by overclocking a sandy bridge 2500-k CPU. Running stable at 4.5 GHz on stock voltage (+36% OC). I've never seen my framerate drop below 30. My performance is limited by the server tickrate.

    I'm not an Intel fanboy (had many AMD systems in the past), but if you are serious gamer nothing on the market comes close to matching the power and value of sandy bridge CPUs right now. It's a no-brainer.
  • craecrae Join Date: 2005-01-30 Member: 39035Members
    edited April 2011
    >2500K CPU Running stable at 4.5 GHz

    Nice. I'm planning to get one of these in the next couple of months. Was overclocking to 4.5 GHz easy or were you trying to push it as far as you could? What max fps do you get?
  • AvalonAvalon Join Date: 2007-03-04 Member: 60224Members
    edited April 2011
    Yeah, I had similar results back when I benched the game, some time back around build 158 or so...wow. That was quite some time ago. What I had found was that overclocking my GPU did nothing, but overclocking my CPU provided a nearly linear increase in frame rate. I ventured a guess that there's not much in the way of multi threading gone on at the moment, and that the game really enjoys a very high IPC core.

    *Edit*
    Oh jeez, I actually found my old post, it was for build 152. I overclocked my CPU 26% and saw 14-20% increase in FPS. I also tried overclocking my GPU 11%, and saw an increase of 3-5%. The CPU, at least back then, was more bound.
  • DJPenguinDJPenguin Useless Join Date: 2003-07-29 Member: 18538Members
    granted that your room has AC and you're not using the stock CPU fan, then no need to wait till autumn to OC. Use arctic silver thermal paste too. but you probably already know that.
  • playerplayer Join Date: 2010-09-12 Member: 73982Members
    <!--quoteo(post=1841373:date=Apr 18 2011, 05:32 AM:name=Quovatis)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Quovatis @ Apr 18 2011, 05:32 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1841373"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I've seen similar gains by overclocking a sandy bridge 2500-k CPU. Running stable at 4.5 GHz on stock voltage (+36% OC). I've never seen my framerate drop below 30. My performance is limited by the server tickrate.

    I'm not an Intel fanboy (had many AMD systems in the past), but if you are serious gamer nothing on the market comes close to matching the power and value of sandy bridge CPUs right now. It's a no-brainer.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    I've considered switching over to the sandy bridge, but frankly when you're sitting on a 4GHz i7 (the 1366 one) no game on the market today is able to use it fully anyway. Again you'd only be doing it for NS2, and buying a CPU (and new motherboard, gg socket-switch Intel) for a single game that is being a little ###### when it comes to CPU-cycles, is just a bit too daft for my taste.

    <!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->It's Autumn here in Oz, so now that the temperatures are dropping I thought it safe to start some overclocking<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    I always do 24/7/365-overclocks. When I overclock I make sure the room-temperature is about as high as it will ever be (or close to anyway), as I really don't want to have to mind the season and adjust my CPU-clock accordingly.
  • AvalonAvalon Join Date: 2007-03-04 Member: 60224Members
    <!--quoteo(post=1841386:date=Apr 18 2011, 08:41 AM:name=DJPenguin)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (DJPenguin @ Apr 18 2011, 08:41 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1841386"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->granted that your room has AC and you're not using the stock CPU fan, then no need to wait till autumn to OC. Use arctic silver thermal paste too. but you probably already know that.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    Protip: Arctic silver is no longer tops. It gets beat out by OCZ Freeze Extreme, Coollaboratory Liquid Pro, IC Diamond 7, Arctic Cooling MX-3, and Thermalright Chill Factor 2.

    :)
  • RigorRigor Join Date: 2011-02-05 Member: 80545Members
    <!--quoteo(post=1841411:date=Apr 18 2011, 09:32 AM:name=Avalon)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Avalon @ Apr 18 2011, 09:32 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1841411"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Protip: Arctic silver is no longer tops. It gets beat out by OCZ Freeze Extreme, Coollaboratory Liquid Pro, IC Diamond 7, Arctic Cooling MX-3, and Thermalright Chill Factor 2.

    :)<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    Splitting hairs at the molecular level here.
  • QuovatisQuovatis Team Inversion Join Date: 2010-01-26 Member: 70321Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
    <!--quoteo(post=1841376:date=Apr 17 2011, 10:51 PM:name=crae)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (crae @ Apr 17 2011, 10:51 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1841376"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->>2500K CPU Running stable at 4.5 GHz

    Nice. I'm planning to get one of these in the next couple of months. Was overclocking to 4.5 GHz easy or were you trying to push it as far as you could? What max fps do you get?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    As simple as changing one value in the bios, and the 1155 motherboards have a GUI and mouse control in the bios which is kinda cool. I do have an after-market cooler, but I've read of people OCing it to 5.0 GHz on air with additional voltage. Max FPS is around 150 or so.
  • mokkatmokkat Join Date: 2009-08-30 Member: 68652Members
    <!--quoteo(post=1841417:date=Apr 18 2011, 06:24 PM:name=Quovatis)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Quovatis @ Apr 18 2011, 06:24 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1841417"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->As simple as changing one value in the bios, and the 1155 motherboards have a GUI and mouse control in the bios which is kinda cool. I do have an after-market cooler, but I've read of people OCing it to 5.0 GHz on air with additional voltage. Max FPS is around 150 or so.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    The worst thing about SB is the ###### stock cooler, I haven't bothered to overclock yet but when I do I will definitely get a coolermaster 212 or something else for it. The stock cooler for my C2D was much better.

    SB is a lottery when it comes to overclocking I hear. Some cant even go to 4.5ghz without insane vcore. Most seem to go to about 4.8 without too much effort or extra voltage though, on air
  • QuovatisQuovatis Team Inversion Join Date: 2010-01-26 Member: 70321Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
    edited April 2011
    I could go to 3.9 GHz on the stock cooler with no problem, and I know of others that have gone to 4.4 with the stock fan. Found a $3 adapter plate to install my old cooler from a C2Q into the SB. Works great. OCing is great, but with the power of SB, it's not really needed. NS2 plays great even on stock settings...the OC potential is just icing on the cake.
  • DJPenguinDJPenguin Useless Join Date: 2003-07-29 Member: 18538Members
    why torture such a powerful CPU with such a junk stock fan. the 212 like you said is probably the best out there for it. don't wait any longer!
  • SkieSkie Skulk Progenitor Join Date: 2003-10-18 Member: 21766Members, NS2 Playtester, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited April 2011
    2500K, with a quite quiet <a href="http://www.dvhardware.net/news/thermalright_mux_120.jpg" target="_blank">Thermalright MUX-120</a> here running at 3,3GHz. I thought I had it overclocked but seems like that's not the case. Playing at 1920x1200 with High details. I ran through tram exhaustively as a marine. Then I overclocked to 4,2Ghz and did another run, and a third run at 4,5GHz. Results are here:

    Min Max Avg Menu @ 3,3Ghz: 41 72 60 110
    Min Max Avg Menu @ 4,2Ghz: 48 86 70 130
    Min Max Avg Menu @ 4,5Ghz: 43 90 70 135

    Seems like it starts to cap somewhere after 4,2Ghz. Maybe the GPU becomes the bottleneck again? I could hear the beastly GTX 570's fans whirring quite fast.

    Pretty nice jump from 3,3 to 4,2 though.
  • MagnetoMagneto Join Date: 2010-12-22 Member: 75856Members
    I recently bought a coolermaster 212+ heatsink and saw my temps drop by around 20c, i always meant to overclock but never felt a real need to before, i've now gone from 2.6ghz to 3.2ghz on an e5300, this plus buying an ssd has made ns2 much more playable, though i think the recent updates have helped as well.
  • JirikiJiriki retired ns1 player Join Date: 2003-01-04 Member: 11780Members, NS1 Playtester, Squad Five Silver
    Yeah overclocking can increase performance in pretty much everything, especially in CPU-bound games like NS2 and RTS'es.

    I recommend getting a proper cooler unless you have one already (like Noctua, <a href="http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=start)" target="_blank">http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=start)</a>.
  • 1stToast1stToast Join Date: 2007-12-02 Member: 63067Members
    I’m a novice at over clocking and a little timid about punishing my hardware. I boosted my CPU and GPU a little, just to learn how to use MSI afterburner and CPU software. It had some improvement on NS2, but I’m waiting until it is better optimized. Going from 4G to 8G memory give me a huge boost in loading time, (from minutes to seconds) and +10-15 FPS. One thing that almost made me thank Dog was finding out that my Vcard is thermally protected and will shut down without harm if it overheats. I have a marvelous, evil (razor sharp fins that make me bleed every time I get into the case) CPU cooler, Zalman CNP9500AT. Thanks for this thread, it gives me confidence to know that smart folks are willing to help.
  • HughHugh Cameraman San Francisco, CA Join Date: 2010-04-18 Member: 71444NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Onos, WC 2013 - Shadow, Subnautica Developer, Pistachionauts
    Further to all the discussion of hardware above, you can actually see the inside of the NS2HD rig in <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK2C4d8SIjg" target="_blank">NS2HD[64]</a>. Old video, but nothing much has changed :)
  • CodeineCodeine Join Date: 2010-11-22 Member: 75155Members
    i get pretty dud performance 30-40fps fighting/running around.

    i7 920 3.8ghz and 5970.
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