**The Official Well-Optimized Games List Thread**

hdpcgamer

hdpcgamer

hdpcgamer

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I have created this thread in hope that it will give gamers who own a low to mid-range Dual/Tri/Quad-CORE CPU & GPU i.e. Intel Dual-Core E5400/PhenomII x3 720/X4 810 & HD5770/GTX 260 etc, an idea of how the listed games below run when compared to each other and it has taken me countless hours to piece this list together. Most of the games on that list are also available on the consoles so it will also be based on how well the game runs on the PC vs the consoles using 4-5 year old technology.

In general, a modern PC with 3-4x the performance of the consoles should run the same game significantly better on the PC if it has been well optimized i.e. Gears Of War on the 360 runs at 1280x720 @ 30fps vs 1920x1080 @ 60fps on the PC running at higher settings!

As for gamers using higher-end systems with Quad-Cores & Crossfire/SLI, most of those games would fall under Tier 1 due to throwing an enormous amount of brute force at them therefore it doesn't tell you how well the games are optimized. However, the list should still give you a general idea of how well the games are optimized.

If you are gaming at a lower resolution than 1920x1080, then expect to add an extra 10+ fps @1680x1050, 20+ fps @ 1280x720 etc which may place games into higher tiers.

All the games listed below were played at the resolution of 1920x1080 with high/custom-high settings (unless otherwise stated) but with no Anti-Aliasing using just an ATI 5770 1GB along with an Intel Dual-Core E5200 overclocked to 3.2ghz.

I have broken the games into 4 different tiers and they are my opinion on the different levels of gameplay experience on offer:


Tier 1 are games that run at an average of 60fps and over and offers the most enjoying and smoothest gameplay experience due to running at 60fps or more. In case of a console port, a Tier 1 console port will run at 2-3x the performance of the console version i.e. Dead Space 2 on the consoles runs at 1280x720 @ 30fps vs 1920x1080 @ 60fps on the PC running at higher settings!

Tier 2 are for games that average between 30-50fps and offers a very smooth and pleasant gameplay experience.

Tier 3 are for games that average between 20-40fps and offers a fairly playable gameplay and fairly pleasant experience.

Tier 4 are games that are unplayable and unpleasant to play due to the low fps of 10-20fps.


Tier 1 - Games that runs brilliantly (60fps+):

Batman: Arkham Asylum (Phys-X disabled)
Bionic Commando (Grin -2009)
Bioshock
Bioshock 2
Bully: Scholarship Edition (4x AA & 60fps fix)
Burnout Paradise (4x AA)
Call of Juarez - Bound in Blood
Clive Barker's Jericho
Darksiders
Dirt 2
Dead Island
Dead Space
Dead Space 2
Devil May Dry 4 (4x AA)
Dragon Age: Origins - Ultimate Edition
Fallout 3 (2x AA)
FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage
Fear 3
Gears Of War
Half-Life 2: The Orange Box (4x AA)
Hitman: Blood Money
Left 4 Dead (4x AA)
Left 4 Dead 2 (4x AA)
Limbo
Medal of Honour Airbourne
Mass Effect
Mass Effect 2
Mafia 2 (Phys-X disabled)
Mirror's Edge (Phys-X disabled)
Modern Warfare
Modern Warfare 2 (4x AA)
Modern Warfare 3 (2x AA)
Need for Speed Hot Pursuit
Prince of Persia The Forgotten Sands
Portal (4x AA)
Portal 2 (4x AA)
Rage (4x AA)
Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter (4x AA)
Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter (4x AA)
Singularity
Skyrim
Street Fighter IV (4x AA)
The Last Remnant
Trine
Tomb Raider - Underworld
Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X
Transformers™: War for Cybertron (60fps fix)
Resident Evil 5 (with 4x AA)
Wanted


Tier 2 - Games that runs pretty well (30-50fps):

Alan Wake
Battlefield Bad Company 2 (HBAO disabled, shadows>medium)
Call of Duty - Black Ops
Dead Rising 2 (Blur disabled)
Farcry 2
GTA 4 (High settings)
GTA 4: Episodes from Liberty City (High settings)
Just Cause 2
Lost Planet Colonies
Lost Planet 2
Overlord
Overlord 2
Metro 2033 (Everything set to medium)
Resident Evil 4
Star Wars The Force Unleashed 2
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl & Complete 2009 Mod
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
The Witcher: Enhanced Edition
Zeno Clash


Tier 3 - Games that runs ok (20-40fps):

ArcaniA - Gothic 4
Crysis (Shadows>high)
Crysis Warhead (Shadows>gamer)
Red Faction Guerrilla
Saints Row 2

Tier 4 - Games that runs like **** (10-30fps):

I haven't encountered any games where I have had to stop playing due to excessively low fps.


If anyone feels as if a game should be in a different Tier and with good reason, then please let me know and I'll move it, or if anyone wishes to add other games to the list, please do so and I'll update the thread.

I've been meaning to post this thread up for some time now but it has taken me a long time due to trying out some many games but I would be interested in any feedback however positive of negative they may be as I hope to be able to update this thread frequently and improve on it in anyway I can.

Thanks
 
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I don't see how you can base optimisation on the FPS you get. It's going to vary wildy from system to system, and will also be affected by game settings.

For example, Red faction runs brilliantly on my pc.
 
Optimisation cannot be based on FPS. I could get 3000 FPS in minesweeper, but that does not mean it is well optimised.
 
ffallic said:
I don't see how you can base optimisation on the FPS you get. It's going to vary wildy from system to system, and will also be affected by game settings.

For example, Red faction runs brilliantly on my pc.
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It is hard to base how well a game is optimized based solely on FPS but I should have added to my starting post that FPS is one of important aspect of defining how well a game is optimized and let me try to elaborate.

You used Red Faction Guerrilla as an example and I'll try to explain this as best as I can on how I define how well a game is optimized:

90% on the games on that list are also available on consoles, which is running on 4-5 year old tech.

Red Faction Guerrilla runs at 1280x720 on the consoles at 30fps, bearing in mind that the tech is 4-5 years old. If a modern PC with the 2-3x performace is unable to run the gaming signifcantly better, then IMO the developer has not optimize the game well enough.

I think most people will agree that Red Faction Guerrilla isn't the best looking game on the PC therefore why do prettier games run better?

Optimization in my opinion.

I'll name you three games that are available on both consoles and PC which looks better than Red Faction Guerrilla (all subjective I know) but runs 2-3x better than their console counterparts:

Batman: Arkham Asylum
Resident Evil 5
Mass Effect 2

IMO all these three games are stunning looking games and are some of the best optimized games available due to running at over twice the pixels (1280x720 vs 1920x1080) and over twice the FPS (30fps vs 60fps).
 
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helpful thread for people like myself still on old dual cores etc, few games there i wouldnt think id be able to run that well but obviously can.
 
tom91x91 said:
helpful thread for people like myself still on old dual cores etc, few games there i wouldnt think id be able to run that well but obviously can.
Click to expand...

I'm glad this is helpful and I hope other gamers with slightly older dual-core/GPU system can get an idea of how these games run on their system .Thanks.:)

The idea is to make people aware that you don't have to have a high-end rig in or to run modern games at 1920x1080 and over 60+ with high settings.
 
Seraph said:
Metro 2033, tier 3? are you sure it's not just your below par specs, since Metro is a PC to console port ;)
Click to expand...

I knew this was going to crop up lol.

It very hard to decide where to put Metro 2033 because it is one of the few games - well three that I can think of - that you can say are well optimized but don't run as good on older tech because they are games ahead of their time.

I'd say Metro 2033, Crysis and Crysis Warhead are probably the best looking games on the PC due to the sheer amount of detail in those games and even high-ends are unable to fully max these games out - especially Metro 2033.

Metro 2033 is also on the 360 and runs at (correct me if I'm wrong) 1280x720 and 30fps, although I have read that it struggles to maintain that framerate.

If we are comparing Metro 2033 on a PC to similar settings to the 360 version - lets say mediums on the PC - then if the game is as well optimized as other Tier 1 games, it should be running the game at twice the resolution and framerate.

Update, ok I have just tried this game again on medium settings and in DX9 to try and make it as close to the 360 version as possible and I can say that it averages around 45-50fps, sometimes even hitting 60fps when there is no action or intense lighting effects goiing on but it does drop to 30fps in heavy action scenes.

In light of the update, I have moved this to Tier 2.:)
 
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skullman said:
GTA4 fairly optimized? Not in the universe I live in.
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Lol. I would agree GTA 4 is probably not the best optimized game in the world - especially when compared to the console versions - but it does run an average of 25-30fps which is playable and is still a great looking game when taking into acount the large open world and all the things that are going on at once.

You think I should stick this in Tier 4 then?
 
Dark88 said:
Tier 2 - Highly-Optimized Games (30-50fps):


Call of Duty - Black Ops

really?
Click to expand...

COD games developed by Treyarch tend to run slightly worse than Infinity Ward's games (Modern Warfare 1 & 2) even though they are using the same engine so I'd say Black Ops could be better optimized.

What performance are you getting on Black Ops and what cpu/gpu are you using?
 
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