|
|
Advertisement:
|
|
Performance Scaling with HD 5870 |
|
Join the community - in the OCAU Forums!
|
Benchmarking and Conclusions
DiRT 2
Amongst the first DirectX 11 titles to be released, DiRT 2 uses the latest version of Codemasters’ Ego engine. This engine also powered GRID (although it has since been updated to a DirectX 11 standard, with support for hardware tessellation amongst other things). The Ego engine will also power the official Formula One game due out later this year.
 
The obvious point here is the substantial minimum frame rate increase, which can be attributed mainly to the CPU overclock. The combined overclock gain of more than 30% over the stock settings illuminates why overclockers do what they do – it can make a noticeable difference. Results like these suggest that the 5870 isn’t stressed rendering 2 megapixels of luscious, DirectX 11, heavily anti-aliased graphics at a minimum of 60 frames per second. Bring on F1 2010, Codemasters!
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat
The latest in GSC Game World’s series of games revolving around an alternate reality, in which there was a second incident at the Chernobyl nuclear reactor. It runs on the X-Ray 1.6 engine which has been upgraded to feature DirectX 11 support; it also features hardware tessellation, as well as various SSAO rendering modes.
 
Previous articles on OCAU have seen S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games give GPU’s a decent kick up the pants and the latest game continues the trend, especially with such gruelling rendering options. The results clearly placed a premium on GPU overclocking, as pushing the CPU has a barely perceptible effect on frame rates.
 
The best result of 13% can be a significant win, as it pushes minimum frame rates up towards 40 instead of dwindling at 30. Overall, the S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Call of Pripyat results are dragged down by the final part of the four-stage benchmarking application - “Sun Shafts” - where results are almost halved by the complex lighting involved.
Crysis: WARHEAD
Surely not much introduction needed. Crytek (now owned by EA) has been pushing – nay, shoving - the hardware envelope since the original Far Cry in 2004. Crysis 2 will bring full DirectX 11 support when it is released, supposedly around Christmas time this year.
 
A similar situation to S.T.A.L.K.E.R.; the GPU is absolutely maxed out. A faster CPU in these situations does little, if anything, to help the game run faster.
 
The 15% improvement to minimum frame rates may look impressive, but when it represents a gain of 3fps it’s not really much to write home (or on the Internet) about. Crysis is still yet to be completely tamed by reasonably high-end PC hardware.
Just Cause 2
Just Cause 2 is an open world game developed by Avalanche Studios and Eidos Interactive. It runs on the Avalanche 2.0 engine, employing DirectX 10 exclusively. Whilst undeniably in the Grand Theft Auto mould, it features cool additions like a parachute and grappling hook, and has been a big hit amongst OCAU members.
 
This engine is clearly more amenable to overclocking than the last two games, although not quite as friendly as DiRT 2. The GPU appears to be providing most of the grunt here, but the CPU overclock does play its part. A 16% combined overclock gain is nothing to be sneezed at, and could just help you get that head shot in a tight squeeze!
Conclusions
It appears that in regards to high resolution gaming, bottlenecking is a phenomenon that may not be quite as rigid as previously thought. DiRT 2 and Just Cause 2 both reacted positively to CPU and GPU overclocks. Crysis: WARHEAD and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat only responded to a faster GPU, as bottleneck orthodoxy would dictate. The gains on offer from overclocking therefore are quite engine-specific. Whether this is news to you, dear reader, remains to be seen, but hopefully this article has been informative.
|
|
Advertisement:
All original content copyright James Rolfe.
All rights reserved. No reproduction allowed without written permission.
Interested in advertising on OCAU? Contact us for info.
|
|
