Rome Total War - Custom Battle, 1024 x 768
7x 266 MHz FSB
7x343 MHz FSB
6x400 MHz FSB
7x400 MHz FSB
| 7x343 to 6x266 | 6x400 to 6x266 | 7x400 to 6x266 | 6x400 to 7x343 | |
| Min | 23.53% | 39.22% | 52.94% | 15.69% |
| Avg | 19.86% | 24.93% | 39.32% | 5.07% |
| Max | 19.75% | 24.69% | 41.98% | 4.94% |
This benchmark have slightly larger variations, but it's still a good example of how heavy RTS games really are. Heavily system limited, we gain the most with minimum frame rates when we overclock the processor. This game responds very well to increases in bandwidth from the use of highers FSB, though there are still limits. Look at the increase in minimum fps when we change the FSB from 343 MHz to 400 MHz - 15 percent. Increases in average frame rates are not as dramatic, but still higher than what we saw with SuperPi.
Full Spectrum Warrior - Custom Replay, 1024 x 768
7x 266 MHz FSB
7x343 MHz FSB
6x400 MHz FSB
7x400 MHz FSB
| 7x343 to 6x266 | 6x400 to 6x266 | 7x400 to 6x266 | 6x400 to 7x343 | |
| Min | 20.88% | 16.12% | 4.76% | -4.76% |
| Avg | 14.44% | 16.26% | 20.80% | 1.83% |
| Max | 13.84% | 17.40% | 30.19% | 3.56% |
Now, this is one game that defies the norm. Though overall we're seeing ever increasing performance with higher clocks, the increase is actually decreasing with higher FSBs and clocks. One likely explanation is that we're nearing the crossover path between system and graphics performance boundaries - the graphics card we're using have become the bottleneck. In this case, we need to look at maximum fps, where the graphics card clearly still have some room. The numbers here make much more sense - we see a 30 percent increase when we overclock the Core 2 Duo E6300 to 2.8 GHz with a 400 MHz FSB. Bandwidth wise, this game seems to behave pretty much like Call of Duty - performance increases are largely due to clock not bandwidth
One strange thing to note: Look at actual frame rates numbers - we're actually seeing lower minimum frame rates at 2.8 GHz than at 2.4 GHz.
Dungeon Siege - Greilyn Beach, 1024 x 768
7x 266 MHz FSB
7x343 MHz FSB
6x400 MHz FSB
7x400 MHz FSB
| 7x343 to 6x266 | 6x400 to 6x266 | 7x400 to 6x266 | 6x400 to 7x343 | |
| Min | 20.56% | 26.17% | 35.51% | 5.61% |
| Avg | 20.53% | 26.63% | 39.11% | 6.10% |
| Max | 12.64% | 18.96% | 31.60% | 6.32% |
Like it's previous incarnations, Dungeon Siege is very system lmited. Clock speed rules here, though it can still appreciate additional bandwidth from higher FSBs. The performance gained by moving from 2.4 GHz to 2.8 GHz is significant, be it from 7 x 343 MHz or 6 x 400 MHz. Overall, we are close to the thereotical increase of 50 percent. but something else is holding us back and it's not bandwidth. Though larger than what we saw with SuperPi, performance increase due to bandwidth is not significant.
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