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Testing Tweaks, Some Interesting Benchmarks

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I decided to go ahead with a Game Only tweak guide. This will be a down and dirty, operating system only, advanced users only , and probably NSFW guide.
In prep I spent several days setting up, benchmarking, and tweaking.
I thought I would tease you with some benchmarks.

First, a word from our sponsors  about benchmarks.
Benchmarks can only show you so much. This is especially true with gaming. Despite what some folks and companies would have you believe benchmarks cannot duplicate game play. In the end the only benchmark that matters is how a game runs for you, on your own computer. Still, benchmarking your own computer against itself can be a useful tool to see if tweaks are working on your rig.

The Benchmark Machine
My main PC. This PC was set up to be an everyday workhorse and to run multiple Virtual Machines at once.
It was NOT set up as a gaming rig.

Operating System: Windows 10 Professional Edition build 14393 (64-bit)
CPU Type: Intel Core i7-3770K @ 3.50GHz
Number of CPUs: 1
Cores per CPU: 4
Hyperthreading: Enabled
Motherboard: Z77 Extreme4
Memory: 32GB Crucial Technology DDR3 SDRAM
Videocard: AMD Radeon RX 480
Hard Drive: Samsung SSD 850 PRO 256GB (256GB)
Hard Drive: Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB (500GB)
Hard Drive: WDC WD5001FZWX-00ZHUA0 (5TB)

Scores
Before = Win10 default on fresh install
After = Maximum tweakage
MYPC = Same rig, same SSD, Win10 set up as I run it with all my programs installed.
Windows 7 = Same rig, same SSD, Windows 7 set up as I run it with all my programs installed.

I’m not sure what made me throw Windows 7 in there. Glad I did, the results are interesting…

PCMark 8 Home Accelerated 3.0
(higher is better)
Before – 4387
After – 4627
MYPC – 4578
Windows 7 – 4949 (!!!)

ALLBenchmark Catzilla 4K Advanced (funniest benchmark ever)
(Higher is better except loading time)
There was no significant difference across Before, After, and MYPC.
Score range: 12000-12040
Test Type: 1080p
Main Test ragne: 11690-11730
Physics (CPU) range: 926-976
Fur (GPU) range: 900-905
Fluid (GPU): 843-846
Raymarch (GPU): 301 (every single run)
Loading time (ms): 7400-7700

3DMark
(higher is better)
Time Spy (DX12 test)
Before – 4074
After – 4055
MYPC – 4051
windows 7 – NA
Fire Strike
Before – 10600
After- 10650
MYPC- 10526
Windows 7- 10460
Fire Strike Extreme
Before – 5397
After – 5421
MYPC – 5382
Windows 7 – 5827 (!!!)

FINAL FANTASY XIV: Heavensward Benchmark
Before
Tested on: 1/1/2017 10:29:48 AM
Score: 10705
Average Frame Rate: 80.460
Performance: Extremely High
After
Tested on: 1/1/2017 3:34:26 PM
Score: 10757
Average Frame Rate: 80.884
Performance: Extremely High

Unigine Valley Benchmark 1.0
Before
FPS: 53.5
Score: 2238
Min FPS: 25.6
Max FPS: 105.2
After
FPS: 53.7
Score: 2246
Min FPS: 26.3
Max FPS: 104.8

Windows 7
FPS: 53.1
Score: 2221
Min FPS: 21.7
Max FPS: 104.4

Unigine Heaven Benchmark 4.0
Before
FPS: 52.7
Score: 1328
Min FPS: 8.4
Max FPS: 111.5

After
FPS: 53.1
Score: 1338
Min FPS: 22.8
Max FPS: 111.6

Windows 7
FPS: 52.2
Score: 1316
Min FPS: 8.4
Max FPS: 111.5

PassMark PerformanceTest 9.0

Before
CPU Mark (Composite average) : 9805.9
2D Graphics Mark (Composite average) : 759.1
Memory Mark (Composite average) : 2747.3
Disk Mark (Composite average) : 4363.5
3D Graphics Mark (Composite average) : 8538.9
PassMark Rating (Composite average) : 4705.9

After
CPU Mark (Composite average) : 9827.4
2D Graphics Mark (Composite average) : 774.6
Memory Mark (Composite average) : 2754.7
Disk Mark (Composite average) : 3948.8
3D Graphics Mark (Composite average) : 8575.4
PassMark Rating (Composite average) : 4684.7

MYPC
CPU Mark (Composite average) : 9886.3
2D Graphics Mark (Composite average) : 808.2
Memory Mark (Composite average) : 2752.0
Disk Mark (Composite average) : 4406.4
3D Graphics Mark (Composite average) : 8501.1
PassMark Rating (Composite average) : 4836.7

ASSSDBenchmark
(higher is better)

Samsung SSD 850 PRO 256GB
Before 1065
After 1097

Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB
Before 1127
After 1131

Conclusion
The benchmarks showed that what I was doing was headed in the right direction, or at the very least, didn’t hurt anything.

-END (for now)-

Reader Interactions

Comments

    • Eric (a.k.a. TweakHound) says

      There are a few reasons for that:
      -I am unaware of a WoW benchmark program.
      -I do not own nor have I ever played WoW. So, AFAIK this would require me to buy the game, set it up, set up an account, familiarize myself with it, and do a walkthrough with FRAPS running. I would have to do this across different OS installs.

      • Yan says

        There is a benchmark in WoW. http://wowwiki.wikia.com/wiki/Taxi_Time_Test and no need fraps, there is a command to show fps, you can bind it in the menu.

        In short, you enter the console command then you send your character take a flight point (like a taxi). Then the animations/graphics will almost always be the same. once finished, you go back and take it again with tweaked settings.

        You can do this 100% free by just downloading the game. It has a trial mode free-to-play capped at low level, but high enough to take flight points and bench. Maybe you will have to play the game a little to get a longer test time.

        Yet you will of course still have to download the game, set up the account etc etc

  3. Eric (a.k.a. TweakHound) says

    Geeze man. That’s like asking what whiskey I’m drinking tonight. Am I going straight up or on the rocks. A little water maybe? Bourbon and ginger or an Old fashioned? Am I sippin’ or swillin’ ? Gettin’ my drink on or just chillin” (Hey! That rhymes! Nashville, you know how to reach me.)
    First off FULL Linux support on non-bleeding edge distros and/or kernel seems iffy. So there is that. Some guys seem to have it working under Fedora and Ubuntu.
    Then you gotta look at what performs best in the game(s) you play.
    http://gpuboss.com/gpus/Radeon-RX-480-vs-Radeon-R9-FURY
    http://hwbench.com/vgas/radeon-rx-480-vs-radeon-r9-fury (see pro/con list here)

    Seems to me, all things considered, the 480 is a better deal.