Performance Ranked by Graphics Quality/API
Next, we wanted to measure the impact of each quality preset on performance. To make things interesting, we also swapped between DirectX 11 and DirectX 12.
AMD Polaris Architecture
While the Radeon RX 580 is fairly comfortable using the High preset, AMD's Radeon RX 560 must settle for Medium or even Low in order to deliver an acceptably smooth experience. Interestingly, DirectX 12 is consistently faster than DirectX 11 with Polaris-based cards.
Nvidia Pascal Architecture
GeForce GTX 1060 6GB is also able to handle the High preset, although Ultra technically runs smoothly enough to be considered satisfactory. Like the Radeon RX 560, GeForce GTX 1050 Ti needs the Medium or Low preset for an enjoyable experience. Stepping up to High simply hits performance too hard. Ultra is definitely out of the question. In general, DirectX 12 enables more consistent frame times than DirectX 11.
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MORE: Desktop GPU Performance Hierarchy Table
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