How We Tested Project Cars 2
Test Configuration
| OS | |
| Operating System | Windows 10 Pro x64 1709 (16299.64) |
| Graphics Drivers | The game was tested using the latest public drivers available at the time we ran our benchmarks:Nvidia GeForce Game Ready 388.71AMD Radeon Adrenalin Edition 17.12.2 |
| Game | The most up-to-date version of the game was tested at the time we ran our benchmarks:Project CARS 2 (V3.0.0.0.0939AVX) |
We recently updated our test configuration to better reflect mid-range gaming in 2017. This time around, we picked an AMD Ryzen-based platform, honing in specifically on the 1600X as a great option for enthusiasts looking to save some money.
Steam's survey of hardware and software configurations offers us a view of the most prevalent components and settings (the data comes from December 2017):
- 8GB of RAM is the most popular capacity point; that's what 47% of surveyed gamers have installed (our system has 16GB, which we wanted in order to measure peak RAM utilization).
- Full HD resolution is used by 76% of gamers, though 8% still run at 1366x768. QHD is used by only 3% of gamers, and 4K remains anecdotal.
- Quad-core CPUs are installed in more than two-thirds of surveyed systems (72%, to be exact). In anticipation of the coming months, we're using a mid-range six-core processor.
Graphics Card Selection
We chose 10 graphics cards for this test, representing mainly entry-level and mainstream options. Here are the competing cards:
Test Procedure
All performance data is collected using the PresentMon tool and our own custom front-end.
In order to accurately represent performance, each graphics card is warmed up to a stable temperature before measurements are collected. Most newer GPUs employ mechanisms to optimize clock rates based on variables like power and temperature. So, tests run during the warm-up period would convey better performance than you'd see in the real world. We therefore execute the benchmark sequence once to warm up the card prior to gathering official data. As usual, we tested at 1920x1080 and then 2560x1440 with the graphics options maxed-out.
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