The OFFICIAL FFXIV Benchmark & Beta Performance Thread

[Amele]

Wow, that looks entirely messed up.

pretty sure it's graphing differently for AFR than for single (hence why it looks weird) I can screenshot what the graph looks like with multi-gpu disabled too if you'd like; looks like it did two days ago on older drivers: single thin line with small spikes.

this looks like a seismograph in a earthquake, but my numbers jumped about 18% which leads me to believe that AFR is now working, if horribly un-optimized.

screenshots of my bench inc. as soon as I disable C1E so I can get a clean CPU-Z shot.

[Kawfee]

So after posting the above deal, I'm at a crossroads of financial consciousness...

My existing card is an 8800GTS (everything else is upgraded); would you:
1. Buy the 470 1280gb now for $265
2. Buy the 460 1gb now for $230
3. Wait until the game comes out, to see if there are other options at this pricepoint at that time, or if perhaps the 470 or 460 are even cheaper at time of launch

halp
(edit: also, I was hoping to only spend about $200 on a card, but I'm okay with going over to 265 if it means a significantly better card/longer time before upgrading again)
(edit2: also not just for FFXIV, but also SC2, which comes out in two weeks; although, I can play SC2 beta at near max settings as is with the 8800)

[Rasengan]

I think his main problem right now is CPU. OC it or get a new one. Ram might help a little, but not as much as CPU from what I am gathering.

I as well have a very similar build, but minus the GPU. I am going to upgrade my GPU, and hope to hit similar scores.... maybe higher cause ill OC my CPU :D.

Well, stock speed for C2D E6300 is 266x7 which would be 1.86ghz. It's running at 343x7 right now for 2.4ghz. I seem to hit a barrier when trying to overclock higher than 360x7 (prime95 fails), so 2.4ghz is a stable OC right now (air-cooled with a Zalman CNPS9500). Was contemplating going to 4GB RAM and maybe a Q9300, but I don't think I should really spend too much more on a 4 year old system; especially with LGA775 being a dead socket type.

The Q9300 would be around $140 at Micro Center and for $60 more, I can get a i7-930... but then I'd need to spend more for a good motherboard and some DDR3 RAM... Effin' Intel and their socket progression.

::EDIT:: Oh, and in Oreth's case, it seems like her processor is underclocked. The E6850 runs at 3.0ghz stock, while CPU-Z is showing 2.0ghz.

[Amele]

first, the cpu-z and system rundown (spoilered for convenience)

Spoiler: show

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/a...oAlar/4ghz.png

QX9650 @ 4.0ghz, 4GB gksill razorjaws PC12800 DDR3 @ 1600mhz 9-9-9-24, Asus P5e3 premium. BFG 9800GX2 - stock speed. everything is air cooled.

FFXIVbench is sitting on a 5400rpm drive right now (there's an SSD too but it's tiny and FFXIV itself will be on the big drive)

now that that's out of the way, the benches.

high, multi-gpu enabled (AFR2):
http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/a...Alar/4gafr.png

high, single-gpu:
http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/a...Highsingle.png

low:
http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/a...Alar/4glow.png

for my own edification, I also benched it at low settings around 3.6ghz; all I can say is, gpu-bottleneck much? :< even down at 3.6 the cpu never got over about 45% load during the low test.
http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/a...lar/lowafr.png

[Gethsemane]

Quick question as it has been a bit since building one. I am installing the Power Switch, HDD LED, etc wires to the motherboard. On the back of the plastic pin there is an arrow. The arrow is marking a colored wire. Is this the + positive or - ground. All the arrows are colored, the opposite wire is white. I'm thinking arrow means positive yes? Nevermind figured it out.

So I have two other cables labeled AC'97 and HD Audio coming from the front of the case hmm. Been too long wasn't this hard back then you just used a sound card lol :/

[NoCause]

This is on low settings....Where did I go wrong here. Any thoughts of what I can do to improve performance or quality of FFXIV. I am thinking I need a new Graphics card with 1 GB committed to memory? Suggestions of any kind are helpful. Thanks in advance.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/i...ght/BGfile.png


Also a side note: I did the benchmark 5 times and the highest score I got was mid 800s and the lowest was the 520's. The load speed for all the other tests was around 25000ms, what ever that even means. I am not to savoy when it comes to the hardware, I just know how to clean them up.

[Argh]

Quick question as it has been a bit since building one. I am installing the Power Switch, HDD LED, etc wires to the motherboard. On the back of the plastic pin there is an arrow. The arrow is marking a colored wire. Is this the + positive or - ground. All the arrows are colored, the opposite wire is white. I'm thinking arrow means positive yes? Nevermind figured it out.

So I have two other cables labeled AC'97 and HD Audio coming from the front of the case hmm. Been too long wasn't this hard back then you just used a sound card lol :/

I would advise you to look at the motherboard manual and get those right, trial and error will fry some things

[shaddix]

So after posting the above deal, I'm at a crossroads of financial consciousness...

My existing card is an 8800GTS (everything else is upgraded); would you:
1. Buy the 470 1280gb now for $265
2. Buy the 460 1gb now for $230
3. Wait until the game comes out, to see if there are other options at this pricepoint at that time, or if perhaps the 470 or 460 are even cheaper at time of launch

halp
(edit: also, I was hoping to only spend about $200 on a card, but I'm okay with going over to 265 if it means a significantly better card/longer time before upgrading again)
(edit2: also not just for FFXIV, but also SC2, which comes out in two weeks; although, I can play SC2 beta at near max settings as is with the 8800)

I'm not the best source of information about this stuff, but I went with the MSI 460 1gb model. I can OC it to the point of matching a stock 470. Of course the 470 can be OC as well to match a stock 480, but much more heat and noise.
As far as FF14 goes, I would think a GTX 460 will be plenty. If you play a lot of other PC games, then maybe get the 470 so you can scale up past 2x sli in the future.

^corrections to that pile of speculation welcome


@NoCause: I'm not convinced that benchmark is representative of the ff14 requirements. It seems far too bottlenecked by the CPU, and MMOs really shouldn't have much to do on the cpu.

[Kawfee]

I'm not the best source of information about this stuff, but I went with the MSI 460 1gb model. I can OC it to the point of matching a stock 470. Of course the 470 can be OC as well to match a stock 480, but much more heat and noise.
As far as FF14 goes, I would think a GTX 460 will be plenty. If you play a lot of other PC games, then maybe get the 470 so you can scale up past 2x sli in the future.

^corrections to that pile of speculation welcome


@NoCause: I'm not convinced that benchmark is representative of the ff14 requirements. It seems far too bottlenecked by the CPU, and MMOs really shouldn't have much to do on the cpu.

CPU bottlenecks the benchmark to a certain point, at which the GPU then takes over. I'm on a i7-930 @ 4ghz with as mentioned 8800GTS, and on high I got like a 2500.

As to overclocking the 460 up to a 470, I dunno about that. For example, here, in a DX11 game at a resolution I'd play:
http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/g...4503/23712.png

Thats a big difference between 460 and 470. I am a little worried about heat, but power isn't an issue (I have a 700w psu). I think I've already convinced myself to spend the extra $35 to get the 470 over a 460, just wondering if now is the time to buy, or if prices could be even better/better cards could be released (e.g. from ATI?) at the same price by September. Thoughts?

[NoCause]

Shaddix I don't quite understand what you mean. Are you saying my cpu doesn't meet the FF14 requirements or that I messed up somewhere or set something up wrong when I did the test.

[mintyice]

Wait until september.

[Argh]

@ NoCause

Yeah new card, my HD 2600 XT got a better score than that, the small 64 bit bus width and 80 shaders are major contributors to the disappointing performance.

[Purrrfect]

I don't know if this just changed to compete with tigerdirect, but on newegg.com:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130550
EVGA GTX470
$349
-$55 instant savings (when you add to cart)
-~2.5% BCB (if you care)
-$25 mail-in rebate
(+ free copy of Just Cause 2)
= $264.99 & free shipping
But also, newegg only charges tax in California, New Jersey, and Tennessee.
(which is cheaper for me than tigerdirect, since they charge tax here in IL, also less hoops to jump through to get your money, and a more reputable store, imo)

Does look like its to stay competitive, and it was only $30 at newegg when I looked this morning. Would have liked to buy at newegg, but they were slow on it I guess... I have a gift card there I need to use too. ><

edit: while it would be nice to wait, I noticed even with newer cards that have come out since my 4870, the proceo n the 4870 isn't a whole lot different from what it was. Sure they will come down in time, but they seem to be slower at dropping, as opposed to something like harddrives or ram have been.

[NoCause]

@argh

Since I have heard about power sources and overheating being an issue with these higher end graphics cards, what would you recommend after seeing my specs.

[shaddix]

CPU bottlenecks the benchmark to a certain point, at which the GPU then takes over. I'm on a i7-930 @ 4ghz with as mentioned 8800GTS, and on high I got like a 2500.

As to overclocking the 460 up to a 470, I dunno about that. For example, here, in a DX11 game at a resolution I'd play:
http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/g...4503/23712.png

Thats a big difference between 460 and 470. I am a little worried about heat, but power isn't an issue (I have a 700w psu). I think I've already convinced myself to spend the extra $35 to get the 470 over a 460, just wondering if now is the time to buy, or if prices could be even better/better cards could be released (e.g. from ATI?) at the same price by September. Thoughts?

Prices are certainly going to drop, so if you don't need a card for anything between now and ff14 release and are content on playing with the 8800 for the beta then I would either wait if you are open to something other than the 470, or get that 470 which is an excellent price(I don't expect the 470's prices will drop to what you can get it for now by september). You could then get another 470 to pair with it if you had the cash.


As for 460 matching a stock 470, you can get another 200mhz out of the GPU clock than what that evga in that bench is clocked at, and the 1gb model also gives a little extra performance as well.

Of course with DX11 games, the 460 is missing a bunch of that tessellation crap and will do much worse than the 470 480 or even 465. So if future proofing is what you're looking for, I would go with the 470.
I got the 460 for the cooler and quiet and the fact that I'm really only going to be playing ff14.

[shaddix]

Shaddix I don't quite understand what you mean. Are you saying my cpu doesn't meet the FF14 requirements or that I messed up somewhere or set something up wrong when I did the test.

No I'm saying that people with awesome video cards and shitty CPUs are getting poor scores in the benchmark, which I don't think reflects how those setups will actually perform in game. As the CPU shouldn't have much to do in ff14, so a shitty CPU + awesome GPU should do nearly as well as awesome CPU + awesome GPU.

Unless of course ff14 ends up like 11 where the GPU doesn't mean shit....

[avelle]

I'm facing a serious dilemna myself right now. That price on the 470 is tempting as hell but I was looking at the benchmark scores and the 470 really doesn't seem to be doing that hot compared to the ATI cards. Other benchmarks put it even or between a 5850/5870 so I'm not really sure what to think. I have a 275 GTX currently and the game runs ok for the most part but I would definitely enjoy the performance increase and that price is almost too tempting to pass up.

[NoCause]

@Shaddix
What would be your suggestion on how I could fix/improve the problem.

[shaddix]

@Shaddix
What would be your suggestion on how I could fix/improve the problem.

you gotta upgrade your video card bro!
get that deal on the 470 or wait til the price war is over there should be some good deals to be had on ATI's by then(or possibly new cards @_@?)

[Kawfee]

I'm facing a serious dilemna myself right now. That price on the 470 is tempting as hell but I was looking at the benchmark scores and the 470 really doesn't seem to be doing that hot compared to the ATI cards. Other benchmarks put it even or between a 5850/5870 so I'm not really sure what to think. I have a 275 GTX currently and the game runs ok for the most part but I would definitely enjoy the performance increase and that price is almost too tempting to pass up.

The 470 is consistently ahead of the 5850 on like 80% of the benchmarks I've seen. The 5870 seems to outperform the 470 on maybe 60-70% of benchmarks, but only by a small margin.
I usually default to nvidia cards as their drivers seem to get more support.