• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Total War: Warhammer PC Performance Thread

ISee

Member
warhammertotalwarneogdapto.jpg



System requirements (DX11):


Low preset/25-35fps/720p(*)

  • Win 7 64 Bit
  • Core 2 Duo 3,0 GHz
  • 3 GByte of Ram
  • Radeon HD 5770 1 GiB | GTS 450 1 GiB | Intel HD4000 4 GiB
  • 35 GByte available space

High preset/45-55fps/1080p(*)

  • Win 7/8.1/10 64 Bit
  • Core i5-4570 3, 2 GHz
  • 8 GByte of Ram
  • Radeon R9 270X 2 GiB | Geforce GTX 760 2 GiB
  • 35 GByte available space

Ultra Preset/60fps/1080p(*)

  • Win 7/8.1/10 64 Bit
  • Core i7-4790K 4,0 GHz
  • 8 GByte of Ram
  • Fury X oder GTX 980
  • 35 GByte available space

(*) 1v1 with 20 Units each.

Latest drivers:
Nvidia: 368.22
Version 368.22 WHQL Highlights

Issues Being Resolved with Total War: Warhammer
NVIDIA is working closely with Creative Assembly to resolve issues discovered in
Total War: Warhammer during testing
. To ensure the best possible experience, update
to new drivers as they're released and download the latest game updates.
AMD: 16.5.3 - Total War:Warhammer and Overwatch support

Settings:
4 settings each: low said:

Warhammer: Total War Graphics Settings Comparisons by ACG (i7 5820k @3.7
and a gtx980 with no OC's).
Something for the performance thread, courtesy of ACG https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgIMY9MOu1M

Tipps and Tricks:

If you're stuck during loading scenes, going offline (steam) might help
Flickering with activated Vsync. Turn Vsync off and put the game into borderless window mode.


ACG - YT
Warnings:
The game does like to mess around and sometimes not apply a setting or two so make sure you check your settings and in particular the "unlimited video memory" setting.
Also picking a GFX preset DOES NOT change your texture resolution. You need to pick the preset apply it then go into the gfx settings and match it with your texture res if you want it aligned. Its no harm if it isn't but it threw me for a loop a couple times as preset doesn't mean 'just random shit'

From my initial testing on 3 systems I found
AA, Shadows, and Unit detail to be where I could glean the best performance.
Tree and terrain detail were also heavy hitters but that depended much more on the map and its makeup.

WarbossBadfragg said:
A red paint job will improve PC performance.

DX12 benchmarks

New DX12 (preview!) benchmarks and some infos:

- The DX12 build will use asynchronous Compute in some form.
- Multi-GPU support, so no need for SLI/Cross-Fire. You will be even able to mix NVIDIA/AMD cards.
- the dx12 build refuses to work with 'older' cards based on nvidias kepler and amds gcn 1.0 architecture. Maxwell v1 (aka 750ti) also doesn't work.

source (german)

dx12previewpcghdemwpvm.png

Pre release DX12 build (still work in progress)

DX 11 benchmarks

Pre release, review build, no day one patch, work in progress
Corei7 4790k said:
twwarhammerttz1c.png

Niedrige Details = low settings
Mittlere Details = medium settings
Hohe Details = high settings
A gtx 970 can drop down to 40 fps on high details (mentioned in text)




Will be updated.
Benchmarks might be exchanged over time (because of patches and/or newer driver versions).
Now stop reading. It's time for WAAAAAAAAAAGH! and performance impressions.
 
Well, SLI doesn't seem to be working properly yet. On my 680 SLI (2GB), I'm only getting one GPU hitting 90%+ Usage, whilst the other is sitting at around 10%.

There's no relevant Nvidia drivers yet for the game unfortunately either.
 

ISee

Member
i7 6700k [4.4ghz]
980 [1470mhz]
16gb of ram


DX 11
Ultra preset @ 1080p
+MLAA
+Depth of Field On
+Screen space reflections on

I only had time to test the Empire Tutorial mission, but there is already a lot going on.

50-65fps. Can't complain so far.

pic1
pic2
pic3

edit: wow one cpu thread is at 100% load...

Well, SLI doesn't seem to be working properly yet. On my 680 SLI (2GB), I'm only getting one GPU hitting 90%+ Usage, whilst the other is sitting at around 10%.

There's no relevant Nvidia drivers yet for the game unfortunately either.

Very sadly no, current drivers aren't Warhammer ready.
 
Will try and report when I get home later. Would be trying Ultra 1440p on a 980Ti Asus Strix and a 5820k OCd to 4.3Ghz.

It'd be nice of Nvidia pushed TWW ready drivers in the interim but they did just release ones for Overwatch yesterday...
 

Leopold

Member
Wonder if I can play it, considering that I can run Rome 2 on my computer. It's a laptop with a 920m 2gb, 8gb RAM and a i5 5200u.

I can use shader 5 and some settings on high.
 

roytheone

Member
Those cpu benchmarks are with directx 11, right? Since I am mostly cpu bottlenecked (gpu is an 970, cpu only an i7 870), directx 12 should run faster for me?
 

Karak

Member
I am the creator of the ACG video you posted. I had forgot to include my specs when making that for a subscriber.
I run a i7 5820k @3.7
and a gtx980 with no OC's for that title.

Also as I said in the description I checked the "large armies" checkbox when running that as it pushed the engine just enough to get a good variance to the numbers.

As for what I got. Getting it to 1440p and 60fps wasn't as hard as I thought with a couple settings down from ultra(that is in normal battles SP/MP without the large army checkbox and 4 armies present).

Warnings:
The game does like to mess around and sometimes not apply a setting or two so make sure you check your settings and in particular the "unlimited video memory" setting.
Also picking a GFX preset DOES NOT change your texture resolution. You need to pick the preset apply it then go into the gfx settings and match it with your texture res if you want it aligned. Its no harm if it isn't but it threw me for a loop a couple times as preset doesn't mean 'just random shit'

From my initial testing on 3 systems I found
AA, Shadows, and Unit detail to be where I could glean the best performance.
Tree and terrain detail were also heavy hitters but that depended much more on the map and its makeup.
 

Karak

Member
I should also mention that the "low, medium, high, ultra" indication isn't completely accurate above. A few of the settings go to extreme. Shadows for sure do.
 

dippa

Neo Member
Should be a note on those DX12 benchmarks: it's an automated one supplied by CA/AMD. Best to wait until DX12 support is fully patched in, tbh.

For me, running a GTX 780 on a i7-4770K, 32GB RAM: game runs decently, but not spectacularly. I've resorted to tanking the graphics to low and running at 1080p to reduce hitching on the campaign map, but battles have been perfectly playable and enjoyable.

Pretty happy, all things considered.
 
i7 960 @ 4.0 Ghz
GTX 980
32 GB RAM 2400Mhz

Just did the Empire's tutorial at the start. I just left the game at the ultra preset +MLAA, which it recommended. I was getting around 30 fps @ 1080p. I just need to play around with the settings for a bit.

Much better, played around for a bit and now I'm getting +60 fps. No complaints so far.
 

Corpekata

Banned
Game's running really well at Ultra preset on 980ti/ 6700k at 1440p.

Which it should be, but Total War games have proven that concept wrong in the past.
 

Impulsor

Member
Game's running really well at Ultra preset on 980ti/ 6700k at 1440p.

Which it should be, but Total War games have proven that concept wrong in the past.

I was just gonna ask this.

Is really well 60 fps rock solid? or do you experience drops?
 
i7 960 @ 4.0 Ghz
GTX 980
32 GB RAM 2400Mhz

Just did the Empire's tutorial at the start. I just left the game at the ultra preset +MLAA, which it recommended. I was getting around 30 fps @ 1080p. I just need to play around with the settings for a bit.

Much better, played around for a bit and now I'm getting +60 fps. No complaints so far.
What did you change?
 

Lister

Banned
Shadows seems to be pretty heavy on the GPU hit. Goping from Ultra to high put my overland map FPS above 50 from around 30.

This is on my 780ti and i5 4770k.
 

TheGrue

Member
Getting lots of weird flickering in the UI. I have a GTX 980 and just took the Ultra presets and the only change I made was Vsync. Think I saw others complaining of the same thing in the OT.
 

ISee

Member
Getting lots of weird flickering in the UI. I have a GTX 980 and just took the Ultra presets and the only change I made was Vsync. Think I saw others complaining of the same thing in the OT.

Yeah I remember a YouTuber having trouble with flickering and vsync. Try disabling it and put the game into borderless window mode.
 

Fitz

Member
Running well enough on my 660ti, mostly medium settings is getting me 60fps in battles at 1080p, the campaign map seems a little less consistent, but not bad. Load times off my SSD are very good, first time took about a minute, subsequence loads are around 5 seconds to the main menu.

Getting lots of weird flickering in the UI. I have a GTX 980 and just took the Ultra presets and the only change I made was Vsync. Think I saw others complaining of the same thing in the OT.

Yeah I remember a YouTuber having trouble with flickering and vsync. Try disabling it and put the game into borderless window mode.

Yep, some issue with V-sync atm, giving me the same problems when on.
 

Pilgore

Neo Member
With an i5 3570k and a GTX 980 on ultra/high settings at 2560x1080 it still runs kinda shit for what's happening on screen, sigh....

The framerate is so inconsistent. how are 2D fire FX cutting 20 frames off? Why is it when I look at trees and vegetation up close I lose another 20 frames? Such a frustrating experience.
 
How many of you with issues on Nvidia downloaded the new drivers? I did not and its running flawlessly. 970/5820k ultra 1080 never dropped below 60. I'll check in a bit to see what 1440p performance is.
 

Lister

Banned
How many of you with issues on Nvidia downloaded the new drivers? I did not and its running flawlessly. 970/5820k ultra 1080 never dropped below 60. I'll check in a bit to see what 1440p performance is.

Yeah, I updated and I get some weird black flickering during cutscenes. But performance seems ok, so long as I drop textures to high and shadows too.
 

ISee

Member
On the new drivers, i5 4590+gtx 970. Performance is shit.

With an i5 3570k and a GTX 980 on ultra/high settings at 2560x1080 it still runs kinda shit for what's happening on screen, sigh....

The framerate is so inconsistent. how are 2D fire FX cutting 20 frames off? Why is it when I look at trees and vegetation up close I lose another 20 frames? Such a frustrating experience.

How many of you with issues on Nvidia downloaded the new drivers? I did not and its running flawlessly. 970/5820k ultra 1080 never dropped below 60. I'll check in a bit to see what 1440p performance is.

Reading those 3 posts and comparing them with my initial testing this morning (still not back home). I get the feeling it's not a driver issue, but the game still seems to be very CPU intensive. But I'm just speculating here atm.
Also pls keep in mind, this time around there are no optimized drivers from nVidia yet and I still hope that dx12 might help with cpu bottlenecks.


I am the creator of the ACG video you posted. I had forgot to include my specs when making that for a subscriber.
I run a i7 5820k @3.7
and a gtx980 with no OC's for that title.

Also as I said in the description I checked the "large armies" checkbox when running that as it pushed the engine just enough to get a good variance to the numbers.

As for what I got. Getting it to 1440p and 60fps wasn't as hard as I thought with a couple settings down from ultra(that is in normal battles SP/MP without the large army checkbox and 4 armies present).

Warnings:
The game does like to mess around and sometimes not apply a setting or two so make sure you check your settings and in particular the "unlimited video memory" setting.
Also picking a GFX preset DOES NOT change your texture resolution. You need to pick the preset apply it then go into the gfx settings and match it with your texture res if you want it aligned. Its no harm if it isn't but it threw me for a loop a couple times as preset doesn't mean 'just random shit'

From my initial testing on 3 systems I found
AA, Shadows, and Unit detail to be where I could glean the best performance.
Tree and terrain detail were also heavy hitters but that depended much more on the map and its makeup.

Thx for the info and write up. Added it to the op + a link to your YT channel. Your Warhammer Review isn't bad at all.
 
Yeah, I updated and I get some weird black flickering during cutscenes. But performance seems ok, so long as I drop textures to high and shadows too.
That's the v-sync. You'll see the lines on the campaign map in text boxes as they pop up. This is on 365.19 drivers.
 

Karak

Member
How many of you with issues on Nvidia downloaded the new drivers? I did not and its running flawlessly. 970/5820k ultra 1080 never dropped below 60. I'll check in a bit to see what 1440p performance is.

Interesting. Nor did I and its ran incredibly well.
 

rdytoroll

Member
Dumb question. Can you enable vsync via Nvidia Control Panel, if you have the game running in borderless window? I think I've read sometime that vsync only applies in fullscreen.
 

ISee

Member
Dumb question. Can you enable vsync via Nvidia Control Panel, if you have the game running in borderless window? I think I've read sometime that vsync only applies in fullscreen.

Nope that's not true. Actually running a game in borderless windows mode is often enough to force a game to use vsync in the first place (forced upon the game by windows, works most of the time) and people use this and a fps limiter like RTSS (set to 60fps) instead of ingame vsync solutions very often.
And yes applying vsync via the nvidia control panel should also work.
 

rdytoroll

Member
Nope that's not true. Actually running a game in borderless windows mode is often enough to force a game to use vsync in the first place (forced upon the game by windows, works most of the time) and people use this and a fps limiter like RTSS (set to 60fps) instead of ingame vsync solutions very often.
And yes applying vsync via the nvidia control panel should also work.

Oh, good. Thanks for clearing up that misconception for me
 
Odd thing. Wanting to go windowed (I assume borderless as I don't see an option just 'windowed') I go from 1080p to 768p for some reason even though my display is 1080p. This is on laptop. No idea why. Also this is with new drivers.
Also when I quit the game is still 'running' in Task Manager. I believe this is something to do with Steam's bug reporting software or something? Very annoying.
 

rdytoroll

Member
So, what's the best way to limit to 30 fps? Just use RTSS (30fps) and what about vsync then? I have a 60hz monitor. Use the ingame one?

I'm sorry for these noob questions..
 
FYI - Windowed Mode with G-sync on (in GeForce Control Panel - make sure you click Fullscreen AND Windowed Modes) and V-sync OFF (in game's settings) = perfection.

(If you have a G-sync Nvidia card & monitor, that is.)
 

ISee

Member
So, what's the best way to limit to 30 fps? Just use RTSS (30fps) and what about vsync then? I have a 60hz monitor. Use the ingame one?

I'm sorry for these noob questions..

Yes set limit fps to 30 via RTSS and set adaptive vysnc to half rate via the nvidia control panel.
At least this should work.
 

Lister

Banned
So, what's the best way to limit to 30 fps? Just use RTSS (30fps) and what about vsync then? I have a 60hz monitor. Use the ingame one?

I'm sorry for these noob questions..

Why are you locking it to 30? If you go borderless window and keep your settings so that you're above 40 FPS most of the time the game should feel great. Much better than at 30 FPS.

It's not an FPS so fluctuation in frame rate shouldn't be much of an issue, and the greater refresh rate makes the mouse controls feel responsive.

YMMV, but I'd recommend you don't lock this game to 30 if your hardware can handle 40+ at the settings you want to play at.
 

rdytoroll

Member
Why are you locking it to 30? If you go borderless window and keep your settings so that you're above 40 FPS most of the time the game should feel great. Much better than at 30 FPS.

It's not an FPS so fluctuation in frame rate shouldn't be much of an issue, and the greater refresh rate makes the mouse controls feel responsive.

YMMV, but I'd recommend you don't lock this game to 30 if your hardware can handle 40+ at the settings you want to play at.

I did that and you could really feel when the framerate started to drop 5 or 10 fps. Now I've locked it to 30 FPS and it feels really smooth, I'm pretty surprised
 

nubbe

Member
I find myself not really caring about the framerate... as long as it is around 30 FPS, given the nature of the game.
I kinda only care about the tactical aspect

Nvidia updated GFE with their recommended settings
3930K and 2x780 gets me 30FPS on the map and 60 in combat
 

ISee

Member
I find myself not really caring about the framerate... as long as it is around 30 FPS, given the nature of the game.
I kinda only care about the tactical aspect

Nvidia updated GFE with their recommended settings
3930K and 2x780 gets me 30FPS on the map and 60 in combat

There is still no SLI support, so performance should even increase for you in the coming days (hopefully).
 

Google

Member
There is still no SLI support, so performance should even increase for you in the coming days (hopefully).

I have SLI'd 980s and I look forward to this being sorted out. Getting that nice bump will hopefully make 1440p and 60FPS rock solid.
 

Stevey

Member
Currently playing on the Ultra preset.
Getting like 50-60 FPS in battles.
Specs-
Win 10 64 bit
1080p
EVGA GTX 780 3GB Classified (latest driver)
16GB RAM 1600 MHZ
Installed on a Crucial MX100 512GB SSD
i7 3770K 4.1 GHZ

Pretty much at the 3GB VRAM limit, but seems fine so far.
 

Lister

Banned
I find myself not really caring about the framerate... as long as it is around 30 FPS, given the nature of the game.
I kinda only care about the tactical aspect

Nvidia updated GFE with their recommended settings
3930K and 2x780 gets me 30FPS on the map and 60 in combat

Dat map though! Every total war game, it ramps up my temps super high. In the battle map meantime, even at 1440p my 780ti gets a good 50 FPS and the temps actually drop!
 
Top Bottom