Need for Speed SHIFT Gameplay Performance and IQ

Need for Speed SHIFT Gameplay Performance and IQ -

We have an exclusive first look at performance in Need for Speed SHIFT using a new patch due out at the end of this month, as well as a new AMD driver which improves performance in this game. We test gameplay on nine video cards, low end to high end, and examine gameplay performance and image quality.

first Oo

Is this kind of increase to be expected in all games?

Originally Posted by compres

first Oo

Is this kind of increase to be expected in all games?

It is difficult to say with certainty. It may be reasonable to expect at least a small performance increase in many games with the new driver, but it is likely that some or most of what we saw in Shift was related to game-specific optimizations.

Since the driver changes are under NDA at the moment, we cannot specify what other improvements, changes, fixes etc... the driver contains.

so patch 2 decreased radeon performance and increased gtx 285 s lol no wonder why its twimtbp title

Might have to pick this game up

anyway, when you do game performance and iq reviews, could you add in some opinions on the game itself. Say comparing NFS Shift to pro street etc?

also in the blurb about multi-gpu scaling from a GTX275 to a GTX295 the GTX 275 is also clocked 10% higher on the core and shaders and 12% on the memory :P

looking forward to the 9.12 drivers.

IF it gives a minimum 10% increase, oh boy...

For the 4870x2, the highest playable setting was 2560x1600 8xMSAA 16xAF while the 5870 was 24xCFAA.

In the apples to apples though, it shows that the 4870x2 can indeed do 24xCFAA and only took a dive in one spot down to 10 fps. Was that the reason the highest playable was only 8xMSAA?

Originally Posted by Intel_Hydralisk

For the 4870x2, the highest playable setting was 2560x1600 8xMSAA 16xAF while the 5870 was 24xCFAA.

In the apples to apples though, it shows that the 4870x2 can indeed do 24xCFAA and only took a dive in one spot down to 10 fps. Was that the reason the highest playable was only 8xMSAA?

RTFA? We were very specific about this.

Originally Posted by Digital Viper-X-

Might have to pick this game up

anyway, when you do game performance and iq reviews, could you add in some opinions on the game itself. Say comparing NFS Shift to pro street etc?

also in the blurb about multi-gpu scaling from a GTX275 to a GTX295 the GTX 275 is also clocked 10% higher on the core and shaders and 12% on the memory :P

Game is great. I am not a racing sim guy and I very much enjoy SHIFT.

No, we are not going to start doing game reviews.

Yes.

5870...25x16....24x edge detect aa....who's my nasty bitch?

Originally Posted by Digital Viper-X-

Might have to pick this game up

anyway, when you do game performance and iq reviews, could you add in some opinions on the game itself. Say comparing NFS Shift to pro street etc?

also in the blurb about multi-gpu scaling from a GTX275 to a GTX295 the GTX 275 is also clocked 10% higher on the core and shaders and 12% on the memory :P

Game reviews are, by their very nature, editorial pieces. They are someone giving their opinions about the quality of a particular gaming experience. [H] performance evaluations are not editorial in nature, but analytical.

The forum is the place for opinions. In that regard, I think this game is fantastic, and it has made me want to spend the money on EyeFinity and a G27.

Originally Posted by Kyle_Bennett

Game is great. I am not a racing sim guy and I very much enjoy SHIFT.

No, we are not going to start doing game reviews.

Yes.

I prefer arcade racers (NFS Most Wanted is my favorite) to simulators, so the game's ability to scale back the sim aspect and be a little more carefree was great for me. The game certainly has the capacity to be a LOT more sim-ish than I like, with the tweaking of a great many details about the cars.

I like to just get in and drive, and this game lets me do that with superb response and some of the most visceral audio I've ever heard out of a game.

Originally Posted by Brent_Justice

Since the driver changes are under NDA at the moment, we cannot specify what other improvements, changes, fixes etc... the driver contains.

So your NDA only lets you compare driver perfomance changes within NFS Shift? If not how bout some other games too....

Originally Posted by SirCumsized

So your NDA only lets you compare driver perfomance changes within NFS Shift? If not how bout some other games too....

Yes, this was only for our SHIFT evaluation. Think of this as a preview of things to come in regards to this game.

So at 1920 x 1200 the GTS 250 is capable of 16x CSAA and at 1680 x 1050 it is capable of 8x MSAA with little difference in frame rates. I thought that 16x CSAA was better than 8x MSAA. Or am I wrong? I don't do a lot of gaming on the PC but I read every video card and game performance review from you guys!

Originally Posted by Killroy

So at 1920 x 1200 the GTS 250 is capable of 16x CSAA and at 1680 x 1050 it is capable of 8x MSAA with little difference in frame rates. I thought that 16x CSAA was better than 8x MSAA. Or am I wrong? I don't do a lot of gaming on the PC but I read every video card and game performance review from you guys!

They explained it in the article. I wasn't sure too, until ran back and read it again.

The GeForce GTX 285 was playable and fluid with 16X CSAA enabled, while its slightly slower cousin gave us 8X CSAA. The Radeon HD 5850 was capable of 8X MSAA, which is a higher quality sample rate than 8X CSAA and 16X CSAA. Recall that 8X and 16X CSAA both take only 4 color and z samples, compared to 8 samples performed by 8X MSAA.

Pretty decent scaling on the 4870X2, no?

Can't wait for these patches to be available so I can give them a whirl. I've been putting off playing this title in anticipation of these releases.

Too bad you dropped coverage of the 4890.

If only the 5770 kicked this much ass in all the other games. What a great deal it is!

Nice..this might finally kill the false myth about PhysX killing perfomance for AMD cards...