Games of the first half of 2013 against modern video cards

INTRODUCTION

    

Having listened to the wishes of our readers, we decided to conduct general tests of video cards a little more often, namely twice a year. First of all, this is due to the fact that the main game schedule is divided into two seasons – spring and autumn, and secondly, this will unload the material itself and make the final reviews less rich in information.

37 candidates from two opposing camps took part in our test, who competed in 7 significant games in the first half of the year. Some of these games were released under the auspices of NVIDIA, and others were released by AMD. Our task is to determine the fastest solutions for games this year and build an approximate generalized level of performance for all models.

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 separate screen sizes of 1920×1080 and 2560×1600 at the maximum graphics quality settings allowed by the games, and, of course, by the resources of the video cards. The tests were based on the most striking games from the first half of 2013, both in terms of gaming and technology. For the test, video cards of the current generation with support for DirectX 11 were taken. 

The test was carried out on one of the most powerful gaming configurations to date based on the Intel Core i7-3970X with overclocking to 4.9 GHz, sixteen gigabytes of DDR3 RAM with a frequency of 2400 MHz and an SSD OCZ Vertex 3 hard drive.

Crysis 3

Crysis 3 was quite surprising and made us rehabilitate Crytek in our eyes as a leading developer of computer game graphics. We have made tremendous progress regarding the second part, and what appears before us is not a console porting product, but a very modern and technologically advanced project. The game uses a bunch of graphic effects and visual bells and whistles – the detailing of the surrounding world is simply amazing, the animation is excellent, and the explosions are simply incredible; playing this miracle of the gaming industry has truly become very realistic.

The test was carried out at maximum quality game settings, with SMAA 4X anti-aliasing activated.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080

 

At the maximum graphics quality settings allowed Crysis 3at a resolution of 1920×1080, the minimum performance level will be shown by video cards of the Radeon HD 7870 level or GEFORCE GTX 660. An acceptable level should be expected from the Radeon HD 7950 or GEFORCE GTX 760.

Testing at maximum quality settings 2560×1600

 

At a resolution of 2560×1600, with maximum graphics quality settings, the minimum acceptable level of performance will be shown by video cards of the Radeon HD 7990 or GEFORCE GTX 780 level. The most optimal graphics cards for comfortable gaming with these settings will be the Radeon HD 7990 or GEFORCE GTX 690. 

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, all versions of the game on different platforms are identical to each other and the only difference between the PC version is the 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, with SSAA 2X anti-aliasing activated.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080

 

At maximum graphics quality settings, acceptable at a resolution of 1920×1080, the minimum performance level will be shown by video cards of the Radeon HD 6970 or GeForce GTX 480 level. A sufficient level should be expected from the Radeon HD 7870 or GEFORCE GTX 760.

Testing at maximum quality settings 2560×1600

 

At a resolution of 2560×1600 at maximum quality settings, video cards at the level of Radeon HD 7970 or GEFORCE GTX 770 will show an acceptable level of performance. The most optimal graphics cards for comfortable gaming will be Radeon HD 7990 or GeForce GTX 780.

Bioshock Infinite

Bioshock Infinite is one of the most important projects of the current year, so we simply could not leave this game without our attention. We can say for sure that the game, compared to its console counterparts, was simply loaded with graphics steroids, as a result of which it can put a lot of pressure on modern gaming PCs.

The test was carried out at the maximum quality of game settings in the in-game benchmark.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080

 

With maximum graphics quality settings, the minimum performance level will be shown by video cards of the Radeon HD 7770 or GeForce GTX 460 level. Comfortable performance will be shown by video cards of the Radeon HD 5870 or GEFORCE GTX 650 Ti level.

Testing at maximum quality settings 2560×1600

 

At a resolution of 2560×1600, video cards of the Radeon HD 7850 level or GeForce GTX 580. The most optimal graphics cards for comfortable gaming there will be video cards of the Radeon HD 7950 level or GEFORCE GTX 660. 

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, with SSAA anti-aliasing activated.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080

 

At the maximum graphics quality settings allowed by Metro Last Light at a resolution of 1920×1080, the minimum level of performance was shown Radeon HD 7870 or GEFORCE GTX 660 Ti. The best option should be considered dual-chip solutions Radeon HD 7990 or GEFORCE GTX 780.

Testing at maximum quality settings 2560×1600

 

At a resolution of 2560×1600 with maximum quality settings, the acceptable level of performance will be shown by video cards of the Radeon HD 7990 level or GEFORCE GTX 690. The most optimal graphics cards for comfortable gaming will be GEFORCE GTX 780 SLI.

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.

The test was carried out at maximum quality game settings in the in-game benchmark, with antialiasing activated MSAA 4X.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080

 

At the maximum graphics quality settings allowed GRID 2 at a resolution of 1920×1080, the minimum level of performance was shown by the Radeon HD 6850 or GeForce GTX 460. The most optimal solutions for these settings would be the Radeon HD 6870 or GeForce GTX 560.

Testing at maximum quality settings 2560×1600

 

At a resolution of 2560×1600, with maximum graphics quality settings, the minimum performance level will show Radeon HD 6950 or GeForce GTX 480. The most optimal solutions for gaming will be solutions such as the Radeon HD 7870 or GeForce GTX 580.

Remember me

Remember Me is based on Unreal Engine 3, uses only DirectX 9 and does not have a very expanded range of graphics settings, but even despite this, the game image looks very good, in some ways even somewhat technological and attractive. Apparently the developers worked on Unreal Engine 3 thoroughly, polishing it to a high-quality shine.

The test was carried out at maximum quality game settings.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080

 

At the maximum graphics quality settings allowed Remember me at a resolution of 1920×1080 the minimum level of performance was shown Radeon HD 7770 or GeForce GTX 460. The best option should be the Radeon HD 5870 or GeForce GTX 480.

Testing at maximum quality settings 2560×1600

 

At a resolution of 2560×1600, with maximum graphics quality settings, the minimum performance level will show Radeon HD 7870 or GEFORCE GTX 660 Ti. The most optimal solutions for gaming will be solutions such as Radeon HD 7970 GE or GeForce GTX 780.

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.

The test was carried out at maximum quality game settings in the in-game benchmark, with antialiasing activated on the Middle level.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080

 

At the maximum graphics quality settings allowed by Company of Heroes 2 at a resolution of 1920×1080, video cards Radeon HD 7850 or GEFORCE GTX 660. The most optimal solutions for these settings would be Radeon HD 7970GE or GEFORCE GTX 780.

Testing at maximum quality settings 2560×1600

 

At a resolution of 2560×1600, with maximum quality settings, the acceptable minimum will be shown by video cards of the Radeon HD 7970 level or GEFORCE GTX 780. Unfortunately, there are no optimal solutions for this game yet…

VRAM test

Testing of video memory consumed by games was carried out by MSI Afterburner. The indicator was based on the results on top video cards from AMD and NVIDIA with separate screen sizes of 1920×1080 and 2560×1600. All data on games are summarized in one table. The measurement results were taken using the settings given in the tests above.

Testing at maximum memory GPU quality settings

For standard resolutions, two gigabytes of video memory is currently sufficient. For resolutions such as 2560×1600 and higher, the optimal amount would be three gigabytes of video memory.

Defining the general hierarchy of video cards

Instead of defining video cards based on the ratio of price and frames, we decided to introduce the item general level of performance at various different screen sizes. This will somewhat reduce the graphical clutter and eliminate confusion when comparing different regions with different prices.

The initial result for each video cards is the arithmetic average FPS value for all the games we test; if for some reason the video card could not pass the test and show the results, then this is a minus for the overall result.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080

So, at a resolution of 1920×1080, the minimum comfortable level at the moment is “oldies” Radeon HD 6970 or GeForce GTX 570, which will show more or less acceptable FPS. The optimal choice at the moment would be video cards for the middle gaming segment Radeon HD 7870 or GEFORCE GTX 660 – these solutions, on average for the sum of all games, showed a minimum FPS of at least 25 frames.

Testing at maximum quality settings 2560×1600

At a resolution of 2560×1600, with maximum quality settings, the minimum acceptable solutions will be video cards of the level Radeon HD 7950 or GEFORCE GTX 660 Ti. More or less optimal graphics cards with these settings will be Radeon HD 7970GE or GEFORCE GTX 770, but they will not be enough in some games.

As we see at the moment, games have quite serious problems with optimization. It is quite possible, for example, that games have good graphics and modern single-chip solutions cannot cope with such an abundance of textures. But when moving to more expensive multi-chip configurations, we will not get the desired performance: SLI in some games it leaves much to be desired for better scalability, and CrossFireX, in turn, despite the increase in performance, it is simply full of all possible friezes and jerks.

It is worth highlighting separately that the optimal video card that can be recommended for purchase by demanding gamers is GEFORCE GTX 780, which is significantly faster than many single-chip solutions and is almost equal in performance to top solutions in the upper price segment. And besides, AMD does not yet have alternative solutions for these video cards…