OpenGL 4.6 and DooM 2016

Wall Street

Senior member
Mar 28, 2012
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The new Nvidia drivers (387.92) support OpenGL 4.6. I notice when I play DooM with the performance display on, it reports that it it rendering in that newer API. I wonder if any of the big sites will go back to look at OpenGL 4.6 vs. OpenGL 4.5 vs. Vulkan in this title. Also, I wonder if the OpenGL 4.6 path differs from the 4.5 path in any meaningful performance way. So far I have noticed that some intermittent crashing that I had with the old driver hasn't happened so far (knock on wood).

Unfortunately, I don't really have the setup to run a lot of performance numbers. I think that this new OpenGL should partially bridge the gap to allow some better shader computer performance, but won't be the same to-the-metal programming and draw call optimization that Vulkan offers.

Anyone tried DooM 2016 and OpenGL 4.6? Seeing any performance benefit?
 

dogen1

Senior member
Oct 14, 2014
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Anyone tried DooM 2016 and OpenGL 4.6? Seeing any performance benefit?

Just because it reports opengl 4.6 doesn't really mean it's using anything new from 4.6. It's kinda like how for a short period of time AMD cards reported 4.4 in doom. It's just telling you the opengl context, not what features it's using.
 

Carfax83

Diamond Member
Nov 1, 2010
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Just because it reports opengl 4.6 doesn't really mean it's using anything new from 4.6. It's kinda like how for a short period of time AMD cards reported 4.4 in doom. It's just telling you the opengl context, not what features it's using.

This basically. I just tried "OpenGL 4.6" in Doom, and it's just as terrible as OpenGL 4.5 :D

Honestly, I don't recommend using OpenGL anything if Vulkan is available. As good an implementation as the OpenGL renderer in Doom is, it still sucks because it's single threaded. The more cores your CPU has, the more horrible your performance can be in the CPU limited areas in the game. The most CPU limited area in the game that I've found, is the beginning area of the Argent Tower level. In some parts, I get a 400% increase in performance from Vulkan! :eek:
 

el etro

Golden Member
Jul 21, 2013
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Amazes me how Vulkan runs this well compared to DX12(in other games).
 

el etro

Golden Member
Jul 21, 2013
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Like I said, you haven't obviously played Gears of War 4, The Division or even FH3.

But the performance/visual quality equation of Doom is still higher. Doom offers Mega optimization and full Vulkan use, delivering far better FPS per visual quality.
 

Guru

Senior member
May 5, 2017
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OpenGL is dead, the new iteration of it is Vulkan. You will probably just get security and stability updates for it for a while for cards that don't support Vulkan and graphic programs that use gl.
 

Carfax83

Diamond Member
Nov 1, 2010
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But the performance/visual quality equation of Doom is still higher. Doom offers Mega optimization and full Vulkan use, delivering far better FPS per visual quality.

Gears of War 4 can easily hit triple digit framerates at 1440p ultra quality, and so can FH3 and The Division. I love Doom and have extolled it and Vulkan many times on these forums. But, Gears of War 4 with DX12 surpasses it quite easily from a performance/IQ perspective. Gears of War 4 has a lot more going on in terms of expensive effects and features than Doom, yet still manages to maintain very high performance and a ultra clean presentation.