Games of 2013 against modern video cards. Part one – FullHD.

INTRODUCTION

   

Well, our 2013 calendar year, significant in terms of gaming, and maybe not so significant, is coming to an end. According to our traditions, we decided to conduct a final test that will fully reflect the balance of power in the arena of graphic solutions. The basis was taken from 10 of the most graphically striking game projects, which were tested on the most current graphics solutions today.

For ease of reading the material and accessibility of perception, the final annual review was divided into three parts for different resolutions. The first part is the standard FullHD resolution – 1920×1080 pixels, which is most in demand among gamers today. In the next parts of the final review, we will take a look at the tests at 2560×1600 and 3840×2160. 

TESTING PROCEDURE

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. 

Our video cards were tested at a resolution of 1920×1080 at the maximum graphics quality settings allowed by games, with and without full-screen anti-aliasing activated. The tests were based on the most striking games of 2013, both in terms of gaming and technology. The minimum solutions for games are those video cards that will show an average of at least 25 FPS during gameplay. A sufficient level is a minimum FPS of at least 25 frames. And we consider the optimal level to be video cards that will show a minimum FPS of at least 40 frames. The testing methodology and test location are almost everywhere identical to the original reviews. 

Crysis 3

Crysis 3 is still a very technological project today. As the developers promised, the game with the settings turned up to maximum is capable of bringing any modern gaming hardware to its knees. But apparently PC gamers were not satisfied that they wanted to feed them a “sophisticated” port from consoles. According to official information, PC version of the game Crysis 3 sold just over one hundred thousand copies, while the first part, released exclusively on PC, attracted several million buyers…

 

The test was carried out at maximum quality game settings, without AA and with SMAA 4X anti-aliasing activated. A detailed review of the game is available at the following link.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080 no AA

 

With these game settings, the minimum level of performance will be shown by video cards of the Radeon HD 6950 level or GEFORCE GTX 570. An acceptable level, one should expect from a Radeon HD 6970 or GEFORCE GTX 570. The optimal video cards will be solutions from Radeon HD 7970 or GEFORCE GTX 680 and up. 

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080 SMAA 4X

 

With these game settings, the minimum level of performance will be shown by video cards of the Radeon R9 270 level or GEFORCE GTX 660. Acceptable-sufficient level, to be expected from Radeon R9 270 or GEFORCE GTX 580. The optimal video cards will be solutions by Radeon R9 290X or GEFORCE GTX 780 and up. 

tomb raider

Tomb Raider is a multi-platform project, and the development of the PC version was carried out in parallel with the console versions. In fact, for us, PC owners, it turned out to be an excellent port – the version for personal computers is distinguished by a more powerful graphics component, which is simply crammed with modern technologies.

 

The test was carried out at maximum quality game settings in the in-game benchmark, without AA and with activated anti-aliasing SSAA 2X. A detailed review of the game is available at the following link.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080 no AA

 

With these game settings, the minimum level of performance will be shown by video cards of the Radeon HD 6870 level or GEFORCE GTX 560. An acceptable-sufficient level should be expected from the Radeon R7 260X or GEFORCE GTX 570. The optimal video cards will be solutions from Radeon HD 7970 or GEFORCE GTX 680 and up.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080 SSAA 2X

 

With these gaming settings, the minimum level of performance will be shown by video cards of the Radeon HD 6970 or GEFORCE GTX 660 level. An acceptable level should be expected from the Radeon HD 7950 or GEFORCE GTX 760. The optimal video cards will be solutions by Radeon R9 290X or GEFORCE GTX 780 and above. 

Metro Last Light

Metro Last Light is currently one of the most technological products of our time, even though the game was released not only for personal computers, but also for the current generation of game consoles. Graphically, the sequel performed just as impressively as Metro 2033 did in its time. The game has many graphical advantages and a whole bunch of visual effects, the advantages of which we have already examined in a comparison of graphic settings.

 

The test was carried out at maximum quality game settings in the in-game benchmark, without AA and with activated SSAA anti-aliasing. A detailed review of the game is available at the following link. 

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080 no AA

With these game settings, the minimum level of performance will be shown by video cards of the Radeon HD 6970 level or GEFORCE GTX 650 Ti. An acceptable level should be expected from the Radeon HD 7950 or GEFORCE GTX 660 Ti. The optimal video cards will be solutions by Radeon R9 290X or GEFORCE GTX 780 and above.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080 SSAA

 

With these game settings, the minimum level of performance will be shown by video cards of the Radeon HD 7870 level or GEFORCE GTX 660 Ti. An acceptable level should be expected from the Radeon HD 7990 or GEFORCE GTX 780. The optimal video cards will be GEFORCE GTX 780 SLI and higher.

GRID 2

GRID 2 is the technological successor to GRID. DIRT, and, in general, the entire series of racing games published by Codemasters. The game is based on a modified EGO engine version 3.0 and, despite its third revision, is very similar to its previous versions. The game was developed for the current generation of game consoles, so it’s not worth talking about cinematic yet. But even so, this is the only decent racing product this year.

 

The test was carried out at maximum quality game settings in the in-game benchmark, without AA and with with anti-aliasing activated MSAA 4X. A detailed review of the game is available at the following link. 

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080 no AA

With these game settings, the minimum level of performance will be shown by video cards of the Radeon HD 6850 level or GEFORCE GTX 560. An acceptable level, one should expect from a Radeon HD 6870 or GEFORCE GTX 560. The optimal video cards will be solutions from Radeon HD 6970 or GEFORCE GTX 580 and up.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080 MSAA 4X

 

With these game settings, the minimum level of performance will be shown by video cards of the Radeon HD 6850 level or GEFORCE GTX 560. An acceptable level, one should expect from a Radeon HD 6870 or GEFORCE GTX 560. The optimal video cards will be solutions from Radeon HD 7850 or GEFORCE GTX 580 and up.

Company of Heroes 2

Company of Heroes 2 turned out to be a very entertaining game, which is an excellent RTS with numerous modes and very spectacular graphic effects. We can say that this project has raised the bar for RTS graphics to almost a new level. The graphics in the game are simply magnificent – the effects are implemented at a very high level, the detail of the surrounding world is simply magnificent, and the physics elevates the perception of the gameplay. Although in our region the game was persecuted due to its inconsistency with historical reality, it is still very popular in the post-Soviet space.

 

The test was carried out at maximum quality game settings in the in-game benchmark, without AA and with activated anti-aliasing on the Middle level. A detailed review of the game is available at the following link. 

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080 no AA

With these gaming settings, the minimum level of performance will be shown by video cards of the Radeon HD 6870 or GEFORCE GTX 560 level. An acceptable level should be expected from the Radeon R9 270 or GEFORCE GTX 660 Ti. The optimal video cards will be solutions from Radeon HD 7970GE or GEFORCE GTX 780 and higher.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080 AA

With these gaming settings, the minimum level of performance will be shown by video cards of the Radeon HD 6970 or GEFORCE GTX 660 level. An acceptable level should be expected from the Radeon HD 7970 or GEFORCE GTX 780. There are no optimal video cards for this mode.

Total War Rome II

Total War Rome II is an amazing game, even if at the time of release it had a bunch of bugs in terms of gameplay and optimization. But after some time, almost all the problems were eliminated and we have before us a simply phenomenal product with a gorgeous graphical component.

 

The test was conducted on ultra-high and maximum quality settings in the gaming benchmark. A detailed review of the game is available at the following link.

Testing at ultra-high quality settings 1920×1080 

With these game settings, the minimum level of performance will be shown by video cards of the Radeon HD 6850 level or GEFORCE GTX 560. An acceptable level, one should expect from a Radeon HD 6970 or GEFORCE GTX 570. The optimal video cards will be solutions solutions from Radeon HD 7970 or GEFORCE GTX 680 and up.

Testing at marginal quality settings 1920×1080

 

With these gaming settings, the minimum level of performance will be shown by video cards of the Radeon HD 7850 or GEFORCE GTX 570 level. An acceptable level should be expected from the Radeon R9 290X or GEFORCE GTX 780 Ti. There are no optimal video cards for this mode.

Batman Arkham Origins

Batman Arkham Origins is a great gift for fans of the all-new Gotham City. And although the game is largely multi-platform, as in the case of previous parts, we have a fairly solid arsenal of graphic settings for the most sophisticated PC gamers. At the moment, a gaming benchmark was introduced into the game, so tests were carried out on it. Also, to balance the results, the game physics were not activated.

 

The test was carried out at maximum quality game settings in the in-game benchmark, without AA and with with anti-aliasing activated MSAA 4X. A detailed review of the game is available at the following link.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080 no AA

 

With these gaming settings, the minimum level of performance will be shown by video cards of the Radeon HD 6850 or GEFORCE GTX 560 level. An acceptable level should be expected from the Radeon HD 6870 or GEFORCE GTX 560. The optimal video cards will be solutions from Radeon R7 260X or GEFORCE GTX 650 Ti and higher.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080 MSAA 4X

 

With these gaming settings, the minimum level of performance will be shown by video cards of the Radeon HD 6850 or GEFORCE GTX 560 level. An acceptable level should be expected from the Radeon HD 7770 or GEFORCE GTX 560. The optimal video cards will be solutions from Radeon R9 270 or GEFORCE GTX 580 and higher.

Battlefield 4

Battlefield 4 is one of the most anticipated shooters of this year. But the short release time had a somewhat negative impact on the quality of the product. A single company is beautiful, but too monotonous and short. Multiplayer, in terms of game graphics, is very similar to the previous part and no longer evokes amazed delight.

 

The test was carried out at maximum quality game settings in the in-game benchmark, without AA and with antialiasing activated MSAA 4X. An additional test was also carried out with a resolution of 200% with no MSAA.  A detailed review of the game is available at the following link.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080 no AA

With these game settings, the minimum performance level will be shown by video cards of the Radeon HD 6870 or GEFORCE GTX 650 Ti level. An acceptable-sufficient level should be expected from the Radeon HD 6970 or GEFORCE GTX 570. The optimal video cards will be solutions from Radeon HD 7950 or GEFORCE GTX 680 and higher.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080 MSAA 4X

With these game settings, the minimum level of performance will be shown by video cards of the level of Radeon R7 260X or GEFORCE GTX 560 Ti. An acceptable-sufficient level should be expected from the Radeon R9 270 or GEFORCE GTX 660. The optimal video cards will be solutions from Radeon HD 7970GE or GEFORCE GTX 780 and higher. 

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080 no AA 200%

With these gaming settings, the minimum level of performance will be shown by video cards of the level of Radeon R9 280X or GEFORCE GTX 770. An acceptable level should be expected from the Radeon HD 7990 or GEFORCE GTX 690. There are no optimal video cards for this mode.

Call of Duty Ghosts

Call of Duty Ghosts moved to an updated engine, but other than increased system requirements, the game did not receive any visible differences from previous parts. Again, apparently the developers were again faced with the problem of tight deadlines and simply did not have time to optimize the product for a very wide range of equipment. With the latest patches and drivers, the game stopped working completely on AMD CrossFireX, which looks very strange…

 

The test was carried out at maximum quality game settings in the in-game benchmark, without AA and with with anti-aliasing activated MSAA 4X. A detailed review of the game is available at the following link.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080 no AA

With these gaming settings, the minimum level of performance will be shown by video cards of the Radeon HD 7770 or GEFORCE GTX 560 level. An acceptable level should be expected from the Radeon HD 6970 or GEFORCE GTX 560. The optimal video cards will be solutions from Radeon R9 270 or GEFORCE GTX 660 and higher.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080 AA

With these game settings, the minimum performance level will be shown by video cards of the Radeon HD 6870 or GEFORCE GTX 650 Ti level. An acceptable-sufficient level should be expected from the Radeon HD 7850 or GEFORCE GTX 570. The optimal video cards will be solutions from Radeon HD 7970 or GEFORCE GTX 680 and higher.

Assassin’s Creed 4

Assassin’s Creed 4 is essentially a new direction in the games of this series. The open game world, naval battles and much more distinguishes the game from its predecessors. Again, with the latest patches and drivers, support for AMD CrossFireX has disappeared, although at the time of release all was working properly…

 

The test was carried out at maximum quality game settings in the in-game benchmark, without AA and with antialiasing activated SMAA. A detailed review of the game is available at the following link.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080 no AA

With these gaming settings, the minimum level of performance will be shown by video cards of the Radeon HD 6970 or GEFORCE GTX 580 level. An acceptable level should be expected from the Radeon HD 7970 or GEFORCE GTX 660 Ti. The optimal video cards will be solutions from Radeon R9 290X or GEFORCE GTX 780 and higher.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080 AA

With these gaming settings, the minimum level of performance will be shown by video cards of the Radeon HD 7950 or GEFORCE GTX 660 level. An acceptable level should be expected from the Radeon HD 7970 or GEFORCE GTX 670. The optimal video cards will be solutions from Radeon R9 290X or GEFORCE GTX 780 and higher.

Final World

In general, it is very difficult to say anything specifically. Some games are very graphically dependent and greatly affect the graphics subsystem. Other games are just the opposite – for them a mid-level solution even from the generation before last is enough. Therefore, doing as in our previous times and displaying the average FPS for all games will not be an alternative solution.

If we summarize the overall picture, we can conclude that for the mode without anti-aliasing it would be rational to purchase video cards of the level Radeon R9 270 or GEFORCE GTX 760(price range $200), which will provide sufficient performance in all modern projects. For modes with full-screen anti-aliasing enabled, you will need a slightly higher level of video cards such as Radeon R9 280X or Geforce GTX 770(price range $350).

Well, if you want to use all permissible maximum game settings, then for this you will already need video cards of at least level Radeon R9 290X и GEFORCE GTX 780(price range $500). It is also worth noting that for optimal mode in these extreme settings, multi-chip configurations should already be used and, what is more pronounced, NVIDIA SLI in this regard it looks somewhat preferable AMD CrossFireX.