DirectX 12 Testing with Ashes of the Singularity

Performance Analysis

At 1080p, all the tested cards output smooth and playable frame rates, with minimums for everything falling into the 30-60fps range. As the lowest resolution we test at, this is naturally the least GPU intensive, but even here there are some obvious differences between cards compared to what we're used to seeing. While the GTX 980 Ti does have the highest minimum frame rate, the GTX 980 is only able to match the R9 390X and the R9 390 has a 4fps, or 12 percent, lead over the GTX 970. Looking at average frame rates also shows that the AMD hardware is performing better throughout the duration of the benchmark – even the R9 390 is averaging over 60fps whereas the GTX 980 cannot.


Moving up to 1440p, most cards are playable but the GTX 970 occasionally drops into sub-30fps territory. Furthermore, as the GPU load increases, AMD's hardware comes off looking even better. At the top the GTX 980 Ti is usurped convincingly by the R9 Fury X, though it still has a somewhat respectable result. However, further down the charts is where things are really interesting, as the GTX 980, normally a very strong performer, is beaten by the considerably less expensive R9 390.

Finally, at 4K, where we don't test anything below an R9 390X or GTX 980, all cards other than the GTX 980 are playable. The GTX 980 only manages a 26fps minimum – the R9 390X with 31fps actually matches the GTX 980 Ti and even has a slightly higher average. AMD's own top-end card, the R9 Fury X, trumps the GTX 980 Ti by 22.5 percent on the minimum and 26 percent on average.


Ashes of the Singularity also has a DirectX 11 mode – after all, not everyone is running Windows 10 or modern GPUs. For a quick comparison, we ran the full three minute benchmark on the GTX 980 Ti and R9 Fury X, once with DX12 and once with DX11. In this case, we are comparing only the average frame rate as generated by the benchmark itself. DX12 is designed to reduce CPU and driver overheads, so in theory performance with it should be higher, and for both cards this is true. However, for Nvidia, the GTX 980 Ti only improves by 2 percent, whereas the R9 Fury X is almost a different card with DX12 running – its average frame rate jumps by almost 60 percent. This does also mean that Nvidia enjoys a clear lead over AMD with the DX11 rendering path.

Conclusion

Evidently, current AMD hardware is considerably better equipped for Ashes of the Singularity running with DirectX 12 enabled, and this is showcased more and more as the GPU workload intensifies. What precisely this comes down to is hard to know, but AMD's Asynchronous Compute Engines, giving it hardware level support for this aspect of DirectX 12, likely has something to do with. For its part, Nvidia is currently having to rely on its drivers to manage this, which is never as efficient.


However, before you all go selling your Nvidia hardware, it's worth bearing a few things in mind. Most obviously, this is only one game, and we certainly can't extrapolate the conclusions from it to apply to DX12 performance more generally. Admittedly, the fact that Ashes of the Singularity deliberately exploits specific DX12 features does make it a good game to test with, but ultimately developers are still getting to grips with the API. Similarly, drivers for both companies are at an early stage. Lastly, we also need to remember that both AMD and Nvidia are set to release new GPUs this year, which will shake things up further.

With all that said, however, it's great to see AMD fighting back and remaining relevant in clear, performance terms rather than just in value. Nvidia will of course be looking to return fire, so as more DX12 games are released along with new hardware and drivers, we're surely in for an interesting time.