Radeon HD 7970 CPU scaling performance review

DX11: Crysis 2 - High Res Textures

Crysis 2 then. With the recent DirectX 11 patch and that High Resolution Texture pack (download) we all know one thing, Crysis has become the best looking game to date. DirectX 11 hardware tessellation is the headline feature, but the Ultra Upgrade also introduces soft shadows with variable penumbra, improved water rendering, and particle motion blur and shadowing. Having been originally omitted from CryEngine 3, Parallax Occlusion Mapping has been reintroduced, as has full-resolution High Dynamic Range motion blur, making the game’s use of camera panning more detailed and defined. To improve performance further, hardware-based occlusion culling has been implemented, resulting in performance improvements from objects and scenery out of view not being rendered.

The test run apply is stringent, harsh and really only suited for high-end DX 11 class graphics cards of 2011 and 2012.

Crysis 2; we apply everything. Image quality settings:

• DirectX 11
• High Resolution Texture Pack
• Ultra Quality settings
• 4x AA
• Level - Times Square (2 minute custom time demo)

Let's start at 1280x1024, again we see beautiful CPU scaling with the slowest processor being the Athlon X4 645, Compared to the Core i7 2600K there's a whopping 22 FPS difference, that's huge really -- especially for such a GPU intensive title.

Even at 1920x1200 we can see the effect of the processor, albeit from top to bottom the average FPS differential remains within a temptation of 4 FPS.