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I forgot to mention I am in Balanced mode on all systems except the Pro 2 which needs every bit of juice it can get and the fifth system too as it is a puny little thing…

Here’s system 3…

[Currently tested 3/5 ]
Intel Skull Canyon NUC
Core i7 6770HQ 2.6 ~ 3.5GHZ 4C8T
32GB RAM [2x16GB] @ 2400mhz
Intel 660P x2 1TB NVMe SSD RAID-0
Result [UWP XAML 3.8 VS19]: Debug[~10s], Release Native[~55-62s]

There is some interesting stuff going on here… it’s like a race between CPU speed and RAM speed… and the storage as a bottleneck?

Two more systems to test! will get on them asap, I want to see this graph!

In case a passer-by is pointing fingers while picking their nose with the other [It happens] This could help you choose your next system more specifically and also if you have more than one system, which one to use for those super long compiles… One second now, when extrapolated over a large project becomes minutes! and that’s minutes some might wish to skip!

The final two systems might take a hot minute to setup and test…

Thanks again guys!

EDIT

System Five is going to take all night to install 534 VS parts lol and system updates too… will update that one tomorrow unfortunately… but I can add it to the graph later I should have enough data to put something together now…

System Four, will get on it shortly…

I have systems in what I call the Key Five… or whatever I decide to name it when I mention the five ranges of systems…

ENTRY LEVEL
OFFICE GRADE
BUDGET/MID RANGE
GAMER GRADE
WORKSTATION CLASS

I will be using these to classify what I think are which category, but so far, almost everyone seems to have Gamer Grade systems [Yes, GG intentional lol], which I would class as high end in a typical list, but one of my systems is a Workstation Class so, had to up the list…

My Ghost Canyon system limits the speed to 2400 for 64GB RAM, hence the lower speeds…

EDIT

I forgot DDR Types… but I think we can assume the type by speeds maybe…

Here’s wildcard system number four…

[Currently tested 4/5 ]
Intel Forest Canyon NUC DN2820FYKH
Intel Celeron N2830 2.16 ~ 2.41 GHz 2C2T
8GB RAM @ 1333mhz
Sandisk 120GB SATAIII SSD
Result [UWP XAML 3.8 VS19]: Debug[~54-59s], Release Native[~280 - 346s]

I call it wildcard because I suspected it will be the worst performer, and it was indeed, but let’s see how the last system compares, stay tuned!

And, I got an idea for the graph, I might create a new thread for it as I think it might be handy for new devs and those looking for a new coding rig…

Anyone on a XEON based system by any chance? would love to know the crunching capacity of one of those, I may even build a XEON based workstation next year to test the theory… and here I go playing on a PCParts store hehehe

So, system five, my Pro 2 is still having firmware issues so is stuck at 800mhz… no wonder it is slow as hell… will try a recovery sometime but that means only four valid tests from me for now… I might update it in future if I can fix this firmware issue…

Will get on that graph as soon as I can…

EDIT

Guess what returned to normal performance for no reason whatsoever?

[Currently tested 5/5 ]
Microsoft Surface Pro 2 512GB
Intel Core i5 4200U 1.60 ~ 2.60 GHz 2C4T [Temperamental]
8GB RAM @ 1600mhz
Samsung MZMTD512HAGL-000MV 512GB SATAIII SSD
Result [UWP XAML 3.8 VS19]: Debug[~24-25s], Release Native[~114 - 140s]

YAY, time to create!

Looking at my results, I seem to have definitely made a move forward…

What am I reading wrong here?

@Charles_Humphrey what storage setup are you using in that build?

I started playing with a RAMDISK using IMDISK and whoost, VS is snappy!

Here’s the chart as it stands, I need some data from Charles, RE: storage but it looks complete for now… would be nice to get two more systems on there.

SYSTEM NAME OR TYPE CPU MAKE CPU BASE CLOCK CPU PEAK CLOCK CPU CORES CPU THREADS RAM SIZE RAM SPEED STORAGE NAME AND SIZE STORAGE TYPE DEBUG AVERAGE [seconds] RELEASE NATIVE TOOLCHAIN AVERAGE [seconds]
Intel Ghost Canyon NUC Intel Core i9 9980HK 2.4 5 8 16 64 2400 Intel 760p NVMe SSD 8.5 39.5
Microsoft Surface Book 2 1TB Intel Core i7 8650U 1.9 4.2 4 8 16 1867 Samsung MZFLW1T0HMLH-000MU NVMe SSD 12 62.75
Intel Skull Canyon NUC Core i7 6770HQ 2.6 3.5 4 8 32 2400 Intel 660P 1TB x2 RAID-0 NVMe SSD 10 58.5
Intel Forest Canyon NUC DN2820FYKH Intel Celeron N2830 2.16 2.41 2 2 8 1333 Sandisk 120GB SATAIII SSD 56.5 313
Microsoft Surface Pro 2 512GB Intel Core i5 4200U 1.6 2.6 2 4 8 1600 Samsung MZMTD512HAGL-000MV 512GB SATAIII SSD 24.5 127.5
Custom Desktop Intel Intel Core i7 10875H 2.3 5.1 8 16 64 2667 1TB Samsung 970 EVO PLUS NVMe SSD 6 31
Surface Book Core i5-6300U 2.4 3 2 4 8 1867 256GB Likely Samsung NVMe SSD 12 120
ASUS ROG GL752VW Intel i7-6700HQ 2.6 3.5 4 8 16 2133 Samsung MZNLF128HCHP-00004 128GB SATAIII SSD 7 55

Well, I did not expect that! :thinking:

Here’s what I expected lol:

I will work on some graphs for the new thread…

EDIT

Ok, did not feel like I can create what I wanted to create so here is the graph, not used Excel for ages…

A better graph:

EDIT

Updated some graph data.

Latest data: February 28th, 2021

SYSTEM NAME OR TYPE CPU MAKE CPU BASE CLOCK CPU PEAK CLOCK CPU CORES CPU THREADS RAM SIZE RAM SPEED STORAGE NAME AND SIZE STORAGE TYPE DEBUG AVERAGE [seconds] RELEASE NATIVE TOOLCHAIN AVERAGE [seconds]
Intel Ghost Canyon NUC Intel Core i9 9980HK 2.4 5 8 16 64 2400 Intel 760p NVMe SSD 8.5 39.5
Microsoft Surface Book 2 1TB Intel Core i7 8650U 1.9 4.2 4 8 16 1867 Samsung MZFLW1T0HMLH-000MU NVMe SSD 12 62.75
Intel Skull Canyon NUC Core i7 6770HQ 2.6 3.5 4 8 32 2400 Intel 660P 1TB x2 RAID-0 NVMe SSD 10 58.5
Intel Forest Canyon NUC DN2820FYKH Intel Celeron N2830 2.16 2.41 2 2 8 1333 Sandisk 120GB SATAIII SSD 56.5 313
Microsoft Surface Pro 2 512GB Intel Core i5 4200U 1.6 2.6 2 4 8 1600 Samsung MZMTD512HAGL-000MV 512GB SATAIII SSD 24.5 127.5
Custom Desktop Intel Intel Core i7 10875H 2.3 5.1 8 16 64 2667 1TB Samsung 970 EVO PLUS NVMe SSD 6 31
Surface Book Core i5-6300U 2.4 3 2 4 8 1867 256GB Likely Samsung NVMe SSD 12 120
ASUS ROG GL752VW Intel i7-6700HQ 2.6 3.5 4 8 16 2133 Samsung MZNLF128HCHP-00004 128GB SATAIII SSD 7 55
ASUS VivoBook S15 AMD Ryzen 7 4700U 2 4.1 8 8 12 3200 512GB SSD - NVMe Kingston OM8PCP3512F-AB NVMe SSD 7.5 44

Not on my home machine, but I think my drive is:-

1TB Samsung 970 EVO PLUS NVMe PCIe 3.0, 3500MB/s Read, 3300MB/s Write, 600K IOPS

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https://www.bbcode.org/reference.php

ignore this post, just testing various bits

Anyone know where the list of supported markdown is?

Found this handy tutorial for anyone wondering…

A guided tutorial for Markdown used on this forum

https://commonmark.org/help/tutorial/

Why is [spoiler] Spoiler [/spoiler] not working?

[secret]hello[/secret]

[spoiler]it’s a test[/spoiler]

image

not much here

image
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPPVU3mjcmQ

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Does anyone know how valid this is still?

https://www.c-sharpcorner.com/uploadfile/iersoy/how-to-use-spritefont-in-xna/#:~:text=The%20Supported%20fonts%20are%3A%20Kootenay%20(Kooten.ttf)%20Lindsey%20(Linds.ttf),to%20use%20in%20your%20XNA%20Game%20Studio%20game.

Are we still covered by that licence?

Yeah, I’d be interested in that, too. Always looking for a good font. I have a reasonable one, but would probably prefer a squatter, bolder, font than what I’m using. To put it lightly, though, it hasn’t been a real priority of mine.

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Well this is what you still do in the current monogame content pipeline editor / tool.
Same as it ever was so the instructions are valid.

You

  • add new item
  • pick spritefont the top one name it myfont or whatever
  • click ok the file will be created
  • open it up with a text editor vs editor ect… and pick any ttf font you have installed on your computer and replace the line for the font name
  • Save the file save in the tool.
  • Build all in the pipeline editor or rebuild your project you get the xnb file
  • Then go into game1 make a reference SpriteFont font;
  • In loadcontent font = Content.Load(“myfont”);
  • Use in drawstring

I was referring to the licenced fonts…

Oh sorry i have no idea about license

It was covered in the GS4.0 package but, I am unsure if we are still covered by it using XNA/MG…

Time to buy a font :stuck_out_tongue:

I got a font with a licence that explicitly states usage for videogames and commercial… YIPPIE!

And it looks neat too!

And it’s cheap!

And with that out of the way, time to code on!

Super easy…
https://www.pentacom.jp/pentacom/bitfontmaker2/

Super good but also really time consuming.
http://www.glyphrstudio.com/
Online version
https://www.glyphrstudio.com/online/

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The first one links to their other tools, iFontMaker Windows Edition UWP, which is cheap but… no idea if it also does symbols like / @ # %& ( ) etc… Cannot find licencing though… same for the others…

Yes, you made it, but do you hold the licence for it completely? something to be cautious of when using software, especially free ones…

Thanks for the share, opened my eyes for sure!

:sake:

Ya i was thinking of using the unifont as its under GNU and modifying it into 3d using a set of classes i made for a different experiment that essentially polygonizes bitmaps and segements it up into seperate groups aka it could pull out all the letters as polygons and map each of them to a index.

The thing is scaling in mg sucks it sucks for pretty much all fonts and who really wants to load a bunch of different sized fonts just so they don’t over or under sample and skew.
But i simply don’t have the time to complete that class atm id have to make major modifactions to it to do it.

I was thinking to do just that, exporting multiple resolutions, and passing in a case select for user settings… considering how little memory the font’s actually take, I doubt it can impact much though, I suppose it can change the code that loads the font file and effect it on next game run…

I am doing an upgrade to my gaming rig (about 2 years old) and I am looking for some advice.

I can’t decide if I should get a 1TB m.2 or 1TB SSD (only $30 difference). My MB supports m.2 but I’ve never tried one before. I’d put all my games on it. Most of my games are on a spinner and the games that need speed are on my smaller ssd.

Specs:

  • MSI z270 MB
  • EVGA 1080ti
  • i7 7700k
  • 32GB RAM
  • 240GB SSD (5 years old, OS here)
  • 4x 1TB harddrives (all 8 years old)

This is my first intel gaming rig. I had three amd ones before it. Only reason I went intel was the specs were better at the time for vive vr.

Does anyone have m.2 experience?

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M.2 comes in two flavours usually, SATAIII or NVMe, you want to be 100% sure which your board supports. key thing to pay attention to is [pun incoming] is the key of the port. more on that below:

Can you link the manufacturer page for your motherboard?

In regards to the size, push for 2TB, they are rather affordable right now, but pay attention to IOPS and MB/s rates in R/W, but more importantly pay attention to the TBW/PTW and MTBF, in general, just ask here and I can help you compare lol…

1TB does not do much for me these days, but then again, I am using 350GB in my OneDrive storage… however, most games today use 20-150GB so, unless you want to be downloading a lot, consider pushing for futureproofing your build.

Those SATA drives, upgrade them to smaller 2TB 2.5" SSHDs if you can still find them, you will be able to fit two per one 3.5" bay with a bay adapter if you get the correct types. Or for better thermals, one per 3.5" bay… up to you, I don’t know what case or board you have.

8 years is pushing your luck on mechanical drives.

Don’t upgrade your CPU even if you can, suggest a board upgrade, but wait for 11th Gen to stabilise before making that commitment.

I have left AMD where it belongs, back in 2006~ I know they have finally caught up, but I am not one for first generation adoption. I am considering building a massive core render system next year, but right now it still looks like I will go for Intel, but Intel sold off their SSD department, so I am keeping an eye on Optane, as that is practically my only reason to stick with Intel now.

Hope that helps. I could blabber on more on this topic as I have recently been building systems left right and centre… lol, so I shall stop there.

EDIT

ALSO! the length of the drive in M.2 form factor, ensure your port supports the length…

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Thanks for the info Vaseem. I didn’t even realize m.2 had two formats. I probably would have figured out once I dug into my decision.

I am looking into the m.2 type right now. I can’t find a good answer.

I know, not bad for western digital. I plan on upgrading those spinners later this year. They don’t really need to be anything special. One is game overflow which I want a m.2 for, one is family stuff / code dev, one mirrors family/dev one, the other one is for plex.

My wife would kill me since I built one two years ago. We have an agreement, every 4-5 years I get to build a new rig since gaming is my only hobby. So I have a bit of time to wait.