SP3 and Civ 5 question
- Thread starter Jon P
- Start date
It will play fine. Probably a bit slower than the SP2, but is still playable and enjoyable.
Everything I've tested on my i5 SP3 is noticeably slower than my SP2, but after the last firmware update the SP3 is a little faster than it was (still quite a bit slower than the SP2 though but better than out of the box).
I too have an i7 SP3 on order... I'm hoping it will be able to get closer to the SP2 performance wise. It will have twice the EU's on the gpu (40) so I'm hoping even at a slower throttled speed they will perform better than the current i5 SP3 (20).
We won't know till we try it!
Everything I've tested on my i5 SP3 is noticeably slower than my SP2, but after the last firmware update the SP3 is a little faster than it was (still quite a bit slower than the SP2 though but better than out of the box).
I too have an i7 SP3 on order... I'm hoping it will be able to get closer to the SP2 performance wise. It will have twice the EU's on the gpu (40) so I'm hoping even at a slower throttled speed they will perform better than the current i5 SP3 (20).
We won't know till we try it!
I have the i5 4300u SP2 and Civ5 plays as well on that as it does on my 15" MBP (although once in a while it has some graphics glitches...barbarians moving two tiles disappear from the center of the screen then shoot in from the right side of the screen). I'm curious why the SP3 would be slower.
leeshor
Well-Known Member
No question in my mind!
Seneleron
Active Member
It's called "ultra high resolution screen". You have to have GPU power to push those pixels. I also believe they configured it a lot more conservatively to allay concerns about heat and fan noise [nobody wanted either, so the answer was to conservatively set power management]
The reason it is slower is because of aggressive throttling put in place by Microsoft to control temps.
Leeshor is not correct to simply assume the i7 SP3 will be faster than the SP2. Sure, it will be faster in very short bursts like opening programs or short tasks, but this thread asked about Civ5. Gaming pushes the CPU/GPU consistently for as long as you play, which on the SP3 i5 currently means your GPU is going to throttle all the way down to 598mhz with the CPU in the 1.7ghz range give or take a bit.
I've extensively tested my i5 SP3 against my i5 4300u SP2, and under every single gaming scenario the SP3 is quite a bit slower due to throttling.
This of course is argued that it is a requirement of such a thin device. Microsoft did improve things a bit with their last firmware update, but its still a good bit slower. See this thread for more in depth info:
http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/mic...p3-i7-hd5000-gaming-you-may-dissapointed.html
Also, unfortunately Seneleron, simply dropping the resolution doesn't offset the performance gap... even at the same resolution, say 720p, the SP3 is still painfully slower.
Having said all that, see my first thoughts, I'm hoping the i7 closes the gap, and it will be faster in day to day simple computing without a doubt, but gaming performance is a whole different animal.
Also, from my tests, undervolting helped a lot more on the original firmware than it does on the latest firmware that tweaks the throttling curve. Of course, every little bit helps, but it's no longer the "20%" improvement originally claimed.
Leeshor is not correct to simply assume the i7 SP3 will be faster than the SP2. Sure, it will be faster in very short bursts like opening programs or short tasks, but this thread asked about Civ5. Gaming pushes the CPU/GPU consistently for as long as you play, which on the SP3 i5 currently means your GPU is going to throttle all the way down to 598mhz with the CPU in the 1.7ghz range give or take a bit.
I've extensively tested my i5 SP3 against my i5 4300u SP2, and under every single gaming scenario the SP3 is quite a bit slower due to throttling.
This of course is argued that it is a requirement of such a thin device. Microsoft did improve things a bit with their last firmware update, but its still a good bit slower. See this thread for more in depth info:
http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/mic...p3-i7-hd5000-gaming-you-may-dissapointed.html
Also, unfortunately Seneleron, simply dropping the resolution doesn't offset the performance gap... even at the same resolution, say 720p, the SP3 is still painfully slower.
Having said all that, see my first thoughts, I'm hoping the i7 closes the gap, and it will be faster in day to day simple computing without a doubt, but gaming performance is a whole different animal.
Also, from my tests, undervolting helped a lot more on the original firmware than it does on the latest firmware that tweaks the throttling curve. Of course, every little bit helps, but it's no longer the "20%" improvement originally claimed.
