Friday, October 15, 2010

Computer Build


Here are some photos of me building the computer. I used my iPhone for convenience at the time so the picture quality isn't the best. I suggest you open the photos in a new window so you can ready the writing I've put in.
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The Computer

Just thought I'd better put in information here about the computer (what the specifications are and how it compares to others like it). Here is the list of components, how much they cost and where I bought them from:

CPU: Intel Core i7 930 2.8 Ghz Quad Core LGA1366 $349
GPU: EVGA GTX460 1GB Overclocked External Exhaust $289
GPU: EVGA GTX460 1GB Overclocked External Exhaust $289
MOBO: Intel DX58SO Extreme X58 LGA1366 CrossFireX/SLi $333
RAM: G.Skill 6Gb DDR3 1333Mhz 3x2Gb F3-10666CL9T-6GBNQ $205
PSU: Silverstone ST1000-P Strider 1Kw 80+ $238
HDD: Seagate 500Gb 16Mb Cache $ 75
DVD: LG SATA DVD Burner 22x $ 45
CASE: Antec 902 Black Midi-Tower $208
MONITOR: ASUS MT276 27" LCD $415
KEYBOARD: Logitech G15 LCD Backlit Gaming Keyboard $ 85
MOUSE: Logitech G5 Laser Gaming Mouse $ 95
Keyboard/Mouse: Logitech MK250 Wireless Combo $ 35
COOLER: Zalman CNPS9900A LED $ 75
NETWORK CARD: TP-Link TL-WN851N 300Mbps Wireless PCI $ 35
FANS: Enermax Apollish Twister Blue LED + Arctic F12 $ 30
LIGHTING: Bitspower 30Cm Blue Cold Cathode x2 $ 19
MOUSE MAT: Razer Goliathus Fragged Alpha $ 29
WRIST STRAP: Anti-Static Wrist Strap $ 6
CABLE TIES: 100 White Cable Ties $ 2
___________________________________________
Total: $2857
+ shipping


CPU: pccasegear.com.au
GPU: pccasegear.com.au
GPU: pccasegear.com.au
PSU: megaware.com.au
MOBO: techbuy.com.au
RAM: pcdiy.com.au
MONITOR: pccasegear.com.au
HDD: 9289.com.au
DVD: 9289.com.au
CASE: 9289.com.au
KEYBOARD: 9289.com.au
MOUSE: 9289.com.au
KEYBOARD/MOUSE: pccasegear.com.au
COOLER: pccasegear.com.au
NETWORK CARD: pccasegear.com.au
FANS: pccasegear.com.au
LIGHTING: pccasegear.com.au
MOUSE MAT: pccasegear.com.au
WRIST STRAP: pccasegear.com.au
CABLE TIES: pccasegear.com.au

I did lots of reasearch on how the different parts work and how each component affects performance in games. I then selected which parts I would buy that gave me the best price:performance ratio (I could get the best computer available but $18000 is a bit too much to spend). This computer achieves about 90% of the performance available with current computer technology. To get that extra 10% you have to spend thousands and thousands extra.

In terms of running Crysis, I looked at other computers that people had built (YouTube is really good for this). My computer is similar but not every part is the same, making it unique. For my processor I chose an Intel Core i7 930 which has four cores and a speed of 2.8GHz. This is a relatively common processor to play Crysis on.

For graphics I chose the very new GTX 460 from nVidia which had been branded by EVGA. This card had been out for less than two months when I bought it. It gave the best price:performance ratio of any card available in the mid-high performance area. It has won many awards from online review websites. These cards cost me $289 each, meaning that they are priced as mid-range cards even though they have high-end performance. I went and put two of these in, meaning I spent $578 on graphics cards. By using two cheaper cards instead of one expensive card, I can actually match the highest end cards on the market that cost $620-$800. Because these cards a relatively new, not many people have them yet and even less people have two of them.

My motherboard is one of the rarer components in my computer. It is made by Intel (the same as my processor) and it was the first motherboard to be released for the new i7 architecure back at the end of 2008. New motherboards were quickly released by other companies that offered more features. Not many people have this motherboard because it is older, I just got it because it was cheaper and it had all the features that I needed. I would be one of the only people in the world with this older motherboard and very new processor. Most people who have bought an i7 930 processor would buy a newer motherboard to go with it. The Intel DK58SO motherboard is very stable and causes less problems than other boards.

I have 6Gb of G.Skill DDR3 (double data rate version 3) that runs at 1333MHz. G.Skill is a relatively common brand but is most common in gaming computers.

I have a SilverStone 1000w power supply to power everything which is really good because it is modular. Most power supplies have all the cables coming out of it and are unremovable. This isn't ideal because you'll never end up using all the cables. A modular system lets you plug in or take out cables depending on what you need. This is important because it doesn't fill up your case with unused cables, which impacts airflow (not good for cooling).

There are other minor parts but the last major part is the case. I'm using an Antec 902 which is a very feature-rich well-built case. It is made from steel and small amounts of plastic so it's very strong. It also has lots of features such as dust filters on all the fan intakes to prevent dust build-up inside the case.

While this computer uses many common parts, some of them are not so common and it is highly unlikely that there would be many, if any, computers with its exact specifications anywhere else in the world. This is because there would be very few people with my new processor in my older motherboard with my exact two graphics cards in my case. Then you have my power supply, RAM, DVD drive and hard drive. It is very unlikely that all these parts would make their way into someone else's computer. Even if they did, it would be a very small number of computers.
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Wednesday, October 6, 2010

End of the Year

Well this is my last blog entry. Just finished my proposal but I might run over that again to refine it. Just doing concept mind map, etc now. I'm going to write up the powerpoint presentation to present to the judges panel at my assessment a couple of days before and use lots of photos and video to really show off my Crysis map. I'll hopefully be bringing my new custom-built computer to the presentaion so the judges can see it and I can briefly run through the build process. I'll also kind of need it to show the judges my Crysis map and the way it's meant to run (ie. at maximum settings with a decently high framerate). I've put most of my references (all the ones a took note of/recorded/remebered) into a recent blog post but it's been suggested to me by a teacher and other students to record those in Zotero so I'll be doing that at home today (doesn't work on my computer at school due to a login issue). Just did my last little twitter note aswell. Basically it's just tying together all the loose ends now. See you at my presentation!

James
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Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Documentation is the key

I'll be uploading a lot of photos soon. I'll have screenshots and video of my Crysis map. I also documented most of the build process of the computer with photos and video which I'll be putting on here soon. For convenience during the build process I used my iPhone to take the photos and movies so it's not the best quality but I guess it will do.

I'm not using Evernote to document my research sources because I never set it up so I'll just be including research sources and website links in blog posts. I'll be honest, all the research I needed for my map itself I got from a handful of websites so I guess a few web links is all I can provide for that. It was basically a few websites and trial and error. That solved all the problems that I've had time to solve and allowed me to get everything done on the map that I had time for.

Here are a heap of links to websites I used. I know it's a crude way of documenting my research but I just spent too much time on the map or researching the computer, etc. I never saved the exact pages for all the computer research, etc so these are just the main links. These links cover the research I did on the computer as well as all the tutorials for the map itself. I also had a brief look at the levels that other people are creating around the world.

Computer Research:

Crysis Map Research:


That doesn't even cover all the really technical computer sites. At the time I was researching that I didn't think about recording the links because I just thought the info would be too complicated for my blog. I kind of regret that now.







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The Beast Computer

A long time ago (near the start of the year) I talked about how hard it is to run Crysis at or near maximum settings. The game was out for two or three years before a computer was available at a reasonable price that could play it at maximum settings. To run my project properly (and obviously for other reasons) I've custom built myself a $3000 computer. I spent tens of hours researching all the components that make up a computer, how they all work together and how they affect performance in applications and games. The parts that make up a computer are:

CPU: The Central Processing Unit handles all non-graphical calculations. It is like the brain of the computer.

Motherboard: It's a printed circuit board that all other parts plug into. It's like the nervous system, it connects all parts together so they can communicate with each other.

RAM: Random Access Memory stores temporary information (info being used by the current application or game). The memory is wiped blank every time the computer is shut down.

HDD: The Hard Disk Drive is where permanent information is stored such as the operating system, games, photos, etc. Unlike the memory, the info on the hard drive is permanent and will not be erased when the computer is restarted.

GPU: The Graphics Processing Unit is a processor with far more calculation power than the CPU but it specifically handles graphics calculations. This is the most important component for running my project.

Other: There are many other components such as the power supply (for supplying the computer with power obviously), DVD drive, monitor, etc. The items listed above are the main performance influencing components.

As far as my computer is concerned the parts are:

CPU: Intel Core i7 930 running at a speed of 2.8Ghz

GPU: I actually put two graphics cards in my computer. There are two EVGA GTX 460 Overclocked cards (overclocked means they run faster than normal but they cost more).

RAM: G.Skill 6Gb DDR3 (double data rate version 3) running at a speed of 1333Mhz.

Motherboard: Intel DX58SO supports SLi (dual GPUs) and Core i7 processors.

Power Supply: SilverStone 1000w

Monitor: Asus 27" LCD

Basically what all that tech means is that the two powerful graphics cards are able to calculate all the graphics calculations that make Crysis so hard to run at very quick speeds. Games work the same as movies, with individual still images being displayed at very fast speeds so that, to the human eye, the images look like one continuous motion. The graphics cards do their calculations and draw the new images many times per second to the monitor. My cards are powerful enough to draw an average of 60 of these pictures to my screen every second (called frames per second or fps). This gives perfectly smooth motion when playing Crysis or using the SandBox2 editor to make my SDI project. If a computer is not able to run a game with more than 30fps, it becomes jerky and the motion no longer looks smooth. This is because the images are not being drawn to the screen fast enough and the human eye starts to see individual still images. Once the frame rate drops below 15fps, the game becomes almost unplayable. On the computer I was using previously for my Crysis map, at maximum settings I would have been getting less than 1fps. That shows the level of improvement.

This has been a very long blog post but I'm trying my best to explain very technical information that directly affects the way I can run my SDI project. I have kept it very basic. I could talk for much longer and go far more in-depth (I had to research very in-depth to understand this computer). There are things called cores in the processor and the memory can't have more than 1.6v of power if it is to work with Core i7 processors and I needed about 80 amps on the 12 volt rail of my power supply. On top of that you have CUDA cores for PhysX calculations in the graphics cards and I used EVGA precision to mega overclock my graphics cards so the core speed is 880Mhz, the Shader speed is 1700Mhz and the memory clock is 4200Mhz. What am I trying to say by all this ridiculous tech jargon? Basically, it took me tens of hours to understand it all and the way the seperate components interact with each other but it is so incredibly complicated and vast that I could never simplify it all down to a point where you could understand it. Sorry.

Once I researched the computer, I used shopbot.com.au to find the cheapest deals. I then ordered the parts from several different websites. It took me many hours to build and set up the computer (yes I build it too, I put all the parts together and wired it all up) but at the end of it I spent $3000 to custom-build a computer that is at least twice as good as ones I've seen for sale in Harvey Norman for $8000.









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End of the Project

Well I have to be honest. The end of the year has crept up on me. I thought I have until the November exam period to finish my project but found out this morning that the SDI presentations are only a few weeks away. I haven't finished my project but I'm not going to keep working on the level itself. From here on I'll be tying up all the loose ends. I've finally built the $3000 computer that can run my project the way it's meant to be so I'll be running through that in my next blog post.

As it stands the ice part of the level is complete and I've even put in a small anti-gravity area in the middle. I haven't fixed the road/vegetation problem so that will be left the way it is. The dense and coastal jungles are finished.

I won't be putting North Koreans into the level after all. I don't have time and the whole "ethics of shooting virtual people" topic was way too big to cover in the limited time I have left. (To be honest I thought it wasn't an issue, they're only pixels on screen after all).

One of the last things I need to do is document my level with screenshots and video. I've used the free version of Fraps (video recording limited to 30 second segments) to capture video of the level in the editor and also some footage from Crysis itself. The footage from Crysis is a showcase of the game itself to show where I got the ideas and inspiration.

Basically, as far as the level goes, the parts that will be left out because of lack of time are:
  • North Koreans
  • Roads
  • Towns
  • Villages
  • Military Bases
  • Most Vehicles (a few example vehicles are included)
It pretty much just the terrain and lighting with examples of some aliens and vehicles.
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Wednesday, August 11, 2010

I'm Back

I've just got back to school after being sick for three weeks. I missed all my exams but I'm giving my SDI presentation this morning. I made more progress on the map.

I managed to get the icy alien part of the island to look really good. There's snow and ice everywhere. I've placed a petrol station with vehicles and pumps, etc. All of that has been frozen over and looks really good.

I've started placing alien enemies into the map. There are various types that have different behaviour. The small aliens shoot ice shards and jump at the player to attack them. Larger ones fly in the air and shoot large ice shards. The largest alien war machine i a four-legged walker that shoots a large energy ball. It also has a freeze beam that freezes the player in ice. If the player gets too close the walker it can grab them with a tentacle and throw them through the air.

I've got a problem with vegetation and roads but I'll leave that until my next post.
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