Comparison of Frame-rates in
Quake 3 Using Voodoo 3D Cards

THE TEST:

The test used is called a Timedemo. You can easily run this test yourself by creating a config file using Windows Notepad, and entering these lines (you can just copy and paste it from here):

set s_initsound 0
snd_restart
timedemo 1
demo demo001

Save the file to the \QUAKE3\BASEQ3 folder and call it Q3TEST.CFG

You can also download the config file here...

To run the test, bring down the console in Q3 using the tilde "~" key and type"

\exec q3test.cfg

Run the test two times. Ignore the results of the first test. When the second test finishes, press the tilde key again to bring down the console, and the results will be displayed as fps (frames per second).

VOODOO3 SETTINGS:

The card is a Voodoo3 3000 AGP. I use the Metabyte WickedGL miniport instead of the 3Dfx OpenGL driver. The WickedGL miniport gives much better performance and visually looks much better than the 3Dfx OpenGL driver. Sound and VSync are disabled for the tests, and the following video settings are used. Driver used is the v1.03 3Dfx Voodoo3 driver.

Color Depth = 16bit
Lighting = Lightmap
Geometric Detail = High
Texture Detail = 75% (Default)
Texture Quality = Default
Texture Filtering = Bilinear

These settings are recommended by my friend Death2Uall in his article at the Oxygen Tank When used in conjunction with the Metabyte WickedGL Miniport, these setting provide outstanding performance and beautiful visual quality. Many people complain how ugly the V3 looks running Q3 using the 3Dfx OpenGL driver. You should try out the WickedGL miniport and these settings for a real visual treat. These are the settings I use on my system with a Voodoo3.

GEFORCE DDR SETTINGS:

Yes, I'm a traitorous bastard and in July 2000 I upgraded to a GeForce DDR. I've been a long time 3Dfx user - going back to the Voodoo1, but the V5 just didn't make the cut for me. Although it's a great performer I have two major problems with it as of this writing: 1) 3Dfx has announced that it will NOT make a V4 or V5 with TV out - no word on the V6 but I couldn't wait, nor did I want to pay for something that costs more than crack. 2) The V5 drivers are still very immature and OpenGL support is no where near as good as for the GeForce. I use a lot of non-game 3D apps now for business and need a card with good OpenGL support. Hands down the GeForce is the better card in this regard. As far as FSAA (Full Screen Anti-Aliasing) on the V5 - I've seen it and I think it's over-rated. 

Anyway, I used the same settings as for the V3 except for using 32-bit color. If you're a total performance fiend you can knock it down to 16-bit color to improve performance but I found the difference is not all that great and you might as well enjoy the eye candy.

Driver used is the NVidia Detonator2 reference driver v5.22 - I've found that the reference drivers usually far outperform the manufacturer drivers for most cards and their usually more stable.  

Color Depth = 32bit
Lighting = Lightmap
Geometric Detail = High
Texture Detail = 75% (Default)
Texture Quality = 32 bit
Texture Filtering = Bilinear

USE THESE TEST RESULTS ONLY AS A GUIDE! Please be aware that frame-rate tests are not very precise. It's not unusual for two systems with identical processors and 3D cards to have scores that differ by as much as 10% due to differences in motherboard design, BIOS settings, design of the secondary cache algorithm, etc. There are many variables involved! Even the same system can test differently on two different days depending on the temperature inside the case (the 3D card's processors, and even your CPU, are sensitive to temperature - one good reason to invest in a cooling fan for your 3D card). Please don't e-mail me pissing and moaning that your P2-400 gets 5 fps less than the one tested here, and you want to know how to fix it - DON'T WORRY, BE HAPPY! Again, use these test results only as a guide. Your mileage may (will!) vary.

"BUT WHY SHOULD I TEST MY FRAMERATE WITH THE SOUND DISABLED?"

To accurately test your framerate using the timedemo command, you MUST disable sound as recommended by Brian Hook. Why disable sound? In a nutshell, having sound enabled will cap your framerate in the timedemo. A timedemo can run much faster than a normal game (you can't actually play Q2 at the speed that a timedemo runs at, can you now?). It can run so fast that the sound card buffer fills up. Once this happens, the 3D card and CPU must wait until the sound card clears it's buffer before it can render a frame, thus the system is bottlenecked at the sound card.. At that point you're not testing the fps of the 3D video subsystem anymore - instead you're testing the fps of the sound card since the rest of the system is waiting on it.

BEFORE YOU WRITE IN COMPLAINING ABOUT THE WAY I DO MY TESTS...

1. The purpose of the tests I've performed is to make a COMPARISON. The game doesn't really matter and Quake3 is as valid a testbed as any other 3D first person shooter. Don't nag me to test other games as I have more important things to do - like watch porn and play computer games.

2. It's logical to assume that if you see a 25% improvement in framerate going from CPU A to CPU B in Quake2, then you'll likely see the same 25% improvement in other first person shooters. Yes, I know that's simplistic, but we're talking RELATIVE comparisons of different CPUs running 3Dfx hardware. If you want ABSOLUTE numbers get them from some other sites, but unless the tests are done EXACTLY the same way with EXACTLY the same settings, they're meaningless for purposes of comparison.

3. Along the same lines as #2 above, even if you have a different brand of video card, you can use this chart to see POTENTIALLY what kind of performance increase you'll get by upgrading your CPU. Again, if I got a 25% improvement in FPS going from CPU A to CPU B on a V3-3000, you'll probably see ROUGHLY the same percentage of improvement on a G400, a TNT2 or a GeForce using the same processors (yes I know some of these other cards are less CPU dependent than others, but it still applies as a valid comparison guide). I only own 3Dfx hardware (I'm not a 3Dfx advocate, that's just the hardware I've chosen to use - something better comes along that I can afford, I'll buy it).

4. The purpose of my page is to help people decide on a CPU upgrade, NOT to sell you on a 3Dfx card or a particular CPU. I'm trying to answer this question which you constantly see posted in various forms on 3D hardware forums: "Is it worth it for me to upgrade my <blah blah> CPU to a <blah blah> CPU, and how much of difference will I see?"

5. I don't give a rat's behind what framerate you're getting on YOUR system with YOUR video card with YOUR settings. Please don't e-mail me to brag. I fully agree that there may be better hardware out there, this is just the hardware I'm using and have access to. You want to mail me your video card for a few weeks so I can do tests? No problem. I'm more than happy with the framerate I'm getting on my personal system thank you, and bragging is NOT the point of my framerate page (see #4 above). Don't treat me like a deprived child, and don't start any flame wars. I'm trying to provide information here.

System Performance Comparison in Quake3

This is what we're all really here for. This is a comparison of a variety of systems using either a Voodoo3 or a GeForce2 video card. To keep things simple I decided to only test 800x600 since the purpose here is just to compare performance of different processors and other hardware, NOT show you what frame-rate you can get by tweaking (there's lot's of other sites that do that already).

NOTE: There is no need to disable VSync in normal play, and doing so will give you horrible image tearing. However, with VSync disabled your frame-rate will never exceed your monitor's vertical refresh frequency in a timedemo test. To perform benchmark testing properly you should temporarily disable VSync for the test. If your driver supports it, disable VSync in the the advanced video properties tab.

Systems running with a Geforce DDR card are displayed with magenta text.
Systems running with a Voodoo 3 card are displayed with green text.

Comments: Notice that the P3-800 performs no better than the P3-675 with the Geforce DDR. Obviously the Geforce DDR is already fill-rate limited on the 675 MHz CPU and going to a faster processor makes no difference. It might make a difference at a resolution over 1024x768, though, but I wouldn't consider the framerate acceptable. 

Keep in mind this is a Geforce DDR - a newer Geforce 2 would likely see a big improvement in frame-rate going from the 675 to the 800 MHz CPU.

Compiled by Robert Osorio, "Flying Penguin (Mercenary)"
Last updated on 9/12/00