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Well I finally got around to feeling good enough to run the flashing procedure for my 7800GS. On the plus side it was a success, but on the downside my Quicksilver is now showing even worse where all the performance holes are. For those curious the procedure is very simple. Just need a PC to do it. Its a basic flash n go with a 3&11 tape mod.

Unlike past flashes or tests I won't be doing a ton of extensive benches. Frankly I don't think they'd show much right now with the current setup. I will update with a WoW performance analysis later tho.

Right now heres Halo benches:

Rig: Quicksilver 2001 (733Mhz) / No L3 G4 867Mhz (upclocked from 733) / 512MB RAM / Radeon 9000 64MB (original card) / PNY nVidia 7800GS 256MB (stock speeds ROM) / X.4.9 / Halo 1.5.2

W/ R9000:

Total Time=248.26s
Average frame rate=18.93fps
Below  5fps= 6% (time)  0% (frames) (16.794s spent in 17 frames)
Below 10fps= 9% (time)  1% (frames)
Below 15fps= 31% (time)  16% (frames)
Below 20fps= 56% (time)  39% (frames)
Below 25fps= 81% (time)  67% (frames)
Below 30fps= 91% (time)  82% (frames)
Below 40fps= 97% (time)  93% (frames)
Below 50fps= 99% (time)  97% (frames)
Below 60fps= 99% (time)  97% (frames)
###Sound Options###
Hardware Acceleration= No
Sound Quality= Normal
Environmental Sound= No
Sound Variety= Medium
###Video Options###
Resolution= 1024 x 768
Refresh rate= 0 Hz
Framerate throttle= No Vsync
Specular= No
Shadows= No
Decals= Yes
Particles= Off
Texture Quality= High

W/ 7800GS (Vertex Shaders only):

Total Time=209.90s
Average frame rate=22.39fps
Below  5fps= 8% (time)  0% (frames) (17.976s spent in 17 frames)
Below 10fps= 9% (time)  0% (frames)
Below 15fps= 21% (time)  7% (frames)
Below 20fps= 38% (time)  21% (frames)
Below 25fps= 61% (time)  43% (frames)
Below 30fps= 79% (time)  65% (frames)
Below 40fps= 95% (time)  90% (frames)
Below 50fps= 98% (time)  96% (frames)
Below 60fps= 99% (time)  98% (frames)
###Sound Options###
Hardware Acceleration= No
Sound Quality= Normal
Environmental Sound= No
Sound Variety= Medium
###Video Options###
Resolution= 1024 x 768
Refresh rate= 0 Hz
Framerate throttle= No Vsync
Specular= No
Shadows= No
Decals= Yes
Particles= Off
Texture Quality= High

W/ 7800GS (Advanced Shaders):

Total Time=255.65s
Average frame rate=18.38fps
Below  5fps= 7% (time)  0% (frames) (19.966s spent in 21 frames)
Below 10fps= 11% (time)  2% (frames)
Below 15fps= 33% (time)  16% (frames)
Below 20fps= 59% (time)  41% (frames)
Below 25fps= 79% (time)  65% (frames)
Below 30fps= 93% (time)  85% (frames)
Below 40fps= 99% (time)  95% (frames)
Below 50fps= 99% (time)  97% (frames)
Below 60fps= 99% (time)  97% (frames)
###Sound Options###
Hardware Acceleration= No
Sound Quality= Normal
Environmental Sound= No
Sound Variety= Medium
###Video Options###
Resolution= 1024 x 768
Refresh rate= 0 Hz
Framerate throttle= No Vsync
Specular= No
Shadows= No
Decals= Yes
Particles= Off
Texture Quality= High

As you can see, performance is at a standstill and not much better than before. My Geforce 3 in my Cube is currently beating this rig out on Halo performance but then it also has a 1.8Ghz 7447 upgrade in it. Pending CPU upgrade as well as a max out of the RAM this sucker should see definite improvements.

For those interested in choosing this route also, just be ready to add those other upgrades to go with it. You will gain Core Image but this G70 needs more power to back it up. With RAM being limited to 512MB it is obviously choking.

*Edit* Just finished a little dabbling in WoW and UT2003 (haven't transfered over 2k4 yet from my Cube).

Analysis: Very promising. The difference between WoW with trimmed settings for the 9000 and maxed out for the 7800GS is not that great. Overall I pushed the rez up to 1680x1050 and saw a barely noticeable loss in FPS. Outland is unplayable but Azeroth is decent, much better than expected. Obviously needs more upgrades to make the Quicksilver a Raid Worthy machine.

For UT2k3 there was also some surprises. With just normal details some maps are sluggish but when pushed to max and also upped to 1680x1050 the FPS does not drop very heavily. The map Leviathan was actually very playable for a quick skirmish with FPS easily approaching 30.

I'll test some more games when I can transfer them over from my Cube but there is an obvious pattern with increasing the rez and the power of this G70. Really making me want to forget about getting a 360 and put the money into a CPU upgrade and RAM for this. Not even over 1Ghz and its getting playable frames at 1680 .

Last edited by NightCougar_37 (2007-08-22 1:09 am)