A new vram eater: Total War Shogun 2 DX11 - rejecting 1GB cards?

[drifting]

It has successfully owned my 2 x 6950 2GB Crossfire :banghead:

The latest 2GB patch from Steam now enables a small built-in benchmark, through the beginning scene of the demo battle.

The 3rd option is not hardware demanding at all. With the following steps it is possible to stress test your system:

a) Select "Play Total War: SHOGUN 2", and change everything to max in game options:

b) Exit game, and re-open the Steam startup menu and select "Benchmark Game Settings".

Here are results of 2 x 6950 2GB Crossfire:

and for single 6950 2GB:

and here is a plot of the output log file using Excel:

Crossfire suffers a lag spike in the 4th second or so. Not sure if others have the same problem.

I'd say such fps is not playable for multiplayer game sessions, or 3rd party MODs to enable larger size of troops.

 

[Exsurgo]

The game sure is weird, I don't think it is to do with VRAM though, as your frames nearly double in CF with the same VRAM.

My GTX 470 OCd gets hammered by a 5870 in this game atm.

I am not blown away by Shogun 2s DX11 tbh, an I think it should be running much better than it does.

 

[drifting]

The game sure is weird, I don't think it is to do with VRAM though, as your frames nearly double in CF with the same VRAM.

My GTX 470 OCd gets hammered by a 5870 in this game atm.

I am not blown away by Shogun 2s DX11 tbh, an I think it should be running much better than it does.

Someone just reported that his 5870 1GB cannot run the built-in benchmark at DX11 max settings because it says not enough vram. I have also noticed a huge fps improvement when I disable AA. My guess is that this game DX11 now use lots of vram. Also keep in mind that this game is an AMD's game.

 

[Sem]

i disabled heat haze and gained 20fps and it looks better without it

 

[gareth170]

i just get a bsod when trying to run it at DX11 max settings .....

 

[tommybhoy]

Someone just reported that his 5870 1GB cannot run the built-in benchmark at DX11 max settings because it says not enough vram.

Oh no drifting, sounds like you have kicked off round two lol.

i just get a bsod when trying to run it at DX11 max settings .....

Either no trifire support yet gareth, or maybe there will be an AMD hotfix inbound then.

 

[drifting]

Oh no drifting, sounds like you have kicked off round two lol.

Despite how infamous I look, this game pushes 1GB cards more close to death again Users should now think harder before they SLI/CF 1GB cards.

I guess Crysis 2 DX11 (if any) would probably do the same thing

Let's see how much longer DX9 era can hold with the support from console ports lol

 

[Ezyryder]

1GB cards are midrange cards whatever anyone says here, if you go to XtremeSystems forums and suggest 1GB cards as viable options for the future you will get laughed at!

I know we will get the usual bunch in here denying the reality but hey I want to have smooth gameplay and I didn't have that with my 1GB card so thank you very much.

 

[drunkenmaster]

i disabled heat haze and gained 20fps and it looks better without it

I've given up with this, for YEARS I've been pointing out that in MANY games some of the top/max settings not only kill performance but decrease IQ. Its usually the newest fanciest type of effect thats most buggy and also incorrectly used.

Soft shadows pretty much started in Fear 1, they killed performance and looked woeful. Metro DOF, like heat haze (I'm assuming, haven't played this one) it blurred more of the screen stupidly when not wanted than increased IQ.

But try and tell someone not to run "maxed out" and all you get is grief from people who will call you bitter for not having a rig to play it maxed out.

People actually willing to use their own eyes and judgement seem few and far between, options there, must be ticked even if the game looks worse and plays like crap.

SOft shadows look infinately better now than they used to, and cost little extra performance. Just because an option is new, doesn't mean its better, or worth it.

 

[drunkenmaster]

Despite how infamous I look, this game pushes 1GB cards more close to death again Users should now think harder before they SLI/CF 1GB cards.

I guess Crysis 2 DX11 (if any) would probably do the same thing

Let's see how much longer DX9 era can hold with the support from console ports lol

All I see is a BENCHMARK and a guy you've said confirmed the BENCHMARK won't run at top settings on his 1gb card. yet that same guy has a 1gb card and has the game........ Likewise you've suggested at top settings that performance kills your cards, 10fps lows, the question is, at a performance setting you're actually comftable with that gives acceptable framerates at all times, how much memory will you be using at those reduced settings?

Likewise, a single 5870, what settings will that person be playing at to enable the same playable framerates as your 2x6950's, IE< 20-25fps minimums, and at those settings, is his memory limited.

1GB cards are midrange cards whatever anyone says here, if you go to XtremeSystems forums and suggest 1GB cards as viable options for the future you will get laughed at!

I know we will get the usual bunch in here denying the reality but hey I want to have smooth gameplay and I didn't have that with my 1GB card so thank you very much.

This isn't difficult, firstly you WANT 1gb cards to fail so are ignoring all logic, nothing here has firstly suggested a memory limit, another "but a guy, on another forum says it won't work on his 1gb card". The OP has shown no sign of memory limit in his screenshots.

Likewise, again as I've just said, the question has NEVER been about if a game CAN use more than 1GB memory, the question is WILL a game use more than 1GB of memory at settings the specific card will actually be playable at?

Lets take a 5870, lets say at top whack settings at a high res, the 1gb card is giving 3fps average as its run out of memory, but the 2gb card without memory limit is giving, 7fps? Its still unplayable, now drop settings to where the 2gb card is giving 20fps minimums, and 40fps average, and the memory usage has dropped dramatically and the 1gb card gives....... identical performance.


Being CAPABLE of using more than 1gb memory does not equal REQUIRING 1GB of memory.

Its the same as saying a 6970 2gb is simply a massively underpowered card because on 6x30" screens it gives unplayable performance......... so what, it gives great performance on a single screen.

As always, talk of memory usage HAS to use "playable" settings. Theres next to no games a 2gb version of a card provides a better playing experience than a 1gb card.

You also quantified your post with 1gb cards FOR THE FUTURE, which entirely changes your argument, you're either talking about 1gb cards now, or in the future, ones for games available now, ones for games that haven't been made yet, memory usage goes up over time, wow, big shock there.

 

[233]

jesus thats pretty in DX11


options as per the OP my rig pulls an average of 25.3125

Q9450 @3.4ghz
8gig xms2 ram
p35ds3r
6970 @925/1450
11.4


**edit just pulled a 25.5 with 940/1450

 

[CaptainRAVE]

It sure is pretty in Dx11!

 

[arknor]

1GB cards are midrange cards whatever anyone says here, if you go to XtremeSystems forums and suggest 1GB cards as viable options for the future you will get laughed at!

I know we will get the usual bunch in here denying the reality but hey I want to have smooth gameplay and I didn't have that with my 1GB card so thank you very much.

ofcourse they arent a viable option for the future but you can say the same thing about almost every card out now .

theres still very few games that use over 1gb of memory even when you use 4x AA most only use around 800-900mb and i'd be very suprised if this game used over 1gb without silly levels of AA.

someone should download msi afterburner and see

 

[drifting]

someone should download msi afterburner and see

For this game, poor GTX590 pwn'ed:

It looks like the person who posted this screenshot was too shy to even mention his fps results...

 

[CaptainRAVE]

I have noticed a huge difference going from my 1gb per gpu 5970 to my 2gb per gpu 6990 - things are a lot smoother with much higher minimum fps. I am sure the memory has helped a lot.

 

[OCPete]

.....

Being CAPABLE of using more than 1GB memory does not equal REQUIRING 1GB of memory.

.....

^This.^

If you buy a mid range card with 1GB and try to run the latest games at max settings your asking for trouble on 2 counts. Fail on framerate due to GPU processing power and fail on enough memory onboard. BUT accept its not high end, run at medium settings and the framerate will be fine and 1GB will be enough.

 

[opethdisciple]

1GB cards are midrange cards whatever anyone says here, if you go to XtremeSystems forums and suggest 1GB cards as viable options for the future you will get laughed at!

I know we will get the usual bunch in here denying the reality but hey I want to have smooth gameplay and I didn't have that with my 1GB card so thank you very much.

Yea I agree.

I was thining about this yesterday.

I think as of April 2011, we have reacheda point where you need 2Gb of Ram on your video card.

However, if this statement is true, look at the Nvidia line of cards... 570 only has 1.2Gb of ram!

Its am awsome card, but that amount of ram is crippling it.

Maybe AMd going with 2Gb of ram on their cards was another good guess how the market was going.

When I first saw 2Gb it just looked like a marketing tactic, to get people to by AMD, but now.... there are games out there that need more than 1Gb of ram, to get the most out of them, especdially in the age of DX 11.

However Im sure there are lots of DX 11 optimizations that still need to be done, to cut its processing needs (but not neccessarily ram usage)

 

[233]

boo updated to 11.5 from 11.4 and lost 1fps 24.5

 

[drifting]

boo updated to 11.5 from 11.4 and lost 1fps 24.5

Yeah same here. 11.4 WHQL is probably the best one for this.

I bet most nvidia users will be upset with this GTX470/570 simply doesn't have enough vram to run the benchmark at DX11 max settings, while a GTX590 didn't give any promising results... Still waiting for GTX580 1.5GB users to show off their pretty numbers ;p

If Crysis 2 DX11 is cancelled, it would be most probably because it's hard to control the vram usage, which would ruin nvidia's marketing purposes.

 

[Ezyryder]

Yeah same here. 11.4 WHQL is probably the best one for this.

I bet most nvidia users will be upset with this GTX470/570 simply doesn't have enough vram to run the benchmark at DX11 max settings, while a GTX590 didn't give any promising results... Still waiting for GTX580 1.5GB users to show off their pretty numbers ;p

If Crysis 2 DX11 is cancelled, it would be most probably because it's hard to control the vram usage, which would ruin nvidia's marketing purposes.

It is a complain in other forums that nVidia didn't decide to launch the 580 with 3GB as standard. To be honest if I had the money I would buy 2 of those