Most Demanding Game

[PCgamer81]

i didnt say you dont program i said " i GUESS" theres a bit of a difference.
if crysis is badly coded then i dont know what good coding is... yes its not much of a game but as a program its pretty innovating.
it works on a huge range of systems from a lowly 68gt to the latest dx 11 monsters and does it on any cpu thats got more grunt than a pentium d 2.6... i would say that was a pretty good effort... you cant really blame a game for not being coded to the latest/future api's. so you cant compare todays coding with yesterdays as it should in theory always be better. but that doesnt make yesterdays bad, its just the best they had at the time.
it may be badly coded by todays standard or what ever you think that is. but for a game thats what 4 years old and pretty much set the standard for all that followed. i say crysis is as well coded as any game i have played on release day...

oh and it wasnt half as buggy on xp or windows 7. a fair amount of crysis's bugs only showed on vista...
i found 1 bug in xp, where i couldnt enter the cave. but in win7 the game was near flawless.

As I said earlier, CryEngine 2 was bulky and convoluted. How you perceive it's bulk and complexity is entirely a matter of opinion.

To me, it is overly and unnecessarily complex; and at the risk of sounding redundant, poorly utilized in Crysis.

 

[jdw_swb]

The winner must surely be The Witcher 2, with uber sampling enabled.

 

[PCgamer81]

The Witcher 2 looks pretty demanding.

Let me say this...

I don't have any idea why so many people voted for BF3. This game is demanding, yes. But I can max it @ 45+fps in 1080p with a single 6970. In my humble opinion, if all you have is a single 6970 and you can do that, the game is not that demanding.

 

[bystander]

The Witcher 2 is only demanding if you use Ubersampling. I can make many other games come to its knees with Supersampling (pretty much the same thing), but it's something you have to force on from the drivers or in Nvidia's case, Nvidia inspector.

I think in the interest of consistency, AA should not be the determining factor of whether it's demanding. Without AA on, The Witcher 2 is not very demanding.

 

[Alex The PC Gamer]

The Witcher 2 is only demanding if you use Ubersampling. I can make many other games come to its knees with Supersampling (pretty much the same thing), but it's something you have to force on from the drivers or in Nvidia's case, Nvidia inspector.

I think in the interest of consistency, AA should not be the determining factor of whether it's demanding. Without AA on, The Witcher 2 is not very demanding.

+1

 

[PCgamer81]

The Witcher 2 is only demanding if you use Ubersampling. I can make many other games come to its knees with Supersampling (pretty much the same thing), but it's something you have to force on from the drivers or in Nvidia's case, Nvidia inspector.

I think in the interest of consistency, AA should not be the determining factor of whether it's demanding. Without AA on, The Witcher 2 is not very demanding.

Not to pick an old scab, but I feel the same exact way about Metro 2033 with advanced DoF and Tess, 4AA and 16AF - turn all that shite off and Metro 2033 runs smooth. With all of that left on, I would say Metro 2033 is probably the hardest game to max, even more so than Crysis. I do consider Crysis to be harder since it only runs in DX9/DX10 and doesn't have advanced DoF and Tess. And with AA and AF off, Crysis still runs like shite, where as Metro 2033 does not.

 

[bystander]

Not to pick an old scab, but I feel the same exact way about Metro 2033 with advanced DoF and Tess, 4AA and 16AF - turn all that shite off and Metro 2033 runs smooth. With all of that left on, I would say Metro 2033 is probably the hardest game to max, even more so than Crysis. I do consider Crysis to be harder since it only runs in DX9/DX10 and doesn't have advanced DoF and Tess. And with AA and AF off, Crysis still runs like shite, where as Metro 2033 does not.

A lot of games use DoF effects, some of which don't really turn off. I just find one single setting, Ubersampling, which is basically SSAA that a lot of games can use if you turn it on at the driver level, is the only setting that has any large effect on performance.

I find it hard to lump The Witcher 2 into the group. I can turn SSAA on in several games, and when it's done, many of them perform worse than The Witcher 2. Should those also be considered the most demanding?

 

[PCgamer81]

A lot of games use DoF effects, some of which don't really turn off. I just find one single setting, Ubersampling, which is basically SSAA that a lot of games can use if you turn it on at the driver level, is the only setting that has any large effect on performance.

I find it hard to lump The Witcher 2 into the group. I can turn SSAA on in several games, and when it's done, many of them perform worse than The Witcher 2. Should those also be considered the most demanding?

Wanna hear something funny?

With "enhance application settings" maxed out with MLAA and edge detect and all other sliders set to quality in my CCC, wanna know how many frames per second I get on average in Half Life 2?

30.

Seriously.

Know how many frames per second I get normally in Half Life 2?

300 (V-Sync off).

For real.

And it looks the same regardless.

 

[jdw_swb]

The Witcher 2 is only demanding if you use Ubersampling. I can make many other games come to its knees with Supersampling (pretty much the same thing), but it's something you have to force on from the drivers or in Nvidia's case, Nvidia inspector.

I think in the interest of consistency, AA should not be the determining factor of whether it's demanding. Without AA on, The Witcher 2 is not very demanding.

So, we are changing the poll question then to "Which game is the most taxing with absolutely NO AA?"

 

[bystander]

So, we are changing the poll question then to "Which game is the most taxing with absolutely NO AA?"

You can change it to with forced SSAA or similar.

How many people do you see here mention they maxed out a game, and not use AA? Quite often. Often you hear that so and so maxes Crysis and uses 2x AA. Or they Max out Metro 2033 and use AAA. Or what ever game you mention, all the claims of maxing a game are usually met with a limit on AA.

It seems to be the norm to not include AA levels when you talk about maxing it.

 

[jdw_swb]

You can change it to with forced SSAA or similar.

How many people do you see here mention they maxed out a game, and not use AA? Quite often. Often you hear that so and so maxes Crysis and uses 2x AA. Or they Max out Metro 2033 and use AAA. Or what ever game you mention, all the claims of maxing a game are usually met with a limit on AA.

It seems to be the norm to not include AA levels when you talk about maxing it.

If they use 2XAA, then they are not maxing out Crysis. Anyone who says that is wrong. You are only maxing the game if all the available graphics settings contained within the game are set to there maximum available values.

I can run Crysis with no AA with good fps....but cannot with 4XAA....does that mean my computer can max Crysis, no, of course it doesn't.

 

[Gumption]

Who the heck voted for Skyrim? Seems people are also clicking on BF3 just for the heck of it.

My system handles BF3 well with everything full @ 1080p no biggie.
Crysis handles on high settings, no more than 2 aa in order to get consistent 60fps
The witcher 2 I manage 34fps on Ultra with 2 aa, but change it to high settings with 4 aa to be consistently playable.
Not played the others, but from seeing benchmarks I understood that Metro was hard to max being 'a love song to pc gamers' so I voted for that.

EDIT : I should add that I have Shogun 2 and can play it on ULTRA, everything maxed out quite easily. Where it gets tricky is when the units are on 'large' numbers and there are 20,000 troops on the battlefield. That's when my card tends to choke.

GTA 4 plays very well, but I can't max out the draw distance, or at least it recommends I don't. The improved graphics mods can put a real beat down on perfromance as well, but wholly crap it looks amazing.

 

[tjosborne]

i gotta say, i think its arkham city now. in the next month it might get better with a patch, put this game is rediculous

 

[tjosborne]

o, average 23fps everything maxed. not horrible but its the dips at 4fps that kills it

 

[bystander]

If they use 2XAA, then they are not maxing out Crysis. Anyone who says that is wrong. You are only maxing the game if all the available graphics settings contained within the game are set to there maximum available values.

I can run Crysis with no AA with good fps....but cannot with 4XAA....does that mean my computer can max Crysis, no, of course it doesn't.

If that's your definition of maxed, then Crysis might be far more demanding, when you check x16 AA.

Rift will also kicks its ass with all its advanced settings.

AA levels have generally always been an after thought for most, and generally x4 is considered the sweet spot no matter how high they go.

Look at every benchmark ever done for Crysis, not one has ever "maxed" it by your definition, at least not one I've ever seen.

 

[jdw_swb]

If that's your definition of maxed, then Crysis might be far more demanding, when you check x16 AA.

Rift will also kicks its ass with all its advanced settings.

AA levels have generally always been an after thought for most, and generally x4 is considered the sweet spot no matter how high they go.

Look at every benchmark ever done for Crysis, not one has ever "maxed" it by your definition, at least not one I've ever seen.

16XAA is not available in the settings option in my copy of Crysis.

Maxing a game is when you put all available setting provided by the game (without the use of external apps) to the maximum value the ingame settings will allow them to be.

It's crazy to say "Wow guys, I can totally max Metro 2033....ummm, but with 0 AA"
How can it be considered maximum, if an in game option allows it to be higher?

 

[PCgamer81]

16XAA is not available in the settings option in my copy of Crysis.

Maxing a game is when you put all available setting provided by the game (without the use of external apps) to the maximum value the ingame settings will allow them to be.

It's crazy to say "Wow guys, I can totally max Metro 2033....ummm, but with 0 AA"
How can it be considered maximum, if an in game option allows it to be higher?

No, there is too much ambiguity in what you are saying.

What about resolution? Does that have to be maxed, as well? What if all your monitor supports is 1280x1024? Could you never be considered to max a game, even if you have insane hardware? Hell, just "max it" in 800x600 and you would still be maxing it, right? Just about everyone could do that!

And what about your CCC or nhancer control panel? Does that have to be maxed out on quality, as well? Hell, just set all sliders on performance and maxing a game gets a lot easier!

And what if you can max the game, but only get 20 frames a second on average? Could you still say, "I can max this game!"? What about 5 fps? 50? Or does it have to be at least 60 to be considered maxing? And at what resolution again?

No. Far too ambiguous.

If you are playing the game on very high, or ultra - or whatever the main preset's highest setting is, than you are maxing the game. Now, maxing it in 1080p, or maxing it with AA or AF on, is another thing altogether.

Geeze.

 

[jdw_swb]

No, there is too much ambiguity in what you are saying.

What about resolution? Does that have to be maxed, as well? What if all your monitor supports is 1280x1024? Could you never be considered to max a game, even if you have insane hardware? Hell, just "max it" in 800x600 and you would still be maxing it, right? Just about everyone could do that!

And what about your CCC or nhancer control panel? Does that have to be maxed out on quality, as well? Hell, just set all sliders on performance and maxing a game gets a lot easier!

And what if you can max the game, but only get 20 frames a second on average? Could you still say, "I can max this game!"? What about 5 fps? 50? Or does it have to be at least 60 to be considered maxing? And at what resolution again?

No. Far too ambiguous.

If you are playing the game on very high, or ultra - or whatever the main preset's highest setting is, than you are maxing the game. Now, maxing it in 1080p, or maxing it with AA or AF on, is another thing altogether.

Geeze.

Umm...no. That's why people offer more information when they provide benchmarks.

For example, I can Skyrim at 1080p with 40 - 70 fps depending on location. When a resolution isn't offered, the benchmark or claim of maxing the game is unreliable.

The resolution is the only variable when it comes to maxing a game, and that should be specified by the person offering their benchmarks.

What is ambiguous is saying that maxing out a game is not a defined thing, whereby different AA levels are used.

CCC and nhancer are external software that allow for performance tweaking and adding extra effects, not in game options offered by the games creators.

Acceptable fps is truly a subjective thing, some may think 30fps is fine, others accept nothing less than 60fps. But you are not maxing a game if the available options in the ingame settings menu are not set to the highest limit, without the use of third party software.

 

[PCgamer81]

Umm...no. That's why people offer more information when they provide benchmarks.

For example, I can Skyrim at 1080p with 40 - 70 fps depending on location. When a resolution isn't offered, the benchmark or claim of maxing the game is unreliable.

The resolution is the only variable when it comes to maxing a game, and that should be specified by the person offering their benchmarks.

What is ambiguous is saying that maxing out a game is not a defined thing, whereby different AA levels are used.

CCC and nhancer are external software that allow for performance tweaking and adding extra effects, not in game options offered by the games creators.

Acceptable fps is truly a subjective thing, some may think 30fps is fine, others accept nothing less than 60fps. But you are not maxing a game if the available options in the ingame settings menu are not set to the highest limit, without the use of third party software.

You are dead wrong, and too arrogant to admit it. Just keep on riding that dead horse as far as it will take you.

First of all, PC gaming is not a dick measuring contest. I couldn't care less what you or anyone else considers maxed out, or how powerful someone's PC is.

Secondly, CCC and nhancer can override application settings, or enhance it. So do you only consider the game "maxed out" if the game is overridden or enhanced for better quality? Or, perhaps that should be called "better than maxed"...

So, perhaps I should just disable my CCC, lest I be in danger of forfeiting my precious right to say, "I can max this game!" ...by your standards, of course.

Oops, looks like I need to go shopping for a new monitor, also. 1080p is not going to cut it - games support better!!!

Oh, but wait...You give resolution a pass, calling it a "variable". So I know what I must do! I will play all future games in 800x600 for the next couple of years, that way I know that I can "max" them.

Seriously, "maxed out" is a very loose term with many different interpretations. Just because you happen to believe one way, doesn't necessarily make it so.

G'Day!

 

[bystander]

When it comes to AA, a lot of games just give you the max your card is able to perform, regardless if you can see any difference at all. Most people can't notice much if any difference past x4, especially at higher resolutions. Nvidia cards give or used to give higher AA options in Crysis than ATI's do.

AA is kind of an after thought that dev's just kind of throw at you rarely giving it much thought in terms of what is needed and what the max should be. It's just there so you can smooth things out at your own discretion.

The only odd thing, and very unusual thing when it comes to The Witcher 2, is that they turn on Ubersampling as default in Ultra settings. Most other games do not set AA levels as part of their default settings.

 

[jdw_swb]

You are dead wrong, and too arrogant to admit it. Just keep on riding that dead horse as far as it will take you.

First of all, PC gaming is not a dick measuring contest. I couldn't care less what you or anyone else considers maxed out, or how powerful someone's PC is.

Secondly, CCC and nhancer can override application settings, or enhance it. So do you only consider the game "maxed out" if the game is overridden or enhanced for better quality? Or, perhaps that should be called "better than maxed"...

So, perhaps I should just disable my CCC, lest I be in danger of forfeiting my precious right to say, "I can max this game!" ...by your standards, of course.

Oops, looks like I need to go shopping for a new monitor, also. 1080p is not going to cut it - games support better!!!

Oh, but wait...You give resolution a pass, calling it a "variable". So I know what I must do! I will play all future games in 800x600 for the next couple of years, that way I know that I can "max" them.

Seriously, "maxed out" is a very loose term with many different interpretations. Just because you happen to believe one way, doesn't necessarily make it so.

G'Day!

"Just because you happen to believe one way, doesn't necessarily make it so." - But, that doesn't apply to you then. You speak like your opinions are fact, while chastising me for doing the same. If you cannot offer and accept opinions without branding others who don't agree with you as "arrogant", then please do not bother. Leave the petty name calling and abuse for fanboy websites.

A game can only be maxed on the hardware it has available.

The display will vary from user to user, hence the differences in resolution. But, one thing that cannot change, are the ingame settings available.

The reason I discount 3rd party apps is because there is no standard for benchmarking with them. everyone has a copy of the game, therefore the settings can be universal, but if 3rd party apps are used to define what maxed is, then where does it stop?

Maxing out a game, is setting the ingame options to their highest levels, at the highest available resolution to the user, whether that's 800x600, or some huge eyefinity resolution.

That's why some say a 6950 can max games at 1080p, but not at 2560x1600.

 

[PCgamer81]

"Just because you happen to believe one way, doesn't necessarily make it so." - But, that doesn't apply to you then. You speak like your opinions are fact, while chastising me for doing the same. If you cannot offer and accept opinions without branding others who don't agree with you as "arrogant", then please do not bother. Leave the petty name calling and abuse for fanboy websites.

A game can only be maxed on the hardware it has available.

The display will vary from user to user, hence the differences in resolution. But, one thing that cannot change, are the ingame settings available.

The reason I discount 3rd party apps is because there is no standard for benchmarking with them. everyone has a copy of the game, therefore the settings can be universal, but if 3rd party apps are used to define what maxed is, then where does it stop?

Maxing out a game, is setting the ingame options to their highest levels, at the highest available resolution to the user, whether that's 800x600, or some huge eyefinity resolution.

That's why some say a 6950 can max games at 1080p, but not at 2560x1600.

First of all, I am no fanboy. Nor am I a hypocrite. I realize that my opinions are opinions.

Secondly, I was not "chastising" you. I was merely f'ing with you, dude. Lighten up.

Third, AA and AF really are third party in and of themselves - even if they are in the game. They are not part of maxing the game out, as they have nothing to do with detail, but rather straightening jagged edges and filtering the textures to make them appear sharper - but that is limited to your hardware. Not all hardware supports this. I remember back several years ago, I could max out certain games quite well - while trilinear filtering was all I had available at the time. Yet the game looked and played great none of the less. Not to mention the fact that the higher the resolution the more obsolete these options become - to the point that it becomes counter productive and foolish to use them at some of the insane resolutions - as they offer virtually no improvements whatsoever.

Lastly, I will remind you that even 1GB graphics cards can max any game on the market, provided the resolution is low enough. As such, defining what is maxed out become moot. For example, I max out BF3 - as you would describe it - everything as high as it can go. I use V-Sync and play in full 1080p. CCC sliders set to use application settings.

Here is my latest benchmark...

Frames - 20511
Time (ms) - 418878
Min - 27
Max - 62
Avg - 48.967

Can I max it out by your standards? It's not 60fps, after all.

When I turn AA and AF off - causing the options menu to read custom settings - but run everything else at max, I get very close to a 60fps average.

I can tell no difference in visual quality, and you would be hard pressed to, either. Therefore, it would be foolish of me to play it "maxed out" as you would describe it. It looks excellent, it plays excellent.

It is still maxed out.

 

[jdw_swb]

First of all, I am no fanboy. Nor am I a hypocrite. I realize that my opinions are opinions.

Secondly, I was not "chastising" you. I was merely f'ing with you, dude. Lighten up.

Third, AA and AF really are third party in and of themselves - even if they are in the game. They are not part of maxing the game out, as they have nothing to do with detail, but rather straightening jagged edges and filtering the textures to make them appear sharper - but that is limited to your hardware. Not all hardware supports this. I remember back several years ago, I could max out certain games quite well - while trilinear filtering was all I had available at the time. Yet the game looked and played great none of the less. Not to mention the fact that the higher the resolution the more obsolete these options become - to the point that it becomes counter productive and foolish to use them at some of the insane resolutions - as they offer virtually no improvements whatsoever.

Lastly, I will remind you that even 1GB graphics cards can max any game on the market, provided the resolution is low enough. As such, defining what is maxed out become moot. For example, I max out BF3 - as you would describe it - everything as high as it can go. I use V-Sync and play in full 1080p. CCC sliders set to use application settings.

Here is my latest benchmark...

Frames - 20511
Time (ms) - 418878
Min - 27
Max - 62
Avg - 48.967

Can I max it out by your standards? It's not 60fps, after all.

When I turn AA and AF off - causing the options menu to read custom settings - but run everything else at max, I get very close to a 60fps average.

I can tell no difference in visual quality, and you would be hard pressed to, either. Therefore, it would be foolish of me to play it "maxed out" as you would describe it. It looks excellent, it plays excellent.

It is still maxed out.

I never said a game has to be 60fps.
A game can be maxed out but perform badly, thus causing the user to lower the settings (less AA maybe) in order to raise fps to acceptable levels.

And regardless, which modern game has a Highest pre set config that does not enable AA?

BF3 Ultra settings have AA enabled....and it makes my system slow. If I remove the AA, am I still maxing BF3, no, I'm not. How can I be maxing a game when I have just reduced the ingame settings?

 

[bystander]

The general consensus is that you state maxed and what AA level you use.

And personally, even when offered, I'd never use more than x4 AA. Anything more is not visibly better. There is also the fact that some games have different AA options depending on your video card.

 

[PCgamer81]

The general consensus is that you state maxed and what AA level you use.

And personally, even when offered, I'd never use more than x4 AA. Anything more is not visibly better. There is also the fact that some games have different AA options depending on your video card.

Absolutely.

For instance, I play Crysis maxed out with x4 AA and in 1080p.

This guy is off his rocker.