Is Crysis really GPU limited?

Then something is wrong there (if you really are testing under high)!

r_TexturesStreaming = 2 is enabled for HIGH and VERY HIGH.

"Enables direct streaming of textures from disk during gameplay 0/1/2"

 

First I have not said nor implied that consoles would be able to do teh same amount of IQ as when having 270+1500MB of data loaded. So let's stop with the false information spreading. I have said the reverse, as follows below!

You seem a bit slow so I'll shall say it again. If with streaming one gets 270MB of VRAM usage and 1.5GB at high then how would that make it fitable on a console with 512MB of RAM?

It would not work without having to resort to cutting down things thattake up VRAM and RAM to make it able to fit!

 

As I said something is wrong there!

 

May I ask what computer you are running those settings on?
The reason to why I ask is because on some lower end computers the graphics on high wont display as high because the GPU can´t do some things on high settings.

Here´s what I mean :
http://forum.beyond3d.com/showpost.php?p=1094853&postcount=681
http://forum.beyond3d.com/showpost.php?p=1094869&postcount=683

To Nebula: Yes they are using streaming very much in Crysis.

 

Pardon me for showing my ignorance on the topic, but how does CryEngine know exactly how much VRAM it's using any particular point in time? Keeping track of D3DPOOL_DEFAULT resources is easy enough, but what about MANAGED resources that can be swapped in and out of VRAM and AGP memory?

 

Are you using the SP demo benchmark or are you testing from the full game?
Because I think there´s some difference.

Here´s another benchmark program for Crysis if anyone is interested:
http://www.gamershell.com/download_22125.shtml

 

I posted some CPU overclocking results in previous thread:

Somewhat curious results on my benchmarks. The first set is at the stock 2.13GHz with a 266mhz FSB, and RAM at 400MHz 5-5-5-18. In the second set I changed the CPU to 2.88GHz with a 360 FSB, and RAM at 720MHz with the same timings as above. And for the last set I tightend the RAM timings down to 4-4-4-12.

Settings are; 1138x640, no AA or AF, but high quality texture settings in Nvidia control panel. v.high for textures and sound, high for objects and shaders. medium on everything else with the exception of r_sunshafts=1, r_useedgeaa=2 , and r_usepom=1.

The system is an e6400 and a 8800gt@650/950 on a Asus P5B with 4GB of RAM. Vista64, but with the 32bit executable, and the runs are done with the included GPU benchmark.

================================================== ============
TimeDemo Play Started , (Total Frames: 2000, Recorded Time: 111.86s)
!TimeDemo Run 0 Finished.
Play Time: 64.28s, Average FPS: 31.11
Min FPS: 18.44 at frame 142, Max FPS: 45.32 at frame 85
Average Tri/Sec: 32644442, Tri/Frame: 1049185
Recorded/Played Tris ratio: 0.87
!TimeDemo Run 1 Finished.
Play Time: 59.67s, Average FPS: 33.52
Min FPS: 18.44 at frame 142, Max FPS: 53.67 at frame 85
Average Tri/Sec: 35694088, Tri/Frame: 1064887
Recorded/Played Tris ratio: 0.86
!TimeDemo Run 2 Finished.
Play Time: 59.69s, Average FPS: 33.51
Min FPS: 18.44 at frame 142, Max FPS: 53.67 at frame 85
Average Tri/Sec: 35691792, Tri/Frame: 1065172
Recorded/Played Tris ratio: 0.86
!TimeDemo Run 3 Finished.
Play Time: 58.54s, Average FPS: 34.16
Min FPS: 18.44 at frame 142, Max FPS: 53.67 at frame 85
Average Tri/Sec: 36388572, Tri/Frame: 1065083
Recorded/Played Tris ratio: 0.86
TimeDemo Play Ended, (4 Runs Performed)
================================================== ============
================================================== ============
TimeDemo Play Started , (Total Frames: 2000, Recorded Time: 111.86s)
!TimeDemo Run 0 Finished.
Play Time: 53.34s, Average FPS: 37.50
Min FPS: 17.84 at frame 155, Max FPS: 54.67 at frame 996
Average Tri/Sec: 39363816, Tri/Frame: 1049779
Recorded/Played Tris ratio: 0.87
!TimeDemo Run 1 Finished.
Play Time: 49.20s, Average FPS: 40.65
Min FPS: 17.84 at frame 155, Max FPS: 61.86 at frame 65
Average Tri/Sec: 43283008, Tri/Frame: 1064682
Recorded/Played Tris ratio: 0.86
!TimeDemo Run 2 Finished.
Play Time: 49.29s, Average FPS: 40.58
Min FPS: 17.84 at frame 155, Max FPS: 62.66 at frame 84
Average Tri/Sec: 43209852, Tri/Frame: 1064863
Recorded/Played Tris ratio: 0.86
!TimeDemo Run 3 Finished.
Play Time: 48.81s, Average FPS: 40.97
Min FPS: 17.84 at frame 155, Max FPS: 62.66 at frame 84
Average Tri/Sec: 43628676, Tri/Frame: 1064786
Recorded/Played Tris ratio: 0.86
TimeDemo Play Ended, (4 Runs Performed)
================================================== ============
================================================== ============
TimeDemo Play Started , (Total Frames: 2000, Recorded Time: 111.86s)
!TimeDemo Run 0 Finished.
Play Time: 52.34s, Average FPS: 38.21
Min FPS: 15.87 at frame 153, Max FPS: 56.87 at frame 995
Average Tri/Sec: 40107016, Tri/Frame: 1049562
Recorded/Played Tris ratio: 0.87
!TimeDemo Run 1 Finished.
Play Time: 47.33s, Average FPS: 42.26
Min FPS: 15.87 at frame 153, Max FPS: 62.34 at frame 130
Average Tri/Sec: 45014412, Tri/Frame: 1065195
Recorded/Played Tris ratio: 0.86
!TimeDemo Run 2 Finished.
Play Time: 47.52s, Average FPS: 42.09
Min FPS: 15.87 at frame 153, Max FPS: 62.34 at frame 130
Average Tri/Sec: 44854880, Tri/Frame: 1065723
Recorded/Played Tris ratio: 0.86
!TimeDemo Run 3 Finished.
Play Time: 47.42s, Average FPS: 42.18
Min FPS: 15.87 at frame 153, Max FPS: 62.34 at frame 130
Average Tri/Sec: 44935792, Tri/Frame: 1065426
Recorded/Played Tris ratio: 0.86
TimeDemo Play Ended, (4 Runs Performed)
================================================== ============

I figured the lower RAM speed drooped the minimum FPS on the second test, but I have no clue what could be causing even lower scores on the third. Regardless, it's just loading in the island in those early frames anyway, and increasing the CPU speed along with the FSB and slower RAM at tighter timings gave me a good 25% boost to my average framerate. However, I've checked the resource monitor the game tends to hover between 60-70% CPU usage, so I figure the system bus is the bottleneck.

 

No it cannot. Aside from the memory issues, the pure graphical load at high would be too much for either console even without AA/AF. My 8800GTS is borderline at those settings.

 

It sounds like your GPU has a little extra to give if simply increasing CPU speed increases framerate so much. Might be worth turning up one or two of the graphics settings.

 

Ahh, I see. Thanks for clearing that up.

 

Sure my GPU has more to give, but I'm not troubled by how the game looks, rather I'm bothered by low framerate. So I've kicked the object detail down to medium since I ran those tests the other day, which helped the framerate lows a lot. Also I have turned some options up as well that doesn't seem to be effecting the lows at all, but considering the results when comparing my system overclocked to stock at all the combinations of settings I've tried, it seems quite likely that a faster CPU would do me a lot more good than a faster video card.

 

What CPU do you have? I'm able to sustain 35-45fps on my E6600 with Physics and sound set to very high and everything else at medium.

I can sustain 50-60fps with everything on low so I don't think i'm CPU limited.

 

I'm running an e6400 overclocked to 2.88, and at the settings you mention I get 35-45fps most of the time if not more, but it still drops into the 20s at times which is what I'm figuring a faster CPU would help me aviod. Any yeah, the game flys with everthing on low, but I do have a problem with the way the game looks at those settings.

Oh, and why are you using medium texture quality on a 640MB card?

 

I'm not, I was just testing my CPU

My regular settings are everything at high with shadows at medium. I run in DX9 mode at 1280x800 with 8xAF.

Averaging about 25-30 fps.

So based on that, I personally am definatly GPU bound.

 

I don't see how that would put you are definatly GPU bound, based on my overclocking results I'm guessing a faster CPU would likely do much to improve your framerate as well.

 

Well the fact that I can turn the CPU settings UP and the graphics setting DOWN and still gain fps suggests that i'm more GPU bound than CPU

EDIT: Just ran the CPU benchmark at my standard settings but varying the physics setting each time. Here are my results:

High: 25.94
Medium: 25.51
Low: 27.27

High and Medium are basically the same pointingat no CPU limitation there. Low is a little higher but graphically, Low is quite different since buildings don't break apart at all. So the difference is more likely down to graphics load than physics.

ANOTHER EDIT:

Just tried the same benchmark with physics at high but with the resolution lowered to 960x600. So decreasing load on the GPU but doing nothing to the CPU. Framerate was 30.39.