Age of Conan - Middle Class Performance

Welcome to my report on the Middle Class system. Obama would be proud to own this rig and play him some Age of Conan. Just don't ask for that health care plan and expect to have the system survive the OC'ing I did on this baby...

But, I digress.

This time around we are playing with the middle class system. An e8400 (OC'd to 3.2Ghz), an Nvidia GTX 260 (not OC'd), 4 gigs DDR3 1333FSB and good ole onboard sound. As we have seen about 600-700 bucks will net you this beauty.

Well, lets not wait around any longer, and lets get to the numbers shall we? First we always start with that lovely scene. You know the one. The one that makes you cry as you watch all of your frame quality be cut in more than half...


1360x76 All effects on - 20FPS

Interesting. Now, just a little commentary on this real quick. First off, I have been impressed with Nvidia's drivers as so many optimizations exists in their control panel, that we are not quite sure if this scene is actually being fully rendered. I mean, so much culling of back scene polygons are taking place. As well, we can note a "washed" out effect to these images compared to the ATI. When it comes to IQ, ATI definitely wins. But, Nvidia allows full 16x AA over this scene with not too much slow down. For the cost of this card, it is hard not to like those numbers.

1920x1080 All on - 18.1FPS

Not too much loss there. But still, noting how washed out some of the screens look. This seems odd. I tried adjusting gamma and contrast, colorization...but not with too much luck.

Also of note (which does not show up in the screenshots) is a strange "sparkle" to textures the further out they are. Like I stated earlier, looking like missing polygons being rendered...weird.

How about the Optimized settings? These are noted in my previous ATI 5870 article. We pull back on view, and remove grass, etc.


1920x1080 Optimized - 26FPS

Impressed that the GTX 260 can handle this spot and at such a high framerate. Depending on the card, some feature causes each card to bog a bit (water? snow? lighting?). As you will see in this comparison section.

Comparisons


1360 Nvidia - 34.5FPS


1360 ATI - 58.4FPS (23 frame increase)


1360 Nvidia - 36.5FPS


1360 ATI - 58.5FPS (over 21 FPS increase)


1360 Nvidia - 128.8FPS


1360 ATI - 217.3FPS (over 88 FPS INCREASE)

Something to keep in mind. Drivers for ATI are still beta and not optimized quite yet. I am also running 8x Supersample (16x regular on Nvidia), and this can give a hit in performance in some zones as well. But, there is no doubt that the Nvidia does quite well for it's price...but at a cost of visual quality and some performance quirks

At one point while in Atzels Zone, my frames dipped to about 18, and started to stutter, yet the ATI kept rolling at over 50+ FPS. I actually had to shut down the game and restart after this stutter incident, yet Atzels never seemed to recover in this one section (near the Fortress for those who know the zone).

This was an unexplained quirk to me, and I could not recover for the life of me.

So, it is hard to say what you should do. Save money or hold the cash. If you are on a limited budget, you may wish to go this route. Another option may be to get the computer equipment from the previous kit with the new Intel i5 series, and then get the GTX 260 to tide you over until prices come down on the ATI.

Another option is to start watching prices on the ATI 4890 which is not too much slower than the 5870 and get a good boost here. Prices should start to drop thanks to the 5870. (I will post some benchmarks for that card in this system at a later date).

Thats it for the Middle Class. Next up will be the lower class money saver for those on a "I have to eat ramen noodles to survive" budget.

Cheers

Age of Conan - 5870 Preliminaries

So, last night after trying to search down the Fedex office (hidden on a side road) after they decided NOT to honor my signature on file anymore, and took my package back to their offices...

I got the 5870 installed.

Hooray!

First off. It is a pretty big card. There are some screenies out there, and even a video showing just how big it is. Luckily the case I have can more than accommodate it. (The NZXT Hush series...padded for sound proofing as well...sweet case.)

I will let you find out all you need to know from the web about this beast of a card.

Suffice it to say, I have it with one goal in mind...Age of Conan frames.

Now, I got her installed, all excited about what this bad boy can do...then the first thing I notice after loading up, and leaving my settings as they were (Using 2x AA for example)...I had this happen...

Seems the lowest AA settings did not work. Now, of course, the drivers are pre-release, so this could explain the problem.

As well, any benchmarks will be suspect.

But, when I saw this...I got scared. Did I get a bad card? I decided to go ahead and play around and changed to 8x AA though, then all was good.

It seems that as part of ATI's new AA features, they have introduced a feature that Nvidia has had for a while..Super-Sample AA.

Now, lets not get too overloaded on jargon here, but let me say this...Super-Sample basically runs the card to supply AA multiple times to pixels to reduce shiny sparkles on edges when using AA (something Nvidia has to defeat...and believe me, sparkly textures can be just weird). And for those who do not know, AA just attempts to reduce jagged edges on objects in a game. Most normal players and gamers (my wife for example who nodded her head very nicely as I kept saying.."Look at the SMOKE from those chimneys")...well, they just don't get it.

Thats ok...this here stuff is for the geeks (and geekesses...all nice in their glasses and short skirts...WHA!! ...whew day dreaming...sorry).

ATI's goal with the new cards was to offer a "Maxxed" out experience for settings with minimal to no change in Framerates. Quality visual is key here while keeping performance.

So, how did that go? Lets get to the MEAT here.

Ready to see what this bad boy does?

First stop...Danger zone. Who remembers this from yesterday? 15.1 frames per second...OUCH.

Ok...now lets crank everything...all features on...and now what do we get?

26.6 FPS. We added over 11.5 FPS alone (and this is stock, with a few minor adjustments, UPWARDS even...using the super-sample)

So basically I can have ALL my features on (yes, even ones I have been turning off) and get some decent frames in one of the most harsh views in the game. (Still unimpressed that this area has such a low benchmark though)

I am close to the magic 30FPS here at least.

30FPS is really the bare minimum we wish to see in game, as this still allows a modicum of visual quality in movement and animation. Standard TV for example runs at 30FPS (not anymore thanks to HDTV...oh and before the super geeks come here and start quoting exacts...I know it is 27 something...but for arguments sake, we are sticking with the standard of 30 as is mostly quoted to be general.)

Now, I plan to do more testing and will be sharing the next two systems (the Medium and the Low End unit) and their specs along with performance. Then we will get into "tweaking"...but this is a good starting spot for those who are desperate for info.

So...a verdict. How do I feel so far about the ATI 5870? Well, this is kinda how I feel ...

Yes Virginia...that IS 259+ frames per second...

Age of Conan - This is a ..uh ..setup

Ah ...who am I kidding. Titles like that above will get me shot for sure. (Setup / Stickup...get it?...haha...yea)

Anyways, today is the first part of my series on performance, hardware and bang for buck when playing Age of Conan.

Since it's release, AoC has become the game most likely to fry your computer system (and I still remember the forum posts from those who said it actually did...hehe).

The capabilities, especially in DX10 of Conan shows that it is trying to be on par with First Person Shooter's in graphic details. This does not always bode well for an MMO though.

When speed is everything, and staying logged in and not blue screening or crashing is the foremost thought on the players mind...we need to make sure that we have the PC guts to keep it together.

Luckily, since launch, changes have been made to the code, and it does run smoother. That is...until you find the "hardcore" spots.

No matter the power of your system, if you have certain features turned on...be prepared to lose over 3/4 of your frame rate.

Here she is

This will be my test spot as I try to find the right settings using the right components and then comparing price points to see what you can get for the cash.

BTW, zoom in on that pic. Yes...you would see that the FPS in the upper left is...15.1.

I will post other comparison spots later as this series continues to show how the framerates normally run.

As one example, I can hit over 120FPS in some spots, and usually hover between 60-80 on a good outing.

Now, to make sure we understand what my test motives will be, I first of all cranked everything for the above picture. That is the sweet spot. Then I will slowly turn off features and go through settings adjusting to see what works best.

The above picture was done on my new i5-750 system with a 4890 and 4 gigs of DDR3 1600.

Here are the settings I used in game.

Now, I will note, I will NOT be using DX9 for this report. AoC has next gen capabilities in the software, and I see no reason to step back.
Lets look to the future.
Age of Conan is the ONLY MMO on the market that is 100% DX10 compliant (note: uses all features...DDO does not, LOTRO does not...not even EvE). And yet, it is still in "test" mode (lol). But, all reports point to the fact that the DX10 implementation is fully realized, thus lets see how it makes our systems work.

Moving on, for the cards I am using (ATI and Nvidia) these are the settings used in the respective control panels.

So, we see both ATI and Nvidia each have specific settings which can enhance the game, or help the game be faster...and ATI even allows me total clock control (for OC'ing, which I will be doing in this series.)

Finally, today is the day...my new ATI 5870 will be arriving. This card is suppose to be a beast...but will it have any effect on Age of Conan? Only time will tell.

Tomorrow I will pull together my complete system listings and show you how much each cost.

Stay tuned as it will be [bump] mappy...(ARGH...end jokes /now)

Age of Conan - Performance and what it will cost ya

Recently I have made several shifts in hardware on my PC for Age of Conan gaming.

Installed currently I have the following gear as my main PC...

• i5-720 OC'd to 3.6GHz on air
• ATI 4890 1GB model video card
• 4 GB DDR3-1600
• Western Digital 32mb Cache 640GB 2 platter hard drives (2)
• SB X-Fi PCI-Express sound card

As well, in the house I have...

• E8400 OC'd to 3.2
• Nvidia GTX 260 896mb
• 4 Gigs DDR3 1333

• E7300 2.66Ghz
• ATI 4870 512mb
• 4 Gigs DDR2 1066

So, a variety of systems.

As we all know, Age of Conan really runs like a dog at times, and at other times runs very well. My plan is to find out what sweet spots for settings work for each of these PC's. Several use different resolutions due to monitors (system 1 is on a 42" TV at 1360x768, 2nd system at 1650x1200 and 3rd at 1440x900), so I will also take that into account as well as drivers and more.

As a final note, released today, is the new ATI 5870 1GB card, and I have one on order. This may change the layout here a bit, so only time will tell in that respect...but, overall I wish to see how performance goes at various settings with that unit as well. Does the GPU make a difference?

The CPU does for sure...

(As a side note, here is a listing of how the various video cards are ranking with specs on the 5870 in comparison to other cards..and WOW it is nice..(Source)

I have found several "harsh" spots of the game that bring the framerates to their knees (and believe it or not...it is NOT in raids.) and I will be using those for my comparisons. Over the next few days I will post screens of FPS counters in game and what settings we are using here.

As a last bit of info, I want to also track how much these systems would cost for the regular player. I will be back with a post on how much these parts can be obtained for so that you can track if it is really worth it to purchase new parts and what you would need to be satisfied with AoC performance.

Hold tight as this will get interesting.