S
Sfumato
Guest
I picked up an external ZOOM v92 56k modem, what are peoples thoughts on HARDWARE vs SOFTWARE compression?
I have tried pretty much every "theory" (tweak) out there and have figured out which actually help and which do not, except for this issue.
My thoughts right now are SOFTWARE for surfing the net, and hardware for GAMES.
Which is contrary to what almost every TWEAK article says, they all recomend SOFTWARE compression. Well except for this guy,
http://www.optimizing.net.
But then again if you read his ANSWERES section it seems he is basing his theory that hardware is better on a system with a MID level processor. This is what he says,
Q.
My ISP supports STAC (a.k.a. software) compression, enabling it seems to improve my connection and lower my ping, why do you continue to recommend disabling it?
A.
While people with fast computers may attain improved performance if they enable software compression (a.k.a. STAC compression) in their DUN settings, any performance increase will be gone the moment they use a program that requires the portion of CPU currently used to provide the software compression. Basically, software compression will perform as well as (or better) than hardware compression as long as the other software you run does not require the portion of CPU that the software compression requires.
For example, a 500Mhz Pentium III running QuakeWorld with software compression enabled will perform well simply because the minimum CPU requirement for QuakeWorld is only a 60Mhz Pentium. The same would be true of Quake 2, whose minimum CPU requirement was only a 90Mhz Pentium. Of course, these examples do not account for the relief a good 3D card can have on CPU usage, but they give you an idea of why software compression gives the illusion of superior performance under specific circumstances.
So, if you have a fast computer and do not plan to run CPU intensive software, enabling software compression may be perfect for you. But, just remember, your connection will be adversely affected if software compression is enabled when the minimum CPU requirement meets or exceeds your computer's capability.
So what do you folks think?
I have tried pretty much every "theory" (tweak) out there and have figured out which actually help and which do not, except for this issue.
My thoughts right now are SOFTWARE for surfing the net, and hardware for GAMES.
Which is contrary to what almost every TWEAK article says, they all recomend SOFTWARE compression. Well except for this guy,
http://www.optimizing.net.
But then again if you read his ANSWERES section it seems he is basing his theory that hardware is better on a system with a MID level processor. This is what he says,
Q.
My ISP supports STAC (a.k.a. software) compression, enabling it seems to improve my connection and lower my ping, why do you continue to recommend disabling it?
A.
While people with fast computers may attain improved performance if they enable software compression (a.k.a. STAC compression) in their DUN settings, any performance increase will be gone the moment they use a program that requires the portion of CPU currently used to provide the software compression. Basically, software compression will perform as well as (or better) than hardware compression as long as the other software you run does not require the portion of CPU that the software compression requires.
For example, a 500Mhz Pentium III running QuakeWorld with software compression enabled will perform well simply because the minimum CPU requirement for QuakeWorld is only a 60Mhz Pentium. The same would be true of Quake 2, whose minimum CPU requirement was only a 90Mhz Pentium. Of course, these examples do not account for the relief a good 3D card can have on CPU usage, but they give you an idea of why software compression gives the illusion of superior performance under specific circumstances.
So, if you have a fast computer and do not plan to run CPU intensive software, enabling software compression may be perfect for you. But, just remember, your connection will be adversely affected if software compression is enabled when the minimum CPU requirement meets or exceeds your computer's capability.
So what do you folks think?
