Far Cry 2 Dissected: Massive Amounts of Performance Data
by Derek Wilson on November 21, 2008 5:30 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Final Words
Alright. That was a lot of data, and I applaud anyone who was able to successfully wade through it all. For those who didn't want to (or just couldn't stomach it), here's a quick summary of the results.
Most cards, including all cards that come in at >$100, are able to handle Far Cry 2 at Ultra High quality. Adding AA on top of that is fairly stressful and might require a drop back down Very High quality, though we don't see much need for AA in this game as it is low contrast and the effects do a good job of hiding or distracting from aliasing.
DX10 offers a performance improvement over DX9 for Ultra High and Very High settings. DX9 is only useful for High quality mode which offers a very large boost in performance over DX10 and should be enough to get almost any relatively recent discrete graphics card running at a passable resolution. Going forward we will be using our custom timedemo for testing Far Cry 2 at Ultra High quality under DX10.
The stand out in this test is the Radeon HD 4870 1GB. This $300 AMD single GPU part performed on par with NVIDIA's much more expensive GeForce GTX 280. Some tests favored the GTX 280 while others the 4870, but only 2560x1600 with 4xAA was a runaway victory for the NVIDIA part. Obviously this puts the Radeon HD 4870 1GB ahead of the GeForce GTX 260 variants, but they are generally $50 cheaper. If you can afford the price difference, the 4870 1GB won't disappoint. But $50 is a good chunk of change and the GTX 260 parts are still very capable under Far Cry 2. That decision will come down to budget, performance at the target settings and resolution, and simple preference.
Because CrossFire doesn't work yet, we can't really compare how multi-GPU scales against NVIDIA hardware. NVIDIA hardware does scale fairly well, going anywhere from 75% to 85%+ faster with a second card.
While some of the AMD parts, including the Radeon HD 4670 and 4850, performed consistently well against the competition, we don't feel comfortable solidly recommending any AMD part other than the Radeon HD 4870 1GB for Far Cry 2 because of the massive trouble we've had with their drivers. So we'll stick with recommending against the 9600 GSO, 9600 GT, and 9800 GTX... in case that helps. We do honestly believe that AMD will fix this performance issue (that shouldn't be there in the first place), but we just aren't comfortable putting our stamp of approval on hardware when there are these kinds of issues being sorted out.
At what we see as a key gamer price point, $200 - $250, for playing Far Cry 2 we heartily recommend the GeForce GTX 260 core 216. You can save money and go with the GeForce GTX 260 (original version) for $20-$30 less (or more with rebates) as they are on their way out the door (NVIDIA is no longer making the 192 core GPU), but the 512MB Radeon HD 4870 just doesn't stack up to these cards in these tests. To top that off, if you haven't picked up Far Cry 2 yet, EVGA is offering overclocked GTX 260 parts at stock prices bundled with the game. Now if that isn't the sweet spot, I don't know what is.
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toyota - Friday, November 21, 2008 - link
I have a GTX260 with 180.48 drivers and it stutters in the benchmark and in the game. theres a little hitch even while walking around like in STALKER but not as severe. my 4670 stuttered much less in the benchmark and basically zero in the game so this is NOT an ATI only issue.Goty - Friday, November 21, 2008 - link
You really can't blame AMD for having issues with the 8.10 drivers, they probably weren't given access to the game until very shortly before it was released (if at all) as a result of it being a part of the TWIMTBP program. If you consider the fact that work on the 8.11s probably began sometime a month or so before, too, there's even reason for issues there. Watch the 8.12s come out and AMD jump ahead significantly in performance (not that anyone will care by then, though).Genx87 - Monday, November 24, 2008 - link
The beta testers for the game manufacturer have access to the cards and drivers. ATI knew about this well before the release of the game.ashegam - Friday, November 21, 2008 - link
why is there so little difference between the 192 260 and the 216 260?I swear I've seen reviews that put that card a good 10-20% above it's older counterpart.
PrinceGaz - Saturday, November 22, 2008 - link
A good 10-20%? I very much doubt that, given that stock original GTX260's and the Core 216 later versions differ only in having 9 instead of 8 shader banks, and the equivalent increase in texture units.Under ideal conditions, that would result in a 12.5% performance increase, but in practice is likely to be little more than 5% or so as many other factors affect performance. Anything above 12.5% improvement with a Core 216 would only be possible with a driver tweak which favoured it, or unless the Core 216 was overclocked. An improvement of 5% or so over the original GTX260 is what you should expect.
CEO Ballmer - Friday, November 21, 2008 - link
It does not work on Macs!http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com">http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
CrystalBay - Sunday, November 23, 2008 - link
Yeah, I Hate It, Ubisoft should be banned to making chess games for Macs.Anyhow Firing Squad backs up Dereks benches , pretty much ...
chizow - Friday, November 21, 2008 - link
Seems to be missing, platform used, drivers used etc. I'm guessing the 180.48s weren't used, as those results seem to be off for NV parts. If they weren't, that distinction should probably be made.phatmhatg - Friday, November 21, 2008 - link
nice article. very well supported.im still going with the 260 192 though.
its just about as good as the 4870 1gb. what, im losing fewer than 10fps at 19x12?
its about 60-75 cheaper. i got my 260 for 214 after rebate. free shipping.
and heres the funny part - it came with far cry 2. so i save about 50 going with the 260 over the 4870 1gb AND i save another 50 by getting the game with it. thats 100 in savings. again - for about max 10fps less?
lastly - driver issues. i dont JUST play farcry2. i play other games. just seems - and maybe im wrong and maybe things will change - that nvidia either avoids problems with games and/or fixes them better/more quickly than amd does. i dont want to have to wait or mess with things to get my game working. i want it working when i install it.
so there are 4 good reasons to go with the 260 - cheaper, get game with card, not much slower at all, and better drivers in other games.
kr7400 - Tuesday, December 2, 2008 - link
Can you please fucking die? Preferably by getting crushed to death in a garbage compactor, by getting your face cut to ribbons with a pocketknife, your head cracked open with a baseball bat, your stomach sliced open and your entrails spilled out, and your eyeballs ripped out of their sockets. *beep* bitch
Shut the *beep* up f aggot, before you get your face bashed in and cut to ribbons, and your throat slit.