GPU Tests: Civilization 6 (1080p, 4K)

First up in our CPU gaming tests is Civilization 6. Originally penned by Sid Meier and his team, the Civ series of turn-based strategy games are a cult classic, and many an excuse for an all-nighter trying to get Gandhi to declare war on you due to an integer overflow. Truth be told I never actually played the first version, but every edition from the second to the sixth, including the fifth as voiced by the late Leonard Nimoy, it a game that is easy to pick up, but hard to master.

Benchmarking Civilization has always been somewhat of an oxymoron – for a turn based strategy game, the frame rate is not necessarily the important thing here and even in the right mood, something as low as 5 frames per second can be enough. With Civilization 6 however, Firaxis went hardcore on visual fidelity, trying to pull you into the game. As a result, Civilization can taxing on graphics and CPUs as we crank up the details, especially in DirectX 12.

Perhaps a more poignant benchmark would be during the late game, when in the older versions of Civilization it could take 20 minutes to cycle around the AI players before the human regained control. The new version of Civilization has an integrated ‘AI Benchmark’, although it is not currently part of our benchmark portfolio yet, due to technical reasons which we are trying to solve. Instead, we run the graphics test, which provides an example of a mid-game setup at our settings.

At both 1920x1080 and 4K resolutions, we run the same settings. Civilization 6 has sliders for MSAA, Performance Impact and Memory Impact. The latter two refer to detail and texture size respectively, and are rated between 0 (lowest) to 5 (extreme). We run our Civ6 benchmark in position four for performance (ultra) and 0 on memory, with MSAA set to 2x.

For reviews where we include 8K and 16K benchmarks (Civ6 allows us to benchmark extreme resolutions on any monitor) on our GTX 1080, we run the 8K tests similar to the 4K tests, but the 16K tests are set to the lowest option for Performance.

MSI GTX 1080 at 1920x1080

(1080p) GTX 1080: Civilization 6, Average Frame Rate(1080p) GTX 1080: Civilization 6, 99th Percentile(1080p) GTX 1080: Civilization 6, Time Under 60 FPS

MSI GTX 1080 at 4K

(4K) GTX 1080: Civilization 6, Average Frame Rate(4K) GTX 1080: Civilization 6, 99th Percentile>(4K) GTX 1080: Civilization 6, Time Under 60 FPS

ASUS GTX 1060 at 1920x1080

(1080p) GTX 1060: Civilization 6, Average Frame Rate(1080p) GTX 1060: Civilization 6, 99th Percentile(1080p) GTX 1060: Civilization 6, Time Under 60 FPS

ASUS GTX 1060 at 4K

(4K) GTX 1060: Civilization 6, Average Frame Rate(4K) GTX 1060: Civilization 6, 99th Percentile(4K) GTX 1060: Civilization 6, Time Under 60 FPS

Sapphire R9 Fury at 1920x1080

(1080p) R9 Fury: Civilization 6, Average Frame Rate(1080p) R9 Fury: Civilization 6, 99th Percentile(1080p) R9 Fury: Civilization 6, Time Under 60 FPS

Sapphire R9 Fury at 4K

(4K) R9 Fury: Civilization 6, Average Frame Rate(4K) R9 Fury: Civilization 6, 99th Percentile(4K) R9 Fury: Civilization 6, Time Under 30 FPS

Sapphire RX 480 at 1920x1080

(1080p) RX 480: Civilization 6, Average Frame Rate(1080p) RX 480: Civilization 6, 99th Percentile(1080p) RX 480: Civilization 6, Time Under 60 FPS

Sapphire RX 480 at 4K

(4K) RX 480: Civilization 6, Average Frame Rate(4K) RX 480: Civilization 6, 99th Percentile(4K) RX 480: Civilization 6, Time Under 30 FPS

Benchmarking Performance: CPU Legacy Tests GPU Tests: Shadow of Mordor DX11 (1080p, 4K)
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  • Outlander_04 - Wednesday, April 12, 2017 - link

    The information is out there
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VvwWTQKCZs
  • vladx - Wednesday, April 12, 2017 - link

    That wasn't my point, readers shouldn't go elsewhere to compare with CPUs that are excluded due to bias.
  • Meteor2 - Wednesday, April 12, 2017 - link

    What relevance has a $340 CPU got to a $250 CPU review?
  • vladx - Wednesday, April 12, 2017 - link

    I'd say a ton more than the $499 Ryzen 7 1800x which didn't get excluded.
  • psychobriggsy - Wednesday, April 12, 2017 - link

    Yes, it's in the same product line, so people can see how it compares.

    Which seems to be roughly around 80% of the 1800X, for around half the price.
  • vladx - Wednesday, April 12, 2017 - link

    And 7700k is more relevant for gaming which was the subject at hand so there you go.
  • Meteor2 - Wednesday, April 12, 2017 - link

    You didn't answer my question...
  • vladx - Wednesday, April 12, 2017 - link

    I just did, 7700k is more relevant than a 1800X in gaming benchmarks and as the competition it should've been included if a $499 CPU from AMD is included.
  • psychobriggsy - Wednesday, April 12, 2017 - link

    7700K is at a different price point, it rightly was compared in the Ryzen 7 reviews.

    Regardless, it would lose in the multithreaded benchmarks still, whilst having a small extra advantage in the gaming results.
  • vladx - Wednesday, April 12, 2017 - link

    Ryzen 1800X is even more expensive than 7700k and yet got included in the gaming benchmarking, ironically considering 7700k is much more relevant for gaming.

    Sorry, but the bias and double standards are obvious in the article.

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