Quick test: Total War: Warhammer with DirectX 12

The DirectX 12 interface is a hot topic among all enthusiasts. The replacement for DirectX 11 is slowly but surely looking for game titles, where several major launches during the year can boast support from day one.

Total War: Warhammer belongs to the category that has received beta-labeled DirectX 12 support pasted on afterwards. With many simultaneous units and plenty of calculations, the title in theory is a good example of a scenario where the new interface has the potential to make a difference.

The editors are of course curious, and to get some meat on their bones before the autumn tests, Total War: Warhammer will be installed on the test rigs. The goal is to gather experience around how the title behaves in DirectX 12 – the quality of the implementation varies, as is well known, greatly between different game titles.

The machine used is SweClocker’s standard test system for graphics cards. Installed drivers are latest from AMD and Nvidia, Radeon Software 16.8.1 Hotfix and Nvidia Geforce 368.98 respectively. For more information on the system and test method, see the review of the Sapphire Radeon RX 470.

The settings used are the game’s predefined Ultra, supplemented by 4 × MSAA for canoe leveling. The editors also turn on the function for Unlimited Video Memory, which counteracts dynamic quality scaling.

Note that this is primarily about curious experiments on the editorial staff, not a full-scale test. The belief and hope, however, is that even the enthusiasts among SweClocker’s members find the figures interesting.

At 1,920 x 1,080 pixels, two trends are immediately visible among the tested cards. For Nvidia, DirectX 12 is really slower than DirectX 11, something that becomes especially clear for the top model Titan X “Pascal”.

In the AMD camp, however, the situation is different. Radeon R9 Fury X, R9 390X and RX 470 all win a bit on the new interface. At the same time, the Radeon RX 480 pulls the same regardless of method, and the R9 280X loses marginally when DirectX 12 is connected.

The same Nvidia trend continues when the resolution is increased – DirectX 11 performs better than its successor. On the AMD side, the Radeon RX 470 and RX 480 slide over to the negative DirectX 12 side, while the Fury X and R9 390X continue to perform better with the new interface.

At 4K UHD, it will to some extent be valid for the third time. Margins are smaller, but Nvidia cards are still stronger in DirectX 11. For AMD, the path continues, where only the Radeon R9 390X still shows an advantage over DirectX 12.

Tester with processor scaling

One of the highlights of DirectX 12 is better utilization of the computer’s processor. To quickly put the concept to the test, the editors are loading the system with the Radeon RX 480 and the Geforce GTX 1060 – two comparable models from the very latest generation.

The processor clocks down to its standard level, which means a maximum turbo frequency of 3.7 GHz. After that, the editors strike in rounds of technology Hyperthreading and processor cores to simulate more stripped-down models to some extent.

The result is interesting. For the Geforce GTX 1060, the trend is clear right through – DirectX 11 performs better than DirectX 12. The levels are more or less the same until only two processor cores remain, then the average falls sharply.

For the Radeon RX 480, it’s messier. At the lower performance levels, the model matches the behavior of the GTX 1060, with lost frame rate when using DirectX 12. However, when more processor cores are involved, the behavior reverses and the new interface lands slightly higher.

Summary thoughts

In many ways, Total War: Warhammer feels like a typical DirectX 12 title given the situation today. The performance varies greatly depending on the graphics card, where the new interface on the whole can not be said to be particularly much better.

DirectX 12 in Total War: Warhammer is still marked as beta, which opens up for future improvements. The editors are also looking forward to titles that will hopefully have better implementations of the new interface – for example Battlefield 1 and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.

► Read the review of Total War: Warhammer at FZ