Irinikus wrote on 2023-05-14, 15:28:

I've just got my hands on a patched version of Quake 3 allowing it to operate in an SMP mode: (I'm still running the GT 430 for […]
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I've just got my hands on a patched version of Quake 3 allowing it to operate in an SMP mode: (I'm still running the GT 430 for now)

I now get: 151.1FPS with maximum settings @ 1024x768

In the past the system achieved a maximum of 103.2FPS with this setup using the same settings!!!

It gives the system a huge performance boost! (And also offers SMP for voodoo cards!)

You can download it from a link in the description of this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giho6bxzxeU

You just need to copy the Quake 3 PAK files into the baseq3 directory to get it up and running!

Any idea if the same theory applies to dual core processors as opposed to dual discrete cpus?

Actually how is this different than using the SMP command line flag in the standard build ?

ATi_Loyalist wrote on 2023-05-14, 17:09:

Irinikus wrote on 2023-05-14, 15:28:

I've just got my hands on a patched version of Quake 3 allowing it to operate in an SMP mode: (I'm still running the GT 430 for […]
Show full quote

I've just got my hands on a patched version of Quake 3 allowing it to operate in an SMP mode: (I'm still running the GT 430 for now)

I now get: 151.1FPS with maximum settings @ 1024x768

In the past the system achieved a maximum of 103.2FPS with this setup using the same settings!!!

It gives the system a huge performance boost! (And also offers SMP for voodoo cards!)

You can download it from a link in the description of this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giho6bxzxeU

You just need to copy the Quake 3 PAK files into the baseq3 directory to get it up and running!

Any idea if the same theory applies to dual core processors as opposed to dual discrete cpus?

I stand corrected, but I think the same should apply.

pshipkov wrote on 2023-05-14, 17:11:

Actually how is this different than using the SMP command line flag in the standard build ?

In my case the standard SMP command actually caused Quake 3's performance to scale negatively!

Here's proof of the performance:

Here are the settings:

This shows that both CPU's are effectively being leveraged:

ATi_Loyalist wrote on 2023-05-14, 17:09:

Irinikus wrote on 2023-05-14, 15:28:

I've just got my hands on a patched version of Quake 3 allowing it to operate in an SMP mode: (I'm still running the GT 430 for […]
Show full quote

I've just got my hands on a patched version of Quake 3 allowing it to operate in an SMP mode: (I'm still running the GT 430 for now)

I now get: 151.1FPS with maximum settings @ 1024x768

In the past the system achieved a maximum of 103.2FPS with this setup using the same settings!!!

It gives the system a huge performance boost! (And also offers SMP for voodoo cards!)

You can download it from a link in the description of this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giho6bxzxeU

You just need to copy the Quake 3 PAK files into the baseq3 directory to get it up and running!

Any idea if the same theory applies to dual core processors as opposed to dual discrete cpus?

I just tested it on my Alienware system and it does indeed work for multi-core CPU's!

Here's the result for standard Quake III:

Here's the CPU usage for standard Quake III:

Here's the result for SMP Quake III:

Here's the CPU usage for SMP Quake III:

It does indeed offer a significant performance boost, even on this system!

I've reinstalled my Voodoo5 5500 into this system, as I want to revisit it before installing the other cards, and for the life of me, I can't get it to work in Quake III SMP!!!

Has anyone here ever managed to get one of these cards to operate in Quake III SMP?

No idea about the V cards.

Just wanted to comment that the built-in multi-cpu support always worked for me.
But i stay on NT4. Story can be different in XP.

pshipkov wrote on 2023-05-21, 15:46:

No idea about the V cards.

Just wanted to comment that the built in multi-cpu always worked for me.
But i stay on NT4. Story can be different in XP.

Didi you manage to get Quake III SMP to work with a Voodoo5 5500 in NT4?

Voodoo graphics cards are mostly outside my areas of interest, so never tried actually.
The “coolest” Voodoo card i have is V3 3000 PCI, can give it a try if you want, but you should ask in the video forum or point some of the Voodoo fans to this thread - good chance they will be able to clarify.

I've installed the Quadro 2 Pro, and I must admit that the results are underwhelming to say the least!!!!

Here's the Nvidia Driver setup:

Here's the 3DMark 2001 score:

Here's the standard Quake III TimeDemo Four result:

Here's the Quake III SMP TimeDemo Four result: (Slightly lower than the standard version!)

For comparative purposes, here's the GT 430's 3DMark 2001 score:

Here's the GT 430's standard Quake III TimeDemo Four result:

And here's the GT 430's SMP Quake III TimeDemo Four result:

Here's what the Quadro 2 Pro looks like in the machine:

I should hopefully have the Quadro 3000 in the next couple of weeks, so let's wait and see as to how that card performs! But for now, the ZOTAC GT 430 PCI is the best card I've tested in this system by a pretty large margin!

These numbers are unusually low. Something is not right.
With Q2Pro + Vanilla Q3A SMP you should be around 200 fps in Quake 3 (1024x768, highest settings).
Or can be the motherboard (BIOS microcodes, etc) that is not ideal ?
SuperMicro server boards are not very fast in general, focus is on stability.
Even with the Quake SMP fork and GT430 numbers are below average ...

The interesting thing is that the 3DMark score appears to be exactly what it's supposed to be for such a system spec?

Synthetic tests are mostly meaningless, but if 3DMark is inline with the expectations, then it can be a Q3 specific issue of some sort.
Maybe test with few more games/apps and compare results with known measurements.

Just thinking out loud here. Hope you figure it out.
Things are shaping up pretty well with that rig otherwise.

Today I received the Quadro FX 3000, and it's now installed in the system! (Excuse the power coupling, as it will be cleaned up once I install the Corsair Power Supply that I intend using in this build, closer to the build's completion!)

Here's the current hardware setup according to Windows:

Here's the 3DMark 2001 Score with the Quadro FX 3000 fitted:

Here's the Quake III SMP result:

I've come up with the strategy that I'm going to use regarding the power coupling going to the Quadro FX 3000. (Using the "card extender" to neatly route the wires away.)

I'm sill using the original style (coloured) cable for now and may opt for a fancy braided cable once I fit the Corsair Power Supply, however I do think that a feature such as this original coupling points to the vintage of this hardware in a desirable way.

The Motherboard and SSD's on the other hand will receive the best quality and neatest braided cable option that I can get my hand on, when I install this Power Supply:

So I'm settling on the Quadro FX 3000 as the graphics option for this build, as it offers good performance and seeing that it's a workstation card it complements this motherboard.

Over the next few months I'll purchase the rest of the cards that I'm going to install into this system, starting with the SATA II RAID controller, as there's only one real option as far as this card goes, and it'a this one:

I'm still undecided as to the Sound Card option I'm going to be settling on: (I'll more than likely settle on two of these options, as I don't think that the professional sound card options will work well with games!)

Here are the cards that I'm currently considering: (Any additional suggestions are welcome!)

The Creative E-MU 1212M -EM8810 PCI DSP Processor & EM8800 MIDI extension daughter card.

The Onkyo SE-200 PCI professional high-end sound card.

The Creative X-FI Extreme Gamer Fatality Pro.

And finally, the Digigram VX882HR 8 Channel Multichannel Analog & AES/EBU Digital w/ XLR Cable.

Last, but not least, I'll add in a Belkin USB 2 card:

I've installed my X-FI Extreme Gamer Fatality Pro into this machine, and it's had the effect of dropping an anchor on the systems Quake III performance. The SMP frame rate has now dropped to 115FPS!!!

I've just fitted this system with a Fujitsu U320 15K RPM 73GB SCSI Disk and here's the new performance: (Probably the most consistent disk performance I've ever seen!)

Here's the old disk performance for comparison: (Both tests were carried out using the on board SCSI disk controller)

This is a massive improvement!!! 😀

Irinikus wrote on 2023-03-06, 14:06:

Because I have a Voodoo5 5500 PCI that needs a home! (The Matrox card falls more into the P4 era!)

That's an interesting card by the way! (I remember when it came out back in2002!)

I see you settled on a card that falls more into the P4 era. (Quadro FX 3000)