Test Systems and Procedures
Here is the test system used for all graphics card reviews and performance analysis articles:
Test System
- Motherboard – Gigabyte X99-Gaming G1 WiFi LGA 2011-3 Motherboard
- Processor – Intel Core i7 5820K at Stock 3.3GHz
- RAM – 16GB (4 X 4GB) Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR4 2400MHz
- CPU Cooler – Thermaltake Water 3.0 with Gelid GC-Extreme
- Power Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 11 1200w
- Main Storage Drive – Crucial M550 512GB
- Chassis – Lian Li T80 Test Bench
- Displays – AOC U2868PQU 4K
- Operating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit
Driver Details
The latest drivers are always used at the time of testing, but please note reviews and performance articles undergo a scheduling process. This means a new driver could be released on the day of publication. However, this is unavoidable and disclosing the driver versions used is the most transparent way of informing the reader about current performance levels.
Games Used
- Battlefield 1
Game Version
It can be quite challenging for any performance analysis to remain completely accurate due to driver enhancements and improved optimisation through post-release patches. Therefore, it’s imperative to provide readers with this information so they can easily determine how the results might differ in a few months time. As you can see, version 1.0.10.265 was employed during the testing phase:
Test Procedure
The game’s options menu isn’t too convoluted and presented in an attractive manner. Saying that, I would prefer some explanation about the impact of each setting. It’s not a huge issue, and the clean interface is a joy to use. As you can see, the basic page allows you to adjust the resolution, brightness, enable or disable V-Sync, modify the FOV and much more. I love the ColorBlind mode which illustrates the developer’s attention to detail. This is something more games should implement to help those who struggle to distinguish between certain colours. Gaming is designed to be an inclusive hobby for all, and I applaud DICE for taking this into account.
On the Advanced tab, it’s possible to switch between DirectX 11 and DirectX 12 although this does require the game to be restarted. The resolution scale is handy to enhance the visual fidelity, and the range of settings on offer should allow you to easily tailor the visual and performance to suit your hardware with ease.
Would’ve been interesting if you’d done the test vs. a system with only an i5, for instance.
With a GTX 1080 (just upgraded from 980ti) I ALWAYS try to avoid DX12 and opt for DX11. Because I tend to lose up to 10fps just by using DX12….
the only upside to using DX12 is that I won’t get that stutter every 3-4 Seconds like you’ll get by using DX11 in processor-heavy games like GTA5, for example.
At the end of the day, when hardware and software don’t match up right, you’ll get crap like that^^^ (i.e. DX12 -> CUDA [nvidia] // DX12 -> SM Unit [AMD])
Because DirectX is written by Microsoft, and we all know how great Microsoft is at coding…. /s
The only way to remedy these trade offs is for AMD or Nvidia to write their own respective API’s. but that will never happen
“The only way to remedy these trade offs is for AMD or Nvidia to write their own respective API’s. but that will never happen”
AMD partially did this with Mantle, now Vulkan. I think that counts.
The dx12 api may give you some gpu saving on getting ride of some dx11 implicit barriers and cache flush plus usually improve driver madness on heavy traffic in regards to texture streaming that could hitch on a dx11 implementation. BUT, it is an api to improve cpu, it does not really matters to test at 4K, you would have better indicators if you run at 720p on mid range CPUs.