Tomorrow's games are being created today...
As an update to my previous blog, I did take the multitude of responses and added a 2nd video card to my home PC, and the experience only got better! Now the Core i7 has increased input from the SSD, and increased output via the twin video cards! It’s EXTREME!
While I’m not opposed to manually tweaking a system, I was asked to try the latest Intel® Desktop Control Center which turns out to be a pretty decent little app. I was able to get my Core i7 965 overclocked to 4GHz! I may not set any world records, but man this machine eats everything I can throw at it! You can see my IDCC graphic on twitter.
For a speed comparison - many people are familiar with the ability to take a DVD and convert it to a mobile format. I used a utility to extract my DVD into an ISO format so it could reside on my SSD, then I used a separate app to convert the DVD into mp4 format for my iPOD. Normally, this process of converting to mp4 on my old quad core system (and spindle hard drive) would take about 20-25 minutes - not shabby, eh?
But now with 4GHz, 8-threads, and my X25-M SSD - I could convert the same DVD in under 6 minutes!!! Needless to say, I didn’t believe my own eyes - so I ran the process a second time (thinking the prior time failed) - but it was real! I watched my performance monitor as all 8 threads hovered around the 90% utilization mark during the task. Now I can do about 10x the work that I could do in the past… simply awesome! Now I can convert my entire DVD library in a fraction of the time as compared to yesterday…
Last night as I was gaming online (it’s been a while) - and it dawned on me that while I’m enjoying this game, there’s a developer somewhere - writing more code, developing more ideas, and ultimately irradiating my notions of ‘modern gaming’. I’m not sure how public this statement is, but one of Intel’s founding fathers, Gordon Moore, stated “you don’t get out of a recession with yesterday’s products but with tomorrow’s”. In the high-performance computing & gaming arena - this statement rings true…
During these economic downturns, the best companies will ‘dig their heels in’ and really push the limits of modern computing, making possible what was previously unimaginable. Looking back, I never thought that I’d be able to talk and play with a team of 32 other players on a gaming server over the Internet back when I was text-solving Zork.
Think of things you can do today with current technology that was simply not possible yesterday, or last week, month or last year. My son is asking for video editing software for his 13th birthday, at his age - I remember just asking for a computer so I could type my school papers and erase without White-Out! Processors are everytwhere now, cellphones, set-top boxes, netbooks, desktops… it’s mind boggling.
Do you think PCs will be able to play against console gamers? What about the tired old keyboard/mouse combo - will it become a ‘Wii-like’ control? Can you imagine playing WoW by jumping and swinging at your enemies? or actually interacting with wearable gear that matches your game experience? Will flight-sim programs be even MORE realistic than today?
I believe that we’ll soon have social gaming profiles, where you can use your online identity across multiple games. There are so many communities setting up ad-hoc events on a 24x7 basis already. Also, with 24” and larger screens becoming ‘the norm’ for gamers - HUD displays and widgets will probably make a comeback - it’s a lot of visual real-estate - so why not use it?
I’d love to hear your experiences in what amazes you with modern computing, what do you foresee in the gaming future? More graphics? More processors? Something totally new? If you’re a game developer, you may already know what tomorrow looks like!
Don’t forget to check out http://lanfest.intel.com/ - there’s a LAN Party in a few days!
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Comments
May 24 | freddy said:
Question for you Todd.
I have a desktop w/ Core2Duo processor, 2 gigs or ram and an Nvidia 8800 card. I want to upgrade to the i7 but then I would have to get a new motherboard as well.
My current motherboard has 2 ports for 2 video cards. Can I just get an additional video card and a few more gigs of ram to be see some improvement? I only play first person shooter games.
Let me know what you think please.
May 26 | Todd Christ said:
Hi Freddy - there are some details that you left out - but I'll try to give you a fully-loaded response :)
You have to dermine a few things to answer your questions:
1. Are you un-happy with your computing experience now?
2. Do you plan on buying newer games that really push the limits of your current computer?
3. How much do you really want to spend?
If your current motherboard supports Crossfire or SLI, buying a 2nd video card will be beneficial, also adding RAM will be of benefit - but you'll have to check a few items as well: how much RAM can your current motherboard handle? and if you have a 32-bit Operating System you will only be able to see up to 3GB of RAM - sure it's a 50% increase, but is it enough?
I'd suggest finding a way to benchmark your own system - maybe using some in-game tests which can show your 'frames per second' (fps) and/or using something like Futuremark's Benchmarking Tools to see how your computer performs... you may find a bottleneck in your current setup.
This site Highest Performing Processor On The Planet showcases how the Core i7 performs. Keep in mind that when you decide on upgrading to the Core i7 that you'll also have to get some DDR3 memory for the tri-channel memory architecture.
My upgrade to the Core i7 has been VERY good and I'm pretty sure you'd be happy with the decision. The CPU runs cooler, faster, and the new Nehalem based processor architecture really lets you experience the games better than before! So do some testing, and come back and let us know what you decided!
Jun 18 | kalniel said:
Hi Todd,
Do you ever worry that all this gaming power is just going to waste when programmers target engine performance around console hardware due to the higher revenues they obtain in those markets?
Jun 24 | Todd Christ said:
kalniel - I'm not too concerned about PC gaming going away anytime soon... if you see
Regina's post you'll see that developers are still pushing efforts toward the ever-evolving PC gaming society. There are more sites also pushing PC gaming; Steam, and even Destructoid is promoting Friday Night Fights for a ton of collaborative (and competitive) gaming!
I've read articles stating the demise of PC gaming to Consoles for over two decades... but we're still here, on our PC's - gaming away (w00T!)