The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings – PC performance graphics benchmarks of Graphics Cards

Year: 17 May 2011 city
Genre: RPG / 3D / 3rd Person
developer: CD Projekt RED
Publisher: Atari
Publisher in Russia: 1C-SoftClub/Snowball Studios

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings is a computer role-playing game developed by the Polish company CD Projekt RED based on the series of novels “The Witcher” by the famous Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski, a sequel to the 2007 computer game “The Witcher”. Development of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings began in 2007 by the CD Projekt RED team, immediately after the Witcher game was completed.

The game was released on May 16, 2011 in Russia. The target platform of the game is Windows (Personal Computers).

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Review: Playability

To understand all the intricacies of the game The Witcher 2 you need at least a couple of days, to immerse yourself in it you only need a couple of minutes… only you realize this after a few hours, before you simply don’t pay attention to the time. I don’t want to write about the Witcher at all, not a line, not a word, I want to quickly return to this magical world, because there is still so much to do and so many things to accomplish, not for the sake of some pathos or calling of others, simply because the Witcher needs it that way , Geralt of Rivia, this is his story and his alone!

But let’s start in order. The story begins shortly after the end of the first part. Geralt is imprisoned, final preparations for execution are underway, the verdict is the murder of the king! Further interrogation, this is where we learn the details of the incidents that led us to such an unpleasant situation… The witcher, who had recently acted as the king’s bodyguard-talisman, was unable to save the monarch from death from the blade of an unknown regicide and was detained at the scene of the murder. Fortunately, not everyone in the kingdom is so naive, there are people who are loyal to their state and understand that not everything is so simple in reality, and the truth and motive for the crime will be difficult to find without Geralt. Then escape and the immediate start of the investigation, a matter of honor, you also need to clear your name, and the killer turned out to be of witch blood, and this is already a challenge…

Having escaped, we get rid of the shackles of the plot, then everything depends entirely on your decision, on your priorities, be it completing plot tasks or the many side tasks that have piled up. The game world is open for exploration, full of events, and simply captivates with its elaboration. Already in the first couple of hours of the game, you can be confused about where to start the entertainment, here we are called to take part in fist fights, here we are invited to play dice, there to measure our hands, and others simply recommend relaxing in a local brothel. But do not forget that around the nearest corner, bounty hunters are waiting for us, ready, at the first opportunity, to pull out their weapons from their sheaths.

The combat system has changed significantly compared to the first part, the battles have become more spectacular, it has become easier to understand, it is easier to control the character, but already at the average level of difficulty simply calling the enemy will not work (and you will have to click a hell of a lot), you need to drink the right potions before the battle, choose the right tactics of battle with this or that unit, the order of destroying the enemy, vary the signs and move, move and move again!

We invite you to evaluate part of the game walkthrough of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings in Full HD resolution, where you can see for yourself the quality of this product:

It is worth noting that the game is intended exclusively for an adult audience, the issue is not even a complex character development system, crafting or potions, but rather the local slang and nudity scenes. Parents, be careful, otherwise your child will have many new interesting words in his dictionary and expressions))) in war as in war, enemies can shower not only with crossbow bolts, but also with choice abuse, which sometimes is simply stunning and throws off the tempo of the battle!

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Review: Graphics

According to the developers, “RED Engine” focuses not only on graphics and physics, but also on building a non-linear quest system, making the gameplay even closer to real life. The graphics engine supports dynamic shadows, normal mapping and parallax mapping.

Compared to the first part of the game, texture detail has been greatly improved, and time of day changes and weather phenomena have become more realistic. The “exorbitant quality” option deserves special attention; when activated, the performance of the video system literally drops to its knees, but the picture quality also becomes almost cinematic.

Unfortunately, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings only supports DirectX 9, which by and large does not allow you to unleash the full potential of modern video cards. But its implementation could contribute to a significant increase in graphics performance. Special attention should be paid to the implementation of NVIDIA 3D Vision, which looks simply great, but awaits improvements to increase gaming performance.

Currently, the development team is working hard on patch 1.0.0.3, which should fix numerous game bugs and increase the performance of systems in the game. We conducted a preliminary test on version 1.0.0.2 and will later update it with the release of a new update and more optimized video drivers. 

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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 in 1920×1080 resolution at minimum, medium, high and maximum quality settings. AMD Eyefinity and NVIDIA 3D Vision technologies will be tested a little later with the release of graphics drivers more optimized for the game. At the moment, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings does not have optimization for Cross Fire and SLI technologies, so video cards operating in this mode and their single-chip analogues will not work correctly.
For owners of NVIDIA video cards, if problems with low performance are identified, we recommend removing NVIDIA 3D Vision Driver. AMD cards may have problems with textures, so we are waiting for new driver revisions from AMD and NVIDIA, which we hope will be able to fix problems with glitches and performance. This time the test was carried out not in the most resource-intensive place, but, on the contrary, in the most gentle one.

At minimum quality settings, almost all special effects are turned off, with the exception of glow, vignetting and depth of field in scenes. This setting is recommended for owners of hardware that is three or four years old.

Testing at minimum quality settings 1920×1080

The minimum quality settings in The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings are comparable to the maximum in most modern games. Affordable performance at this resolution will be provided by video cards of the Radeon HD 3870 or GeForce 9800 GT level. We can consider the Radeon HD 4830 or GeForce 9800 GTX and higher to be the most optimal solutions.

When the graphics are set to the average all level, the graphic settings are switched to the average quality value and half of the effects available to the engine are set to enabled. These settings will be optimal for owners of gaming hardware that is two or three years old.

Testing at medium quality settings 1920×1080

When switching to medium quality settings, the acceptable level of performance dropped to video cards of the Radeon HD 4750 or GeForce GTS 250 level. More or less comfortable FPS at this resolution and quality settings will be provided by video cards of the Radeon HD 4870 or GeForce GTX 260 level.

When the graphics settings are set to a high quality level in The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, all graphics settings are set to a high quality level. Among the included effects, depth of field in videos, boundaries of hanging objects, and extreme quality remain inactive. These settings are recommended for owners of video cards two years old.

Testing at high quality 1920×1080

When switching to a high level of graphics, “passable” performance will be provided by video cards of the Radeon HD 5750 or GeForce GTX 260 level. The most optimal solution for these settings should be considered video cards of the Radeon HD 5770 or GeForce GTX 280 level and higher.

With the best settings, all options are set to the maximum quality level. The most resource-intensive option is “exorbitant quality”, which will not only provide an unsurpassed level of picture quality, but also impose prohibitive system requirements on modern hardware…

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080

And finally, at maximum graphics quality settings, only video cards GeForce GTX 580 showed a decent level of performance. Of course, “dual-chip tops”, with proper optimization, should provide trouble-free performance, but at the moment they are even inferior to cheaper single-chip solutions. We are waiting for a new patch or updated drivers, then we will be able to give advice on choosing video cards for playing The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings.

CPU dependency testing

We tested processor dependence on 9 models of basic configurations, which are the most relevant today. The test was carried out in those places where the value of video cards for the game is minimal and its load was less than 99%, but this time at a resolution of 640×480 with minimal graphics quality settings.

Testing processor dependence at minimum quality settings 640×480

Both in terms of graphics and in terms of processor dependence, we see unimportant 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 The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings.

SLI optimization for NVIDIA video cards

Thanks to the aging of domestic colleagues on one foreign forum a manual optimization method was found for multi-chip configurations based on NVIDIA video cards. Unfortunately, no such solution has been found for AMD yet, but we hope there will be one in the near future. This method is applicable to drivers versions 270.61 and 275.27.

Below we will explain the entire procedure in more detail:

1. Download and install Nvidia Inspector latest version 1.9.5.5.

2. Open Nvidia Inspector and click on the button in the center on the right, highlighted with a red oval in the picture.

3. In the profiles drop-down menu, select The Witcher 2 and in the category Compatibility find the line “SLI compatibility bits” and instead of the value 0x02C04005 (The Witcher 2) enter the value 0x02C04205

4. Press the button Apply Changes in the upper right corner.

5. We also recommend removing the NVIDIA 3D Vision Driver for this method to work correctly. And that’s it, the tandem of video cards will work at full capacity! We can enjoy a completely playable picture and no longer complain about the brakes if we have a powerful dual-chip processor or tandems of two or three video cards.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080

As we see the increase is huge. Since we have a pair of GeForce GTX 580, for clarity, we tested it with a GeForce GTX 590. The result is simply stunning. Now the most powerful and productive video card solution for The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings can safely be considered the GeForce GTX 590. Well, if you want even greater performance, we recommend assembling an SLI from two GeForce GTX 580.

The test will be updated with the release of new video drivers and patch. Our readers can make suggestions as to where exactly the next updated test of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings will take place.

 

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	The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings is currently the leader in the RPG market, setting a new level of quality for this genre, smashing its competitors to smithereens. It’s simply impossible to tear yourself away from the game…
	The graphics in the game look simply great, even despite the use of outdated DirectX 9. But this did not stop the developers from squeezing all the juice out of the engine, stuffing it with all possible modern visual effects.
	The optimization of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings is tolerable and allows most owners of modern PCs to enjoy unsurpassed graphics. The only exception is the maximum graphics settings, which were apparently made with a reserve for the hardware of the future…

 

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Rating 94%