Help with Measuring/Tweaking GPU Performance.

[dfree86]

Hi all, quick question.

I'm running a GeForce Go 7300, Forceware 163.15.

I was wondering how you measure the performance of your GPU, in order to determine if it can be improved? People frequently list on here that they're getting 15 FPS, or 45 FPS with different drivers and games and I'm wondering how to get that info. This may be a silly question for the experience folks on this forum, but I'm legitimately curious.

I know overclocking has a lot to do with it, and that the nvidia Control Panel/Rivatuner can be used to do both. But I don't really know how to go about overclocking, nor do I know how to be sure that I'm not harming my system by pushing things (temperature, perhaps?). I'd definitely like to try it though, as I'm looking for the best performance possible from my GPU.

I'm aware of the program 3DMark which provides a benchmark score for GPU's, but I'm not sure if I can run it. My processor is a Core Duo T2050 at 1.60 GHz, and on the 3DMark05 downloads page it says you should have at least 2GHz to run it. Should I give it a whirl anyway? Also, which version of 3DMark should I run to test my GeForce Go 7300? And finally, does 3DMark suggest changes that you should make to improve performance or must I interpret the results myself and figure out what to tweak?

And help or advice you could provide, or overclocking/tweaking guides you could point me too would be much appreciated.

Thanks for the info, guys.

[zzpulp]

Some games have commands that you can input to find out your fps. For instance, in CoD the command is /cg_drawfps 1 I think lol, I haven't gamed in so long.

I personally like using the command interface of games but sometimes you may not know the command, may not be built into the game, or the counter just looks crappy. That's when you can use fraps (free limited) to see your fps counter and you may even be able to have it write your average fps value to a logfile. I'm not sure if that's in the free version or not.

Anyway, yes overclocking is the most substantial way of improving your card but you have to be aware of the risks I suppose. There are temperature boundaries you do not wish to exceed as well as frequencies your GPU just isn't able to output. A common way of overclocking is using either coolbits (a registry entry) or a program such as rivatuner, ntune, or ATITool (yes it works with nvidia). Personally, I typically OC at a lower-level than the aforementioned methods, but if I were to use any of those methods, I'd choose ATITool. Just be reasonable when you increase your frequencies and use a stress test to make sure those frequencies are stable. Such tests include 3dmark05, ATITool (both scanning for artifacts and just regular 3d cube), as well as a handful of other programs I have never tested before.

The lower-level method I spoke of earlier was GPU BIOS flashing but I cannot really endorse that method for typical users (not anymore at least :) ). Lower-level methods are not exclusively GPU flashing. For instance, with nvclock in linux you can opt to overclock without coolbits through a low-level interface. Anyway, all of this process can get a little complicated when you consider that there are ways you can be locked out of overclocking, including both in the GPU BIOS and the driver itself (certain registry entries). Neither of these methods to lock the card pertain when using low-level overclocking. This last paragraph was just to give you a little more information though. Follow the instructions above if you wish to overclock. You may find it useful to find out what clocks a typical 7300 can achieve.

Of course overclocking is not the only form of tweaking as there are several registry entries and options in the control panel (such as image quality settings) that you can adjust.

Protip: If you increase your frequencies too far, there are several ways your card will "alert" you. One is to shutdown, another is to show artifacting (tears and such), and another is to throttle to a lower performance profile (2D or low 3D). Provided you are using a driver from here and the classic nvidia control panel, the last method will be logged into the debug settings in the nvidia control panel.

Also note that different 3D applications can attain different maximum clocks from your GPU. To inhibit your card from being stable in certain applications and unstable in others you should not overclock to the bare maximum and leave like a 10-20 MHz safe zone.

I have both oversimplified and overstated a few issues here but hopefully not too much that you cannot understand.

[envydyauser]

Hi all, quick question.

I'm running a GeForce Go 7300, Forceware 163.15.

I was wondering how you measure the performance of your GPU, in order to determine if it can be improved?

I was also intrigued to test my Go7300 performance. Tried SPECViewperf10 last week, would be happy to compare results with another 7300er.

re : overcloking - I'm no expert on the subject, but I think overclocking on portables is a fundamentally bad idea, regardless of the results.

Portables computers have inherently smaller tolerances than desktops.

envydyauser

Edited September 10, 2007 by envydyauser