Does Gameworks kill performance? Lets find out...as a community

[pgi947]

Been lots and lots of talk on the forums lately about Gameworks, does it hammer performance? Is it worth it? Lots of talk, very little substance.

So lets, peacefully, find out, between the lot of us we should have most games and the majority of hardware to do such a thing.

Here is a rough list of anything and everything featuring Gameworks

So what do we need to do?

Run a benchmark or sequence in the absence of a benchmark both with and without Gameworks (to include older 'physx' branded titles if possible). Calculate the percentage frame drop and post your results. Please state what card and resolution you're using along with settings.

This isn't a competition, nor does it really require much in the way of screen shots, though it may help in some instances.

Any baiting, bitching, moaning, derailing etc... will be RTM'd, go do that in the other thousand threads in this forum.

Example of what we're looking for:

Batman Arkham Knight
1440p
980Ti
Highest settings available
Benchmark mode
Gameworks available: NVIDIA Clothing, Destruction, Turbulence, Volumetric Lighting, PhysX (you can find these easily enough in the above link!)

No GW: 99 FPS
GW Enabled: 66 FPS

Cost: 33%

I'll then link results per title so we can gauge an idea of what is/isn't hammering performance.

GO!

Batman Arkham Knight

980Ti -13% Smoke disabled
980ti -29% fully enabled
980Ti -19% Smoke disabled
980Ti -34% Fully enabled
Titan X -33% fully enabled

 

[pgi947]

Problem I read is that GW is supposed to break games lol.

This is something we can prove/disprove with enough data to back up either claim.

OP updated - if anyone has suggestions for a better format - shoot

 

[pgi947]

I can really go on and on but I won't..
What I would like to just say nice idea on the thread, but would it not be better to say compare the feature against another. So lets say Godrays vs standard performance plus a screenshot of the two?

Just an idea

I know what you're saying, but this is about performance numbers not image quality, sure do some tests and mention if you think those particular effects are worth the performance hit or not. Plus many of the effects only show their worth in motion so screen grabs wouldn't show the whole picture (no pun intended).

 

[pgi947]

Your results are completely flawed because the only way to make a fair comparison is to show the same game running with the EXACT same effects but coded in a different way using a different 3rd party library or proprietary solution.


Of course Gamesworks effects has a performance cost, by definition they are complex effects that developers may not have the ability to do themselves. You can;t get those effects for free.


I Suggest you close the thread and come back when you can make an actual comparison.

The comparison being made is between the vanilla game and then with gameworks features added. At no point have I suggested those features are free, the clues in the thread title, does enabling it hamper performance to the level of making it unplayable.

R9 290X @ 1100/1450
i7 4790K @ 4.7Ghz


-- Batman - Arkham Knight --
1080p - Max Settings

97 FPS - Enhanced Rain and Enhanced Light Shafts
104 FPS - No GameWorks
6.7% Performance Hit

-- FarCry 4 --
1080p - Max Settings

75 - FurWorks and GodRays
86 - No GameWorks
12.8% Performance Hit

No idea whether you wanted AMD scores, thought i'd contribute anyway.

AMD results are especially welcome given the whole can they can't they optimise for gameworks debates

Will update this evening, any fallout 4 results?

 

[pgi947]

+1

Screenshot will show the image quality difference and fps show the performance hit. With both you can see what you are trading for and make a judgement on it. I dont know how good recording software but even a 10 second clip would be nice, although a bit harder to control and replicate the same conditions.

Problem with a thread like this (which i think is a great idea) is that some of the people are set on a witch hunt and others are out to ardently defend, where as it should be looked at subjectively. eg. This is the performance drop, this is what it looks like with it on and with it off.

Personal judgements on why it is can be reserved for after that and in reality, reasons for the performance hit matter little compared to what the performance hit is and what you get for it.

I'm going to update op tonight with what games have what gameworks available, I can also throw in the nvidia on/off videos for what I can find and link the performance guides that have those slider images to show it on/off?

I'm sat firmly on the fence with gameworks, some of it looks nice in demos but doesn't add anything to gameplay

 

[pgi947]

Again, no one is doubting they impact performance, of course they do, what we want to see is to what level performance is impacted. Is the impact the same for both vendors, does one suffer with certain things more then the other, does the impact drag frame rates to an unplayable level etc...

 

[pgi947]

**** it.

What is it comparing against? The vanilla game. Disable interactive smoke in Batman does it disable smoke completely? NO. So is it comparing against the alternative of the vanilla games smoke? YES. In FC4, disable hairworks, does everything with fur loose all of its fur? NO. So it would be comparing against the standard game engines hair/fur rendering.

Some of the vermin in this place will never give up until something suits their own agenda rather then seeing something for what it is rather then what they want. I see lots of threads I don't agree with, what do I do? Ignore them, those that want that discussion can have it.

This wasn't a dig at Nvidia, AMD or anyone. Actually it was the opposite, I read constantly how gameworks is damaging games, with little substance, this thread was intended to show substance be it positive or negative.

I know the thread isn't perfect, see post 9, I asked that early in the thread if anyone has suggestions to improve the format of the thread then to speak up.

As it is now this thread can drift off into obscurity, I'm done putting any form of effort into this sub, the same people are hell bent on turning every thread they have a difference of opinion in into a personal crusade while the moderating team sit idle doing absolutely sod all to clean this place up.

Thank you to those who did contribute and to those who did see the meaningful side of this thread, you deserve a better forum.