Risen - Graphics Card Benchtest @ PCGH

[Dhruin]

PC Games Hardware has put as variety of video cards through their paces with Risen:

For the new developed Seamless World Streaming system a single Thread or ideally a single CPU core is responsible - during streaming the framerate drops for a short time only instead of heavy stuttering like in Gothic 3. According to the task manager Risen indeed uses the capacity of two cores most of the time. Sometimes even three during streaming. Nvidia's Physx Engine plays a role as well. It is used again but in the CPU instead of the GPU version.

More information.

 

[northreign]

Good thing my mobo refused to work last week. That shiny new quad core will be needed so the old 8800GTS can get all the help possible.

 

[Gorath]

WoR saysthe game is CPU-limited. You want at least 2 cores and as much speed as possible.

 

[ToddMcF2002]

Those screens look amazing. They really pulled it off.

 

[northreign]

WoR saysthe game is CPU-limited. You want at least 2 cores and as much speed as possible.

Exactly what I went for with extra cause CPUs are just cheap anymore

 

[Badesumofu]

Hmm, my laptop is a Core 2 Duo 2.2 ghz with a 8600M GT It runs F3 really well, ME decently, Witcher pretty well, NWN2 pretty well…

I like how the console generations have made it so that computers last longer. I should be right until the next console generation comes along. But I do kinda want to get a desktop box to plug into my 22" LCD TV. The girlfriend is a Facebook monster and doesn't have her own computer. I have suggested to her that she get a netbook, but if she doesn't it's a good excuse for me to get a new computer. Plus I have a really nice arm chair (which I can already use this laptop in) but it would be nice to play Dragon Age on the couch with a bigger screen than this using a wireless mouse + keyboard. It would be nice to be able to max all the settings too.

 

[Europe]

I can't wait to play Risen. I'm 25 years old and only PB's manages to get me all excited before playing a game. I thought I was just getting old and losing interest in video games but the truth is I am surrounded by generic boring crap all over the place. I can't touch games anymore unless they're unique and really fun. 99% of them aren't.

I got a Radeon 4870x2, I'll have to turn the fan on 100% wile playing Risen

 

[JonNik]

WoR saysthe game is CPU-limited. You want at least 2 cores and as much speed as possible.

Yep, I was afraid of that. Good thing the opportunity was presented for me to upgrade.
Unfortunately it also means I'll have to wait until the end of October at least before I can start playing

Guess I should avoid the forums for a while...

 

[Bartacus]

I think I can still manage it barely with a Core 2 8400 and an Nvidia 8800 GTS (512MB). Hopefully my game will arrive soon, but at least it will be a cheap one.

 

[Pladio]

7300 Go, Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!! I realy need a new laptop.

 

[ikbenrichard]

I think I can still manage it barely with a Core 2 8400 and an Nvidia 8800 GTS (512MB). Hopefully my game will arrive soon, but at least it will be a cheap one.

Barely? I think its a good enough system for high setting at 1680*1050 res.
Dont you think?

 

[booboo]

They seem to be using a i7 quad-core (effectively 8 threads of execution!) as a benchmark system - how useful is that? I hardly know anyone with such an expensive cpu. If the game is truly cpu-bound then it would be more useful to see a more mainstream core2 duo or some such - surely? I have 2.4 GHZ cores 2 duo CPU with 4 GB of ram and a 8800 GTX. 1280x1024 is not a great resolution on my monitor…and even with an i7 they only get around 25 fps? ouch.

 

[KasperFauerby]

They seem to be using a i7 quad-core (effectively 8 threads of execution!) as a benchmark system - how useful is that? I hardly know anyone with such an expensive cpu. If the game is truly cpu-bound then it would be more useful to see a more mainstream core2 duo or some such - surely? I have 2.4 GHZ cores 2 duo CPU with 4 GB of ram and a 8800 GTX. 1280x1024 is not a great resolution on my monitor…and even with an i7 they only get around 25 fps? ouch.

But if the game is CPU-limited there is no reason for you to play it in just 1280x1024.. with a 8800 GTX you'll probably get similar performance with 1600x1200. At least that's what I'm hoping for - 25fps in 1600x1200 is tolerable for me...

 

[guenthar]

It is good that it is cpu bound since I have the best amd cpu you can buy and it was half the price of the gtx 260 I bought. This game is going to run great on my system like all other modern games.

 

[booboo]

well, things seldom scale linearly - I'd still like to see performance numbers for the CPUs that most of the market is likely to have. I interpreted 'cpu-bound' to mean that the CPU is doing serious work during the rendering process (or at least the game loop) - hence having a slower CPU is bad. The statement that 'you should have at least 2 cores and as much speed as possible' supports this. So, your card may be able to render larger frames (with spare GPU capacity) if the game is cpu-bound, but the weaker CPU will not be able to supply render/game world updates at a high enough rate to make this useful. Since my core 2 duo supports 2 threads of execution vs 8 for the i7, I would expect a serious knock to the figure they quoted for 8800GTX @ 1280x1024 (my card) on an i7 (ssuming the all core concurrency is being used, which would be pretty impressive if true). So yes, I may be able to use higher resolutions, but at at poor overall rates - 16 fps? That is not good. Still, real figures would be far more useful than speculation. Idon't recall the game having been listed as having extrenely high spec? I have been able to play every game on the markety so far at 1600x1200 or thereabouts with minimal or no lag. I'd be most p'd off if its runs like cold molasses since I pre-orderd it and have no plans to upgrade anytime soon.

 

[baron]

Hmm, my laptop is a Core 2 Duo 2.2 ghz with a 8600M GT It runs F3 really well, ME decently, Witcher pretty well, NWN2 pretty well?

a laptop is for 1/3 weaker than a real pc with same specs.
and comparison with 3 years old games is quite pointless in this regard.

you gotta try and see. perhaps on lowly res and some details and fancyness cut off you can still make it run good.
________
NEXIUM LAWSUIT SETTLEMENTS

 

[Rills]

Well the best I can do at this point is an Athlon 64 X2 3800+ and a 9600GT. I'm not sure if getting the game would be worth it at this juncture because of the FPS. And I have to agree with booboo that we needed comp0arisons with cpus because it sure would be nice to have an i7 quad-core but no can do.

 

[Sergius64]

They seem to be using a i7 quad-core (effectively 8 threads of execution!) as a benchmark system - how useful is that? I hardly know anyone with such an expensive cpu. If the game is truly cpu-bound then it would be more useful to see a more mainstream core2 duo or some such - surely? I have 2.4 GHZ cores 2 duo CPU with 4 GB of ram and a 8800 GTX. 1280x1024 is not a great resolution on my monitor…and even with an i7 they only get around 25 fps? ouch.

Um... the whole point of that artice is to test the video cards against each other. To do that correctly you need to eliminate other bottlenecks, so running with very powerful cpu's would do.

If you want a CPU comparison for this test, you would have to wait for one. Generally games much more video card limited then CPU limited though, so I would be surprised if a game that looks as pretty as this would be bogged down by average CPUs (remember, a Core 2 Duo is still an excellent CPU these days).

 

[JemyM]

They seem to be using a i7 quad-core (effectively 8 threads of execution!) as a benchmark system - how useful is that?

I have one of those. They aren't that expensive, are they?

 

[ikbenrichard]

Um… the whole point of that artice is to test the video cards against each other. To do that correctly you need to eliminate other bottlenecks, so running with very powerful cpu's would do.

If you want a CPU comparison for this test, you would have to wait for one. Generally games much more video card limited then CPU limited though, so I would be surprised if a game that looks as pretty as this would be bogged down by average CPUs (remember, a Core 2 Duo is still an excellent CPU these days).

He is right, and if you got a Core2duo+ then invest in a newer GPU.
A decent GPU for risen can be bought for under 100 euro (ati4850).
A decent CPU can be bought for around 100 euro.

I have one of those. They aren't that expensive, are they?

Well 200 euros.... you can get a decent GPU en CPU for that money. We are not all addictive/rich