Dual or single video card for Crysis

Hi
As I am new to this site, please bare with me. I have just made a new machine, and are haveing a little problem when playing Crysis, as it does not move as smooth as I had expected.

The machine consists of
Motherboard: ASUS Maximus Formula Republic of Gamers
CPU: Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4 GHz
RAM: Kingston HyperX 2 x 1 GB
Video card: ASUS EN8800GT/G/HTDP
HDD: WD Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500 GB

In general I believe that I have set up a good system but.....

I have installed VISTA Ultimate, and realize that this is not speeding up the system %uF04C compared to a short test with XP. However, when running XP, it is not possible to run the setting "Very high" , this is possible in VISTA, and the auto detected setting by Crysis. Again, when running at "Very high" the system are NOT smooth.

Can I do something to help this?

I have been wondering if 2 video cards would do the trick? If installing two cards, must they then be absolutely identical (fabricate, type etc) or could it be any other 8800GT ?

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I've had it running @ 35fps Avg on Very High With 3780 in CF on a 19" monitor. Maybe a GTS would do it, having two of them certainly would. As for your GT SLI question you would need any two with the same clock speed preferably.

Also try overclocking your CPU. It seems a waste to have an ASUS MF and a Q6600 at stock speeds. Just a basic to 3Ghz would add at least 5fps. Overclock your GFX with RivaTuner to get another few Fps.

Message edited by closed_deal on 01-22-2008 at 01:22:23 PM

There's no single card that can handle Crysis at over 30fps all the time on very high.

The "very high" settings only appear in Vista because of some directx10 things it uses, but you can get "very high" in xp, it looks slightly different, but it's hardly noticeable, and from what I hear, runs way smoother.

I agree with deal, try oc'ing a little bit, I got almost 5 more fps oc'ing my 8800GTS 320.

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http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/4645/sig1xl2.jpg

Reply to STEMNIN

depends on the resolution and AA too
you can't have it all at the same time
there aint no hardware yet to that is powerfull enough for that

There is a detailed review of the Crysis patch at TechSpot
http://www.techspot.com/article/83 [...] -multigpu/

The article compares Crysis version 1.0 to 1.1 with single card and SLI performance. In DX10 High Quality mode, two 8800 GT cards in SLI will give you an extra 12 fps. In DX9 Medium Quality, SLI is about 5 fps SLOWER than 1 card. I would NOT spend $280 just to get an extra 12 fps.

Message quoted 1 times
Message edited by Biggins on 01-23-2008 at 06:35:44 AM

Reply to Biggins

Biggins wrote :

There is a detailed review of the Crysis patch at TechSpot
http://www.techspot.com/article/83 [...] -multigpu/

The article compares Crysis version 1.0 to 1.1 with single card and SLI performance. In DX10 High Quality mode, two 8800 GT cards in SLI will give you an extra 12 fps. In DX9 Medium Quality, SLI is about 5 fps SLOWER than 1 card. I would NOT spend $280 just to get an extra 12 fps.

To be fair, a 12 fps increase when running 20 - 30 fps currently is a pretty good jump especially since it will make the games playability alot better in this case. If it were from 50 or 60 fps then adding 12 fps wouldnt mean to much, but since low is what we are getting now I would say it warrants it if you have the cash to spare.

@ the OP. My system in the sig avg ~30 fps in the GPU benchmark in Vista DX10 32bit, running full res (1680x1050) with no AA on a 20" LCD Monitor, running all graphical settings on high with the exception of Texture, Physics and Post Processing Quality. I have those 3 settings set to Very High. I am not sure what res you are running, but I would imagine that your system should be able to produce very similar results to mine, so I would just recommend trying those settings if you dont want to get another card, and the game should run decently smooth. Hope this helps.

Best,

3Ball

------------------------------ ASUS P5Q Pro P45 Motherboard
Intel C2Q Q9550 @ 3.40ghz w/ (8.5x400mhz, 1.2125v, Zalman 9500 & 24+ Hours Prime95 Stable)
6gb G. Skill DDR2 6400 @ 800mhz w/ (5-5-5-15: 2T, 2.04v)
EVGA GTX275 @ 660mhz/1550mhz/2400mhz
Reply to 3Ball

Thanks for the reply.

I will try overclocking the processor....if I can find the way to do it.

Also I have to admit I am new to oc'ing, and in this connection I have to ask: "SLI" is that an expression for dual vidio card?

Message quoted 2 times

Reply to Tonny0909

How do you see the FPS?

And related to this....which benchmark program do you use?

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to Tonny0909

Tonny0909 wrote :

Thanks for the reply.

I will try overclocking the processor....if I can find the way to do it.

Also I have to admit I am new to oc'ing, and in this connection I have to ask: "SLI" is that an expression for dual vidio card?

SLI can be dual, triple, quad.. it's nvidia's term.

Crossfire is what ATI calls it.

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Reply to STEMNIN

Tonny0909 wrote :

How do you see the FPS?

And related to this....which benchmark program do you use?

There is a built in benchmark program that shows FPS and and will show you your minimum, avg, and max for each of the 4 loops it makes. To run the benchmark just go into your:

hard drive/program files/Electronic Arts/Crytek/Crysis/bin32 folder and you will see 2 CPU benchmarks and a GPU benchmark. The one that I used for comparison is the GPU benchmark.

Best,

3Ball

------------------------------ ASUS P5Q Pro P45 Motherboard
Intel C2Q Q9550 @ 3.40ghz w/ (8.5x400mhz, 1.2125v, Zalman 9500 & 24+ Hours Prime95 Stable)
6gb G. Skill DDR2 6400 @ 800mhz w/ (5-5-5-15: 2T, 2.04v)
EVGA GTX275 @ 660mhz/1550mhz/2400mhz
Reply to 3Ball

Tonny0909 wrote :

Also I have to admit I am new to oc'ing, and in this connection I have to ask: "SLI" is that an expression for dual vidio card?

This guide may help you with the OC'ing. http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] uals-guide

Best,

3Ball

------------------------------ ASUS P5Q Pro P45 Motherboard
Intel C2Q Q9550 @ 3.40ghz w/ (8.5x400mhz, 1.2125v, Zalman 9500 & 24+ Hours Prime95 Stable)
6gb G. Skill DDR2 6400 @ 800mhz w/ (5-5-5-15: 2T, 2.04v)
EVGA GTX275 @ 660mhz/1550mhz/2400mhz
Reply to 3Ball

3Ball...you are the greatest ;o)

I have already tried the patch, and it is running WAY better already. However I really need to to try the oc'ing, now when I finally have a decent piece of machinery, that are prepared for it.

I will try the benchmarking and post the result.

BR
Tonny

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to Tonny0909

Tonny0909 wrote :

3Ball...you are the greatest ;o)

I have already tried the patch, and it is running WAY better already. However I really need to to try the oc'ing, now when I finally have a decent piece of machinery, that are prepared for it.

I will try the benchmarking and post the result.

BR
Tonny

Glad I could help. GL with it and keep us posted.

Best,

3Ball

------------------------------ ASUS P5Q Pro P45 Motherboard
Intel C2Q Q9550 @ 3.40ghz w/ (8.5x400mhz, 1.2125v, Zalman 9500 & 24+ Hours Prime95 Stable)
6gb G. Skill DDR2 6400 @ 800mhz w/ (5-5-5-15: 2T, 2.04v)
EVGA GTX275 @ 660mhz/1550mhz/2400mhz
Reply to 3Ball

SLi makes a huge difference for crysis. Overclocking your card will only gain you a tiny fraction of what SLI will do as dual 8800GT kicks an Ultra's butt in Crysis. I see a 55% increase at 1680x1050 2xaa/16xaf and high details. But still don't expect to max everything even with two cards. Two 8800 ultras won't even allow very high details with fsaa at 16x12 res.
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardwar [...] /page4.asp

Not sure on your resolution, but look how in DX 10 with Vista 64-bit, two 8800GT scale very well in this test. At 16x10 high, they measured 26 fps for one card and 43 fps for two cards.
http://www.legionhardware.com/docu [...] id=716&p=3

Reply to pauldh

Tried the GPU benchmark, result 24-38 fps

This is standard settings. I will get a new cooler before I try the oc'ing.

Any experiences , good or bad, with the new Thermalright IFX-14 ? Or should I stick with some older, proven versions as the Thermalright 120 Ultra or CM geminII ?

Do I need to change the cooler on the GPU ? I have the ASUS 8800 GT it has an "orb" type approx. 130mm diameter, with a 80mm fan. It looks effective ;o))

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to Tonny0909

Oh-oh, I forgot : Resolution 1600*1200 all in very high, aax0

Reply to Tonny0909

Hey, if this is still a question, read my thread:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] ingle-card

With SLI, my system actually performed A LOT WORSE!!!!
It's probably some driver problem that will eventually be solved, but until then,

SLI is giving me 25-35 fps
1 card same specs = 40-60 fps

Reply to gellert

It's probably that I am just an old fart but in the old days when a game didnt really run smoothly I used to reduce screen resolution on my old CRT and I got pretty good results, still reasonable image quality (although fewer pixels obviously) but running a lot more smoothly.

Nowadays with fancy LCD displays that only give a good image quality when you run games on the native resolution of the LCD, and as hardware gets older, options fpr getting a game to run smoothly and still look reasonable are getting reduced. If I pick a lower screen resolution for my LCD it ususally looks horribly bad.

Is it just my stupidity or is it another hoax by the industry to get us upgrading more often?

Message quoted 2 times

Reply to BigMac

Tonny0909 wrote :

Tried the GPU benchmark, result 24-38 fps

This is standard settings. I will get a new cooler before I try the oc'ing.

Any experiences , good or bad, with the new Thermalright IFX-14 ? Or should I stick with some older, proven versions as the Thermalright 120 Ultra or CM geminII ?

Do I need to change the cooler on the GPU ? I have the ASUS 8800 GT it has an "orb" type approx. 130mm diameter, with a 80mm fan. It looks effective ;o))

I don't have personal experience with the Thermalright IFX-14, but I believe it will be sufficient, but make sure to put a fan on it. I would only change the cooler of 1 of 2 things (or both are happening). 1.) It is loud and annoying you. 2.) The card is running to hot for your liking or or it is plain overheating. Thats the approach I would take.

Best,

3Ball

------------------------------ ASUS P5Q Pro P45 Motherboard
Intel C2Q Q9550 @ 3.40ghz w/ (8.5x400mhz, 1.2125v, Zalman 9500 & 24+ Hours Prime95 Stable)
6gb G. Skill DDR2 6400 @ 800mhz w/ (5-5-5-15: 2T, 2.04v)
EVGA GTX275 @ 660mhz/1550mhz/2400mhz
Reply to 3Ball

BigMac wrote :

It's probably that I am just an old fart but in the old days when a game didnt really run smoothly I used to reduce screen resolution on my old CRT and I got pretty good results, still reasonable image quality (although fewer pixels obviously) but running a lot more smoothly.

Nowadays with fancy LCD displays that only give a good image quality when you run games on the native resolution of the LCD, and as hardware gets older, options fpr getting a game to run smoothly and still look reasonable are getting reduced. If I pick a lower screen resolution for my LCD it ususally looks horribly bad.

Is it just my stupidity or is it another hoax by the industry to get us upgrading more often?

I suppose its just the price we pay for the great image quality and saved space that we get from our LCD's, but atleast upgrading is much cheaper than it was in the past. lol

Best,

3Ball

------------------------------ ASUS P5Q Pro P45 Motherboard
Intel C2Q Q9550 @ 3.40ghz w/ (8.5x400mhz, 1.2125v, Zalman 9500 & 24+ Hours Prime95 Stable)
6gb G. Skill DDR2 6400 @ 800mhz w/ (5-5-5-15: 2T, 2.04v)
EVGA GTX275 @ 660mhz/1550mhz/2400mhz
Reply to 3Ball

Hi again

Yes, as I am still using the old CRT screen reducing the reolution is a powerfull solution to the FPS problem.

Reply to Tonny0909

I tried to put in a second 8800GT, but I realize that the motherboard does not contain nVidia's chipset but the intel X38. Therefore I am not able to run the SLI-mode.

However, the system recognizes the two cards in the hardware list, but I do not see the effect. Any experiences, or thoughts, about this?

I have tried the GPU benchmark, and are getting the same reslut 27-34, as the last count I sse before it turns off. Is there a way to see the specs? I have looked for a file of some kind, but find nothing.

As I am still new to this stuff of double cards and oc'ing, please allow my stupid questions ;o)

Reply to Tonny0909

Really, my question would be:

Do I get ANYTHING (aside the posibility of using 4 screens) from using dual video cards on this motherboard?

Newbie, as I am, I thought that this card was made for the upgrades with the dual slot set-up ;o)

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to Tonny0909

BigMac wrote :

Nowadays with fancy LCD displays that only give a good image quality when you run games on the native resolution of the LCD....

I have a 20 inch LCD with a native res of 1600x1200. I run Crysis at 1024x768 and it looks good. There is no distortion.

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to Biggins

Biggins wrote :

I have a 20 inch LCD with a native res of 1600x1200. I run Crysis at 1024x768 and it looks good. There is no distortion.

Distortion is not the issue really (if a 4:3 ratio is mapped correctly on a widescreen). The issue is crappy interpolation. Hopefully LCD monitors are getting better at it (they should because it's not rocket science to get it right), but the LCD's I have experience with, are horrible.

Reply to BigMac

Tonny0909 wrote :

Really, my question would be:

Do I get ANYTHING (aside the posibility of using 4 screens) from using dual video cards on this motherboard?

Newbie, as I am, I thought that this card was made for the upgrades with the dual slot set-up ;o)

With that motherboard, no. You just get more screens, but no way to link 2 NVidia cards. If you wanted to get ATi cards instead, I think it would be able to link them using their Crossfire system.

Reply to flydian

Hi again

I have now switched the motherboard for an ASUS P5N-T deluxe, and added the IFX14 cooler with 2x120mm fans including the extra Hr-10 +80mm fan, for the backside of the motherboard.

However, I am not able to start up the machine! (( It boots correctly but will not start Vista. Tried to reinstall (several times), but it freezes the screen at some point during the installation, never the same place though. Have had up to 44% unpacked files, but also the short version where it stopped before the "rolling green stripe" had finished.

I have not put in both video card during this start up, and also I tried to install a new, untouched, hard disk, but no luck.

Could it be overheating problem? ......or am I lacking power from the power supply?

The power supply is a 500W Artic cooling, stating 350W on one group and 140W on the next group. It does seam a little low (as it was purchased to be a 500W), but will this act like that during a simple installation of Vista or XP?

I really need an input of which way to go.

Reply to Tonny0909

I suggest you go over to the hardware section and try there. There's knowledgeable people there that do not visit these parts of the forums.

Reply to BigMac

Yeah, hardware section, but you probably need a bigger PSU especially if you are going to overclock the CPU. Alot also depends on how the PSU is organized.

I had a 700 watt OCZ that would not power a Q6600 and 2 8800GTS 512s. Not because it was too small but because +12v rail #2 was designated for either CPU #2 or GPU #2, but not both.

If I had been running a dual core, and SLI it would have been fine, or a quad and a single card but not a quad and SLI.

Use the new egg PSU calculator to get a rough idea what you need, then be sure to buy a PSU that is organized correctly for your application.

Reply to ntrepid8

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Dual or single video card for Crysis

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