DirectX 11 Game Benchmarks, Part 1
DirectX 11 Game Benchmarks
Introduced alongside Windows 7 back in 2009, DirectX 11 is increasingly being adopted by developers, and even some console ports like Crysis 2 benefit visually from the addition of DX 11-based improvements. In light of this, we chose DirectX 11 benchmarks that focus on the many ways Microsoft's most recent API benefits gamers and developers.
Metro 2033
Despite its age, Metro 2033 is still a tough benchmark for the latest graphics cards, especially when the quality settings are cranked up. Its successor, originally planned for this year, seems to have slipped to 2013. Consequently, this game deserves to remain in our benchmark suite.
Preset Level | Resolution | Settings |
---|---|---|
Entry | 1280x720 | DirectX 11, Quality: Low, Anisotropy x8, Anti-aliasing: AAA |
Performance | 1920x1080 | DirectX 11, Quality: Medium, Anisotropy x16, Anti-aliasing: MSAA x4 |
Extreme | 2560x1440 | DirectX 11, Quality: Very High, Anisotropy x16, Anti-aliasing: MSAA x4 |
Crysis 2 DirectX 11 Mode
Crysis 2 intrigues us because DirectX 11, which was added after the title's launch, benefits visual quality but negatively impacts performance. The one notable exception was the Radeon HD 7900-series cards, which actually ran better under DirectX 11 than DirectX 9. More recently, however, driver updates seem to have smoothed out the DirectX 9 performance of those cards. At our Extreme preset exclusively, we use high-res textures, which were added in a patch right next to DirectX 11 support.
Preset Level | Resolution | Settings |
---|---|---|
Entry | 1280x720 | DirectX 11, Quality: High, Anti-aliasing: Off, HighRes Textures: Off |
Performance | 1920x1080 | DirectX 11, Quality: Extreme, Anti-aliasing: Edge Blur, HighRes Textures: Off |
Extreme | 2560x1440 | DirectX 11, Quality: Ultra, Anti-aliasing: Edge AA, HighRes Textures: On |
Alien vs. Predator
For all performance categories, Alien vs. Predator's built-in benchmark yields an assessment that compromises between image quality and tessellation on one side, and overall playability and performance on the other.
Preset Level | Resolution | Settings |
---|---|---|
Entry | 1280x720 | Texture Quality: 1, Anisotropy: x8, Anti-aliasing: 0, Shadow: 0, SSAO: 0Tessellation: off |
Performance | 1920x1080 | Texture Quality: 2, Anisotropy: x16, Anti-aliasing: 2, Shadow: 2, SSAO: 1Tessellation: off |
Extreme | 2560x1440 | Texture Quality: 3, Anisotropy: x16, Anti-aliasing: 4, Shadow: 3, SSAO: 1Tessellation: on |
Our DirectX 11 benchmark discussion continues on the next page.