Stevenxowens792 Posted November 13, 2011 Share Posted November 13, 2011 (edited) Intro: I decided to do some testing today to see what type of impact cpu speed and threads has on skyrim. Methodology: Choose a location with lots of fog, running water, particles and test cpu impact on performance. Test 1. GPU - 752/1002 CPU - STOCK WITH NO TURBO @X20 MULTI (Core parking disabled) all threads utilized. http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/6705/tesv2011111313360148.jpg TEST 2 GPU - 752/1002 CPU - STOCK WITH TURBO ENABLED @26 MULTI (Core parking disabled) all threads utilized http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/6065/tesv2011111313371038.jpg TEST 3 GPU - 752/1002 CPU - STOCK WITH TURBO ENABLED @26 (Core parking disabled) emulating I5 setup with 2 logical/physical cores and 2 hyper threads http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/3843/tesv2011111313400213.jpg TEST 4 GPU - 752/1002 CPU - STOCK WITH TURBO ENABLED @26 (Core parking disabled) emulating quad core setup with 4 logical/physical cores and 0 hyper threads (No difference from 8 threads (hyper threading enabled) so no reason for screenshot) Summary - I would like to see more testing from other cpu offerings from the m14x. My initial thoughts are that the number of threads does offer a slight benefit on performance. However it CAN'T be denied that actual CPU speed is even more important if you are using a mobile I3/I5/I7 setup with 4 threads or greater. I would really like to see some speed comparisons for 4 and 8 threads at 3ghz and 3.4 ghz. *note* Intel denotes on the processor overviews as cpu CORES with hyper threading technology (either enabled or disabled *note* To emulate I5 setup simply set the affinity to the first 4 threads (0,1,2,3) This should be core 0, plus hyper, core 2, plus hyper. Setting the affinity to 0,2,4,6 disables the hyper threading and allows only the 4 physical cores. Edited November 13, 2011 by Stevenxowens792 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KristoferNathan Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 This is good stuff Steve. Thanks for the post. Most of us were under the impression that CPU didn't have a big enough impact on game performance but 10 FPS is a big deal! I've kept my turbo boost turned off since the first day. I'm going to turn my turbo on, keep it stock with all cores utilized and see if there is such a difference in other games. Keep up the good work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mw86 Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 interesting also test 2 had highest fps. Steven what setting was test 2 how many cores enabled and was there hyperthreading on? I see speed made biggest difference over core count. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninjahunter Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 (edited) Game: Markarth mine entrance, Ultra, AA off, 16xAF, Vsync off Test machine:m14x CPU: i5, core parking off, speed step off GPU: 555m gt (752,1002) Turbo on: Turbo off: Turbo on: Turbo off: I dont know if i did this right, but to turn turbo off in throttlestop i would tick the "disable turbo" option and set the multiplier to x23. Sorry about the old thumbnails i cant figure out how to remove them XD Edited November 22, 2011 by Ninjahunter better comparison :P 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevenxowens792 Posted November 15, 2011 Author Share Posted November 15, 2011 @Ninja - With the I5 can I ask you to please do a screenshot comparison between turbo off and on?Thanks! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KristoferNathan Posted November 16, 2011 Share Posted November 16, 2011 I'm glad Steve posted this thread. Up until now, many of us were under the impression that Turbo didn't make a significant difference in gaming. I've tested this now with all my games and, while most games don't show a major difference, some games appear to be quite CPU dependent and have significant increases in FPS with Turbo on. I don't know if it's because I have a newer M14x or what but I haven't had any temperature issues either. The highest has been 92 degrees Celsius and, according to Intel, this is a safe temperature. I researched the M14x before I purchased it and came across lots of complaints about the Turbo function so I disabled it when I first unboxed the laptop. This is the first time I've used the Turbo function and, after these results, I think I'll be leaving it on. I haven't tested how it affects battery life with regular usage though so that may be a reason to disable it again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unreal25 Posted November 16, 2011 Share Posted November 16, 2011 Anything below 100 C is "safe" (or whatever TJmax is). The only question is how is that going to affect the CPU on the long run. I'd never have CPU run at those temps permanently. Top mine are around 82 C and I consider that too high, but will do the repasting with a decent paste and get rid of the crap cooling sponges, during my break. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mw86 Posted November 21, 2011 Share Posted November 21, 2011 (edited) 85c max for days of 3d gaming i left my m18x on as long as you see in this pic... on desktop no longer than 5 minutes that whole time except the time needed to install skyrim. this is 45%time was in game in dirt3 ultra 8xaa with edge detect and SSAA set in CC... 45% time in BF3 all of these in 1080P and same CC settings BF3 was ultra settings so 4xAA and then Skyrim which was set to ultra every slider up and everything checked with even FXAA and AF @16 and 8xaa well it got seemingly 5-20fps depending and i exited and set no AA but all the rest same and seemed very smooth only dropping performance in heavy loaded areas. i'll have to get a few comparison pics up for you guys and use Fraps... with different threading... and turbo... but here is example temps are good. fans on max with hwinfo on auto profile... 2920xm @stock volts 310amp, 97watts, 44x99.9,core states off, never drops 4.4ghz unless IBT,prime95 type load... wprime stays 4.4. not benching temps room temps 70-80F... usually 80 since the M18x seems to heat my office lol wouldnt think it possible... 6970m X2 @822 1100mhz on all power profiles so never drops to save power... hence the min/max is same mhz... this thing was pushing it self for so many hours and had those temps with al those games one after another i would play whenever i could... and leave in game sitting there no pausing... those are temps that one should be safe to say no worries. 95~ is a safe max on cpu though if its only a max in worst case scenario (fully loaded) but much better if temps nver reach that in real world use. this is how i had TS set.... but is a pic from now so ignore those temp they are low since this is a pic just of how i leave TS set Edited November 21, 2011 by mw86 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninjahunter Posted November 22, 2011 Share Posted November 22, 2011 Hmm, ive read on a few reputable sites that Skyrim cant take advantage of more than 2 physical cores on a CPU (and only 2gb ram). Just a little something to put some thought on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mw86 Posted November 22, 2011 Share Posted November 22, 2011 Hmm, ive read on a few reputable sites that Skyrim cant take advantage of more than 2 physical cores on a CPU (and only 2gb ram). Just a little something to put some thought on.thats okay everything else out utilizes the hardware and i'd take that with a grain of salt... OS helps make core usage spread over available cores/threads... having good single and dual core speeds would be important then.... most apps only use a certain amount of ram... i have 16gb using 1gb right now for a virtual memory replacement. no swap set on any of the hd... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevenxowens792 Posted November 22, 2011 Author Share Posted November 22, 2011 (edited) Lets help decipher the numbers here. From what I can tell, the I5 can turbo 2 cores to 2.7ghz. It can turbo 1 physical to 3.0ghz. So if you turn off turbo, with a base clock of 2.4ghz, .3ghz is not too big of a jump. I could easily see a difference of 3 to 4 fps at that margin. For I7-2630qm owners, at stock bios settings, we maintain a multiplier of x26, 2.6ghz at most all times during gaming and thats 4 cores (plus 4 hyper). At 2 cores we can go up to 2.8ghz and 1 core to 2.9ghz. When we disable turbo completely, we go to our baseclock of 2.0ghz. Thats a huge drop for us of .6ghz. I think this might explain the numbers we are seeing. Im going to test this on wprime real fast to make sure these are 100 percent correct... (edited post to reflect findings) Edited November 22, 2011 by Stevenxowens792 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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