Launching the #CPUOverload Project: Testing Every x86 Desktop Processor since 2010
by Dr. Ian Cutress on July 20, 2020 1:30 PM ESTGaming Tests: Civilization 6
Originally penned by Sid Meier and his team, the Civilization 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 underflow. Truth be told I never actually played the first version, but I have played every edition from the second to the sixth, including the fourth as voiced by the late Leonard Nimoy, and 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.
For this benchmark, we are using the following settings:
- 480p Low
- 1440p Low
- 4K Low
- 1080p Max
For automation, Firaxis supports the in-game automated benchmark from the command line, and output a results file with frame times. We call the game, wait until the file is created, pull it out and regex the relevant data. For the in-game settings, because Civ 6 seems to require the hardware from the last run to be the same as the current run else it defaults to base settings, we delete the settings file, run the benchmark once, and then use regex on the generated settings files to call the relevant resolutions and quality settings. We do as many runs within 10 minutes per resolution/setting combination, and then take averages and percentiles.
| AnandTech | IGP | Low | Medium | High |
| Average FPS |  |
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| 95th Percentile |  |
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All of our benchmark results can also be found in our benchmark engine, Bench.
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JustAKeyboard - Monday, July 20, 2020 - link
Need to add some Via Nano and Eden entries. How negative does the scaling go on your graphs?Ian Cutress - Monday, July 20, 2020 - link
I have a VX900-I motherboard, but last time I tried to install Windows 10, it wasn't having it.CrystalCowboy - Monday, July 20, 2020 - link
This sounds like a bleep-ton of work. What about mitigations for the various CPU compromises over the last several years?webdoctors - Monday, July 20, 2020 - link
Nice, looking fwd to the comparison of the i2500k with todays procs!Mr Perfect - Monday, July 20, 2020 - link
I especially appreciate that Bench has power consumption in it. Comparing the performance of an old 95w CPU to a new "95w" CPU isn't complete without seeing those numbers.lightningz71 - Monday, July 20, 2020 - link
Are you interested in processor donations from us for this project? I am reasonably certain that I have an i5-2400 that is in working condition on my shelf that I could gladly send your way.If you maintain an actively updated list somewhere that includes the processors that you have, and the ones that you are still looking for, and how to get them to you, I'm sure that, especially for the older ones, many of us are happy to help you out!
sorten - Monday, July 20, 2020 - link
This sounds incredible! Thank you, Ian.8aravindk - Monday, July 20, 2020 - link
Please consider open sourcing this project, not in terms of benchmarks, which you need to run yourself for authenticity, but maintain a publicly accessible wish list of processors (Like that Excel screenshot in yellow and red), I am sure people would love to donate their old processors that they were gonna chuck anyway, this would also reduce your investment by quite a bit. Also, please consider a cheap subscription as your ads are not good, people use reading modes now and I’ll gladly pay for your service.danjw - Monday, July 20, 2020 - link
I would really like to see the AMD Ryzen 2700X added.WiseSwampDragon - Monday, July 20, 2020 - link
I have an old system with a AMD Geode LX 800 CPU. I'd love to see that one in the Bench DB.