Total War: Shogun 2 in DirectX 10, DirectX 10.1 and DirectX 11 modes – – PC performance graphics benchmarks of Graphics Cards

---

Year: 15 March 2011 year
Genre: Strategy (Real-time / Turn-based) / 3D
Developer: The Creative Assembly
Publisher: SEGA
Publisher in Russia: “1C-SoftClub”

Total War: Shogun 2 is a computer game in the genre of turn-based strategy and military tactics, developed by the British company The Creative Assembly and published by the Japanese company SEGA. It is the seventh game in the famous PC-exclusive Total War series. The game Shogun 2: Total War is a remake of the first game in the series – Shogun: Total War. Total War: Shogun 2 is dedicated to the period of feudal fragmentation of Japan in the XNUMXth century.

Total War: Shogun 2 was released on March 15, 2011 exclusively for personal computers. At the same time, the game became available for download through the online digital distribution service Steam.

You can find a gaming review and tests in DirectX 9 mode at this link.

---

Review: Graphics

Total War: Shogun 2 was announced with support for numerous advanced technologies, but, alas, they were not presented with the game’s release. And now, after such a long time, a game patch was released that introduced support for DirectX 10, DirectX 10.1 and DirectX 11 modes.

Along with support for DirectX 11, the following functions were added:

Extended Shadows
Support MSAA 2x, 4x, 8x.
Expanding depth of field
Tessellation support
Anti-aliasing support

Moreover, the developers also made it impossible to enable anisotropic texture filtering in DirectX9 mode, but promised to fix everything in the next patch.

 

  And so, let’s take a closer look at the innovations that the patch provided us with:

  The difference in renderings can be seen already in the main menu, namely a higher quality picture (but not much), soft and natural shadows.

Also, on water maps, except for improved shadows and a slightly improved picture, there are no changes. Moreover, in DirectX9 mode and in DirectX10 mode, the graphics quality is almost the same, the only difference being improved full-screen anti-aliasing.

  Next we tried to find the presence of tessellation, but no matter how hard we tried, nothing came of it, you can see this in the screenshots below…

 

  Overall, the graphics in Total War: Shogun 2 look great, like in both DirectX9/10 mode and DirectX11 mode. The detailing is excellent, but all expectations were greater than what actually happened. The difference in using different renders is not big, but that’s what I wanted…

We invite you to evaluate the benchmark of the game Total War: Shogun 2, shot at maximum quality settings and where you can see for yourself the quality of this product:

         

The game places serious demands on CPU resources, especially during image capture, so stuttering is noticeable in the video, even when using dual-chip video cards.

---

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. If possible, the most resource-intensive place in the game is selected. 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 modes with DirectX 10, DirectX 10.1 and DirectX 11. AMD Eyefinity technology was also tested in these modes at a resolution of 5760×1080 on three connected monitors. NVIDIA 3D Vision is not currently supported by Total War Shogun 2. Using our graphs, you can evaluate how your video card behaves relative to other modern solutions.

Tests were carried out in the gaming benchmark and in the game itself. The reason for this was the benchmark’s serious attitude towards onboard video cards memory – even if a couple of measly megabytes of video memory are missing, it flatly refuses to carry out the test. And we all know that when there is a lack of video memory, the video card turns to the main subsystem, compensating for its lack. The FPS benchmark result was taken from the log file.

Tests in the game were carried out on the game card. Ever since the days of Rome: Total War, the global map has been very detailed and graphically rich, forcing you to waste your video system worse than anything else. Total War: Shogun 2 was no exception, as you will later be able to see from our testing, squeezing all the juice out of video cards…

 

---

Testing in DirectX 10 mode

We conducted tests in DirectX 10 mode with all the maximum available settings for this mode. Vertical synchronization was disabled, and the anti-aliasing level was set to MLAA level, which, alas, was not enough in DirectX 9 mode.

Testing at maximum quality settings in the 1920×1080 MLAA DX 10 benchmark

The gaming benchmark at the installed settings in this case sets requirements for the video memory subsystem and sets the bar to at least 1 gigabyte. The minimum that we need in this case is video cards of the Radeon HD 6850 or GeForce GTX 470 level.

Testing at maximum quality settings in the game 1920×1080 MLAA DX 10

 

In the game itself, we see a slightly different picture, and here NVIDIA cards showed slightly better performance than in the gaming benchmark. A more or less acceptable level of performance will be shown by video cards of the Radeon HD 6870 or GeForce GTX 470 level.

Testing at maximum quality settings in the 5760×1080 benchmark MLAA DX 10

Testing at maximum quality settings in the game 5760×1080  MLAA DX 10

In the AMD Eyefinity test, we see the same balance of power both in the gaming benchmark and in the game itself. The only playable solution is the Radeon HD 6990 video card.

 

---

Testing in DirectX 10.1 mode

We conducted tests in this mode with all the maximum available settings for this mode. Vertical sync, as in the previous case, was disabled, and the maximum allowable anti-aliasing level was raised to a higher level and amounted to MSAA 8X.

Testing at maximum quality settings in the 1920×1080 MSAA 8X DX 10.1 benchmark

In this case, only video cards that had more than 1280 megabytes on board were able to pass the benchmark. In this case, the player will need to have video cards of the Radeon HD 6970 or GeForce GTX 480 level and higher.

Testing at maximum quality settings in the game 1920×1080 MSAA 8X DX 10.1

The game will tolerate almost anything, and we can compare the performance of almost all of our test subjects with DirectX 10.1 support. The picture here is slightly different from the gaming benchmark and you can play comfortably on video accelerators of the Radeon HD 6970 or GeForce GTX 570 level. 

Testing at maximum quality settings in the 5760×1080 benchmark MSAA 8X DX 10.1

Testing at maximum quality settings in the game 5760×1080 MSAA 8X DX 10.1

At a resolution of 5760×1080, with these quality settings, there are, alas, no playable solutions at the moment. A gigabyte of memory on board video cards is not enough in this case, but even the presence of two does not save the situation…

 

---

Testing in DirectX 11 mode

We conducted tests in this mode with all the maximum permissible settings for this mode. In addition to everything, a new “mosaic” setting has become available in the graphical menu, which, according to the developers, should display game landscapes more efficiently.

Testing at maximum quality settings in the 1920×1080 benchmark MSAA 8X DX 11

With DirectX 11 activated, only video cards with a memory capacity of 1536 and 2048 megabytes passed the benchmark. Graphics solutions of the Radeon HD 6970 or GeForce GTX 580 level will show an acceptable level of performance. Only their dual-chip solutions were able to show comfortable performance.

Testing at maximum quality settings in the game 1920×1080 MSAA 8X DX 11

The picture in this case is almost identical to the gaming benchmark, but the positions of AMD cards have dropped slightly lower. As in the previous case, only owners of dual-chip solutions will be able to play without problems.

Testing at maximum quality settings in the 5760×1080 benchmark MSAA 8X DX 11

Testing at maximum quality settings in the game 5760×1080 MSAA 8X DX 11

As with DirectX 10.1 mode, performance at ultra-high resolution leaves much to be desired.

1080P gaming benchmark testing DX11

Total War: Shogun 2 also has a benchmark with its own settings, carried out in a resolution of 1920×1080 in Full HD DirectX 11 mode and accessible through the Steam launch menu. In this case, more or less acceptable performance can be provided by Radeon HD 11 or GeForce GTX 6850 video cards compatible with DirectX 460.

Based on the purchase of video cards specifically for this game, with balanced quality settings, then currently the Radeon HD 6870 or GeForce GTX 560 Ti look most preferable. But as you can see from the tests conducted above, real “extreme enthusiasts” will need dual-chip solutions to satisfy their “appetites.”

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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 a gaming benchmark, which was specially created for testing central processors and runs in DirectX 9 mode, creating a maximum load on the central processors and a minimum on video cards.

CPU dependency testing gaming benchmark mode DirectX 9

As we can see, not one of our tested processors was able to show a decent result in this game. From the results of testing processor dependence in Total War: Shogun 2, we can conclude that the game requires at least a four-core processor with a very high clock frequency.

 

---

	Total War: Shogun 2 is an excellent continuation of its Total War series that will appeal to many of its fans.
	Graphically, the game has become a leader in the abundance of graphical bells and whistles and special effects, representing a mixture of scale and beauty unprecedented in the world of strategy.
	Optimization is nothing more than the ratio of graphics to the performance of the main components of the system. And although almost all modern hardware has gone into a stupor, the picture is still quite good…

 

---

---

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!

 

---

---

Home

 

 

Test score

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1

Rating 92%

Game rating

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1

Rating 96%