BMax & B3D performance on Intel's Atom processors?
Archives Forums/General Discussion/BMax & B3D performance on Intel's Atom processors?
| ||
| My PC is really huge, noisy and draws a lot of power, so I'm in love with the idea of building a new PC based on one of Intel's new MicroAtx motherboards running an Atom processor. I don't really care about full-price retail games anymore, so my new computer doesn't have to be a powerhouse, but it's important that it's able to perform well with BlitzMax and Blitz3D games - after all...thats why I'm here - I love programming. Has anyone already bought any of these hardware solutions and have some insight as to their performance when it comes to Blitz? |
| ||
| the cpu is of no imporance. Max2D is fully graphics hardware accelerated so as long as an intel onboard is installed you are on the bottom end. It works but don't expect high performance. Blitz3D very much the same. doing normal stuff, good. Using Ashadow, stencil shadows, fastextends -> low to no performance. |
| ||
| Development-wise, a fair bit of power (which that I think that system would be good for testing the specs for your weakest link customers, but that's it. You don't need a powerhouse, but I think you should do better then that, especially with the video card aspect of it. There's also plenty of hardware out there that makes little to no noise, and somewhat expensive psu's that can reduce the energy usage significantly. Keep looking around. |
| ||
| Only 42 quid? That seems like a DEAL. |
| ||
| As others suggested, the onboard graphics GMA 950 is barely enough, and of course since the motherboard only features a PCI slot (not PCI Express) you can't add an external video card. The processor as well wasn't intended for this kind of use (512kb L2 cache, 166mhz memory clock). However there are many other interesting Mini-ITX solutions, many of which suit your needs (powerful and lowcost). Take a look here: http://www.mini-itx.com/ http://www.mini-box.com/ I think you should go for an AMD board with a GeForce chipset. For example: Jetway JNC62K Socket AM2/AM2+ Mini-ITX Motherboard with integrated GeForce 8200 (AM2 Socket, up to Phenom Quad 9100e or AMD X2 5400+, up to 2GB DDR2 800mhz, integrated DX10 GeForce Chipset) The standard AMD fan for X2 CPU's is very silent as well, so it wouldn't ruin your plans. :) |
| ||
| Damn, it's not as simple as I'd hoped for. Thanks guys. Actually my present computer draws about 130w idle and 200 under load. The Jetway board draws 110-130w, but that's probably when it's idle (although it doesn't say), in which case there's no real powersaving to look forward to with that solution. I guess I need to put my thinkingcap on and do some research before deciding on a solution then. Oh, and sorry about posting in the wrong section. :-/ ...I'll do better next time. :-) |
| ||
| buy a cheap mini-atx board, a sempron processor then under-clock it, it won't be mega fast, but will use less power. Underclocking will also make it quieter as you'll less fans. |
| ||
| Speaking of underclocking- is a computer clock a "square wave" or "pulse"? I havent really looked into it but if it is a square then I would think underclocking past a certain point could also fry it. I'll assume Pulse as that makes more sense. |
   |