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[Kezen]

I know that makes it even more difficult for me to choose. Should I go with the normal 4GB? Is 256 bus that much of a problem?

I know Maxwell has some secret sauce to make more with less bandwith but 8GB seems excessive to me on such narrow bus.
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2014/09/18/nvidia_maxwell_gpu_geforce_gtx_980_video_card_review/4#.VGIPoflFuUk
4GB on a 256 bus is totally normal on the other hand but I can't tell you how future proof it will be. Unity requires 4gb at 1080p to use the most detailed textures, Shadow of Mordor asks for 5.4gb (at 1080p) if you max the original assets.

VRAM is the wildcard at the moment.

 

[UnrealEck]

I know that makes it even more difficult for me to choose. Should I go with the normal 4GB? Is 256 bus that much of a problem?

To answer your previous question, 4GB cards are enough to max Unity. A GTX 970 and 980 for example. They both have top notch GPUs though. 60 FPS is harder to touch but it's not clear that it's a memory limitation.

As for your question above, I'd wait to see what comes out. Nvidia are rumoured to announce 8GB cards this month. I think 8GB is total overkill for now though unless you're going into 4K and modified ultra high texture resolution territory.

 

[Renekton]

I know that makes it even more difficult for me to choose. Should I go with the normal 4GB? Is 256 bus that much of a problem?

Is 8GB even rumored? Nvidia is having trouble fulfilling demand for 970/980 even now.

 

[jim2point0]

Oh my god ... Are you sure that it's working ? Look at the "building" on the letf... Anyway this LOD is awful...

You sure the SMAA is working?

Come on guys. Give me the benefit of the doubt here. Anyways, here are a few comparisons with SMAA on and off. You can guess which is which. Just remember that 1xSMAA will not work miracles.

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/99713

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/99710

There's a ton of pixel crawl in this game unless you're using TXAA (ew).

How did you inject SMAA?

SweetFX. My settings are:

#define SMAA_THRESHOLD 0.05
#define SMAA_MAX_SEARCH_STEPS 80
#define SMAA_MAX_SEARCH_STEPS_DIAG 16
#define SMAA_CORNER_ROUNDING 50

 

[Seanspeed]

Come on guys. Give me the benefit of the doubt here.

A downsampled 1440p image plus SMAA and I guess I just expected better. :/

 

[SliChillax]

Is 8GB even rumored? Nvidia is having trouble fulfilling demand for 970/980 even now.

Yes they're supposed to release this or next month. As for the above replies, since I game on 1440p I'm really worried about 4GB. I plan on upgrading every two years or add a second 970. I'm leaning more towards the 4GB and add another one later but we'll see...

 

[alexandros]

It might a decent port job, but I'm not going to praise the game's performance, sorry. It seems excessively demanding for what the final output is. There may be valid reasons for why it runs the way it does and it may not necessarily be 'unoptimized', either. That doesn't mean they didn't make a lot of bad choices to get here, though.

I bet if you took a poll and asked how many people would take a halving of NPC counts for a respectable increase in performance, people would be all for it. Or maybe if there was some breakthrough in CPU performance on the near horizon, we could chalk it up to being 'ahead of its time', but that's not really the case.

Bottom line, some people want to enjoy *playing* the game and that's made difficult with a violently inconsistent and demanding framerate. Another example of why I fully support the push for 60fps console games, so we can at least get an emphasis on playability before thinking about tacking on the shiny.

Yeah, I agree with all of that.

 

[Felix Lighter]

I just saw the other thread. Holy shit, this game sounds like a technical disaster on every platform. Can't delay an AC game. Better to just drop a turd, I guess. You can see the last minute compromises to try and salvage performance at any cost. That LOD and pop in is insane.

 

[Kezen]

Yes they're supposed to release this or next month.

Nvidia debunked the 8gb 970/980.

 

[jim2point0]

A downsampled 1440p image plus SMAA and I guess I just expected better. :/

Well... 2560x1440 -> 1920x1080 isn't going to give you much in the way of AA. I just downsampled them so you can see the comparisons a little easier. But yeah, it's rough. I have no idea why they didn't add SMAA as an option in this one.

MSAA has the same problem as it did in Black Flag where it also enables FXAA.

 

[Gormenghast]

60 FPS is harder to touch but it's not clear that it's a memory limitation.

It is clear.

Video memory doesn't affect framerate, if not when actively loading/unloading assets. If video memory is a problem you see stutters, not overall lower FPS.

 

[SliChillax]

Nvidia debunked the 8gb 970/980.

So this is false then? http://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/nvidia-to-reveal-geforce-gtx-970980-with-8gb-of-memory-in-november-of-december/

 

[icecold1983]

Well... 2560x1440 -> 1920x1080 isn't going to give you much in the way of AA. I just downsampled them so you can see the comparisons a little easier. But yeah, it's rough. I have no idea why they didn't add SMAA as an option in this one.

MSAA has the same problem as it did in Black Flag where it also enables FXAA.

msaa actually doesnt enable fxaa from what i can tell. stand alone fxaa is actually the best ingame option for reducing aliasing in this title. msaa and txaa look horrible. very odd.

 

[Felix Lighter]

Is there any evidence at all that it's a VRam issue? Why is that the assumption here?

 

[Kezen]

So this is false then? http://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/nvidia-to-reveal-geforce-gtx-970980-with-8gb-of-memory-in-november-of-december/

It's obviously possible that they denied 8gb cards being around the corner so everyone rushes on the 4gb 970/980.

I would not get my hopes up if I were you.

 

[daninthemix]

So is a 4GB GPU really a foolish purchase at this point?

I am generally happy to forgo things like AA, high shadow quality and SSAO, but I absolutley insist on max geometry and textures. Now it seems going forward that 4GB VRAM may not be able to achieve that?

 

[SliChillax]

It's obviously possible that they denied 8gb cards being around the corner so everyone rushes on the 4gb 970/980.

I would not get my hopes up if I were you.

Seeing as the 8GB R290x is almost 100 pounds more than the 4GB version, I'm just going with the 4GB 970 and add another one down the line. Hopefully I can find some in stock.

 

[eizarus]

i7-4700HQ, GTX860M, 8GB ram...is this game a yay or nay for me?

 

[Skyzard]

Come on guys. Give me the benefit of the doubt here. Anyways, here are a few comparisons with SMAA on and off. You can guess which is which. Just remember that 1xSMAA will not work miracles.

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/99713

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/99710

There's a ton of pixel crawl in this game unless you're using TXAA (ew).



SweetFX. My settings are:

#define SMAA_THRESHOLD 0.05
#define SMAA_MAX_SEARCH_STEPS 80
#define SMAA_MAX_SEARCH_STEPS_DIAG 16
#define SMAA_CORNER_ROUNDING 50

That's a really neat site.

Is there any evidence at all that it's a VRam issue? Why is that the assumption here?

That Nvidia table of the graphics cards and recommended settings made me think it has at least something to do with it. Although Titan losing to 4GB.
Fuck that table.

 

[RadioactiveLobster]

I'm getting about 11MB/s which is a bit faster than my connection should be getting, same goes for all uPlay downloads for me. Maybe your ISP is throttling you.

If they are, they are throttling only UPlay. Steam and everything else downloads at max speeds my connection can support.

I am also going by my bandwidth monitoring software, not Uplay's readout itself

 

[Seanspeed]

Well... 2560x1440 -> 1920x1080 isn't going to give you much in the way of AA

That's my typically downsample resolution and I get pretty good results with it overall.

I dunno.

msaa actually doesnt enable fxaa from what i can tell. stand alone fxaa is actually the best ingame option for reducing aliasing in this title. msaa and txaa look horrible very odd.

TXAA creates a softer look than FXAA, but its still *far* better in terms of eliminating aliasing.

http://international.download.nvidi...-anti-aliasing-comparison-1-txaa-vs-fxaa.html

 

[icecold1983]

That's my typically downsample resolution and I get pretty good results with it overall.

I dunno.


TXAA creates a softer look than FXAA, but its still *far* better in terms of eliminating aliasing.

http://international.download.nvidi...-anti-aliasing-comparison-1-txaa-vs-fxaa.html

have you actually played the game? msaa and txaa look substantially worse than fxaa in this title. andy mentioned that guide was using an earlier build, maybe something changed or broke wrt to the aa solutions in the final build.

 

[thuway]

Just a quick question, are the two patches released thus far improving performance?

 

[Asd202]

Source: UbiJohkr - Ubisoft Community Manager

Maybe people with AMD hardware should wait for further clarifications before buying this on PC.

This shit should have been dealt with pre-release.

 

[Skyzard]

have you actually played the game? msaa and txaa look substantially worse than fxaa in this title. andy mentioned that guide was using an earlier build, maybe something changed or broke wrt to the aa solutions in the final build.

I've noticed TXAA does make faces look awful in this. Didn't know msaa too. Messes the colours up a bit too much too.

Thank goodness for Sweetfx then.

...but txaa...

 

[Seanspeed]

have you actually played the game? msaa and txaa look substantially worse than fxaa in this title. andy mentioned that guide was using an earlier build, maybe something changed or broke wrt to the aa solutions in the final build.

Show me some screenshots then. You talk a lot about 'have you seen' or 'have you played', but never show any evidence of your own.

Not that I'm saying you're wrong, its just a really annoying way to discuss things. Enlighten us. Its the PC performance thread, so you will not only serve this little discussion, but could also help others out in determining what choices they make.

 

[alexandros]

Just a quick question, are the two patches released thus far improving performance?

Apparently there's an issue with AMD cards, maybe this is why performance is really bad for some AMD users. They're working on a solution.

 

[Rwinterhalter]

There's a ton of pixel crawl in this game unless you're using TXAA (ew).

TXAA seems to make the pixel crawl worse. I don't know how that's possible, but I'm getting way shimmering on movement with MSAA x2.

 

[Damian.]

i7-4700HQ, GTX860M, 8GB ram...is this game a yay or nay for me?

Laptop I am running it on a 4810 | 860m @1225Mhz and getting a mostly solid 30fps throughout the intro area with 900p, Medium Environment Quality, High Textures, High Shadows, SSAO, Bloom Off. I suspect that I will have to put shadows to low when I get into the meat of the game on my laptop. CPU usage is spread evenly throughout all 8 threads and GPU usage is around 75-90% with some spikes to 99% which brings the framerate down to the mid 20's.

Conclusion: XBone quality for your laptop, sir.

 

[AndyBNV]

That Nvidia table of the graphics cards and recommended settings made me think it has at least something to do with it. Although Titan losing to 4GB.
Fuck that table.

It isn't "losing" http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/gu...-geforce-experience-optimal-playable-settings

"That Nvidia table of the graphics cards and recommended settings made me think it has at least something to do with it." GPUs with 4GB or more of VRAM get max quality textures. Geometry has nothing to do with it.

 

[jim2point0]

msaa actually doesnt enable fxaa from what i can tell. stand alone fxaa is actually the best ingame option for reducing aliasing in this title. msaa and txaa look horrible. very odd.

It definitely does. Go from no AA -> FXAA. See the blur added (i usually look at my character's face). Then enable 2xMSAA. The blur does not go away. So therefore it's combining FXAA with MSAA. MSAA alone wouldn't blur your face.

 

[Valnen]

Yup. Some PC-specific effects are usually pretty heavy on the system, let's wait for more data before drawing a conclusion. Besides, 40-50 fps maxed out at 1080p doesn't sound bad at all.

On a $500 video card it does. A card that costs that much should not be having issues maxing anything.

 

[indigo-cyclops]

It's not as ground-breaking as I hoped, but I'm able to run it reasonably and that's all I really care about at this point. Maybe the next game the engine will have all the kinks ironed out. I do think they went overboard with the crowds to jeopardize the performance.

 

[Skyzard]

It isn't "losing" http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/gu...-geforce-experience-optimal-playable-settings

"That Nvidia table of the graphics cards and recommended settings made me think it has at least something to do with it." GPUs with 4GB or more of VRAM get max quality textures. Geometry has nothing to do with it.

Ah shit, my mistake.

Got stuck on the part where the 3GB 780ti gets pawned by everything with 4GB ram.

 

[AndyBNV]

Ah shit, my mistake.


Got stuck on the part where the 3GB 780ti gets pawned by everything.

The only reason the 780 Ti is using 2xMSAA there, instead of TXAA, is because of VRAM.

 

[jett]

Grass rendering distance

LOD is a problem....

Just look how plain the "grass" looks on the right side. And that building.... wtf

As is, the game is unplayable @ 2560x1440, no AA, maxed. Frame rate is quite low with some serious stuttuers. During off the contact hardening shadows doesn't hekp m uch. I'm going to have to turn some other settings down

This is with a single 980 and the latest drivers.

This game is undeniably a technical disaster.

Where is Crossing Eden? How many years was it you claimed Ubisoft had been working on this game? 27?

 

[Damian.]

The only reason the 780 Ti is using 2xMSAA there, instead of TXAA, is because of VRAM.

Please tell me going forward that Nvidia will stop being so fucking stingy with VRAM, yes? It's a bit embarrasing when top of the line cards have to make compromises due to decisions like these.

 

[CambriaRising]

More fun with LOD.

If you right click the mouse, the game will zoom in. I don't recommend it.

This is absolutely awful.

 

[UnrealEck]

It is clear.

Video memory doesn't affect framerate, if not when actively loading/unloading assets. If video memory is a problem you see stutters, not overall lower FPS.

I'll need data to become convinced.
Edit: btw I'm not disagreeing with your above comment. I'm well aware that a lack of VRAM causes stutters. I'm debating whether 4GB is not enough for the game and I think it is enough.

 

[Setsuna]

On a $500 video card it does. A card that costs that much should not be having issues maxing anything.

Hypothetically what if Far Cry 3 was released in the place of far cry would it still not be acceptable?

 

[Renekton]

Please tell me going forward that Nvidia will stop being so fucking stingy with VRAM, yes? It's a bit embarrasing when top of the line cards have to make compromises due to decisions like these.

They are dominating the GPU market and making fat margins... they ain't gonna change anytime soon.

 

[Skyzard]

On a $500 video card it does. A card that costs that much should not be having issues maxing anything.

Cost me about $800 this year from Amazon (UK) for the 3GB 780 ti. Luckily Amazon are above reasonable and won't let me get fucked like this.

Nvidia would have known VRAM requirements would go up with these consoles and how it would affect their claims of TXAA and 4K etc for this generation.


And it's just starting and already 3GB is too low. How many more months until 4GB is too low? Maybe just one more AC.

 

[Kezen]

On a $500 video card it does. A card that costs that much should not be having issues maxing anything.

That makes no sense at all, the price you paid has nothing to do with the inherent hardware limitations. Crysis 3 couldn't run at 60fps on a 1.000€/$ GPU and it was well optimized.

 

[martino]

On a $500 video card it does. A card that costs that much should not be having issues maxing anything.

this is a stupid statement without context.
it depends on what max ask your card to do....

 

[Damian.]

They are dominating the GPU market and making fat margins... they ain't gonna change anytime soon.

Indeed, but I want admission from Nvidia that they are screwing the consumer with VRAM, especially in the light of new consoles. After that I want them to continue to dominate, with less BS.

 

[sobaka770]

I don't think this game is horribly unptimised.

You have to take into account that both Xbox One and PS4 have 8GB of shared RAM pool. Therefore, considering the number of objects on screen, it is possible that the lowest amount of VRAM needed even at lowest texture resolutions will be close to 1.5-2 Gb which means that most older graphic cards will not run this game.

People were asking for a completely new-gen game, well here it is. This thing was not optimized for old-gen consoles and made from scratch for new gen. Therefore it has a lot of things that cannot be scaled down.

Therefore if you have 750Ti or 7670 Radeon, you should only expect to run the game at 30 FPS at 900p resolution with settings similar to the one on PS4 (with lower textures because your RAM is not unified). If you can't match that, then I don't know what else you were expecting.

 

[icecold1983]

Show me some screenshots then. You talk a lot about 'have you seen' or 'have you played', but never show any evidence of your own.

Not that I'm saying you're wrong, its just a really annoying way to discuss things. Enlighten us. Its the PC performance thread, so you will not only serve this little discussion, but could also help others out in determining what choices they make.

heres some pics, but keep in mind its much worse in motion. msaa and txaa have so much temporal aliasing compared to fxaa i rly dont understand whats going on

fxaa

txaa

It definitely does. Go from no AA -> FXAA. See the blur added (i usually look at my character's face). Then enable 2xMSAA. The blur does not go away. So therefore it's combining FXAA with MSAA. MSAA alone wouldn't blur your face.

than the fxaa option is doing something completely different.

 

[Asgaro]

More fun with LOD.

If you right click the mouse, the game will zoom in. I don't recommend it.

 

[alexandros]

On a $500 video card it does. A card that costs that much should not be having issues maxing anything.

That's not how it works.

 

[TheNamelessOne]

I bought this on Uplay from Nuuvem and I'm installing now. Since I'm in EU I guess I can't play right away though. Does it work unlocking via VPN like with Steam?