Omg! Omg! Omg! 100fps !!!!

I would argue that it's more important to compare and contrast different setups. If you allow variables in the tests, I could see your results, think great, buy the same hardware, and get different results. Not good.

It is a given that adding primy avatars will slow things down so as long as people understand that, it should be OK. That is one reason why I had suggested a complex build - to try to get a standardized test a bit closer to actual usage.

Complex and poorly designed sims - huge pointless textures ete etc will go a long way to contrasting hardware solutions.

Well, it's really not that simple. More FPS will smooth panning more. Even if the environment doesn't change for a given time, you're perspective of it can change, so having more frames is useful (since what you see frame to frame changes even though the "scene" doesn't).

Also, an average client FPS is just that: you could slow down significantly during a tough to render scene, and you clearly want that lower bound to be higher (pushing the average above yours stated 45 fps).

I remember that too Crystal, I used to go there a lot. My problem was I could never get the tests to work. I think there were 5 or 6 differenet tests, I dont remember what they were. It was way way before Windlight, over a year ago.

/me mubbles to herself wondering if she still has a lm to there.

I don't think all movement is dependent upon the sim updates. There's clientside prediction and some moving items probably don't rely upon the sim updates at all. Things that use the rotation script (llTargetOmega) wont use the server at all.

But even better is that the client will be to pan the camera around freely at frame rate much higher than 45 FPS.

This killed me!! HAHA!!

The settings are all the default settings when I downloaded the client and installed it, ie the Graphics slider was set to High:

Draw Distance = 128m
Graphics Prefs: default
Anisotrophic filtering: Off
Anti-Aliasing: Can't find

Viewer = 1.19.1 (4)

I am currently in an OpenSpace sim, 3400 Prims,FPS = 116.5
Moving across the border into a regular sim (I mean a private island class 5 sim) FPS = 94max, not less than 80 in the ten mins I monitored.

Any other specs or settings you would like me to try out?

btw, just set the graphics slider to Ultra, and the FPS now is in the 60s

Rock

If anyone wants to do a comparison, I am inworld right now, and can tp to any location to give the results in a side-by-side comparison with anyone.

First come first serve, and you choose the sim.

Rock

That was explained so well that I actually understood it. Thanks!

I bet you find the only real relevant setting that slows it down is the draw distance...

OK, here are the results of that hypothesis:

With the graphics slider set to High, then going into custom the draw distance is 128m, so I will change that setting only and note the FPS:

64m 74-79
128m 74-79
232m 73-79
328m 72-79
512m 69-78

Rock

If you can find it, I did a benchmark post looooong ago on an older viewer, using 3 different setups.

I chose Abbotts Airport as a place to test. Lots of Prims, few avatars.

I stood out on some tower, facing the airport. Same spot each time.

Heh. Well, my cards act very differently. So what is slowing your FPS down between high and ultra?

I used to be stuck at the 3-7 fps, upgraded pc (had no choice) and now I hit about 26
(both times is with all settings on low)
just turning off the shiny and bumpmap ups my framerate, and the terrain hehe

FOUND IT!!!

My old post about some benchmark results:

/111/3e/103240/1.html

Go to it, folks! Post them benchmarks!

I'm gonna go see how my 8800 compares to my old 6800

If you go into preferences with the new viewer the differnces etween High and Ultra are:

Draw: 128, 256
Max particle: 4096, 8192
Post Process: High, High
Mesh Detail
Objects: Mid, High
Flexiprims: High, High
Trees: Mid, High
Avatars: High, High
Terrain: High, High
Sky: Low, High

In addition, in Ultra the following two options are also ticked:

Water Reflections
Avatar Cloth

Right now, I am getting 75FPS in High, and it drops to 57FPS in Ultra

Rock

Rock

Marianne, as the owner of a new iMac, I'd love to know how you achieved that. I seem to run in 20-30 fps when in "good" areas. Any hints on what you tweaked would be most appreciated.
TIA!

Alrighty....

Just checked with my current system @ Gibson.

Dual Core Operton @ 2Ghz. 2GB RAM, GeForce 8800 GTS.

All graphic settings on Ultra- Custom. Waited for the 'Bandwidth' meter to slow down (everything is rezzed)

View Distance @ 176m
Particle Count @ 512
No Anistropic
Everything else cranked to the Max.

My Results:

In 3rd Person View = 39-50 FPS
In Mouse Look View = 55-60 FPS

I noticed if I looked at the ground below me (very few objects), my FPS would go off the scale, 80 FPS+

I also noticed when someone flew by, my FPS dropped by about 20 FPS.

Heh Rock, I meant which of *those* settings affects your FPS? I am assuming that some of those don't cost much of a hit at all...

Trust fund babies, I love them. Just kidding.

I'm getting a healthy 3-6 fps...

Thanks for playing guinea pig on this.

Here's what I'd like to see. Keep it on Ultra, keep the draw at 512, and hit the Hardware Options button in the graphics preferences. Turn on anisotropic filtering. You'll notice that textures that aren't directly facing you now look much more clear (night & day difference, really), but you'll also notice a performance hit. How severe is it? I'm betting it won't slow you down enough to justify turning AF off again.

Also, shut down SL for a second, go into your graphics card setup, and assign SL a profile that includes anti-aliasing. I beleive that machine has an 8800M GTX in it, right? I'd bet you can probably go as high as 8X or maybe even 8XQ without too much of a hit. I'd be curious to know how it does at each of those levels, plus at 16XQ, if you can take it that high.

You won't believe what a difference the AA makes to the appearance of everything in SL, by the way. If you haven't been using it, you're probably so used to jaggies that you don't even notice them. But once they're gone, you won't be able to imagine how you ever lived with them before. You've got the hardware, you might as well enjoy seeing objects look smooth like they would in RL, not jagged and saw-toothed.

Although there are arguments about how important fps in that range is for a single application, keep in mind that if it can perform that well it also means you can run multiple applications and still get great performance with the SL viewer, e.g. running video in another program, having multiple web browsers loading, or even running multiple SL viewers. Is it worth the cost? Both the Rock X770-X9000-8800 and the Alienware Area-51 m9750 with all the whistles and bells currently costs approximately US$4,400.

Keep in mind that the actual viewed fps is also monitor related. The refresh rate is a cap. Even though my fps often reaches into the high 200's in warcraft, or 100 in SL, my flat panel monitor has a refresh rate of 60, the usual number for a Flat panel.

That's only true in terms of what you actually see. But in terms of what you 'feel', it's quite different. If all you ever did in SL was sit back and watch it, then monitor refresh would be the ultimate performance cap. But that's obviously not all we do. We interact with it. We put our bodies into it through mouse and keyboard movements. At 100 FPS, those movements will feel a lot more fluid than at 60 FPS, even if we can't see the effect of every last movement visually. The monitor may not be able to catch all the frames to draw at full speed, but the action is still happening at full speed.

Think of it kind of like filming a humming bird. The little guy flaps 200 times a second, but with a regular video camera, he can only be filmed at 30 FPS. So only about 1 in every 7 flaps actually get caught on camera. That doesn't mean the others aren't happening, though. Were the bird to slow down to only flap at the speed of the camera, he wouldn't be as maneuverable in the air. By the same token, if you slow down your movements in SL to match the speed of your monitor, then your camera movements, avatar control, etc., will not feel as fluid.

Well, I respectfully disagree with Chosen Few's answer, but unless you turn on v-sync, you get tearing when FPS > refresh rate. Which is basically that the result of multiple frames gets drawn on the monitor during each draw cycle. So during a pan the image can literally look torn. Of course, it's happening so quickly that you don't really "see" it, but you do get a better sense of continuity during fast pans.

What I really would like to know is how well that system works with downloading all the textures.