Wanted to return back into SK after finally getting a more gaming capable computer, and I assumed that a video card like an HD 6870 should have no problems running the game in high, but for some reason I only get 35-45 frames per second while playing this.
Can anyone who runs this game on high settings, resolutions, and frames per second mention what hardware setup they have? I might have some settings or driver issues, but I wanted to confirm performance with other people's machines.
With all settings on high, 16x aa, render effects on. I get 60 fps consistently. I've got a GTX 570. Sometimes it slows down when a lot of stuff's happening on screen but mostly it stays at 60 fps.
I can run SK at 16xAA, 1920x1080 and in most rooms get 60FPS. Some places give me trouble (like Haven central square), but it's uncommon. My video card is an EVGA NVIDIA GTX 470, standard stock air heat sink.
WEll 60 FPS is a bit much to ask for, but I can run at a decent Average of 40 FPS (that counts as an overall average thru FSC, Ready Room, Lockdown, and Haven on high graphics)
I also run on high graphics as much as I can and at full screen resolution of 1366x798 or something (sometimes to Low graphics in Lockdown only beacause we all know how THAT turns out.)
Normally I hit 45 or higher in Haven and stuff, but drop to at worst 25 in Lockdown. I get about 30 FPS in FSC.
EDIT HERE: I tried to run SK at 16x AA, but for some reason it wont go above 4x AA >_> (that or the tab resets there, but in reality its at 16 :S)
This varies whether my ISP WANTS to work or not, and ping is also a big issue.
Im running on a Toshiba Laptop, with a
OS = Windows 7 Home Premium
Processsor= intel i5 Duo core
Graphics Card = NVIDIA Geforce 310M Driver 285
And all that good stuff.Not too shabby, but I wish I had a better internet connection from my ISP. 3Mbps down speed T~T
Oh and I'm in the U.S.A, as that may play a part in "lag"
Conclusion: Dont worry about 35-45 FPS, you can't really tell the difference from 60 FPS really as it goes so fast. Your FPS is fine, in fact if you can hold a solid 30-40 Framerate through every part of the game, then you're pretty well off.
Thanks for confirming all. I was doing all of my testing in Haven, and apparently I should've just went down into clockworks to see the fps there. Yeah, it's pretty good after that. It's weird how Haven is so graphics intensive compared to inside clockworks though.
Other than that, more of the reason I prefer 60fps to anywhere just above 30 is because when I used to play this a lot, I always had the graphics set to low while on an integrated card so that I could get as high of framerate as I could, as other settings went reliably low. I guess the thing is that even though I never checked the fps I had then on the lowest of settings (and even of resolutions), they may have been also near 60, which is why I can't seem to adjust to anything lower.
just bought a latest nivida ge force 680. How do u check for fps ? Dl fraps ?
Yeah, I used fraps, though apparently it's just a trial. I want to find something that's free to replace it eventually.
I use a Radeon 6950 (one of the shader unlock variants) with 4x AA constantly forced, various resolutions. Framerate can vary a lot.
By Feron in the arcade and by lots of fire vents in FSC I'll see about 30fps.
Most areas of the Clockworks come up as 60fps.
Vanilla zones like Jigsaw Valley can go 90+.
There's funny moments when the game is fading out to a loading screen and for that 1 second framerates jump to 2000+ :P
There are some good free programs. MSI Afterburner has a customizable overlay and certain voice chat programs, like Mumble, have overlays that can show FPS.
Silly Dogrock and his v-sync turned off. My 60FPS is with v-sync on, of course. I seem to always have issues with any area affected by an update (Arcade during the winter event, town square during the anniversary event).
Wow, so even a 6950 just hits 30 fps in FSC? Damn, and I though I would finally have high settings in FSC on with 60 fps after getting a decent dedicated gpu... Thanks for also mentioning other free fps monitors.
Vsync is off right now, only to see how far of variance fps can get. Yeah, I think I even remember seeing them jump from single digits on second to four digits in another.
I run MY crate on low, and I'm using a crummy ATI Radeon 2-something (forgot model, will look up later) and it's on low. I deleted pretty much every file I never use anymore, and it runs fine.
I want whatever cards YOU guys are using! (>^.^)> Want!
As usual, those flame effects are the brunt of the graphical load in FSC.
Fix those and 90% of people's performance issues will disappear.
More like 90 FPS...
I THINK I have GTX 590
Like a Boss!
As Shoebox said, it's only when the fire effects trigger, otherwise everything is fine and dandy.
At the point of powerful graphics card you really won't notice a whole lot of performance difference. There really wasn't a notable change for me when going from a Radeon 4870 to a 6950 (in this game). Sure framerates will be a bit different, but it's not like I could notice without the counter. The game will slow down everywhere when there is just "too much" going on. It doesn't appear to be something that can be solved by sledgehammering in more powerful hardware either.
Also, hush Dirt, I like my V-sync off. Nothing like the piercing electrical whine of a graphics card going render crazy. :P
I don't know my FPS, but I do know that the CPU makes a huge difference in performance.
I have 3 computers that all basically have the same GPU. 8800gts in 2 of them, and a 9600gt in the other. All three GPU's are essentially equal in terms of performance. One of the computers is running an old Athlon 64 4000 (single core, 8800gts), one is running an Athlon x3 445 (triple core 8800gts), and the other, my main rig, is running a Phenom 2 x4 955 (quad core, 9600gt).
The quad core machine runs better than the rest, and the interesting part is that the GPU runs much cooler than normal gaming. If I play 3d games like Borderlands, the temps go WAY up, but SK keeps the temps right around idle temps. Tells me that the CPU takes the brunt of the power.
The slowest compy, the 64 4000, stutters when going to new areas, and when baddies arrive. Otherwise it runs pretty well on low graphics settings. The other computers have the graphics on high except AA, which is unneeded anyway.
In Spiral Knights, CPU > GPU
That's quite a load you're posting there. I can confirm that SK puts enormous stress on the GPU. During the winter event walking near Impostoclaus caused my GPU to skyrocket to 99~100% usage, while my CPU would never go over 30% usage (Intel i7-920, 2.66GHz).
I've got a Radeon HD 5850, and run the game at maxed in-game settings plus 4x SSAA through Catalyst Control Center. I don't have a way to directly measure frame rates, but I haven't noticed any slowdown or hitching since coming back to the game--and I'm pretty sensitive to that. Several months ago, there would be a slight bit of hitching now and then that people said was a result of Java mishandling how it frees up memory, but that seems to be gone. I'm not running at a very high monitor resolution, but SSAA kind of compensates for that.
It's been a while since I've checked, but I don't recall this game putting much of a load on the video card.
I'll check things out tonight... Not sure how else to explain away the fact that if I Alt+Tab out of SK, the GPU temps are the same as before playing, and that's not after only a few seconds, that's after many minutes of playing.
If the GPU were more stressed than the CPU, then the computer I have with the Athlon 64 4000 & 8800gts would perform roughly the same as the Athlon 2 x3 with the same video card. They don't perform the same, and the graphics have been turned all the way down on the 4000 machine.
Like I said, I'll run some more tests tonight. Hard to explain away a video card not heating up while gaming if it's using 90-100%. For reference, while playing Borderlands, it spikes to around 68c, and in SK it sits at about ~55c-58c. I'll check CPU temps/utilization and memory usage as well.
I would be scared out of my mind if Spiral Knights caused your i7 to use more than 30%!!!! In fact, that seems pretty high to me... you might want to get more memory and a faster GPU... (JK! I have no idea what you are running)
Ima poor orphan, so I have a Dell inspiron 1545 with a intel pentium processer and a Intel Family Chip 4 processer. =P I run fine on low graphics, no v-sync, and x1 AA, 1366x768, perfect connection. So if you wanna know how low you can go, there ya go. And i'm serious about the orphan part. O.O
I have a GTX 590 i believe?
I get like 125 FPS, and don't lag except when my internets slow.
Here is a screenshot of speedfan after sitting idle and then playing SK for several minutes (I need to grab a better screenshot, this one is dark): https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/C4d44yP5NrbrJlUDrCIprsEgi5PK5YvxxBlmca...
The red line is my CPU temp, and the green line at the bottom is my GPU temp, which holds steady at 40c the whole time I play SK. My idle temps on the GPU are right around 38c-40c, by the way.
In my profession, IT tech support (7 years), where there is heat, there is load. If a component, in this case the GPU, is not getting hot, then it is not being worked. If a CPU is getting hot, it is being worked. That's why the temps go up and down, and why when idling my CPU and GPU temps drop: because they are not being used. In Spiral Knights, at least on my system, my CPU is doing almost all the work. It is quite obvious from the screenshot that this is the case.
My FPS is still yet to be determined, but I'll get it sooner or later. I'll probably try putting in an old something or rather graphics card and see what happens. My guess is that the lowest REQUIRED card will still run SK pretty well in my machine.
@Daarke: Impressive! I'll have to fire up my laptop and see how SK runs on it! Considering Plants Vs. Zombies slows it down... might be interesting!
Your image is 403'd at the time of posting this.
I would be hesitant to use heat as an end all for relative loading. Temperatures read on a component can depend not only on the amount of load, but the type of work being done to. The best example of this is in the benchmarks specifically geared to create a higher heat load than normal. Also, relative cooling ability can obscure this further. My desktop, for example, doesn't show enough of a temperature delta when doing most day-to-day tasks to serve as relevant information. Also, GPU load monitoring programs aren't really accurate in all cases either. Depending on whether I fullscreen or do a (borderless) window of the same size the load can appear as 99% or about 20%.
The CPU is still important for this game (assuming GPU is not the limiting factor). However, the Java VM (game engine or whatever you want to call it) appears to be limited in how fast it will work. Even when performance is struggling with many props you still won't see it go much past a certain % load on a given computer. Restating what I said earlier, beefy hardware only really helps to a point.
Also, how exactly is one uncertain about owning a GTX 590? Is this humor or do people honestly not know whether or not they purchased a $700 component?
Got an FPS reading on my main computer using fraps. I consistently run at 60 FPS. I didn't go to FSC, since I don't have the gear to make it through... but in multiple other levels, it consistently runs 60fps.
In Haven it runs much worse, in the neighborhood of ~36-45fps.
My system setup:
Phenom 2 x4 955 BE
4GB ddr3
Nvidia 9600gt
7200rpm HD, size is irrelavent
@Flists
"Graphics Card = NVIDIA Geforce 310M Driver 285" ~Me
"Only Nvidia cards can use x16AA" ~You
I has Nvidia, I no understand?
My video card, being an EVGA card, allows me to use their EVGA Precision utility that gives me an overlay with things like GPU temps and GPU load and I can easily confirm everything I've said via that. Even at 100% load on SK my GPU rarely exceeds 80C temperatures, where 90C is pretty typical for most modern games.
umm so im currently running the game with an amd phenom dual core and radeon mobility 4250 which is a laptop, but i saw this rig that somebody is selling that i can afford with intel core i5 2.8 Ghz and nvidia gt 240..... is this worth getting??? i wanna be able to run games like battlefield, portal2 and spiral knights. especially spiral knights since its the main game that i play, if so how much would the fps with that rig will be?.
btw... I WOULD LOVE TO HAVE AT LEAST 35-40 FPS.. once my computer was running lockdown at 30 fps and i did so good T_T
Unless you wanna play almost anything on VH, then yes. If only for SK, no, better of using a quad core with 2.33
Oi, i get 90FPS in FSC, i5 3.33, NGTS-250 with 1GB GDDR5
@Dirt: Glad and sad to hear that. I'm sorry to hear that your GPU runs so hot!! You should consider getting an aftermarket cooler for it!! I noticed that mine was very dusty, and so I cleaned it out yesterday... WOW, my temps are back down to ~38c while playing SK, and idling at ~34. So it does use the GPU, which I was never saying that it didn't, however, it's not using anywhere near the full potential or power of my old 9600gt (3 or 4 year old card).
I have no idea why your GPU is running at 100% load... it shouldn't be! And I have to question how running it at 100% load does not produce the same temps as other games running at 100% load? 100% = 100% if other games produce more heat, then Spiral Knights IS NOT using 100% of the available GPU performance. Otherwise your other games are using more like 120% of available performance. If you use a device at 100% load, no matter what device it is, the temps it creates will be the same as running a different program at full load. I can max my CPU my using the calculator just as easily as getting a burn in tool. Max load is max load.
The GTX 400 line is notorious for running extremely hot. I've already put new thermal compound on the heat sink and I'm not really interested in doing more.
I wonder if mine will still help, but anyways:
I've got 'AMD A6-3400M' Quad core processor and a 'Radeon HD 6540G2' graphics card and i can run SK on high.
Or I should say could, because I recently started playing again and it seems like i've got more trouble now. At least I can normally run it on high, but when SK gets more occupied (because of America waking up i assume) I have to run it on med or when im unlucky even low.
Uhm.. I believe that this game relies a lot on processors, so even if your video card would normally be able to run it on High (nvidia GT220 here, pretty sure it should be able to) smoothly, a poor processor can drag you down a lot (Pentium 4, single core at 3Ghz...) to the point where even Low is laggy.
So you'd have to make two investments I believe. :(
Again, this is only what I believe, I may be wrong and feel free to correct me if so.
Well, I can confirm that a Pentium 4 single core at 2.80Ghz CAN give you game play without lag at Low setting as I have one and I do use it.
I should make a note though that it is running Lubuntu 11.10.
Also even the video card is very old and low end, it's an nVidia FX 5200 AGP x8 slot.
So, the old system is
Processor: Pentium 4 single core @2.80Ghz
Video card: nVidia FX 5200 AGP x8
Monitor: an HP 1440x900
Motherboard\Case: Dell Optiplex GX270
OS: Lubuntu 11.10
Processor: AMD FX-6100; Six cores @ 3.3Ghz
Video card: XFX 6750 1 GB
Motherboard: ASUS M5A97
RAM: 8 gigs
OS: Windows 7
I can run the game fairly easily on the highest settings, although I will occasionally have slight performance issues there if the game decides its time to display every single particle effect at the same instant while spawning mobs.
I always play at highest detail with 8x AA. My fps is normally 30~40... untill I turn fraps on and the game gets laggy as all hell lol.
Dual Core 3.0 ghz
ATI Radion HD 5770
4 gigs of ram
Interesting bit here. On Windows if I played at max settings, there is a noticeable drop in framerates. However, in Linux, there is no such thing. Same hardware, just different OSes.
Specs:
Intel Core2Quad Q6600
4gbs of Ram
Nvidia Geforce GT 430
I used WIndows 7 Professional 64 bit and SuSe Linux Enterprise Edition 64 bit.
CPU : AMD Athlon II X2 Dual-Core 3ghz
RAM : 4Gb
Video Card: ATI Radeon HD 6670
Mother Board: ASUS M4A78L M-LE
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate (64bit)
I can run it fine at 1920x1080 with High settigns and AA up ot X16 (but I dont realy see any point in the AA so I just keep it disabled) with roughly :
AAx16 : 30-60fps
AA disabed - 40-70fps
Only thing that dose give me issues is Firestorm Cathedral and concentrated shadow fire / fire pads.
That doesn't sound right. Most monitors can give only 60. I have never known that there were any for 70. Anyway, I can run at full everything without any slow downs, even on IMF. I have a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560.
Note that what I have just said goes for my gaming windows computer. My Linux computer (which I usually play on) is a bit older. It can do pretty well on the highest everything. (Excluding AA, which must be AAx2. AAx16 would make it lag for sure.)
Remember that those FRAPS-like programs are measuring the frames rendered by the GPU, not how often you screen refreshes. Screen refreshes stay constant; how often it has a new image to display is variable.
As for this thread: remember it was initially created before the Blast Processing update that notably improved performance on all computers. Those who were struggling before should be much better off. Also, remember that intergrateted (or on processor these days) graphics and OEM only graphics cards usually perform worse that what your computer vendor implies. This is usually exacerbated by older drivers that many never update from the date of purchase.
As for SK performing better on Linux - I'm not surprised. There's an old post by Cleaver haning around about Spiral Engineers building the game on Linux systems. I know even on my barely capable laptop there is a notable difference in the "smoothness."
This game performance is awful. Just set AA to 2x and graphics to low and everything looks clean.