In our first graph, we are comparing the Radeon R9 290X and the GeForce GTX 780 Ti. There seems to be a big difference in performance between the two, with the GTX 780 Ti delivering better performance by 20%. However, both are insanely fast averaging near 100FPS and performance well above 60FPS at all times. Remember, this is the highest settings possible in the game, all graphics options turned on.
BF4 is a good case scenario for Mantle. However, a game like Thief isn't like BF4. Thief, being a singleplayer game, is more about the experience, and less about needing the highest possible FPS for competitive gaming. Given the fact it already produces performance that is more than acceptable, what more can Mantle bring to the table to improve upon the experience?
Thief's Graphics
We could make a joke here about the title of the game being "Thief" and the feeling that someone "stole" the graphics from this game. This game suffers from a problem we've experienced before, notably in another game, Dishonored. The difference between the two games though, Dishonored was actually fun to play.
The problem is that it is using a very old, by today's definitions, graphics engine with Unreal Engine 3. Sure, it is heavily modified, but the fact is, it is rooted in an old engine. This leads to the game number one performing extremely well, but also leaves the game not able to compete with modern games in terms of graphics. More importantly, to video card makers, it does not give you a reason to need to spend money on a new graphics card to upgrade. It does not push the graphics card or gaming industry forward.
Thief has subpar textures, subpar dynamic world environment, subpar physics, and a subpar graphical experience compared to modern games. Yes, it has contact hardening shadows, and those look nice, yes it has parallax occlusion mapping, and that looks nice, yes it has tessellation, and that looks nice, but all of these things we've seen before, and we've seen these used in greater detail and quantity in other games. These are "tacked on" features in Thief, rather than being built from an engine ground up with these things in mind. While Thief is just catching up with these graphical features, other games are far surpassing it graphically.
Thief looks and feels old for a 2014 game, and this is not a good selling point for new graphics cards. Now, maybe TruAudio and Mantle can add something appealing to the game. However, we feel that even with those two additions, the game is still going to feel overall very stiff and ancient. Inserting new technologies also cannot improve the gameplay, which is certainly an important factor for any singleplayer game.
The Bottom Line
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It will sit on the side for us as we patiently await TruAudio and Mantle support to test the only two aspects of the game that are appealing. We were hoping to find a new game to replace one of our older games in our gaming suite, so far, this game is not it. Quite frankly, you will likely be better off saving your hard earned cash till this title hits the bargain bin.
Huh, they didn't use the benchmark? I've heard the benchmark is much more demanding than the actual game.
A benchmark that does not reflect real-game performance is fairly useless.
What is with the stupid settings for their runs? Cool, you get 150+ fps with FXAA. How about we actually use some IQ settings to see what is actually happening when the cards are pushed.
Interesting reaction to a game performing very well on a wide range of graphics cards.But as for now, this game is squarely off my purchase list and it was squarely on it before reading this. Hard generally calls things as they are.
The game was running at the highest quality settings, with all the graphics options enabled. This allows a nice baseline test to start from, and give you an idea how the graphics perform in the game without artificially bringing down performance due to SSAA, which is always very demanding. Those that have the power to run SSAA, will, those that don't, will have to use FXAA. This wasn't a "Highest Playable" article, but a Preview of Performance, in which we pick the same setting, ap2ap, and compare all cards so you can compare each card to each other. The goal here is, to see how much of a demand the graphics themselves entail in the game, of which, they were maxed out.
Huh, they didn't use the benchmark? I've heard the benchmark is much more demanding than the actual game.
I haven't played it yet though I did run the benchmark before updating the driver and then again after, and the driver boosted performance quite a lot for me. Presumably Nvidia will be able to do the same with a driver update.
As for graphics, it's a mixed bag... I've heard nice things about POM, the shadows, the reflections, and some of the textures. But also a lot about how some textures are really bad close up...
I really do wonder what AMD is doing with Mantle in this game.
Interesting reaction to a game performing very well on a wide range of graphics cards.
From the article:
"This means you do not need to spend a lot of money on a graphics cards for Thief. This game does not give us a compelling reason to recommend upgrading video cards at this time. Quite frankly, you will likely be better off saving your hard earned cash till this title hits the bargain bin."
Hmmm, I better look for a game that doesn't run well on my current rig, pay $60, become disappointed in the frame-rates, update my rig, wait for the next game that exceeds my specs, and then start the cycle all over again.
There are a lot of good games running on the U3 engine.
Thief's Graphics
We could make a joke here about the title of the game being "Thief" and the feeling that someone "stole" the graphics from this game. This game suffers from a problem we've experienced before, notably in another game, Dishonored. The difference between the two games though, Dishonored was actually fun to play.
And that's the way it should be. I just don't see any reason to complain because it runs well on low priced cards.A bit over the top.
Need to excell in one or the other with at least decent gameplay for a game to get my $$$.
The game was running at the highest quality settings, with all the graphics options enabled. This allows a nice baseline test to start from, and give you an idea how the graphics perform in the game without artificially bringing down performance due to SSAA, which is always very demanding. Those that have the power to run SSAA, will, those that don't, will have to use FXAA. This wasn't a "Highest Playable" article, but a Preview of Performance, in which we pick the same setting, ap2ap, and compare all cards so you can compare each card to each other. The goal here is, to see how much of a demand the graphics themselves entail in the game, of which, they were maxed out.
I wasn't necessarily calling for 8xssaa testing to bring every card to its knees. More like 4xMSAA because it looked like most cards could handle it easily. Unless the game doesn't support it?
Given the fact it already produces performance that is more than acceptable, what more can Mantle bring to the table to improve upon the experience?
BF4 is a good case scenario for Mantle. However, a game like Thief isn't like BF4. Thief, being a singleplayer game, is more about the experience, and less about needing the highest possible FPS for competitive gaming. Given the fact it already produces performance that is more than acceptable, what more can Mantle bring to the table to improve upon the experience? http://hardocp.com/article/2014/02/26/thief_video_card_performance_preview/3#.Uw4MBmd3uUk
Obviously Mantle will help low-end Radeon 260 or 250 users, and users with weak CPUs. But for enthusiasts looking for a good showcase of Mantle's ability to get the best out of even high-end GPUs, this is not the game to do that.