Revenge of the 8 core CPU - Watch Dogs

[el etro]

The same logic that applies GPUs applies to CPUs here. No one believe AMD would make a giant GPU die again, and them bring Hawaii to life. Nothing will impede them if they desire to, in the future, design CPU with more cores. 10C Cpu was canned due do focusing on IPC/efficiency on R&D of AMD future processors.

BTW, the victory of AMD in consoles was awesome to us pc gamers....

 

[Headfoot]

I bet it will use 6 threads because that's the reasonable upper limit for pure cores on desktop (x79) and exactly how many the consoles have at their disposal. You cant just tack on more threads at the end of the design process. Its a fundamental architecture question to multi thread the engine. Using 6 would best utilize the console's power. Though it might end up being 3 -4 heavily utilized cores with 2 semi-utilized cores (ie fast Intel quads like 2500k, 3570k, 4670k overclocked will be more than capable of handling it)

Fewer Threads requiring high single thread performance ---> More Threads requiring less single thread performance = Hard, fundamental architectural change
More Threads requiring lower single thread performance ---> Fewer Threads requiring higher single thread performance = Trivially easy, can be done by the OS itself with no additional coding or done by the engine more intelligently

 

[MightyMalus]

Aren't OS's async and/or multithreaded now a days?

If I remember correctly, the 360 did not have any locked cores for the OS. The PS3 did, tho. I could be wrong tho.

I find it weird that the 8 cores won't be able to be used. Any actual proof of that?

 

[serpretetsky]

Aren't OS's async and/or multithreaded now a days?

If I remember correctly, the 360 did not have any locked cores for the OS. The PS3 did, tho. I could be wrong tho.

I find it weird that the 8 cores won't be able to be used. Any actual proof of that?

The OS might be able to use all 8 cores, but the OS can't decide how to divide the game running onto 8 cores.

That is something that the game programmers have to do.

 

[2is]

Amd are no fool, they put 8 cores in consoles to give a future to their fx line. Smart move.
Thanks to them, we'll finally get heavily multithreaded games as a standard. Amd is da messiah.

Wouldn't that also mean they killed off their own 4 and 6 "core" CPUs?

 

[monstercameron]

Wouldn't that also mean they killed off their own 4 and 6 "core" CPUs?

binning allows for 4 and 6 core skus

 

[ninaholic37]

everything you have to do to get the most performance out of 6 Jaguar cores is everything you have to do to get the most out of an FX or Haswell core; the optimizations are the same, people!

Are you're saying that all x86/64 CPU architectures will show exactly the same performance ratio (when two are compared), regardless of how a program is coded?

 

[Enigmoid]

Are you're saying that all x86/64 CPU architectures will show exactly the same performance ratio (when two are compared), regardless of how a program is coded?

Ironically I think intel may be slightly ahead as the module architecture differs quite a bit from jaguar's very traditional approach.

But I believe he is saying that any of the general x86 tricks that will get better performance will carry over. Specific optimizations for jaguar are a different story but given how much wider more capable haswell and piledriver are (piledriver a bit less so due to shared units) they should have minimal problems carrying over even specific optimizations (unless HSA, IGP or anything APUish related).

 

[Fjodor2001]

I wouldnt say Watch Dogs is 8 cores from that spec list.

Official requirements now published by Ubisoft:

http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/10/08/w...ed-specify-64-bit-os-and-minimum-6-gb-of-ram/

"Recommended

• Processor: Core i7 3770 @ 3.5Ghz or AMD FX-8350 @ 4.0Ghz
• RAM: 8 GB
• Video Card: 2048 VRAM DirectX 11 with Shader Model 5.0 or higher (see supported list)
• Sound Card: Surround Sound 5.1 capable sound card
• Supported Video Cards at Time of Release:
• nVidia GeForce GTX460 or better, GT500, GT600, GT700 series;
• AMD Radeon HD5850 or better, HD6000, HD7000, R7 and R9 series
• Intel® Iris™ Pro HD 5200"

So why would they recommend the 8 core AMD FX-8350 CPU if you say the game only uses max 6 cores anyway? In that case shouldn't they have recommended e.g. the 6 core FX-6350 instead?

 

[ShintaiDK]

So why would they recommend the 8 core AMD FX-8350 CPU if you say the game only uses max 6 cores anyway? In that case shouldn't they have recommended e.g. the 6 core FX-6350 instead?

For the look of it they simply picked from an old top SKU list. Also the 3770 is not 3.5Ghz, its 3.4Ghz. And why not recommend a 4770/4771 then?

I didnt say the game only uses 6 cores. But to draw conclusions about core usage from that list is simply silly.

 

[Fjodor2001]

For the look of it they simply picked from an old top SKU list. Also the 3770 is not 3.5Ghz, its 3.4Ghz. And why not recommend a 4770/4771 then?

Perhaps because the difference in performance between a 3770 and a 4770 is not very big?

After all it is minimum recommended requirements, not a list of current CPUs. I.e. it is not a list of CPU recommendations for people building a new system just to play the game. A lot of people have existing systems and want to know what the requirements are to play the game. So it's a list of recommended CPUs suitable for playing the game, be that new or old CPUs.

I didnt say the game only uses 6 cores. But to draw conclusions about core usage from that list is simply silly.

Still, why would they recommend 8 core CPUs if the game only supports 6 cores? Sure it's not a definitive statement that it supports 8 cores, but it would be misleading information to the customers I'd say.

Or what would you say if they in a similar manner recommended a 4 core 4670K, if the game only used 2 cores anyway?

 

[N-A-N-0]

Welcome to next-gen PC gamers... this (huge bumps in minimum and recommend performance on PC) happens every single console generation.

 

[ShintaiDK]

Perhaps because the difference in performance between a 3770 and a 4770 is not very big?

After all it is minimum recommended requirements, not a list of current CPUs. I.e. it is not a list of CPU recommendations for people building a new system just to play the game. A lot of people have existing systems and want to know what the requirements are to play the game. So it's a list of recommended CPUs suitable for playing the game, be that new or old CPUs.

Still, why would they recommend 8 core CPUs if the game only supports 6 cores? Sure it's not a definitive statement that it supports 8 cores, but it would be misleading information to the customers I'd say.

Or what would you say if they in a similar manner recommended a 4 core 4670K, if the game only used 2 cores anyway?

Sleeping Dogs recommended a quad. Let me know how does core scaling benchmarks worked out.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Sleeping Dogs recommended a quad. Let me know how does core scaling benchmarks worked out.

You can look at it two ways. First that it is a fantastic game that utilizes all the power of a PC and is a great step forward. Or you can look at it as a game that scales like crap. I tend to lean toward the latter. Even games like Crysis 3 and BF4 have min specs of a dual core I believe.

 

[sefsefsefsef]

If the game doesn't scale well beyond 4-6 threads, then why is an i7 recommended and not an i5? If there isn't perfect scaling, then HT's less-robust multithreading impementation (compared to AMD"s CMT) is not going to be able to give much benefit over a generic quad-core i5. All the evidence, on both the Intel and AMD sides, points toward good multi-core scaling in this title.

 

[moonbogg]

This is nothing but a GTA knockoff that couldn't possibly interest me, but what does interest me is that PC requirements are going up fast. Good times!

 

[2is]

This is nothing but a GTA knockoff that couldn't possibly interest me, but what does interest me is that PC requirements are going up fast. Good times!

That's only good if there are tangible benefits to the system requirements going up. If it's the same crap with higher resource usage simply because the developers realize they have much more power to play with and can get even more inefficient with their code, that doesn't help anyone.

 

[Sueff]

I still don't trust these specs.

Watch Dogs dev tweeted those specs are fake. Real specs will come out soon and they will be lower.

Why would the tech director say that the minimum specs are actually LOWER when now they are anounced as being even HIGHER than what was previously announced. Something doesn't smell right.

 

[showb1z]

I still don't trust these specs.

Why would the tech director say that the minimum specs are actually LOWER when now they are anounced as being even HIGHER than what was previously announced. Something doesn't smell right.

These specs are lower. First specs recommended a hexacore Intel. But didn't these new specs get pulled off the site right away as well? So these could be wrong as well.
Ubisoft needs to get their shit together.

 

[frozentundra123456]

These specs are lower. First specs recommended a hexacore Intel. But didn't these new specs get pulled off the site right away as well? So these could be wrong as well.
Ubisoft needs to get their shit together.

No, these specs are slightly higher for minimum, the same for recommended. They just omitted the ultra, for which hex core Intel of FX 93xx was the requirement. But you are right, these could be incorrect as well.

 

[Dresdenboy]

Sleeping Dogs recommended a quad. Let me know how does core scaling benchmarks worked out.

They recommended CPUs running 8 threads.

 

[ShintaiDK]

They recommended CPUs running 8 threads.

No.

• Recommended:
  • OS: Windows 7
  • Processor: Quad-core Intel or AMD CPU
  • Memory: 4GB
  • Hard Disk Space: 15GB
  • Video Card: DirectX 11 Nvidia or AMD ATI card, Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 or ATI Radeon 6950
  • DirectX®: 11
  • Sound: DirectX compatible sound card

 

[frozentundra123456]

No.

Source?

It sounds reasonable, but these are not the specs I have seen.

 

[ShintaiDK]

Source?

It sounds reasonable, but these are not the specs I have seen.

For Sleeping Dogs?

http://store.steampowered.com/app/202170/

 

[Techhog]

Source?

It sounds reasonable, but these are not the specs I have seen.

Sleeping Dogs and Watch Dogs are different games.