Call of Duty 4 Performace. A little something for you to try.

[SKYMTL]

Well guys, in my recent bout of benchmarking with the steaming pile of crap that is the ATI 8.7 driver set, I THINK I found something interesting in Call of Duty 4.

I was running through a timedemo like I usually do to benchmark the game with FRAPS running in the background. Somehow, I didn't remember to turn off the Dual Video Card option in the Video Options from my frustrating journey to get some good Crossfire benchmarks. Lo and behold, I started getting AMAZING performance with a single HD4850 installed.

Scratching my head I went back and realized that I still had the dual card option enabled. I dsabled it and my frames per second took a downturn to what I was used to getting. We are talking a 10-15% increased in FPS when switching to dual card option...even with a single card installed.

Here is a screenshot of the Log file in FRAPS, 2560 x 1600 4X AA all settings High. Please note that the top is with Dual Cards turned ON and the bottom is with it turned off:



Now I am not sure if it is these wacky drivers or something else but I would like you guys to give it a try and see what you get.

So I know it isn't my timedemo, here is the how to record and play a timedemo as indicated on the COD forums:

1. Record the demo through the console with /record [name] and /stoprecord to finish it.

2. The demos will be stored in …/Call of Duty 4/main/demos

3. If you try to play back CoD4 demos directly, the game will crash. Instead, copy the demo folder into …/Call of Duty 4/Mods/ModWarfare and start Call of Duty 4.

4. Once loaded, select Mods and load ModWarefare and the game will re-start with the mod loaded.

5. Then bring down the console (CTRL+Shift+ ~) and type timedemo [ demo name] and press enter to benchmark it.

[Cptn Vortex]

Yeah, for me I got basically the same performance, with a dual card LOL 9800GX2

[Cptn Vortex]

Ok tried again with the longer timedemo 3oh6 made.

[DarKStar]

Maybe it's all a conspiracy and your single card has a hidden extra GPU and running SLI built-in and you have one of those very rare cards that even AMD is not aware of :) :) :)

[SKYMTL]

Har Har. Just tried it with a HD4870....same jump in performance.

[sjps220]

Nice find. I have a 4850 and will try to test this out tomorrow

[SKYMTL]

I'm looking forward to seeing your results.

[magictorch]

Ill give that a go tomorrow with 8.6 and 4870 in COD4.

Given your experience SKY with XF on 8.7 is it worth moving from 8.6 cf? Looking forward to the Xf review anyway...well hopefully not too scathing. Are you using the DFIX38 board-I know they had issues with 3870X2 but not heard anything about 2x 3870's or 4870's.

Maybe better 8.8 drivers for August will move things along otherwise the second 4870 on its way is going to have to find a new home

EDIT:Also heard about 3D to 2D issues with cf?

[SKYMTL]

If I told you my experiences with the 8.7 in Crossfire and about what I feel about it, I would probably never see another card from ATI. Ever.

Lets just say that I have spent the last 48 hours drying to diagnose the issues with the HD4850 cards in CF since the HD4870s ran without an issue. Never seen anything like this in my life and I am sure Capt. Vortex can agree since I have shown him just the tip of the iceberg...

That explain things? :(

[magictorch]

Aye, that'll dee. Keep up the good work, 48hrs--thats a long time though Its gonna be an interesting review-

Originally Posted by SKYMTL

That explain things? :(

[DarKStar]

Could it be that somehow it's taking advantage of the HyperThreading on your CPU ?
I've never really compared, as I have a dual core processor and always leave that option on since I play recent games.

Did you try this with other games - Bioshock for example.

[sjps220]

I didn't see much of a difference. I ran my timedemo at 1920X1200.

NO
Frames, Time (ms), Min, Max, Avg
4548, 62292, 31, 129, 73.011
YES
Frames, Time (ms), Min, Max, Avg
4568, 62332, 32, 130, 73.285

[frosty]

i must be retarted for I cant get the time demo to run....

I follwed the instructions and its telling me it cant find the demo...

[frosty]

well figured I just try the fraps program and use there time benchmark feature..

2008-07-27 07:36:13 - iw3mp
Frames: 11214 - Time: 62789ms - Avg: 178.598 - Min: 26 - Max: 508 (AA off - dual video on)

2008-07-27 07:39:59 - iw3mp
Frames: 6993 - Time: 52176ms - Avg: 134.027 - Min: 27 - Max: 348 (AA on 4x -Dual video on

2008-07-27 07:44:00 - iw3mp
Frames: 4891 - Time: 40955ms - Avg: 119.424 - Min: 24 - Max: 148 (AA 4x -dual cards off)

[sswilson]

If I were a conspiracy nut, I'd guess that ATI did something (like a hidden drop in eye candy settings) in the background to boost crossfire performance, but I turned in my X-Files member card years ago so I don't think like that any more............