I'd guess that'd be a reasonable explanation. Another recent game to have a huge discrepancy in requirements was Dragon Age Inquisition, requiring an 8800GT for Nvidia, but an HD 4870 for AMD
Maybe those two CPUs where the ones they used as a minimum reference for developing and testing the game ???.
AMD does not support deferred context rendering. Here is a screenshot of DirectX Caps viewer that Rvenger took of his R9 290:
Source
As you can see, driver command list support says no.
That's not how PC development works. AMD and NVidia use the same rendering path in the Witcher 3, which is DX11. Only in Mantle supported games does AMD have the capability to use a different rendering path than NVidia.
The only advantage performance wise that Gameworks gives NVidia, is that it allows them earlier access to the game code so they can get a head start on polishing their drivers.
Edit: Since CD Projekt was a PC developer, I also had hoped that the game would scale better to lower end hardware. Maybe it will, but it almost seems like devs are trying to drive users to consoles by making very high system requirements for PC. I got into PC gaming by simply adding a hundred dollar gpu to a cheap i5 desktop. Seems like those days are past.
That screenshot is over a year old. I do not have an R9 290 to validate what the Omega drivers state in DX caps viewer so the information you stated above is not relevant to this day.
Last time I bought a new videocard was when the first high-end 28nm videocard by nVidia was released. I bought a gtx680 on the day of release (March 2012). Awesome decision. The gtx680 is still performing well.
Last time I bought a new videocard was when the first high-end 28nm videocard by nVidia was released. I bought a gtx680 on the day of release (March 2012). Awesome decision. The gtx680 is still performing well.
It has been my plan to buy my next videocard when the first high-end 20nm videocard by nVidia will be released. A new videocard would be nice when playing The Witcher 3.
So when is the first next-gen nVidia videocard expected ?
Any chance this will be before June 2015 ? (So I can play TW3 on a 20nm videocard ?)
Is there any truth to the rumor that nVidia will wait until mid-2016 and 16nm ? That would be crazy, imho. And disappointing.
I forgot I was on anandtech. People arguing whether AMD or nVidia is better. People arguing whether a certain card deserves the term "high-end" or not, even when it's the fastest card on the market at the time. Bleh. That was not the question.
My question is simple:
Do we expect 20nm videocards before the release of The Witcher 3, yes or no ?
I forgot I was on anandtech. People arguing whether AMD or nVidia is better. People arguing whether a certain card deserves the term "high-end" or not, even when it's the fastest card on the market at the time. Bleh. That was not the question.
My question is simple:
Do we expect 20nm videocards before the release of The Witcher 3, yes or no ?
Buying 7970 at launch would be even better as it's a better card, 2GB is pathetic. I'm going to buy the first true high-end card made at 20nm, both GK104 and tahiti were midrange especially GK104.
Recommend 8GB of system memory? Is this common now? I haven't paid attention to recommended specs.
I forgot I was on anandtech. People arguing whether AMD or nVidia is better. People arguing whether a certain card deserves the term "high-end" or not, even when it's the fastest card on the market at the time. Bleh. That was not the question.
My question is simple:
Do we expect 20nm videocards before the release of The Witcher 3, yes or no ?
Ok, here's the thing. It sounds like you got into PC gaming when we were well into the last console generation. Games were all being made for those consoles, and PC hardware was far enough past consoles in performance, that you could get a $100 graphics card that would match or exceed the performance of consoles.
But that bar doesn't stay still. We've had a new console generation arrive. Games are being made for those consoles now. You can't sit around complaining that devs are making high system requirements when your graphics card is below the slowest (multiplatform) current generation console. They're not driving you to buy a new console, they're driving you to buy a graphics card that's on par with current consoles. CD Projekt Red has no more obligation to scale to a Radeon HD 7770 than they have to scale back to a Geforce GT 430.
Give it 2-4 years, and I'm sure we'll be back at the point where a $100 graphics card will once again well exceed the performance of the Xbone and PS4. But we aren't there now, and the only thing wrong about it is that you're expecting to run current gen console level games on a graphics card that's below current gen consoles.
How does that make it not relevant? The Omega drivers should only make a difference if AMD states in the release notes that they've specifically added support for driver command lists.
Personally, I will just play older games. But I do think the steep escalation in hardware requirements is going to deter a fair number of people from getting into PC gaming, which I think is unfortunate.
Of course 7970's at launch were a lot more expensive (seems odd that AMD was more expensive then), and the reference coolers weren't very good.
"Easily affordable" is not a term I normally associate with an i7.
My question is simple:
Do we expect 20nm videocards before the release of The Witcher 3, yes or no ?
"Easily affordable" is not a term I normally associate with an i7.
Most likely AMD and NV are skipping 20nm.
greatnoob also if you accuse someone of thread-crapping don't do it yourself because it makes you seem like a hypocrite. How does your satisfaction with buying a 680 has anything to do with Witcher 3? Everything what was pertinent to the topic was said much earlier.
If you think saying one card is better than the other is somehow meant to cause a flame war I don't even know what to say. You have to defend your precious brand don't you? I don't care about the brand of my card... But some people are just irrational and treat them like football teams. That's really unhealthy both corporations only want our money nothing else, they are not our friends.
You are right, when I read your posts I took it in a way that you were just trying to bag Nvidia. I re-read your post and I understand what you're trying to say in context of Witcher 3. So I apologise for my post.
Guess I have to upgrade my GPU . Currently running on a 2500k with a AMD 6950 but I'm in two minds to what I should upgrade the GPU to either a 290 (as you can pick them up relatively cheap) or the 970. Bare in mind I don't want to spend too much...