RE: [Algorithms] Algorithm performance benchmarks and timings

[Jay S. <Ja...@va...>]

> I am looking for 'benchmarks' or criteria on how much=20
> processor power/time an algorithm can take in games. Is there=20
> any meaningful thing to say about that?
>=20

I don't think there's very much you can say about that topic in general.
It all depends on the tradeoffs in the product/technology that are
appropriate.

A game targeting 60Hz on a PC has 16.67ms / frame to spend on it's
minimum platform, at 30Hz you've got 33.33ms/frame.  How much of that do
you consume on some specific platform?  How important is it relative to
the rest of the product?  Is the processor consumption constant or does
it spike?  What's the worst case performance?  How likely is it that the
usage will spike at the same time other technologies spike?  Does the
cost scale with simulation time or is it fixed?  What's the quality
improvement/loss for spending more/less CPU doing this task?  What are
the alternative algorithms?  What other tasks could you do instead?  Can
you invest in optimization and improve it?  How much improvement is
likely?  What does it cost?  Those are the kinds of questions I ask when
budgeting CPU time for algorithms.  But then how I'd use that
information depends directly on what's important to my game.  It's just
engineering at that point.  It's like asking how much programmer time
you could spend writing an algorithm.  How can you answer that in
general?

Jay