Watchdogs2 benchmarks

[LTC8K6]

Can we all agree that this is just a peculiarly optimized game, with some parts being more GPU intensive and some parts being more CPU intensive? The benchmarks are all over the place depending on the source, driver versions, settings, etc.

No.

 

[Bacon1]

Ultra shadows are WAY too sharp.

For sure, but definitely not worth 50-70% perf hit. No idea why we can't get just small soft shadows for the regular 1-5% perf hit.

HTFS looks way better.

And at 25 fps @ 1080p.

Whats odd is we've had soft shadows on trees for a long time in other games. Here is bf4:

Gta v:

PCSS was much less of a hit in GTA V as well, here its 50% vs only 7% in GTA V

https://www.computerbase.de/2015-04/gta-v-grafikkarten-und-prozessor-benchmarks/

 

[Erenhardt]

In this game, but it's slower in the majority of titles

Holy flipflop Batman! Going up the stream I see. Keep on backpaddling!

Unlike you, I can give credit, where its due. For a gameworks title, it runs exceptionally well. GJ on that one!

Also, I like how now PS2 shadow quality is back and trending!

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Gta v:

PCSS was much less of a hit in GTA V as well, here its 50% vs only 7% in GTA V

https://www.computerbase.de/2015-04/gta-v-grafikkarten-und-prozessor-benchmarks/

Gotta love the horrendous aliasing in that shot. I'd be curious what kind of wizardry created those shadows 🙂

 

[AtenRa]

You mean the i5-6600 4 thread chip that was running 700mhz slower than the FX-8350 8 thread chip and still pretty much tied it?

I know you guys have a problem when AMD CPUs are faster so lets take the Core i7 2600K back from 2011 that completely destroys the 4 years younger Core i5 Skylake from Q3 2015 and at the same clocks 😉

Dont worry, Intel will give us an unlocked Core i3 at $180 early 2017, so much for CPU progression 😛

 

[USER8000]

Wow,an old FX8350 is beating a Core i5 6600?? The FX8350 costs £135 in the UK and the Core i5 6600 is over £200 here. The ancient FX6300 beats a Core i3 6100. The FX8300 can be had for £100 too.

I mean I know some people using the FX6300 in their old desktops too - they are like a few years old. I am very surprised it can do so well in this game as it was released around the time of the Core i3 3220,which is nearly 4 years ago.

My Core i7 3770 also beats the latest and greatest Core i5 6600 too.

 

[Sven_eng]

CPU results like those are going to sell Zen by the millions. This is what it's all been about for AMD, CPU sales. Hey, they might not beat the 5960X but I bet they can beat the 6700K in these highly-threaded games, more and more of which we see every day.

 

[Keysplayr]

I for one would love AMD to surprise the heck outta Intel with a really strong cpu that can compete at or near the top of Intels product stack. CPU advancement has been so anemic for the last 5 to 6 gens from Intel. I HIGHLY doubt this will happen, though Im all for being wrong!

 

[dogen1]

And at 25 fps @ 1080p.

I can't check right now, but isn't the hit not much more than pcss? Maybe that's already a lot. Good thing it's using nvidia's fast geometry shader mode, otherwise it really wouldn't be justifiable.

 

[96Firebird]

How do standard shadows under "Ultra" look? While I'm all for accurate shadows, a more blurry looking Ultra might look better. If they just get blockier as the quality goes down, nevermind.

 

[Timmah!]

Computerbase review up as well, they tested HFTS and PCSS as well

70% performance loss with HFTS over Ultra Shadows on 1060 🙁

Ultra:

HFTS:

https://www.computerbase.de/2016-11/watch-dogs-2-benchmark/2/

So instead of blurred shadow texture like in the past, they use nowaydays sharp texture, which they then blur using some additional post processing technique, which costs them 70 percent of performance? Sounds logical.

 

[Bacon1]

I can't check right now, but isn't the hit not much more than pcss? Maybe that's already a lot. Good thing it's using nvidia's fast geometry shader mode, otherwise it really wouldn't be justifiable.

PCSS was 10% faster than HFTS on the 1060.

Ultra Preset:

https://www.computerbase.de/bildstrecke/75664/3/

Very High Preset:

https://www.computerbase.de/bildstrecke/75664/4/

Low Preset:

PCSS:

Note those are the PRESETs not just shadows (except PCSS)

Full 4MB Png at the links above

Honestly though PCSS looks like Low Shadows with half the transparency to make them lighter... I prefer the Ultra when viewing them fullscreen. They look really sharp when shrunken down but good full screen.

 

[Bacon1]

So instead of blurred shadow texture like in the past, they use nowaydays sharp texture, which they then blur using some additional post processing technique, which costs them 70 percent of performance? Sounds logical.

I was just thinking the same thing, see my post above comparing low preset with PCSS.

 

[Ranulf]

Long, long ago, you got driver updates once a quarter or so, as a few tweaks were made and some bugs sorted out. Not uncommon to find folks with drivers years out of date which functioned perfectly fine. We now see (with NV at least) releasing drivers weekly/every other week, basically dependent on AAA title release tempos. They're basically patching games now, not the cards themselves. In addition, these driver updates can give *wild* swings in performance, like double digit percentages/20+ FPS on some titles.

Yeah, its far more of a gamble to update drivers than it used to be. What will this new patch break for me now just so a new game can run well? It was oh so much fun about six weeks ago when a AMD driver update screwed up Heroes of M&M3 and Planetary Annihilation. There was a temp fix for PA but Heroes (lol 10+ year old game) took till the next patch to fix (mouse freezes/graphics corruption).

 

[casiofx]

I wanted to try this out but cheapskate Asus denied my code redemption. Bought my Asus GTX1070 on 19th and they denied it because the promo period starts at 22nd. Meanwhile a dude who bought palit 1070 on july was given the code by palit. Not going to buy this game when i could have got it for free. Going to get 1050ti on saturday for another pc, it won't be asus hmph

Was really looking forward to try this game on my newly built 6600k and gtx 1070

 

[beginner99]

What's even worse is that even if you do spend thousands on GPUs, half of what you spent might go to waste because mGPU scaling is so AWFUL, especially in many new titles.

Agree. And of course for everything but gaming your display will be much better than mine. So it's a compromise either way.

 

[PhonakV30]

Except GameGPU shows a 220W FX-9590 barely matching a 3-year old 84W i7-4770K at stock, but I guess throwing an expensive Intel chip + GPU bound scenario (light scenes) and/or scripted benchmark makes the comparison more interesting to... some.

http://gamegpu.com/images/stories/Test_GPU/Action/WATCH_DOGS_2/wd2_proz.png

Ps: 1060 6GB - 13.3% faster than 480 8GB / 1070 - 11% ahead of 980 Ti at 1080P @ Guru3D.

Sorry but the only one who didn't understand is you. A 2011 95W i7-2600K at stock comes very close to a 2014 220W FX-9590 - both are 32nm chips and the Intel chip has a huge overclocking headroom on top. So no, it doesn't look good for FX unless you manage to find a very light scene were any CPU would perform the same (hi Guru3D!).

http://gamegpu.com/images/stories/Test_GPU/Action/WATCH_DOGS_2/wd2_proz.png

Kudos to AtenRa , I didn't know that at default clock, a FX 8350 is faster than Core i5-6600.oh please don't tell me it's 125w or whatever you say.It's really no point to say "a 220W FX-9590 barely matching a 3-year old 84W i7-4770K at stock," or "A 2011 95W i7-2600K at stock comes very close to a 2014 220W FX-9590" nice try!

It's Big News that an old FX-8350 is faster than Core i5 6600.this skylake was supposed to be faster than Core i7-2600.

 

[Majcric]

For those of you who have grabbed a copy of the game. How do you feel the games graphics/ fps ratio is on our current PC hardware. Personally I think it is one the better UBisoft releases with that being said max settings does turn it into an absolute turd.

For the folks willing to compromise on a few graphical settings will walk away with a nice looking game that performs adequately all things considered. IMHO.

 

[Grooveriding]

Game performs decently, except for the HFTS setting, which is stupidly demanding.

 

[Sweepr]

1060 6GB 15% faster than 480 8GB and almost matching Fury X at 1080P. 😱

 

[dogen1]

Game performs decently, except for the HFTS setting, which is stupidly demanding.

HFTS seems about right for what is. I'd say it's a generation ahead of it's time though. Too much overhead to be worth it yet.

 

[Keysplayr]

Yeah, its far more of a gamble to update drivers than it used to be. What will this new patch break for me now just so a new game can run well? It was oh so much fun about six weeks ago when a AMD driver update screwed up Heroes of M&M3 and Planetary Annihilation. There was a temp fix for PA but Heroes (lol 10+ year old game) took till the next patch to fix (mouse freezes/graphics corruption).

Its always been this way. Driver update would sometimes break other things while fixing others. Always.

 

[Krteq]

? It was oh so much fun about six weeks ago when a AMD driver update screwed up Heroes of M&M3 and Planetary Annihilation. There was a temp fix for PA but Heroes (lol 10+ year old game) took till the next patch to fix (mouse freezes/graphics corruption).

.

That was not an AMD fault, but M$. M$ screewed DX9 in one recent update and it took almost one month to fix it

 

[Keysplayr]

.

That was not an AMD fault, but M$. M$ screewed DX9 in one recent update and it took almost one month to fix it

Just curious. How is it Microsofts fault if right after an AMD driver update, caused freezing mouse and graphics corruption in that guys game? Are you saying that the microsoft update occurred at the exact same time as his AMD driver update? Tricking him into thinking it was AMD's fault?
Or was it a previous ms update that wasnt tested with AMDs new driver?

 

[Krteq]

I was reffering to this

Some D3D9 games (mostly Bethesda games: Oblivion, Fallout 3, New Vegas) crashes with an access violation under a D3D9 adapter enumeration ...

... Finally, today's Windows 10 update fixed D3D9 device enumeration issues! (which causes some games to crash to desktop). So yes, it was a d3d9.dll bug (just checked, it has been updated right now) ...

... The issue came with Redstone and WDDM 2.1 drivers, Redstone + WDDM 2.0 drivers combo was not affected. With the last Redstone Update, your D3D9.DLLs (both system32 and syswow64) should be versioned as 10.0.14393.447.