Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Performance Analysis

Final Thoughts

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is an extremely polished PC title featuring a high level of graphical fidelity. The options menu is crammed packed with different presets and an abundance of variables to achieve a playable frame rate across various configurations. Despite being well optimised, the ultra preset should only be considered by those investing in a top-tier graphics card. Even then, this isn’t enough once the resolution is increased beyond 1920×1080. Some might argue, the performance isn’t great and instantly put the blame on Nixxes Software. However, I think the low numbers are simply down to the game’s complex effects, and gorgeous texture quality. In a way, the porting team created a game which shouldn’t show its age over time and designed to complement future GPU releases with extra processing power.

It’s not a huge shock that the GTX 1080 comes out on top because there’s nothing available barring the Titan X Pascal offering similar performance. On the other hand, the R9 Fury X is really competitive, especially during DirectX 12 benchmarking. Throughout the testing process, AMD’s flagship excelled and wasn’t overshadowed by the GTX 980Ti or GTX 1070. On one occasion, the R9 Fury X was only a few frames behind the GTX 1080 which emphasises how potent this underrated graphics can be. Lower down the ranking order, AMD graphics cards dominated and models like the RX 480 and R9 390X outperformed the GTX Titan X. This seems unthinkable when you consider the mammoth price difference. Even the RX 470 outclassed the GTX 1060 and showcased its stunning price to performance ratio. Honestly, I was disappointed with the GTX 1060, GTX 980 and GTX 970’s underwhelming numbers.

On the whole, using the DirectX 12 API doesn’t make a huge difference and it’s not enough of a reason to encourage someone to upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10. However, AMD graphics cards certainly perform better throughout DirectX 12 testing while NVIDIA products generally remain the same, after taking a margin of error into account. Despite the improvements being minor, it’s another example of AMD’s architecture having greater gains during DirectX 12 compared to their NVIDIA counterparts. As the API is more widely used, AMD is likely to secure a stronger position which makes their graphics cards a sound investment.

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