Borderlands 2 benchmarks (& Physx)

[wand3r3r]

FPS howto:
If you post FPS please add your processor, GPU, resolution, and number of players.

Use http://www.fraps.com/download.php which saves (default) to cFRAPS\Benchmarks in 3 *.csv files. There are the min, max, and average fps in one file, frame times in another, and then every second and the FPS for that second in a third.

You just take the fps file and open it in Excel and insert - line chart. The default came like the chart I posted. The FPS are the Y axis and that chart I posted below were 1200 seconds so 20 minutes of playing.

I've tried to do a couple amateur fps runs just to see what the frames are doing because I noticed some lag in the big battles with 4 players and lots of elemental usage. Basically reviews have shown min/avg/max fps somewhat so I was quite surprised to see drops to basically single digits in the worse cases (major slideshow although usually just for a moment). So far these are my experiences, I hope others will benchmark and add their own as well.

The reason I will make this thread is to compile data and also because I will have a GTX 680 4 GB in about a week so I will also try that out to determine if the 690 actually has SLI bugs or other factors affecting it.

Basically:
4 player with the turret firing rockets, siren and phaselock, and massive amounts of physx particles flying around and basically filling the screen is extremely intense. The 690 plays great most of the time, it's just funny it's brought to it's knees by physx overloads.

Single player, 2 player modes don't seem to bring the 690 below 50 fps, or I haven't tested it enough to say with certainty.

http://physxinfo.com/news/9425/borderlands-2-is-cpu-capable-of-handling-the-physx-effects/

-------------------------------- GTX 690 ------------------------------------------------------------

I'll just pull some of the data I put in another thread and drop it in here for now.

A few screenshots with FPS and the amount of physx visible.
http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=34005157&postcount=189
http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=34005172&postcount=192

Tested on.
Core i7 980 @4+GHz 6 core/12 thread
GTX 690 4 GB
GTX 670 PE 2 GB
1920x1200
SSDs, etc.


Here's a pretty mild run through caustic canyon or whatever it was called. The x is seconds, and the y FPS. I had the frames limited to 60 or there would have been jumps up to 200 most likely. This was only with 1 and then 2 other people. (1 joined somewhere in the timeframe)

I still need some more data from 4 person because single/2player "feels" smoother then with the 4 person chaotic battles.

Now I just ran through the part where bloodwing was (map wildlife refugee(?), where Slag is) and here are the results of playing with one other person (2 people). In my experience 1 player is a lot less intense, 2 is still not bad, 4 is chaotic especially using sirens freeze thing, the guys turret, elemental weapons etc.

I had a run through jacks lair whatever it was called. There were 4 players but it wasn't as intense as the close quarter fights in other locations as it's a wide open space, and everyone was spread out vs. side by side fighting the same guy.

gtx 690
1920x1200
I updated the physx driver to 9.12.0613 as someone said that helped them.
~20 mins

Here's a capped at 60fps run in single player. It was where you need to blow up the furnace. It felt pretty mild and wasn't anywhere near the intensity of multiplayer. (this was before updating physx) In the wide open spaces in single player it doesn't even feel like it's very intense even with elemental weapons etc.

I tried to run across from the teleport station straight to another exit in the desert, shooting a few skags along the way along with a couple birds. This is as non-scientific as it gets, but the scenery is pretty empty with about a dozen enemy kills and only 1-2 minute runs.

I noticed when I look across the map where you can see a distance the frames were almost half then when I turned mostly facing a massive pump which had tremors when pumping.

-------------------------------- END OF GTX 690 ------------------------------------------------------------


++++++++++++++++++++++++++ HD 7950 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
hd 7950

Physx high, these were a bunch of the missions before the warrior. Some battles, a lot of running around etc.
This was PHYSX HIGH. I know due to running nvidia cards before this.

Physx low. The warrior battle.

The best option would be hybrid for multiplayer on an AMD card.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++ END OF HD 7950 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ GTX 670 PE ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
i7 980 @4+ GHz
gtx 670 PE @~1240 core / 6500 memory


The bunker.

Here's the fight downstairs directly after the Bunker.

for more images see post
http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=34091942&postcount=21

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ GTX 670 PE ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Upcoming: (depends on motivation )
i7 3930k
gtx 680 lightning


If you're a nvidia/amd blinded fanboy with nothing to add just stay out of this thread please. I'm not pro- nor anti- brands, but $/performance. In the other thread certain individuals keep adding how smooth their stuff was without providing any proof nor constructive advice/comments. Soon enough I can test the 680 myself.

 

[Durvelle27]

what i got in this

AVG ~ 62

MIN ~ 1

MAX ~ 64

1920x1080 everything set to the highest except physx which was medium

specs in sig

 

[wand3r3r]

Thanks!

 

[DimmyK]

I posted this in another thread about BL2 physx, but just going to copy/paste it here too.

This is quick 8-min solo run (I have no friends, foreveralone.jpg lol) on a single 680 @ 1325/3312. 1920x1080, all settings on max, fps capped @ 120, tundra express, closest outpost to the spawn spot, 20-25 bandits, 5 helicoptery flying things. I was using corrosive grenade mod that spawns 5 child grenades + corrosive pistol + few barrels of goo around = pools of liquid everywhere.

If someone can point me to more demanding spot (where I can just jump in and clean out the outpost or whatnot without doing specific missions), I'd be happy to bench it too.

Here is 30 minutes of slaying crystalisks in Fridge, same settings as above. It starts with bunch of bandits at the entrance of the map, lots of explosions/corrosion liquid spills.

I looooove benchmarking, so if you guys want me to bench specific area or with different clocks/settings, just let me know.

Rest of the system:
2500K @4.6Ghz
256GB Samsung 830 boot drive
Windows 7 x64 Professional
Alienware aw2310 120Hz monitor

 

[hokies83]

I do not know how the game can be Benchmarked yet really as buggy as it is..

I have FPS set to 120 And i get about 50% Gpu use on 2 4GB 680s and the fps will dip but the gpu use will not go up to keep the fps at 120.. Needs a patch.

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

I do not know how the game can be Benchmarked yet really as buggy as it is..

I have FPS set to 120 And i get about 50% Gpu use on 2 4GB 680s and the fps will dip but the gpu use will not go up to keep the fps at 120.. Needs a patch.

That sounds like you are CPU limited, even with an i7 at 5ghz.

 

[SPBHM]

although not of much relevance here since most are running way more powerful systems than I, I would like to add the video test I made a week ago,
basically comparing physx low-medium-high on the CPU (i3) even tough the low run was mostly limited by the GPU.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWjOgWnt5W8

also another quick test, in this case with even lower specs (e5400, 5570) and settings, I think the biggest problem here was the CPU,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBSewzJvrtw

 

[hokies83]

That sounds like you are CPU limited, even with an i7 at 5ghz.

I have plenty of CPU lead way the game is just buggy.

Most cpu use i see is 50%

 

[toyota]

I have plenty of CPU lead way the game is just buggy.

Most cpu use i see is 50%

percentage of cpu being used has little to do with being cpu limited or not. if a game only utilizes two cores and needs those to be fast then of course you could be cpu limited only using 50% of a quad core since two of your cores are not having to do anything anyway.

 

[Ferzerp]

Frames, Time (ms), Min, Max, Avg
21803, 300000, 43, 126, 72.677


680 SLI all max, 2560x1600 (~2x the pixels of 1920x1200). Caustic caverns, fighting crystal leg things, gunzerking with dual elemental spitting weapons with high RoF as often as possible.

 

[wand3r3r]

Frames, Time (ms), Min, Max, Avg
21803, 300000, 43, 126, 72.677


680 SLI all max, 2560x1600 (~2x the pixels of 1920x1200). Caustic caverns, fighting crystal leg things, gunzerking with dual elemental spitting weapons with high RoF as often as possible.

Was this in single player or multiplayer mode (how many players)?

 

[moonbogg]

Whats the deal with this game? Are the graphics actually better than the first game? The first game was overkilled by a single gtx 260, so im just wondering. I guess it looks better or something?

 

[Jaydip]

Yeah it looks better but the gameplay is mostly similar

 

[wand3r3r]

Whats the deal with this game? Are the graphics actually better than the first game? The first game was overkilled by a single gtx 260, so im just wondering. I guess it looks better or something?

The graphics are quite similar but there is definitely an improvement, plus physx is pretty sweet - albeit a bit gimmicky/tacky if observed closely. Physx is dropping FPS by ~1/3 - 1/2 (?) so it's pretty intense thus this thread. You can play it with the same graphics as BL1 and I would veture a guess older hardware will do fine too, but when you max it out and add physx it's a lot more demanding.

The gameplay itself is very similar so it feels like you're continuing BL1 (a lot of new bosses/enemies/quests), but they have gone through and improved tons of things (in my opinion).

 

[wand3r3r]

++++++++++++++++++++++++++ HD 7950 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
hd 7950

Physx high, these were a bunch of the missions before the warrior. Some battles, a lot of running around etc.
This was PHYSX HIGH. I know due to running nvidia cards before this.

Physx low. The warrior battle.

Added to the OP too.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Anyone with a 5830 / 7770 tried B2 at 1920x1080? Might be downgrading from a 6970 to a 5830 temporarily (for about a month), so I hope that it would be decently playable.

 

[darckhart]

i have no hard numbers nor graphs for you, but i can say that i do have occassion where the framerates dip into the 15-20s with that much crap happening on screen (helicopter things, acid nade with children nades, smoke, bullets, fire, baddies melting into pools, or getting electrocuted.) drop physx to med and surprisingly it never dips that badly, usually stays up around 45-60.

i play at 2560x1440, 16xAF, 16xQ CSAA, 8xSSAA Transparency, physx on high.
GTX680 FTW+ 4GB, stock/stock or 1325/3450
rest of spec in sig

 

[Ferzerp]

Single player.

I have no friends

 

[Dylfin]

I gather some data too. All settings maxed. Played with my bro in cooperative. Map - City of Opportunity.
CPU: i7-920@4.2Ghz, HT off
Memory: 12Gb
Video: HD6950@6970. Core: 925Mhz. Memory: 1400Mhz.
Google doc
Graph can be viewed with more details via copy.

 

[biostud]

Anyone with a 5830 / 7770 tried B2 at 1920x1080? Might be downgrading from a 6970 to a 5830 temporarily (for about a month), so I hope that it would be decently playable.

shouldn't be a problem, I use a 6850 @ 2560x1440 and it plays fine.

 

[wand3r3r]

I decided to test how well the 670 PE works in Borderlands 2. I got curious and was concerned that the 690 just had some SLI bugs etc. so now I got a 670 PE and decided to bench some BL2 playtime. These are with 3 - 4 players. They are certainly not the most intense scenes (nor are they the simplest/easiest), they are just where I happen to be playing atm.

i7 980 @4+ GHz
gtx 670 PE @~1240 core / 6500 memory


The bunker.

Here's the fight downstairs directly after the Bunker.

This is after the bunker, and the angel thing downstairs.

I'll try get some really intense action benchmarked like the caustic caverns and places with tons of physx.

In single player it is smooth. I haven't benchmarked it though. Multiplayer is the only thing I care about and most of the benchmarks seem to use single player.

 

[The_Golden_Man]

I run 2x GTX 670 SLI (The second also handles PhysX), 1920x1200, 2600K@4.4GHz. (See signature).

With everything at max, including PhysX I get dips below 40FPS, even in singleplayer. Have tested alot in the Caustic Caverns.

The last few hours I've played singleplayer with Ambient Occlusion disabled, View Distance at Medium and PhysX at Medium. I still get dips down to 40FPS in intense battles, but not below 40FPS as far as I've seen.

First few days after I got the game I played co-op with 3 other friends. I had everything maxed out in the game at that time. I saw dips in the 30's in intense battles. I don't believe it ran much worse VS singleplayer though.

I have tried PhysX on low just for a short period of time in the Caustic cavern, and it seems to be the only way to maintain 60FPS + at all times.

This game is just badly optimized and needs a patch. There have been rumors Gearbox is working on a performance patch.

 

[wand3r3r]

I run 2x GTX 670 SLI (The second also handles PhysX), 1920x1200, 2600K@4.4GHz. (See signature).

With everything at max, including PhysX I get dips below 40FPS, even in singleplayer. Have tested alot in the Caustic Caverns.

The last few hours I've played singleplayer with Ambient Occlusion disabled, View Distance at Medium and PhysX at Medium. I still get dips down to 40FPS in intense battles, but not below 40FPS as far as I've seen.

First few days after I got the game I played co-op with 3 other friends. I had everything maxed out in the game at that time. I saw dips in the 30's in intense battles. I don't believe it ran much worse VS singleplayer though.

I have tried PhysX on low just for a short period of time in the Caustic cavern, and it seems to be the only way to maintain 60FPS + at all times.

This game is just badly optimized and needs a patch. There have been rumors Gearbox is working on a performance patch.

Thanks for the info. It collaborates well with what I've been finding. Basically there is nothing capable of maintaining 60 FPS with Physx high on the market.

I've noticed multiplayer to drop the FPS more likely because I tend to get in the middle of the battles with melee and close combat and the explosions are almost blinding with colors and particles while in singleplayer I tend to stay back a bit and snipe at leisure.

The game itself is fine and not demanding, but the physx is just killing performance. Hopefully any patches will help with that.

I guess it's time to start lowering some other settings because I don't want to give up physx. I'll try Ambient Occlusion disabled and View Distance at Medium as you tried.

 

[The_Golden_Man]

Thanks for the info. It collaborates well with what I've been finding. Basically there is nothing capable of maintaining 60 FPS with Physx high on the market.

I've noticed multiplayer to drop the FPS more likely because I tend to get in the middle of the battles with melee and close combat and the explosions are almost blinding with colors and particles while in singleplayer I tend to stay back a bit and snipe at leisure.

The game itself is fine and not demanding, but the physx is just killing performance. Hopefully any patches will help with that.

I guess it's time to start lowering some other settings because I don't want to give up physx. I'll try Ambient Occlusion disabled and View Distance at Medium as you tried.

Yeah, according to Borderlands 2 Tweak Guide Ambient Occlusion can take away as much as 10FPS whilst being a subtle effect. Also going from Ultra High to High or Medium on View distance can give you 10 more FPS in many scenarios. PhysX from High to Medium can give you as much 20FPS according to the graphs in the guide (Keep in mind they are using a single card though. For us using SLI the difference will probably be a little less between High and medium). However, at Medium the most important PhysX effects are still there.

 

[AdamK47]

Lets say, hypothetically, if I were to add a 650Ti to my three 7970s and run hybrid PhysX, would the framerate still be at a constant 60FPS with PhysX set to high? Would a 650Ti keep up as a dedicated PhysX card?