DiRT3 – PC performance graphics benchmarks of Graphics Cards (updated with game version 1.1)

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Year: 2011
Genre: Racing (Cars) / 3D
Developer: Codemasters
Publisher: Open

Get ready for DiRT 3! Rush through snow, rain and mud and experience dramatic night racing with the most rally content in the series. Express yourself in the awesome new “Gymkhana” mode, inspired by Ken Block’s incredible free driving, and upload your best rides straight to YouTube! Race in iconic rally cars that have represented the sport for 50 years, from the classic Audi Quattro to the 2011 Ford Fiesta WRC, and win in all the game modes of split-screen and full multiplayer. Compete like a professional rally star and enjoy intense racing across three continents – from wooded Michigan to the notorious roads of Finland and the national parks of Kenya.

Powered by Codemasters’ award-winning EGO Engine, DiRT 3 includes time rewind flashbacks and a realistic damage system. DiRT 3 is a completely off-road racing simulator.

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Review: Playability

Everyone who doesn’t have enough of the light and arcade rides on plastic cars in Need for Speed ​​(not counting Shift 1,2) knows about the wonderful studio Codemasters. The wizards from this studio almost single-handedly occupy the sector of rally simulators, having in the past given us the Toca Race Driver series, Formula One simulators and the magnificent Race Drive GRID. And these are only the most famous series of developers. Thanks to them, many are familiar with the name of the great racer Colin McCrae, which has long become the hallmark of rally simulators. 

And at the end of May, a new masterpiece called Dirt 3 appeared on the shelves. Of course, this time the name Colin McCrae disappeared from the name of the game, but the game retained all its best features. Since Dirt 2, the game has been supervised by Ken Block (if anyone doesn’t know, this is a professional racer who made figure driving competitions, straight from Japan – Gymkhana.), bringing new ideas and developing the series in new directions.

The game is already overcrowded with various types of off-road competitions, but this time we will be allowed to test our strength in the Gymkhana mode. This is perhaps one of the most noticeable innovations in the new game. Also, the classic rally, which has been squeezed out in recent years, will return in fuller volume and will occupy an average of 60% of all competitions from all games. But this is not all that is new in the game. For the first time in the series there will be not only a change in weather but a change in time of day and night. Just imagine that now in a charged Audi Quatro you will have to fight not only the road and the weather, but also the pitch darkness of night competitions.

Also in the game, Group B (heavy-duty rally cars), which was closed by the motorsports commission in the distant 80s, has returned in full force for being excessively dangerous for the drivers. The variety of rally tracks is very pleasing to the eye: here are the snow-covered forests of Europe, the hot deserts of Africa and the colorful autumn landscapes of America. The developers have implemented weather effects very realistically: be it rain or snowfall. Real splashes, clouds of dust and snow flakes fly from under the wheels. The picture is constantly pleasing to the eye, although in fact the differences between the second part and Dirt 3 can only be distinguished by computer graphics professionals. The modes rallycross, trailblazer, rally raids and one-on-one competitions have not gone away either.

By default, the game is a serious simulator, but with a low barrier to entry. Both a professional and a beginner who is just discovering the amazing world of rally racing will not be able to understand it.
The car park in the game is more than impressive, although there are no more than 50 cars, there are the most significant cars for this type of motorsport from different eras of rallying.

Dirt 3 is an excellent continuation of the famous series, raising the quality bar to an even higher level. It’s hard to even imagine what the developers will please us with next time. And you will never regret the hours spent on virtual tracks. The game is a must-read for all motorsport fans.

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Review: Graphics

Dirt 3 is a continuation of the legendary series both in terms of playability and in terms of the graphics itself. More than a year ago, Dirt 2 presented us with many innovations in terms of graphics, the main one of which was DirectX 11. In fact, it became the first sign to introduce this API to graphics.

And although the differences are difficult to notice, they still exist. This is especially noticeable in the improved and expanded locations, which amaze us with their realism, presenting landscapes of incredible beauty.

The detailing of the cars has also been greatly improved. Now they are not just detailed, but worked out to the smallest detail. The only thing that was a little disappointing was the view from the cockpit, which is somewhat inferior to the NFS Shift, but in everything else it is certainly superior to its opponent in almost everything.

Another pleasant difference of Dirt 3 is the improved physics of cars, as a result of which we are no longer carried around like a cow on ice, and the racing process itself is a real pleasure. Next, we move directly to graphics tests and determine how different video card models behave in the game.

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Review: Resource-intensive game

All video cards were tested at maximum graphics quality using MSI Afterburner. The purpose of the test is to determine how video cards from different manufacturers behave under the same conditions. The minimum and average frame size is taken as the performance indicator. Below is the configuration of our test systems.

Less productive video cards up to the level of GeForce GTS 450 and Radeon HD 4870 are tested on the basis of Core 2 Quad Q9550 and Phenom II X4 940 BE processors, depending on the resource intensity of the game, and more productive ones are based on more powerful solutions. Overclocked versions of video cards presented by sponsors were equal to conventional analogues by reducing their clock speeds.

Our video cards were tested at a resolution of 1920×1080 in DX 9 and DX 11 modes at maximum quality settings. Video cards with DX 10-10.1 support were tested in DirectX 9 mode, and with DX 11 support, respectively, in DirectX 11 mode. AMD Eyefinity technology was tested at maximum quality settings on three monitors at a resolution of 5760×1080. SLI and Cross Fire technologies work great and allow you to fully unleash the full power of dual-chip video cards. 

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080 DX9

When tested at maximum quality settings in DX 9 all mode, our tested video cards performed just fine in this mode. The minimum that will be needed is the presence of video cards of the Radeon HD 4830 and GeForce 9800GT level.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080 DX11

In DirectX 11 mode, the load on video cards will increase significantly. The minimum acceptable comfortable solutions are the Radeon HD 6850 and GeForce GTX 460. Based on the purchase of video cards for the game today, then these solutions look the most optimal.

Testing at maximum quality settings using AMD Eyefinity technology on two monitors at a resolution of 5760×1080

 

 

With the use of AMD Eyefinity technology, video card performance is reduced by 40-50% depending on the video card model. AMD Eyefinity. The minimum that is needed for comfortable gaming is a video card equal to Radeon HD 6970 or higher. The most optimal solution is the Radeon HD 6990.

CPU dependency testing

All of our tested processor models showed a decent level of performance. The game perfectly scales the processing cores, allowing you to unleash the full potential of quad-core processors.

Testing processor dependence at minimum quality settings 640×480

Both in terms of graphics and in terms of processor dependence, we see excellent optimization in terms of resource allocation for multi-threading. But the situation with processors is more positive and all our test models will be able to provide an acceptable level of performance in DiRT 3.

Dirt 3 test version 1.1

Based on numerous reviews from our readers, we decided to retest some game moments. Due to my long absence, the measurements were initially taken immediately after the game’s release, and the review itself came out only after a long time. In this case, we took the updated version of the game 1.1 with updated drivers from AMD and NVIDIA versions Catalyst 11.5b and GeForce/ION Driver Release 275.33. The benchmark test in this case was run 3 times in DirectX 11 and AMD Eyefinity modes. 

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080 DX11

As we can see, with the release of the patch and new drivers, the performance of AMD and NVIDIA 4XX series cards has clearly increased. Now the minimum acceptable comfortable solution is the Radeon HD 5770 OC and GeForce GTX 460SE.

Testing at maximum quality settings using AMD Eyefinity technology on two monitors at a resolution of 5760×1080 

Performance has also been increased for AMD Eyefinity technology. The minimum that is now needed for a comfortable game is a video card of the level of Radeon HD 5870 or higher. A more or less optimal solution is the Radeon HD 6970. In this case, the game requires a significant amount of video memory and one gigabyte is barely enough…

	Dirt 3 is an excellent continuator of its series, getting rid of the mistakes and shortcomings of its predecessors.
	The graphics in the game are quite decent and boast the best picture from a PC game to date.
	The optimization in Dirt 3 is quite decent, allowing you to get off with little loss on all modern PCs.

 

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We express our gratitude to all the manufacturing companies that were able to provide test equipment for our GPU tests and we hope that in the future their number will increase significantly!

 

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