Anandtech: Benchmarked – Civilization: Beyond Earth

[_Alatar_]

We're still early in the release cycle for Civilization: Beyond Earth – in fact, our testing was done with pre-launch code, and there's already talk of a day zero patch to fix a few glitches (e.g. with multi-GPU configurations that have more than two GPUs) – so by no means is this the final word in performance. It's not too surprising to see NVIDIA's GTX 980 taking the single GPU performance crown for Beyond Earth, but additional driver tuning may change things a bit. The good news is that if you have any reasonably modern GPU – from the GTX 770 and R9 280 (nee HD 7950) – you should be able to run at 1080p and High or even Ultra quality settings. Lesser GPUs can still handle the game as well, and if you're curious it's possible to get frame rates well over 100 FPS even at 1080p if you drop to lower quality settings.

As for Mantle, it remains an interesting option if you have an AMD card, but so far we haven't really seen a huge benefit. I suspect if I were to retest everything with an AMD APU or a Core i3 processor, Mantle might prove more efficacious, but even with price cuts I don't think most gamers are going to spend hundreds of dollars on a fast GPU only to pair it with a slower CPU. Mantle is also proving to be a challenge when it comes to multi-GPU configurations; optimizing for SLI and CrossFire often requires a bit of extra work, but adding Mantle into the mix further complicates matters. I'd love to see Firaxis really tune their Mantle code to get SFR running at better than AFR frame rates, but that's asking a lot and frankly I'll believe it when I see it.

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As far as the game itself is concerned, Civilization: Beyond Earth looks like it may prove every bit as addictive as the earlier releases. Now that I've done a ton of benchmarking with Civilization: Beyond Earth, I need to find some time to actually play the game. My birthday is coming up next week, so maybe I can get some free time as a present…. Then again, birthdays only last 24 hours and if past experience is any indication, I might need more like a month to get Civilization Fever out of my system.

http://anandtech.com/show/8640/benchmarked-civilization-beyond-earth

 

[Kaapstad]

Interesting.

I have the game pre installed and ready for launch day.

Unfortunately I have to work for the next 4 days.

 

[Ayahuasca]

The world is going mad, AMD cards winning benchmarks in games that are supposed to favour nVidia and nVidia winning benchmarks in games that are supposed to favour AMD.

 

[Fanatic]

So pretty much any card can run it, useful information .

 

[Streetlight]

Interesting.

I have the game pre installed and ready for launch day.

Unfortunately I have to work for the next 4 days.

Any games that you don't have?

 

[r7slayer]

Well nice to see the new Nvidia cards topping charts Hopefully get better as thier drivers mature. And nice to see a graph which demonstrates that mantle actuall does help! It's like a getting a free overclock boost just without the overclock Also helps with frame latency and keeps things running and looking smooth.

Hopefully mantle only gets better too as it matures!

 

[Kaapstad]

So pretty much any card can run it, useful information .

Performance looks much the same as Civ5, you can run that @4K with a single card. The problems start on a huge map late in the game where the CPU lets the side down. Hopefully they have fixed this for the new version.

 

[LtMatt]

A 290X 8GB card is actually the fastest solution for this game at 4K and maximum details, which means x8 AA.

Here's an interesting fact that anandtech didn't touch on. Radeon users benefit from a higher quality AA pass, so they have improved AA (EQAA) vs MSAA. EQAA is available on DirectX and Mantle. This has a small performance cost, but thanks to Mantle Radeons are able to remain competitive and in some cases faster with this extra quality AA applied. EQAA offers superior image quality by applying anti-aliasing to areas of the scene that might have been missed by MSAA’s coverage testing. You get the best of both worlds. Quite impressive when you look at the performance numbers.

 

[_Alatar_]

^ Benchmark numbers directly from AMD themselves.

Non 3rd party benches are useless.

E; apparently AMD also used old NV drivers instead of the ones released for CIV.

 

[Ayahuasca]

I think I'll go with the anandtech ones.

 

[LtMatt]

^ Benchmark numbers directly from AMD themselves.

Non 3rd party benches are useless.

CIV has a built in benchmark and Kaap is going to create a benchmark thread so we'll have a wealth of user benchmarks to compare soon enough.

EQAA is lovely though, higher image quality is always appreciated.

 

[Wizzfizz]

^ Benchmark numbers directly from AMD themselves.

Non 3rd party benches are useless.

E; apparently AMD also used old NV drivers instead of the ones released for CIV.

This

 

[LambChop]

A 290X 8GB card is actually the fastest solution for this game at 4K and maximum details, which means x8 AA.

Here's an interesting fact that anandtech didn't touch on. Mantle actually uses a higher quality AA pass, so they have improved AA vs alternatives. This has a higher performance cost, but thanks to Mantle Radeons are able to remain competitive and in some cases faster. You really get the best of both worlds. DirectX uses MSAA and AMD's Mantle uses EQAA. Quite impressive when you look at the performance numbers.

LOL

 

[Ian Evey]

A 290X 8GB card is actually the fastest solution for this game at 4K and maximum details, which means x8 AA.

Here's an interesting fact that anandtech didn't touch on. Mantle actually uses a higher quality AA pass, so they have improved AA vs alternatives. This has a higher performance cost, but thanks to Mantle Radeons are able to remain competitive and in some cases faster. You really get the best of both worlds. DirectX uses MSAA and AMD's Mantle uses EQAA. Quite impressive when you look at the performance numbers.

Do you know what a titan scores in this benchmark?

Maybe stating a 290x 8gb is the fastest solution at the settings your quoting and showing a chart leaving out a titan might be incorrect.

 

[Kaapstad]

I think I'll go with the anandtech ones.

It does not matter which you use they are both saying the same thing, a 980 is quicker @4K than a standard 290X.

The only difference is one of the graphs has an 8gb 290X which is faster still. We all know the pitfalls of using 4gb cards @4K.

 

[LtMatt]

Do you know what a titan scores in this benchmark?

Maybe stating a 290x 8gb is the fastest solution at the settings your quoting and showing a chart leaving out a titan might be incorrect.

I don't, but I'm sure we'll know once Kaap gets the game.

 

[Geeman1979]

^ Benchmark numbers directly from AMD themselves.

Non 3rd party benches are useless.

E; apparently AMD also used old NV drivers instead of the ones released for CIV.

Lol

 

[Kaapstad]

CIV has a built in benchmark and Kaap is going to create a benchmark thread so we'll have a wealth of user benchmarks to compare soon enough.

As long as no one objects I will get on it as soon as the game is available.

 

[LtMatt]

As long as no one objects I will get on it as soon as the game is available.

Please do, no one manages benchmark threads better than you.

 

[Geeman1979]

I don't, but I'm sure we'll know once Kaap gets the game.

Because Kaaps the only one to own Titans?