"3d Mark" Is It a Relevant Test?

[freeagent]

I think Bill should start overclocking with us

 

[Mr.Scott]

I think Bill should start overclocking with us

Nah.
I'd rather put a gun in my mouth.

 

[Bill_Bright]

I think Bill should start overclocking with us

LOL You should never make assumptions about something you are clueless about.

Back in my youth, we used to overclock all the time - but that was when it was a real challenge - nothing like today where you simply enter the BIOS Setup menu and change a couple settings. What's the challenge, or risk in that? In fact, motherboard makers make it so simple today, they even provide OC presets in the BIOS, and many motherboard makers have utility programs like ASUS AI Overclocking or MSI Afterburner.

The oldtimers around here can attest to this. Back in the day, if you wanted to change voltages and/or clocks, you had to cut motherboard circuit traces and solder in jumpers. Then cross your fingers and toes, pray to the digital gods, and promise your firstborn to the underworld, you didn't cross-connect the wrong circuit.

Talk about voiding warranties! And there was no such thing as a budget motherboard or CPU back in the 80s and early 90s - back when the original IBM PC and "IBM clones" were all we had to work with - when we could afford them.

If you needed to flash the BIOS, you physically had to remove the EPROM and flash ("burn") it with a burner - after erasing it with a super strong UV light source. Do it wrong and you have to order a new BIOS chip from the board maker - if they would sell it to you. At least when EEPROMs came about, you didn't have to physically remove the chips from the board.

Today, if you change a setting and the system fails to boot, or becomes unstable, no problem! Just reset it and be good to go.

You kids today don't know how easy you have it.

Today, if I want more power, I go buy it.

Nah.
I'd rather put a gun in my mouth.

Me too.

 

[tabascosauz]

LOL You should never make assumptions about something you are clueless about.

The oldtimers

You kids.

How ironic that you are addressing freeagent, then.

How about you leave it at "3DMark is not relevant to daily usage", without trying to foist your opinion amongst the rest of the OC community that regularly uses 3DMark both casually and competitively? Or launching into another Pepperidge Farm tirade?

Back to OP, the tune of his post was clearly that he wanted to get into benchmarking. Doesn't matter if it's for competitive reasons, 3DMark has been a staple for a long time.

 

[Noreng]

3DMark Time Spy is a pretty good benchmark, it gives you a decent idea of how well optimized your memory, CPU, and GPU are.

While the workload of physics simulations using SSE isn't all that representative today, it's a lot closer to actual gaming workloads than Cinebench will ever be.

 

[Mr.Scott]

The Unigine benchmarks are more realistic of everyday use than Futuremarks are.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Gee whiz, tabascosauz. That was hardly necessary or appropriate. I am entitled to express my opinion just as much as everyone else. Please go back and see what was said and you will see I generally agreed with everyone on most points - as did they me on most points.

We all agreed, for example that these are "synthetic" and "may not translate to real world results".

If they contest my opinion, as they are entitled too, that's fine. But the other way around and you launch a personal attack?

Three other moderators have been participating in this thread with civility all along. And you join just to insult. Wow.

Well, you got what you want. I'm out of here.

 

[freeagent]

you are clueless

Ahh.. ok.. so 25 years ago you were into clocking and now you have outgrown it.. cool. I wouldn’t say I am clueless, but I haven’t seen anything recent, hence my comment.

And yes, overclocking for the most part is pretty tame these days. It’s so easy even an old timer like you can figger it out

 

[Bill_Bright]

To be sure, freeagent, you are not clueless about many things - including overclocking. I did not mean to suggest you were - only about my history with computers and overclocking.

It was a bad choice of words, on my part. My apologies for that. It was not very "civil" of me.

Not sure outgrown is the right word either. More like, been there, done that. Outgrown seems to suggest (to me) a mature vs immature view, and that's not it. Or at least that is not how I fee.

And yes, overclocking for the most part is pretty tame these days. It’s so easy even an old timer like you can figger it out

Yes, it is that easy. And that is why, for me, there's no challenge (or risk) in it anymore.

But if others are in to it - that's fine. I never suggested otherwise. And for sure, there are many useful tools those users can use to "measure" their accomplishments. I happen to agree Mr. Scott and like Unigine benchmarks better than the 3DMark products. And I think Prime95 is overrated. But that's me.

 

[freeagent]

All good my man, I usually don’t hold a grudge

I know a few people that still clock old hardware, gold fingers and all! They are good people with a ton of skill.

 

[Bill_Bright]

They are good people with a ton of skill.

Often learned the hard (expensive) way since schematics were non-existent, as were folks with previous experience. Not sure about gold fingers, but sweaty foreheads, that's for sure.

All good my man

Thanks.

 

[Deleted member 67555]

I remember back in the early 90's having a "Turbo" button. 16mhz to 20mhz....I could feel the speed.
Wing commander went from 7fps to 8 or maybe even 9fps.
That button taught me how to Overclock..
It was a simple 2 way switch...jumper 1 or jumper 2.
Didn't take long to realize what to do

 

[johnspack]

Heh, turbo button started with XTs. From 4.77mhz to an astonishing 9.54mhz! From what I remember back then, ocing was done by soldering in a new faster crystal.

 

[Mr.Scott]

From what I remember back then, ocing was done by soldering in a new faster crystal.

You are correct. And jumper wires for voltage increase. Been there, done all that. Still do now and then.

 

[seth1911]

3dmark 11 was good for gpu tests, but now they goes to a cpu & gpu combinated benchmark.

It is useless to compare it let me say a 10900k with a 1080 and a i5 9600 with a 1080

 

[freeagent]

I agree with Mr. Scott, I like Unigine stuff too. I actually run that more than I do UL stuff. Just because I spend more time dabbling with max daily clocks than I do with max clocks. This CPU is a real bear when it comes to trying to control heat once you get around 4700MHz all core. That's about 1.45v, and really shouldn't be running that high with ambient cooling. I've been to 4850 AC. In the end I still paid 800 for it, so I am not into hardcore abuse with it yet lol. Maybe next year.. which is just a few months away.. nice-n-cold

 

[phill]

The Unigine benchmarks are more realistic of everyday use than Futuremarks are.

Not to mention also nicer looking I think???

Certainly not run much of the newer Futuremark or UL whatever they wish to call themselves now programs now, I prefer the older ones Remembering back to 99 Max and 2000 and 2001SE... Ah those where the days.... Although, the Catzilla test is pretty funky, get the music turned up on that one!!

I feel that overclocking is just pointless really at the moment since most of things we 'could' buy are generally clocked as high as they can be out the box and so what's the point in it? Sadly you don't really want max speeds for crunching and folding, you need efficiency and the like, not quite what Futuremark/UL is meant for you to be chasing I don't think....

But I digress... I can always go back to Z99/Z77/X58 and even socket 462 if I really would like a challenge Most tests that's a benchmark generally has no bearing on what real word performance is like really I don't feel... Made to look pretty and slow down your hardware so you can buy newer, faster kit because it'll be a few more points more than the last card.....

 

[Bill_Bright]

I feel that overclocking is just pointless really at the moment since most of things we 'could' buy are generally clocked as high as they can be out the box and so what's the point in it?

Not to mention, in "blind" real-life application scenarios, it is highly unlikely a user would actually notice any performance gains. By "blind", I mean the user is totally unaware of any "enhancements" or changes made, and has no way of monitoring speeds or performance. They just assume, and have no reason to suspect otherwise, that everything is running at "out-of-the-box" default settings.

It would be a rare case that they would actually see better performance when playing their game, updating their social media accounts, spell checking their Word doc, moving files, etc.

But if they knew the system was overclocked, or was told it was, then it is almost certain the placebo affect would convince them the machine was noticeable faster.

I think it is important to note that game developers are fully aware that most gamers don't have the budgets for a $500+ CPU and a $1000+ graphics card (or 2 cards!). Many gamers would consider themselves lucky to have a $1000, or even a $500 computer. If they coded those games such that they only provided good game play on expensive, high-end gaming rigs, they would never have enough sales to stay in business. So even the most demanding games are still designed to provide great game play and enthralling entertainment on lessor systems.

If one is in it only for the bragging rights, then they will never be satisfied. Or at least not for long as someone else will come by shortly and take the crown away. But if one is in it to be entertained, and are not obsessed with that last few hertz or frame per second, they are not going to care what some benchmarking measuring tool shows.

 

[freeagent]

My computer is my OCD box for the home. I can tune it any way I want or not at all. Its one of my hobbies and I am always doing something to it, moving a cable, tuning a fan curve, or power curve.. it gives me something to do when the kids are doing their thing. When I am at work I have my machine and parts to tinker with, the tighter the tolerance the better most of the time. Gives me something else to think about other than the programmer being to aggressive with that tool.

I do agree though.. not much point in overclocking these days, other than for old times sake. The real fun ended with X58 imo. Older platforms are where the real fun is. What we have now is pretty watered down.. but its still fun to hit limits, I try to stay there if I can do it safely and effectively.

 

[Bill_Bright]

My computer is my OCD box for the home.

LOL

 

[Deleted member 67555]

Heh, turbo button started with XTs. From 4.77mhz to an astonishing 9.54mhz! From what I remember back then, ocing was done by soldering in a new faster crystal.

I forgot about the crystal.
My dad always did the crystal changing.