The AMD Radeon R9 Fury X Review: Aiming For the Top
by Ryan Smith on July 2, 2015 11:15 AM ESTTotal War: Attila
The second strategy game in our benchmark suite, Total War: Attila is the latest game in the Total War franchise. Total War games have traditionally been a mix of CPU and GPU bottlenecks, so it takes a good system on both ends of the equation to do well here. In this case the game comes with a built-in benchmark that plays out over a large area with a fortress in the middle, making it a good GPU stress test.
Attila is the third win in a row for AMD at 4K. Here the R9 Fury X beats the GTX 980 Ti by 5% at the Max quality setting. However as this benchmark is very forward looking (read: ridiculously GPU intensive), the actual performance at 4K Max isn’t very good. No single GPU card can average 30fps here, and framerates will easily dip below 20fps. Since this is a strategy game we don’t have the same high bar for performance requirements, but sub-30fps still won’t cut it.
In which case we have to either compromise on quality or resolution, and in either case AMD’s lead dissolves. At 4K Quality and 1440p Max, the R9 Fury X trails the GTX 980 Ti by 8% and 3% respectively. And actually the 1440p results are still a good showing, but given AMD’s push for 4K, to lose to the GTX 980 Ti by more at the resolution they favor is a bit embarrassing.
Meanwhile, Atilla has always seemed to love pushing shaders more than anything else, so it comes as no great surprise that this game is a strong showing for the R9 Fury X relative to its predecessor. The performance gains at 4K are a consistent 52%, right at the top-end of our performance expectation window, and a bit smaller (but still impressive) 43% at 1440p.
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UltraWide - Thursday, July 2, 2015 - link
What took so long? :)Ryan Smith - Thursday, July 2, 2015 - link
I was out of commission for a week with a nasty cold (which I likely picked up from the AMD trip).CajunArson - Thursday, July 2, 2015 - link
"(which I likely picked up from the AMD trip)."It seems AMD has stooped to using biological warfare!
chizow - Thursday, July 2, 2015 - link
Hope you are feeling betterRanger101 - Friday, July 3, 2015 - link
Here we go, Chizoo once again attempting to align himself with the reviewer, as he does at PCPER no doubt attempting to gain much needed credibility. I'm afraid it's too late bro as you are universally recognised as a psychotic AMD hater. But feigning concern for the reviewer's health is a laughable cheap shot, even by your bottom feeding standards.Michael Bay - Friday, July 3, 2015 - link
Boy, is your behind in flames!chizow - Friday, July 3, 2015 - link
lmfao, yeah, wishing someone who was sick well is now some covert attempt to woo favors towards my sekret Nvidia agenda.You're an idiot, delete your account from the internet and quietly wait in the corner with your tinfoil dunce cap until AMD implodes, thanks.
Ranger101 - Friday, July 10, 2015 - link
Good to see you charging in to defend Chizoo there Michael, he does need help. The point is, dearest Chizoo, You can't on the one hand @ PCPER claim that Ryan Smith conveniently got sick to avoid raining on the fury like other websites and then pretend that you are concerned about his health @ Anandtech. It's too late for damage control bro, people are now well aware of your mentality or lack thereof.Wreckage - Thursday, July 2, 2015 - link
The irony of getting a cold from AMDsaru44 - Friday, July 3, 2015 - link
lol :D