Far Cry 2 Dissected: Massive Amounts of Performance Data
by Derek Wilson on November 21, 2008 5:30 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Originally we had planned on doing a rather quick Far Cry 2 performance article, as the game has been anticipated for quite some time and we like to keep our benchmarks up to date with the latest and greatest titles. Unfortunately we hit some snags along the way. We've finally got all the data we can pull together ready to go, and there is quite a bit of it. Despite some issues that precluded us obtaining all the data we wanted, we do have an interesting picture of Far Cry 2 performance.
Because of the inclusion of a very robust and useful benchmarking tool, the process of collecting the data was greatly eased. Unfortunately, the benchmark tool was a bit unstable, which did mean lots of babysitting. But other than that, it was still a much nicer process to benchmark Far Cry 2 than most other games. The tool not only helps with running the benchmark, but it does a great job of collecting data. Lots of data. But we'll get to all that in a bit.
By now, many people know about the AMD driver issues that have plagued their Far Cry 2 performance and consistency. We were unable to test CrossFire because of driver issues. We didn't do a full SLI analysis because there isn't much to compare it against, but we did include two SLI configurations in order to help illustrate the potential scaling we could see from other SLI setups and to give us a target to hope CrossFire eventually hits (when it works). It is worth noting that this is the kind of issue that really damages AMD's credibility with respect to going single card CrossFire on the high end. We absolutely support their strategy, but they have simply got to execute. This type of a fumble is simply unacceptable.
Our line up tests will be an analysis of Far Cry 2 performance running with High, Very High and Ultra Quality with and without AA under DX9 and DX10. After we take a look at that we'll drill down into Ultra High quality DX10 performance and look at AMD and NVIDIA performance from top to bottom. We will touch on both built in and custom demo performance and 4xAA as well.
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Brunnis - Saturday, November 22, 2008 - link
I just wanted to point out that my HD4870 1GB stutters to the extreme with this game. I'm running an E8400 @ 3.8GHz, 8GB RAM and Vista 64-bit. It's however worth pointing out that there is no stuttering in DX9, only DX10. I've tried Cats 8.10, the second hotfix and now Cats 8.11. All have exactly the same problem, with horrible stuttering in DX10. The graphs from the benchmark tool clearly illustrate the issue with frequent spikes in them.I also have a friend with a HD4870 1GB and he has experienced the exact same problems. So, the HD4870 is definitely affected by AMD's shoddy drivers.
DerekWilson - Monday, November 24, 2008 - link
the "stuttering" in the benchmark is part of the benchmark -- it just plays back with stutters in it. it's like that no nv, amd -- all GPUs. the only stuttering that is actually stuttering is what you experience in the game.the fps versus frame graphs on my 4870 1GB are smooth, while other cards show spikes.
Slash3 - Saturday, November 22, 2008 - link
What resolution and graphic settings are you using? Is there a particular setting or gameplay situation that makes it worse?Giacomo - Saturday, November 22, 2008 - link
The stuttering issue, with my HIS HD3870 ICEQ3 (running all the latest Catalysts, on Vista x64), shows up at any resolution and quality settings under DX10. The problem shows up when you move around in the scenario: if you just stand, and look around, no stuttering; if you walk, a little stuttering sometimes; if you run, it gets worse; if you drive a car, it's horrible.Giacomo
RagingDragon - Saturday, November 22, 2008 - link
Sounds like it's loading textures (or some other data) from main memory into video memory. For some reason they aren't being preloaded, or are being bumped from video RAM then have to be reloaded. That would also explain why the 512MB have worse issues than 1GB cards.Slash3 - Saturday, November 22, 2008 - link
Would it be possible to make available the custom demo created for this benchmark? A page describing the test setup for the benchmark systems would also be greatly appreciated. Thanks!Willardjuice - Saturday, November 22, 2008 - link
I don't have any issues running the game with my R700 using the second 8.10 hotfixes.4ccmusic - Saturday, November 22, 2008 - link
Did anyone say this was the biggest let down of this year. If I wanted a game like GTA, I would get GTA.toyota - Saturday, November 22, 2008 - link
I have only played about two hours and I think I have had enough. Its a failure in my book.Amuro - Saturday, November 22, 2008 - link
I have a GTX 280 tri SLI system, so the game runs very good. However, I stopped playing it after just an hour of play. The graphics are a joke, not even half as good as Crysis and Warhead, and not to mention the entire game world has an ugly orange/yellow mixed with brown tint to it.