Prey Performance Review

Features
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published

Benchmarks: FPS, Frame Time & Smoothness

Benchmark Sequence

There is no built-in benchmark, so we had a pick a reproducible sequence in order to gather performance data. This proved somewhat difficult. Eventually, we settled on a scene in the Grand Hall of Talos I, a relatively large space crawling with enemies. Even though areas like the Arboretum are more graphically challenging, the Grand Hall of Talos I is still representative of what you'll see as you play through Prey.

Very High Quality @ 1920x1080

Given that this game is well-optimized for the PC, we chose to run our Full HD tests using the Very High quality preset.

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Other than the GeForce GTX 1050 and Radeon RX 460, the other cards perform well, offering frame rates that flirt with or exceed 90 FPS. The GeForce GTX 1060 3GB and Radeon RX 470 land a notch below the rest, registering lower minimum frame rates than the higher-end contenders.

Very High Quality @ 2560x1440

Similar to our FHD benchmarks, we used the Very High preset at 2560x1440, too.

Image 1 of 4

Naturally, the GeForce GTX 1050 and Radeon RX 460 don't fare well here. Even though the Radeon RX 470 is more powerful, it trails the directly comparable competition. Nvidia's GeForce GTX 1060 6GB, on the other hand, fares well given an average frame rate in excess of 60 FPS. It's followed closely by AMD's Radeon RX 480.

Aside from the two lowest-end cards in our test field, Prey is definitely playable at QHD using the highest detail settings!


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Yannick Guerrini
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24 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Bryan_B103
    I love the "Frame Time" chart on page 3. This provides a really nice graphical representation of what your experience would be in-game. I'm excited to see charts like that one used in future reviews.
    Reply
  • barryv88
    Why was yesterday's RX480 used and not the newer 580?
    Reply
  • c4s2k3
    19742011 said:
    Why was yesterday's RX480 used and not the newer 580?

    I suspect they are going for cards in the mainstream. I'm sure there are plenty of 480s in use out there. Not too many 580s yet since it is new.
    Reply
  • ykki
    No Ryzen benches? Are you planning to redo all the gaming benches for Ryzen once R3 hits and AGESA 1006 is in full effect?
    Reply
  • coolitic
    Dishonored 2 was bad, Toms, even ignoring the bugs.
    Reply
  • coolitic
    Why no high-end tests?
    Reply
  • elbert
    Only a half review without Ryzen.
    Reply
  • 10tacle
    19742276 said:
    Why no high-end tests?

    19742283 said:
    Only a half review without Ryzen.

    Well there's a lot of hardware missing I'd have liked to have seen as well like a GTX 1080. However in all fairness, they said they chose their hardware on what people *currently* have (according to Steam user hardware surveys), not what they may get in the future. Not many have Ryzen builds and GTX 1080s yet.

    In any event, as a 1440p GTX 970 SLI owner, I'd have liked to have seen the VRAM consumption at that resolution since there are benchmarks for it here. For me it's a little concerning that even at 1080p it uses 3.1GB. I'm trying to squeeze another year out of my GPUs holding out for Volta. But Pascal is due for a refresh later this summer/early fall (2xxx series).
    Reply
  • elbert
    19742377 said:
    19742276 said:
    Why no high-end tests?

    19742283 said:
    Only a half review without Ryzen.

    Well there's a lot of hardware missing I'd have liked to have seen as well like a GTX 1080. However in all fairness, they said they chose their hardware on what people *currently* have (according to Steam user hardware surveys), not what they may get in the future. Not many have Ryzen builds and GTX 1080s yet.

    In any event, as a 1440p GTX 970 SLI owner, I'd have liked to have seen the VRAM consumption at that resolution since there are benchmarks for it here. For me it's a little concerning that even at 1080p it uses 3.1GB. I'm trying to squeeze another year out of my GPUs holding out for Volta (expected to be nearly twice as powerful as Pascal).
    I see the argument but how big of a percentage will not buy the game thinking the Ryzen was left out because of very poor optimization? Its a bad move for a game developer to risk limiting its potental customers. I was wanting the game but I'll wait till I see Ryzen benchmarks.
    Reply
  • 10tacle
    19742461 said:
    I was wanting the game but I'll wait till I see Ryzen benchmarks.

    You can get an idea of that right now with other games and what to expect: http://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-performance-of-ryzen-7-vs-core-i7-with-geforce-gtx-1080-ti/

    My guess is based on that, it will be fine for above 1080p resolutions as the GPU is used more no matter how powerful the CPU is.
    Reply