![]() ![]() That implies that the performance difference we’re seeing has something to do with the way the 3D graphics are rendered, as opposed to any specific shortcoming in the game engine or overall slowdown that would account for a difference. And that number compares pretty well from Macs to PCs. Setting that command gets all the 3D stuff out of the way, telling us how fast the core game engine itself is running. Running the same demo at 640 x 480 with 3D rendering turned off - which can be done by setting the r_skiprender value to 1 in the Doom 3 console, then running the timedemo - returns an FPS average of better than 106 frames per second. As a result, Mac gamers using dual-processor systems like ours will see no direct benefit. A caveat, however: Early on in development, id Software determined it had very little to gain in performance by optimizing the game engine for dual-processor configurations, as it had with later builds of Quake 3 Arena. Many tests we’ve seen are based on Pentium systems working at higher clock speeds than this Power Mac G5, so that should be considered - scaling up the G5’s framerate numbers proportionally helps reduce that gap.Īlso consider that there are core differences between Macs and PCs like bus architectures, memory speed, different graphics chips that support faster memory and clock speeds, and other factors that make a direct apples-to-apples comparison exceedingly difficult.Īspyr tells us they worked diligently with Apple to make sure “no stone was left unturned” when it came to optimizing Doom 3 for the PowerPC’s Velocity Engine registers, so you’ll be happy to know that Doom 3 is well-tuned for your G4 and G5. Games don’t work that way, though: there’s no substitute for CPU cycles when it comes to games like this. We’ve often heard about the “Megahertz Myth” - the idea that Macs can perform as well as or better than PCs despite their lower clock speeds, and that’s true for some operations. One way or the other, Mac frame rates seem off by 20 percent or more in many cases in the comparisons we’ve seen posted online. You’ll discover that our tests produced lower frame rate averages than those PC benchmarks you’ll see elsewhere - in some cases by a little, in other cases by a lot, depending on the methodologies used and the systems tested. Numerous Web sites and magazines have benchmarked Doom 3’s performance on the PC since the game was released last summer, and these numbers are bound to draw comparisons. But there are some important factors to consider. So the bottom line is this: If you were hoping that your dual-processor G5 was going to be a Pentium or Athlon-killer when it comes to Doom 3 framerates, you’re going to be disappointed. Nvidia’s 6800 tracks higher than the X800 on the PC as well, although the difference in performance isn’t as great as it is on a PC. When we ran Doom 3 itself with a frame counter, it often stayed in ranges much higher than these numbers suggest, and the game itself is throttled to 60 frames per second - regardless of how fast the demo runs, 60 FPS is as fast as you’d ever see the actual game go.Īspyr tells us that if you have an Nvidia GeForce 6800 card in your Power Mac, chances are you’ll see modestly higher numbers than what we saw here. There’s a lot of movement, a lot of texture data and a lot of animation and complex geometry. The demo really pushes the hardware, and it’s not the same as what you’ll go through in much of the game. Frames per second averages were achieved running the timedemo demo1 command the demo was run twice, and the higher average was used. And a look at Doom 3’s performance may be a good indicator of how those future games will run on the Mac.įirst, a little bit on our gaming rig: It’s a Power Mac G5 2.5GHz dual processor model, equipped with 2.5GB of RAM and ATI’s new Radeon X800 XT Mac Edition graphics card - the fastest ATI card you can get on the Mac, equipped with 256MB VRAM.Īll tests were performed at “High Quality” video settings with all Advanced Options turned on (High Quality Special Effects, Enable Shadows, Enable Specular, Enable Bump Maps) except for Vertical Sync. ![]() So by bringing Doom 3 to the Macintosh, Aspyr Media has paved the way for other games using the same technology to come to the Mac more easily and inexpensively in the future. In fact, you may remember that id Software’s own John Carmack several years ago took the Macworld Expo keynote stage with Steve Jobs, in Tokyo, Japan, to demonstrate the core technology that powers this game.īut more importantly than that, id’s gaming technology is licensed to other game developers. ![]() Doom 3 is bound to sell a lot of copies - id Software is hugely respected by gamers and the PC version of this game has had a lot of exposure during its development over the past few years. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |