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alex_kac · Oct 4, 2003, 02:17 PM

OK. Running under b74 of Panther.

1.5GB of RAM
Dual 2.0 Ghz G5
ATI 9800 Pro with 128MB RAM
20'' Apple Cinema display

Screen set to 1600x1050 32-bit color
All sound settings set to highest quality
All graphics settings set to highest quality

Playing several of the maps I get anywhere from 60-90 fps on average with up to about 150 fps in a few maps.

Not bad to me at all. I get much higher framerates when setting to 1280x1024, but I like the widescreen. Now...if we could get my 19'' LCD also playing (watching my back)...I'd gladly use the 1280x1024 instead

BTW - I was not sure if this was the right forum...its hardware related because the point of this is to show the speed of the G5 and ATI 9800, and not gaming specifically.

businezguy · Oct 4, 2003, 02:19 PM

How about trying an expansive map and max out everything including the bots. Then see how many frames per second you get. I'm curious to see if you'll get stuttering and hesitation.

alex_kac · Oct 4, 2003, 02:26 PM

I did try a few maps - all of them were above 60 fps usually hovering around 70-80 fps.

My tests were with 8 bots in teams.

Getting ready for my son's bday party, so can't do more now...but I can do more later.

I can say the same test on my Dual MDD 1.25 with 1.25 GB of RAM did bring it to a stutter.

rambo47 · Oct 4, 2003, 02:49 PM

This is terrific performance for a Mac! Frame rates well over what is considered the threshold for noticable performance increases. Yeah, some wintel machines get over 130 fps but the difference between this and the higher rates are supposedly not noticable to the human eye.

MindFad · Oct 4, 2003, 03:37 PM

Originally posted by rambo47:
This is terrific performance for a Mac! Frame rates well over what is considered the threshold for noticable performance increases. Yeah, some wintel machines get over 130 fps but the difference between this and the higher rates are supposedly not noticable to the human eye.

Yeah, I'm really impressed, man. That's some nice performance.

True about framerates, but the purpose of higher framerates is to always keep it above 60. People bitch that, "oh, you can't even see that many, blah blah blah"�but you do notice when it drops below 60. So if I'm averaging 80FPS in Q3, for example, that means I get jumps into 120s and drops into 40s. That makes for distracting gameplay to drop below 60, though anything 30 and above is generally considered decent (I think so). If I'm averaging 300 FPS�well, you have not a thing to worry about. UT2K3 is painful on my dual 800/GF3. Drops into the teens ... blech. Really impressed with that those scores, though. I look forward to some DOOM 3 and Halo benches.

*dreams of a future dual 3GHz G5 with FireGL (if ATI would be so kind)*

Commodus · Oct 4, 2003, 04:54 PM

Man oh man is that good performance - with 8 bots, no less! I have a 3 GHz Pentium 4 box for my gaming at the moment, but at this rate I may "have" to get a G5 tower sometime next year.

Certainly the widescreen ratio offers you an experience most x86 users will never know.

Boochie · Oct 4, 2003, 05:19 PM

Game frame rates that are above the monitor refresh rate wouldn't seem to be of any value. HOWEVER, having the headroom for CPU-intensive games is certainly nice!

Vash · Oct 4, 2003, 05:53 PM

Hey alex_kac, I'm in the same boat as you, except have 4gb of RAM and the 22" Cinema. UT2k3 is an amazing game, and if you don't mind a lower 40-50FPS then enable FSAA, I sure did. Just go to "YourHomeFolder/Library/Application Support/Unreal Tournament 2003/System" and open UT2003.ini. Then find the line that says "MultisampleBuffers" and change the 0 to a 1. Below that line, change how much FSAA you would like (2x,4x,6,etc...dont include the x though) and finally below that change "MultiSampleHint" to a 2. I find FSAAx2 gives a nice high frame rate, yet makes the game much better looking. Anyway, have fun with your G5, I know I am!

Hydra · Oct 4, 2003, 06:23 PM

Vash ( or should I say Mr. Stampede

),

Do you or anyone else get audio anomalies in UT2003? The game runs very solidly and fast in my dual G5/9800/20" CD/2.5 GB RAM (all settings maxed and res of 1680x1050) but the announcers voices and taunts sound like they are high pitched- think Mickey Mouse saying - "Head-Shot!" or "Killing Spree!". It's actually very amusing but I didn't alter my audio config in any way so I wonder what's up? Thanks in advance.

-Jerry C.

Vash · Oct 4, 2003, 09:35 PM

No, I don't get any audio anomalies. Maybe your have your announcer voice set to Female? or something other than normal? (And Yea, I'm Vash the Stampede

) If that isn't the case, try just trashing your config file, that almost always works.

Groovy · Oct 5, 2003, 12:35 AM

Originally posted by alex_kac:
OK. Running under b74 of Panther.

1.5GB of RAM
Dual 2.0 Ghz G5
ATI 9800 Pro with 128MB RAM
20'' Apple Cinema display

Screen set to 1600x1050 32-bit color
All sound settings set to highest quality
All graphics settings set to highest quality

Playing several of the maps I get anywhere from 60-90 fps on average with up to about 150 fps in a few maps.

Not bad to me at all. I get much higher framerates when setting to 1280x1024, but I like the widescreen. Now...if we could get my 19'' LCD also playing (watching my back)...I'd gladly use the 1280x1024 instead

Wait of Ryan Gordon releases the G5 opt patch when 10.3 is released. He says 50% speed up on average with both applied.

flyhigher · Oct 5, 2003, 11:23 AM

Originally posted by Groovy:
Wait of Ryan Gordon releases the G5 opt patch when 10.3 is released.

What?

Gul Banana · Oct 5, 2003, 11:37 AM

Originally posted by flyhigher:
What?

He seems to be saying that when Panther is released, the porters of UT2K3 will release a patch, optimized for the G5 and Panther, that will increase performance a lot. Though the grammar was atrocious, the news is much appreciated.

alex_kac · Oct 5, 2003, 03:40 PM

Originally posted by Vash:
Hey alex_kac, I'm in the same boat as you, except have 4gb of RAM and the 22" Cinema. UT2k3 is an amazing game, and if you don't mind a lower 40-50FPS then enable FSAA, I sure did. Just go to "YourHomeFolder/Library/Application Support/Unreal Tournament 2003/System" and open UT2003.ini. Then find the line that says "MultisampleBuffers" and change the 0 to a 1. Below that line, change how much FSAA you would like (2x,4x,6,etc...dont include the x though) and finally below that change "MultiSampleHint" to a 2. I find FSAAx2 gives a nice high frame rate, yet makes the game much better looking. Anyway, have fun with your G5, I know I am!

Hm. You know I've never actually owned a machine before that made sense to turn FSAA on in games. Does it make that big of a difference in the look ?

Hydra · Oct 5, 2003, 03:54 PM

Actually it does look noticeably nicer. I figured running @ 1680x1050 it was a high enough resolution that jaggies and the textures would look their best anyway but enabling those two things really make the image silky smooth and the fps really didn't drop off too much either. Also any of my wide-screen playing com-padres don't forget to change your FOV from the default 85 degrees to 95-100 degrees - it's almost like cheating you get to see so much more in your peripheral vision. (making your on-screen weapon smaller helps too).

A follow-up about my audio troubles:

I trashed the config and the high pitched voices stayed. The funny thing is America's Army does the exact same thing. The only thing that makes it go away is if I plug my USB AudioTrak OPTOplay didital Dolby Headphone adapter in and plug the headphones into it the voices are perfect. I originally got the thing to drive my SONY MDR-F1 headphones better than the built-in headphone amp in my dual 800 but haven't used it on my G5 until just now to test it w/ UT2003. I will probably just leave it plugged in and use my headphones through it as it does have higher sound quality than most headphone jacks anyway.

-Jerry C.

alex_kac · Oct 5, 2003, 04:02 PM

Originally posted by Hydra:
Actually it does look noticeably nicer. I figured running @ 1680x1050 it was a high enough resolution that jaggies and the textures would look their best anyway but enabling those two things really make the image silky smooth and the fps really didn't drop off too much either. Also any of my wide-screen playing com-padres don't forget to change your FOV from the default 85 degrees to 95-100 degrees - it's almost like cheating you get to see so much more in your peripheral vision. (making your on-screen weapon smaller helps too).

Hm. I'll have to think about it. Next question is how to change the FOV...that's the one thing I was really hoping to do, but not sure how.

Hydra · Oct 5, 2003, 04:08 PM

Originally posted by alex_kac:
Hm. I'll have to think about it. Next question is how to change the FOV...that's the one thing I was really hoping to do, but not sure how.

Easy as cake. In the settings menu of the game just go to the player tab and on the right side it gives you the option of changing the FOV. You can do this in-game on the fly so you can switch back and forth to see the difference while looking at the same scene.

-Jerry C.

Hydra · Oct 5, 2003, 04:18 PM

Originally posted by alex_kac:
OK. Running under b74 of Panther.

Playing several of the maps I get anywhere from 60-90 fps on average with up to about 150 fps in a few maps.

Oh yeah, I keep forgetting to ask you but those numbers seem a bit higher than UT2003 under 10.2. Did you play it under 10.2 as well and how would you compare it to 10.3?

-Jerry C.

alex_kac · Oct 5, 2003, 04:24 PM

Sorry....never ran 10.2 on my G5. I'm in ADC and just got the G5 last week so put on the b74 right away.

D'Espice · Oct 6, 2003, 07:16 AM

That is fast, true... but the computer is also expensive, for less money you can get a PC that is about as fast as your Dual G5 or even faster. Face it, when it comes to games, PCs are superior to Macs but it's nice to see that Macs are finally catching up

aaanorton · Oct 6, 2003, 10:21 AM

Originally posted by D'Espice:
That is fast, true... but the computer is also expensive, for less money you can get a PC that is about as fast as your Dual G5 or even faster. Face it, when it comes to games, PCs are superior to Macs but it's nice to see that Macs are finally catching up

Nothing like having a mod join a really good and productive thread, only to fukc it up.

D'Espice,
What's your point?
And how does it apply to THIS thread?
Was this really necessary?
Who cares?
Where are you hoping to go with this?

alex_kac · Oct 6, 2003, 05:23 PM

Actually...I use my G5 for doing development work, Photoshop, Indesign , and LOTS of text processing (gigabytes of data) and the machine is primarily used for work. However, I like to play a nice game here and there and it shows the G5 is definately up to the task.

alex_kac · Oct 8, 2003, 09:55 PM

OK, I retested with all the FSAA settings up high. Frame rates dropped to an average of around 48 fps with 8 bots and the 1600x1050 resolution. Frankly...though I did notice the nicer look in a FEW areas...it wasn't worth the frame rate drop for me.

jamesa · Oct 9, 2003, 02:54 AM

Originally posted by Hydra:
Vash ( or should I say Mr. Stampede ),

Do you or anyone else get audio anomalies in UT2003? The game runs very solidly and fast in my dual G5/9800/20" CD/2.5 GB RAM (all settings maxed and res of 1680x1050) but the announcers voices and taunts sound like they are high pitched- think Mickey Mouse saying - "Head-Shot!" or "Killing Spree!". It's actually very amusing but I didn't alter my audio config in any way so I wonder what's up? Thanks in advance.

-Jerry C.

Jerry,

My friend running on a Rev A 17'' PB gets the exact same problem, but in America's Army (which is based on the UT engine). The announcer sounds like a Chipmunk!

Originally posted by Groovy:
Wait of Ryan Gordon releases the G5 opt patch when 10.3 is released. He says 50% speed up on average with both applied.

Source? I don't remember Ryan ever saying that, and I've kept a close eye on his finger over @ icculus.org

-- james

josborn · Oct 21, 2003, 01:25 PM

Been running Unreal Tournament 2003 on the dual, and must say it's a much better game when the settings are cranked up to the max. So having said that, I should set up a server for G5 players.

Any interest in something like that?

PoisonTooth · Oct 21, 2003, 01:36 PM

Originally posted by aaanorton:
Nothing like having a mod join a really good and productive thread, only to fukc it up.

D'Espice,
What's your point?
And how does it apply to THIS thread?
Was this really necessary?
Who cares?
Where are you hoping to go with this?

He's telling the truth. Macs are NOT up to par with the PC in raw gaming performance. If you can't accept this, then that's really unfortunate, because it's fact.

Macs are plenty of things, and in many ways so very superior to PCs. If, however, gaming is your main computing task, a Mac is not the way to go. Anyone who says otherwise is lying or biased far beyond objective thought.

alex_kac · Oct 21, 2003, 01:39 PM

Maybe not exactly on par with PCs...but that's not the point. The point is I do a huge amount of work on this Mac and sometimes I like to play games. Its nice to know its up to the task.

Eug · Oct 21, 2003, 01:51 PM

Run the built-in bench for UT2003. The numbers are more meaningful because they are comparable across machines and platforms.

That is fast, true... but the computer is also expensive, for less money you can get a PC that is about as fast as your Dual G5 or even faster. Face it, when it comes to games, PCs are superior to Macs but it's nice to see that Macs are finally catching up

Well, in the past it was that if you bought a G4, you'd probably want a PC anyway as a gaming machine, if you were a serious gamer. Now, if you're buying a G5, you don't need the PC anymore (at least for some games).

What you say is true really only if your main reason to buy the machine is for gaming.

PoisonTooth · Oct 21, 2003, 03:10 PM

Originally posted by alex_kac:
Maybe not exactly on par with PCs...but that's not the point. The point is I do a huge amount of work on this Mac and sometimes I like to play games. Its nice to know its up to the task.

It most certainly IS up to the task. The dual G5 is no slouch for games, but the Mac, as a platform, doesn't quite compare to Windows.

Not that I care much, frankly. I look for other things in my computer. If I want games, I go to the Xbox.

But yes, it is nice knowing the dual G5 can handle a smattering of games with relative ease.