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2005-12-04 04:43:06
kilroy0097
Kilroy Is Here!
+81|7058|Bryan/College Station, TX
With the up coming technology of the Athlon 64 Dual Core and the new projects brought forth by Intel (http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/20051203/index.html) and their upcoming release of more Dual Core and future releases of Quad (4) Core and even Octo (8) Core processors the question comes up...

When will gaming companies realize this impact on possible CPU power and take advantage of it by programing games to take advantage of multiple processors?

Just think of the AI of games when the the AI processes can be taken up completely by one core while game play in general uses the other core? Not to mention we are going to motherboards that take advantage of 2 gigs, 4 gigs and even some plan to eek out 8 gigs of RAM...

All I can say is they need to divert some of their appeal on Graphics cards and start improving the basic game to take advantage of a growing technology of processors and RAM. Time to really start pushing forward.

What are your thoughts on this technology based subject?
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." - Sinclair Lewis
2005-12-04 13:50:42
thinner44
Member
+1|7024
Technology is a wonderful thing, all of a sudden we are leaps and bounds in front of Atari Ping Pong. However, there is a drawback to all of this. Games produced are set for the mass market, and where you, I and Tom Dick and Harry may have the 8 core processor with 8 gig ram, the masses won't... it's just too costly. Look at the recent SF release where some have had to make expensive upgrades, there's only so much a game can actually make you do... It's just not viable that every time a new game comes out, we have to upgrade.

You are right of course, some technology is only held back by our own imagination. I see a very bright future for gaming and hardcore gamers want to see the most technologically advanced features that the boffins can create..... till then, ping pong anyone

Sorry it's not the technological post you probably expected (no offence), but I thought I would add a humble side to it
2005-12-04 21:11:02
kilroy0097
Kilroy Is Here!
+81|7058|Bryan/College Station, TX
Not at all Thinner44, I welcome whatever comments along the line. No Techie speak needed. Thanks for commenting at all.

While I see you point in that the gaming market will always go to the mainstream, soon the mainstream will be in fact the Athlon 64 Dual processors and Intel's upcoming market of Dual Processors. That will be the wave of the future and soon games will "have" to support both them and normal single processor systems. It's like the gaming market FINALLY releasing DVD discs instead of CDs for their games. DVD drives have been around for quite some time and only now do they catch on and realize that the market doesn't want to load 6 CDs when they  only have to plop in a single DVD.  But that's a small increase and the CPU issue is a huge increase. The possibilities of an additional processor to do all sorts of other computations is very exciting.

I can't wait for a really good x86 supported game to come out. Exciting times are ahead of us.
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." - Sinclair Lewis
2005-12-07 11:50:39
atlvolunteer
PKMMMMMMMMMM
+27|6986|Atlanta, GA USA
What you have to remember thinner44 is that in the near future all new PCs will have dual(or more) core processors.  So anyone who buys a PC, whether it be a budget system or high end, will have this technology.  Neither AMD nor Intel (as far as I know) is going to continue developing single-core CPUs.
One other thing is that games already take advantage of the latest technologies.  In order to play BF2 on the high graphics settings, you have to have a system with (at the least) a kick ass video card (7800GT or similar).  This doesn't prevent people with lower quality systems from playing the game, but it forces them to use lower quality settings.  And these criteria are constantly changing based on what the current mainstream has.
So, to make a long post short, so to speak, I predict that games will begin to add code to utilize multiple CPU cores in the near future.  However, it will be one of those things where it won't be necessary to have dual-cores.  Then, after the technology has been out for a few years, the minimum requirements will have changed to the point that multiple cores will become a requirement.

Last edited by atlvolunteer (2005-12-07 11:51:41)

2005-12-08 01:02:28
thinner44
Member
+1|7024

atlvolunteer wrote:

What you have to remember thinner44 is that in the near future all new PCs will have dual(or more) core processors.  So anyone who buys a PC, whether it be a budget system or high end, will have this technology.  Neither AMD nor Intel (as far as I know) is going to continue developing single-core CPUs.
I'm not trying to be difficult here, I really appreciate what you're saying. However, I've worked in a school where they've had the lowest form of computer technology you could possibly see (save for none). They were known as the BBC PET, this long after you or I had advanced into the realms of proper gaming machines.

I'm excited at the prospect of future machines, but my pocket isn't looking forward to the expense...again
2005-12-09 07:52:46
atlvolunteer
PKMMMMMMMMMM
+27|6986|Atlanta, GA USA
You probably can't play games on any of those computers, either (which is probably a good thing in this case ).  Fortunately, you can do most school/work related things on a PC that would be considered unusable for gaming.
To be able to continue to play the new games that come out, you are going to have to buy a new computer every few (3-5 at most) years.  Even before dual-core procs came out this was true.  Up until the beginning of the year, I was still running a system with a PIII 700.  This system was still fine for surfing the net and keeping track of my finances, but I decided it was time to upgrade, because NO new games would play on my system(at least none I wanted to buy).  This is an unfortunate fact of progress...  But at the same time, for me at least, it is fun.  I enjoy building my own systems.  I don't get fancy and do overclocking or anythiing like that, but like tinkering in my computer.

Last edited by atlvolunteer (2005-12-09 07:55:27)

2005-12-15 22:43:30
kilroy0097
Kilroy Is Here!
+81|7058|Bryan/College Station, TX
Well continuing with this thread, just recently Tom's Hardware wrote an article talking about Quad Video processors in SLI configuration (Article Here). Basically ASUS and other video card manufactures have discovered a way to put TWO video processors on a single video card. For example instead of buying two 7800 GT PCI-E x16 cards and hooking them together with a SLI configuration, you would just buy one Dual Processor 7800 and it would work the same with only a slightly decreased performance. Now imagine taking tw of these Dual Processor video cards and hooking them together witha special driver and now have FOUR video processors going. They haven't worked out all the bugs yet but the future is looking very bright for video processors.

The technology we are seeing with video processors has already been tested and expanded upon with CPU Processors. Yes we all know about the Atholon 64 and how it's a dual core. Yet the chip size itself isn't that much bigger. The die are smaller, something like 60nm or something, I don't remember the size off the top of my head. However CPU processors are getting smaller and smaller. So much so that in the future we are sure to see cluster processor technology. Essentially you are looking at the Dual Processor turning into a Quad Processor. And then an Octo Processor. As they get smaller they can fit more on the chip and what becomes the bottleneck from that point on is the wiring an the motherboard.

Speaking of which, do you know they have in the industry PCI cards that are nothing but a physics engine? Yes completely removing the processing needs of the CPU to other things. Imagine if all the physics that the CPU has to computer for your standard BF2 game being removed from the CPU and being completely decoded and chugged out by a separate PCI card that does nothing but physics.

It's really amazing the technology that is coming out. Stay very close to your news groups and read these articles coming out. Blue Ray from Sony a new DVD technology. Cell technology which may change how processors think. Mini-Fiber Optic internal computer systems to replace threaded wiring. The list goes on and on.

Its a very exciting time and we are seeing a major breaking point in technology right now. These next few years are critical.

Cheers.
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." - Sinclair Lewis
2005-12-15 22:46:40
-_{MoW}_-Assasin
Member
+13|6943|Australia
I have a dual core and its great

The only game that uses dual cores at the moment is FEAR

 

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