Crysis 2 is Horribly CPU Dependent

I was watching a Crysis 2 video of someone with a Phenom X6 1100T and a 5770. I wondered why someone would spend $200 on a CPU and and only ~$100 on a GPU, and yet, to my surprise, it makes quite a bit of sense:

http://static.techspot.com/articles-...nch/CPU_01.png
(Remember, all of the above is with the exact same video card)

On the same CPU/GPU budget, had he gone for an Athlon and a 6870, he would actually have gotten lower performance.

I'm assuming this dependency will be reduced once the DX11 patch comes out.

console port, lol

Yup, the same is true of Black Ops as well.

Hows it scale with more cores?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by CryptiK

Hows it scale with more cores?

---

On the lower end, it has linear scaling i.e. a Quad core will have double the performance of a Dual core, given the same GPU.

It loves hyperthreading (based on how the Core i5 performs) and L3 cache (as apparent from the difference between the Athlon Propus X4 and the Phenom X4).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by perkam

On the lower end, it has linear scaling i.e. a Quad core will have double the performance of a Dual core, given the same GPU.

It loves hyperthreading (based on how the Core i5 performs) and L3 cache (as apparent from the difference between the Athlon Propus X4 and the Phenom X4).

---

it looks like it needs 4threads and dose not care about HT to me, with the intel 2500 v 2600 and the 1100 v 975 amd

Crysis 2 is perhaps the only game I've ever played where I see activity in all 8 windows of the CPU usage history in the task manager. Thats a good thing though, seeing as CPUs are becoming more and more parallel in nature..

Ppl were cheering that it's finally using all cores on ther quad up to 80% each. What i'm having hard time understanding is on what the hell they use so much CPU. Ai is retarded, world is completely static and physics, well they don't exist. Then what is using so much of the CPU!?

I'm sorry, but giving an example with a DUAL GPU highest end card on the planet is *NOT* showing that the game is CPU limited!!

EVERY single freaking game on the PLANET is CPU limited with a GTX 590.

I need to give the Falkentyne award to that graph:
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/5...rdfacepalm.png

Ok now,
If you want to show that the game is massively cpu limited, then run it on a hd 5870, 4890 or 6950.
(or a GTX570, 460, etc..you get the point).

Running a game on a high end dual GPU card is the WORST way to show that a game is massively CPU limited. You made it CPU limited by running on that card in the first place :P

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by RejZoR

Ppl were cheering that it's finally using all cores on ther quad up to 80% each. What i'm having hard time understanding is on what the hell they use so much CPU. Ai is retarded, world is completely static and physics, well they don't exist. Then what is using so much of the CPU!?

---

Yea i was hoping that it had physx but my physx card has 0% usage all through it :(

@ Zanzabar, true, I guess I meant it likes Intel's architecture a lot better than AMD's, if a dual core with HT (i3 540) can outperform the Athlon X4 by a mile.

@ Falkentyne, the idea that "OMG It's a 590, OFCOURSE it's going to look like that" is oversimplifying the issue here, which is a difference between GPU and CPU dependent games. Crysis 2 is a very CPU dependent game, and that is what the graph shows. It is true to a lesser extent with less powerful GPUs, but it doesn't change the fact that it is CPU dependent. In GPU dependent games, with a GPU like the 590, it wouldn't make much of a difference at all which CPU you used, AMD or Intel, Dual or Quad or Sexta because the GPU power would overwhelm anything the CPU would contribute.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by RejZoR

Ppl were cheering that it's finally using all cores on ther quad up to 80% each. What i'm having hard time understanding is on what the hell they use so much CPU. Ai is retarded, world is completely static and physics, well they don't exist. Then what is using so much of the CPU!?

---

Lighting calculations? And of course there is physics, just cause it doesn't have the blatantly obvious pre programmed destructible environments. There's lots of calculations which occur.
Also-broken AI doesn't mean it's not complicated. Maybe they over complicated it from crysis 1 such that it just doesn't work so much, and infact they get stuck in a horribly inefficient state of constant calculation while standing still and going in circles. As I say, broken AI /= no AI

I was shocked to find that a made for console, lazily ported to PC game actually supports octo core CPUs. Kind of like throwing the PC community a low priority bone with no meat on it isn't it? I'd have rather had quad limited support and advanced graphics options.

As far as that bench goes though, another area it's deceptive is their choice of CPUs and CPU speeds. It gives the illusion the game does much better with a "faster" CPU, when in fact it's mainly that the default clock speed and Turbo Boost of the new SB chips that makes them "look" way faster. It's absurd to put a stock clocked 2.66 GHz 920 up against a 2600k with more efficient architecture AND much higher clock speed, not to mention way higher Turbo Boost.

im still lost as to how the athlon x4 3.0ghz is so much slower than the phenom x4 3.5ghz

18% faster and L3 should not equal nearly double the framerate.

Omg...
CPU Limited to the bone!

Well comparing it to the first Crysis, when it was released in, what was it, 2007? And the fastest card out was a HD 3870 or 9800 GTX (aka 8800 GTX), then yes, it's definitely CPU limited. The first Crysis was all GPU (but now it's CPU limited on the highest end cards, and STILL GPU limited to this day on lower cards). But I want someone to find me one game out right now that isn't CPU limited on a GTX 590 at 1920x1200.

I'm not arguing the point, though, which is Crytek sold out to the underpowered console cpu crowd. Just that you shouldn't need a dual fermi to show it. If this were done with a 580 or 6970, then I can't say anything :)

this days i was trying this game, cpu @ 4.4ghz ht on with overclocked video card does an average of 5 fps more than 4ghz cpu speed ht on with stock speed gpu 80/85 --> 75/80 ... dx9 are nice in this game. .. i'm really dissapointed about the rest of the game.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Falkentyne

Well comparing it to the first Crysis, when it was released in, what was it, 2007? And the fastest card out was a HD 3870 or 9800 GTX (aka 8800 GTX), then yes, it's definitely CPU limited. The first Crysis was all GPU (but now it's CPU limited on the highest end cards, and STILL GPU limited to this day on lower cards). But I want someone to find me one game out right now that isn't CPU limited on a GTX 590 at 1920x1200.

I'm not arguing the point, though, which is Crytek sold out to the underpowered console cpu crowd. Just that you shouldn't need a dual fermi to show it. If this were done with a 580 or 6970, then I can't say anything :)

---

the 9800gtx was a 8800gts 512MB, and crysis was made for what 3x8800ultra sli was theoretically going to do. and it was optimized for low shader count.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by zanzabar

the 9800gtx was a 8800gts 512MB, and crysis was made for what 3x8800ultra sli was theoretically going to do. and it was poorly optimized for low shader count.

---

Fixed :D.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by chinobino

Fixed :D.

---

no, it was optimized for low shader count, so it dose not scale with newer cards as shaders have not gotten faster just more abundant.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by RejZoR

Ppl were cheering that it's finally using all cores on ther quad up to 80% each. What i'm having hard time understanding is on what the hell they use so much CPU. Ai is retarded, world is completely static and physics, well they don't exist. Then what is using so much of the CPU!?

---

No idea, game is a flop, call it news if BF3 is the same way.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Falkentyne

Well comparing it to the first Crysis, when it was released in, what was it, 2007? And the fastest card out was a HD 3870 or 9800 GTX (aka 8800 GTX), then yes, it's definitely CPU limited. )

---

06 and 8800gtx was the card to have :( unfortunately i bought one thinking it would run on it and i couldnt enjoy the game til the 4870x2 came out and even then had lag here n there

The better question perk is IF it will come out.

Wow they're lucky it doesn't look like this with their Multi GPU setup..

Here's my crysis 2 experience :P

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjpN5HoX8xA

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by InCredible

06 and 8800gtx was the card to have :( unfortunately i bought one thinking it would run on it and i couldnt enjoy the game til the 4870x2 came out and even then had lag here n there

---

November 17th 2007, Crysis 1 :)...
But yes, 8800GTX was still the fastest card around, and IIRC, I got decent FPS with a mix of high, med and a couple of low settings at 1400x900... Still looked amazing, but running it with all very high on a HD5800 at 1900x1200... No comparison :P

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DTU_XaVier

November 17th 2007, Crysis 1 :)...
But yes, 8800GTX was still the fastest card around, and IIRC, I got decent FPS with a mix of high, med and a couple of low settings at 1400x900... Still looked amazing, but running it with all very high on a HD5800 at 1900x1200... No comparison :P

---

wow i swore it was 06...my fault but yea i was trying to play at 1920x1200 with a single 8800gtx and it did OK with mixed settings before the Ice stages then it was revert to low/med settings but i went back with my 4870x2 at the time and replayed it much better but still laggy here n there. Might replay it with eyefinity and 6970 if possible haha

Metro2033 seems to be GPU limited as it gains so much by moving up the GPU chain compared to getting the fastest CPU, on my end a Q6600 @ 3.4Ghz with a GTX285 performed about the same as a i7 2600K @ 4.5Ghz with the GTX285.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kingcarcas

No idea, game is a flop, call it news if BF3 is the same way.

---

Crysis 2 is currently EA's hottest selling game this year. It's hardly a flop.

Am I pissed about DX11 being left out? Or how the graphics options are severely limited (unless you mod the autoexec.cfg), Or how it doesn't completely lay waste to the GTX 590?

Yes, yes, and Yes. Crytek pulled DX11 and basically gave PC gamers the middle finger after they leaked the game all well knowing they'd pirate it. They did a fantastic job of preempting PC Gamers rage over DX11 by branding them as pirates, elitist, and unethical.

And just like I predicted in the "Crysis leaked" thread, PC gamers would not pay for the finished product and sales would suffer as a result.

Only 14% of Crysis 2 sales are for PC. Combine that with how I just checked out a popular torrent site and for the past 3 weeks, there has been 3,000-4,000 leechers downloading it at any given time. And i'll bet that que of downloaders cycles about 3 times a day. So.... 12,000 lost sales per day at $49 each.... adds up to about a half million lost per day.

And you guys wonder why PC games are becoming fewer and fewer.

@ Andrew - your logic is fallacious. That kind of calculus rests on an untenable underlying assumption - that everyone who pirated the game would otherwise have bought it for the full purchase price. Only then can that amount be said to be "lost".

Weird, I seem to recall a similar review, and it showed that a stock i7 920 was enough...
Either way, this is a very poorly coded game, so there's no surprise about the results from the OP.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Andrew LB

Crysis 2 is currently EA's hottest selling game this year. It's hardly a flop.

Am I pissed about DX11 being left out? Or how the graphics options are severely limited (unless you mod the autoexec.cfg), Or how it doesn't completely lay waste to the GTX 590?

Yes, yes, and Yes. Crytek pulled DX11 and basically gave PC gamers the middle finger after they leaked the game all well knowing they'd pirate it. They did a fantastic job of preempting PC Gamers rage over DX11 by branding them as pirates, elitist, and unethical.

And just like I predicted in the "Crysis leaked" thread, PC gamers would not pay for the finished product and sales would suffer as a result.

Only 14% of Crysis 2 sales are for PC. Combine that with how I just checked out a popular torrent site and for the past 3 weeks, there has been 3,000-4,000 leechers downloading it at any given time. And i'll bet that que of downloaders cycles about 3 times a day. So.... 12,000 lost sales per day at $49 each.... adds up to about a half million lost per day.

And you guys wonder why PC games are becoming fewer and fewer.

---

Make a quality product and people will pay. Use a quality service and people will pay.

Portal 2 for example.

Oh, Portal 2 got leaked to xbox 360 2 days before it went live on steam btw.

Funny Portal should come up right after the piracy comments because word has it the crack teams are doing a better job of fixing the crash problems than Valve. Kinda sad considering how long they take to develop their games. Pretty good game though. First half is a bit too easy and has some corny interludes between the test chambers but the 2nd half has some serious puzzles. If you get some of them wrong though redoing the run>jump>portal layers of gel gets a bit tedious.

I was bored so thought I would run my own little test, bearing in mind that I am gpu limited here as it's older tech. Ignore first couple results they are from a different game.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5143/...5e59e5f3_o.png

Wasn't the retail console version of Crysis 2 leaked before it was officially on SALE? And what did EA / Crytek say about that? NOTHING! zip, nada, no comment.

Yet they lambasted, shot and hung PC owners for someone leaking the BETA from their OWN SUPPLY CHAIN and they expect PC owners to buy their products?

Like everyone has said here : If the game is good enough, people will buy it regardless if cracked or not. I think Crysis is a not a bad game but I don't believe it lives up to the hype or is as big as a jump from Crysis/Crysis WH vs today's generation of games.

BF3 looks like the real NEXT GEN and I bet people with high end systems will buy that game. DICE has done nothing but listen from the looks of BF2 and BF2:BC. Both are top notch games, especially in multi play where it will continue to live on until BF3.

I wonder how many people still play Crysis multiplayer?

Crysis 2 Gave me no problems o speak of

i wonder how a 1366 hex work with this game

guess my 920 is safe for a year or two more :D

no reason to upgrade from 4ghz based on that graph

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Neova

...

Like everyone has said here : If the game is good enough, people will buy it regardless if cracked or not.


...

---

QFT - perfect example is borderlands, cracked a million times and bought lots of million times because of awesomeness, even cracked vers. worked in multiplayer

it even was so good that even the ones who got the cracked version paid and bought it again to support the devs :D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by schlafmuetze

QFT - perfect example is borderlands, cracked a million times and bought lots of million times because of awesomeness, even cracked vers. worked in multiplayer

it even was so good that even the ones who got the cracked version paid and bought it again to support the devs :D

---

Got Borderlands GOTY set last Dec for ~ 25 bux. This game was stupid cheap on Steam for ~ 7.99 a couple of weeks ago. A great game at 7.99 or 25 bux!

But back on track, hopefully the DX11 patch will help make Crysis 2 a more efficient game and win back some of those PC sales.

http://www.abload.de/img/untitled2dnsw.png
settings

If its cpu dependent then we would see a gain @ 1080p w/same cpu like q6600/q9650 stock/ocd.You have to use just one cpu,all those had diff performance,so gain is expected.

I personally enjoyed C2 alot, yes it was a console sell out in some regards but in terms of making a game that pretty using older DirectX technology, I think that is a feat in itself and gives me alot to look forward to when Cryengine 3 decides to use DX11 technologies.

That and the fact I will probably have to buy a whole new rig when that day comes (just like I did for the original Crysis, 8800 Ultra <3).

-PB