First post, by xjas
- Rank
- l33t
I did some benchmarks to answer this question. Decided to spin this off into its own thread. Feel free to contribute (other games, other systems, etc.)
EDIT: RESULTS UPDATED TO INCLUDE USING FASTVID as suggested by Keropi below.
Machines used:
Celeron 1GHz @ 10x100 (Tualeron) - Socket 370
Gigabyte GA-6VEML / VIA Apollo PLE133T
512MB PC133
Onboard Trident Cyberblade AGP (8MB shared)
P4/3.0HT (800FSB) - Socket 478
Gigabyte 8IPE1000-G / Intel 865PE
3GB PC3200 DDR
Radeon HD3850 AGP
Also tried: 16MB Voodoo Banshee PCI (Guillemot Maxi Gamer Phoneix)
- OS was a fresh install of FreeDOS 1.2 with totally default options, EMS config from the boot menu used
- For FASTVID results, only himemx.exe was loaded and fdconfig.sys/autoexec.bat were cleaned up. (No EMS, no FDAPM, etc.) Fastvid was configured using the suggested settings given when run.
- All games were run with NO sound cards configured
- SOFTWARE RENDERING was used in all cases, otherwise this whole exercise would have been pointless. All tests were run in 8-bit VESA SVGA modes.
Testing procedures:
Duke 3D ver. 1.3D installed straight off the CD
Set resolution by editing duke3d.cfg, started a new game, typed 'DNRATE', waited for the aircraft crash to finish & the FPS to stabilize. Then I walked over and blew up the barrels and tried to note the lowest FPS I saw on the counter.
Quake ver. 1.08 final official DOS patch
Standard 'timedemo demo1.dem'.
Descent 2 1.2 final official DOS patch
Launched with -superhires and started a new game on level 1. Entered the 'FRAMETIME' cheat, and with my ship sitting still at the opening position, I recorded the FPS. (It helps if you start a new game, type 'FRAMETIME', then quit and start again so you don't open the first door and alert the AI.)
Hexen 2 1.28 DOS port running the demo datafiles
Started a new game with the default character and entered 'timerefresh' on the console.
Results
(I made these charts in Harvard Graphics 3 for DOS because yo dawg I head you like DOS so I nevermind this joke was tired years ago.)
Conclusions:
The fast P4 is still working hard to run late DOS/software-rendered games at 1280x1024, and a high-end P3 isn't always adequate. Without Fastvid loaded Quake & Hexen 2 never saw "smooth" framerates; Descent 2 was playable at 1280 but it chugged a bit if I went into the map more. With Fastvid loaded every game was playable at 1280x1024 but slowdowns still occurred. Even Descent 2 which initially posted 80FPS with FV on the Radeon slowed down to under 40 in occasional areas on a quick playthrough (lots of combat, complex geometry, etc.)
Tl;dr: A 3GHz P4 is by no means "wasted" running these games at 1280x1024 and the extra speed is definitely still beneficial!
Obviously 3D acceleration would make a big difference but that's not the point of this test.
Feel free to contribute more results!
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