Different gaming benchmarks?

R

Raap

Gawd
Joined
Jul 12, 2008
Messages
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One thing I've always missed from CPU reviews is tests of games which actually need CPU power to be more enjoyable. Seeing how much the new CPUs increase your fps in console-port action-game #954848 isn't really that interesting to me.

Why not tests showing what kind of fps you get in Dwarf Fortress? What kind of turn processing times you get in stuff like Civilization and Total War games? What kind of game speed you get in Paradox games( Europa Universalis, Victoria, HoI, etc.) or Supreme Ruler?
 
It's pretty rare for reviewers to give a crap about CPU power when they run benchmarks of new games. They just run with some overclocked quad core and concentrate on the GPUs.

But here's one good review I found:

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2010/07/05/how-many-cpu-cores-do-games-need/5

It would be nice if the [H] reviewers realized this. Most games still don't scale above 2 cores, and it takes reviews like this one to highlight those gems.
 
Fair point, but not exactly what I was referring to. Most console-ported shooters aren't that dependent on the CPU, and even those that are will usually see much more gains from a new GPU.

I was talking about testing games which actually do need a lot of CPU power to run well. Dwarf Fortress, for instance, can easily bring Sandy Bridge to its knees( one of the cores, that is). Civilization and Total War games get improved turn processing times from a quicker CPU, thus leaving you with less down-time when playing. In Paradox titles the in-game time will run as quick as your CPU can calculate stuff, which again means less waiting and more playing. Same with lots of other non-fps non-console titles.

These are the things I'll consider when buying a new CPU, not whether the upcoming BF3 will run 4-5 fps better. And that's what I feel is missing from CPU gaming reviews.
 
Yeah that would be a great idea, but nobody is going to do it. Every time I see a Civ 5 bench, it's just concentrated on the GPU performance.
 
Yeah, you'd think they'd test the CPU where it matters the most, i.e. the gameplay, but instead it's all about how the CPU can help squeeze a few more graphical frames per second. Granted, with the vast majority of today's games being consoleports where the CPU has little work to do, and those being the "AAA" titles that get all the attention, it's sort of understandable. But I doubt I'm alone when it comes to playing games where the CPU actually matters for the gameplay and not just what graphics settings you can use.

I'm sure there'd be a few people interested in having their Civilization, Total War, Paradox or Football Manager games run faster. And I know for a fact that I'm not alone in wishing I had a hundred times quicker CPU just so I could use much bigger worlds in Dwarf Fortress. I was kinda bummed when my new 2ghz sandy bridge laptop managed about a 30% performance increase over my desktop [email protected] in DF.
 
The reason for it might be game popularity and/or familiarity with the game name.

Maybe I live in a cave, but this is the first time I've even heard of Dwarf Fortress.
 
Raap said:
Yeah, you'd think they'd test the CPU where it matters the most, i.e. the gameplay, but instead it's all about how the CPU can help squeeze a few more graphical frames per second. Granted, with the vast majority of today's games being consoleports where the CPU has little work to do, and those being the "AAA" titles that get all the attention, it's sort of understandable. But I doubt I'm alone when it comes to playing games where the CPU actually matters for the gameplay and not just what graphics settings you can use.

I'm sure there'd be a few people interested in having their Civilization, Total War, Paradox or Football Manager games run faster. And I know for a fact that I'm not alone in wishing I had a hundred times quicker CPU just so I could use much bigger worlds in Dwarf Fortress. I was kinda bummed when my new 2ghz sandy bridge laptop managed about a 30% performance increase over my desktop [email protected] in DF.
Click to expand...

you're wrong, console ports are the ones that have been using alot of cpu.
 
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