Performance improvement expected in the future patches or not really?

(deems) #1

Hi SD,

I was just wondering if we can expect any further performance improvements in future patches, or if that phase of development is over.

My PC seems to be right on the cusp of being able to run the game, but still 3-4 times per game drops down to < 30 FPS (not an ATI card everyone, it’s an NVIDIA 480)… I think the CPU is the bottleneck for me and was just wondering if any performance improvements are coming our way, or if I’m going to need to upgrade my CPU if I want it to be smoother…?

The CPU is the AMD Phenom 9500 Quad-core @2.35 GHz

Thanks for any info you can provide. :slight_smile:

Deems

(Jimmy James) #2

Odd, my old computer which just met minimum specs (except for the nVidia GeForce 8600 GT which was below min specs) ran Brink at about 20 FPS (ranging from around 15-25 fps).

My new computer has an Intel i7 quad-core 3.4Gh and a nVidia GeForce GTX 460 SE and runs Brink at around 130 fps, never dropping down below 100 fps. (It ran at a consistent 75 fps until I turned off VSync.)

So, you may be on to something there about the CPU.

Full hardware stats for both old and new computer can be viewed in this thread.

-JJ

(aviynw) #3

Run brink in windowed mode and check you’re cpu usage while you do it. If you’re cpu is near %100 its likely a cpu bottleneck. I say this because I have a gtx 590 and core i7 920 at 2.6 ghz, and even though my fps drops to 60 and sometimes below, my cpu usage remains at only like %35, and my graphics card usage isn’t near %100 either.

I upgraded from a gtx 270 to my gtx 590 and only noticed the slightest difference, ;(.

Maybe your problem is just the ****ty game not utilizing your hardware to its full potential as seems to be the case with me.

(FireWorks) #4

Did you experiment with

r_useRenderThread 0,1,2 ?

0 gave me a lot more frames then 1 or 2

(aviynw) #5

I read in multiple places that the threadedrenderer thing makes no difference in Brink, simply an old command from etqw they never removed, am I wrong?

(Jimmy James) #6

Question: What are your video settings?

I attached screenshots of my video settings (as well as one with my FPS in the Brink menu because I think it’s hilarious). I plan on activating some of the other video settings, one at a time, to see how they affect my FPS but for now I’m having too much fun playing Brink!

-JJ

(deems) #7

In my experience, it made a huge difference to set it to 1 (or 2, I can’t remember) before the first patch. Since then, it seems to make no difference.

(murka) #8

Yeah, it makes a huge difference. If you have nvidia threading optimization enabled and r_threadedrendering set it to 1 or 2 it makes the game crash. Without it and for ATI cards it yields exactly a 0% performance increase(Yes i tested it on day 1).

(FireWorks) #9

Careful! There are two similar names!

r_useRenderThread 0 is the right one working

r_usethreadedrender is not existing!

Type r_use in the console and press Tab to be absolutly sure. That cvar had the largest performance impact on my system (though it was correctly adjusted by default).

Edit: That why all config tools I tried failed. They used not working cvars. Best make your own config and check for every cvar yourself.

(aviynw) #10

ugh. you got my hopes up. I have been using r_renderThread 0 the whole time, ;(.

(FireWorks) #11

Did you try switching the values?

Whats with
r_useRenderThread 1 or
r_useRenderThread 2 ?

(Mustang) #12

This

(surxenberg) #13

The game needs a really powerful CPU. It is heavily multi threaded, a Phenom II X6 does significantly better than a Phenom II X4.

You’ll either need a Core i5, Core i7 or a Phenom II X6.

I might be wrong there, it’s just what I have noticed after I’ve upgraded my Phenom II X4 3.2 GHz to a Phenom II X6 3.6 GHz. It resulted in a serious performance boost in a way that Brink became actually playable.

My two Radeon 6870 Crossfire seem to handle the game just fine, as it is CPU limited anyway. It doesn’t matter one bit if I enable FSAA etc. Only Ambient Occlusion hurts performance, big time though.

(Jimmy James) #14

[QUOTE=Jimmy James;361873]I plan on activating some of the other video settings, one at a time, to see how they affect my FPS but for now I’m having too much fun playing Brink!

-JJ[/QUOTE]

So here is what I got from testing. I started with the following default settings then tried combinations with other settings on.
(Average FPS: 130 on a GTX 460 SE)

Anti-Aliasing and High Quality Post Processing seemed to only make a difference of about 5 FPS individually. With both on I still run at around 125 FPS on average.

Ambient Occlusion however is brutal as it drops me to around 65 FPS.

I haven’t tested Shadow Quality yet. Anyone have a good suggestion for a map with lots of shadows?

-JJ

(Jimmy James) #15

Final report. Played for a few hours last night with Shadow Quality set to “High” and noticed no difference in the FPS.

So, everything in the advanced video settings maxed out and enabled except for Ambient Occlusion and Vertical Sync and the game’s running at around 125 FPS. Good stuff.

-JJ