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BattleForge is an online, real-time strategy game from EA that uses a free-to-play model, so you can download and run it at no cost. Since it’s a real-time strategy game, it uses graphics a little differently than a first person shooter. In the scripted benchmark, for example, there’s about a hundred units running around doing stuff – engaging in combat, throwing spells and otherwise creating mayhem.
The benchmark, as with many games, is buried in the graphics option menu. The benchmark itself is only about a minute long. However, actually running the test is even more tedious than running the DiRT2 benchmark. First, you’ll need to download the installer. When you run the installer, it proceeds to download about 1.3GB of content. Be sure to include the option for high resolution textures, or you won’t be able to benchmark in the high detail mode.
After you install the game, you’ll also need to create a BattleForge account. Finally, you can log in, run the game, and go into the graphics options. Even then, it’s something of a pain, because every time you make a major change to a graphics option, you have to exit the game and restart – which means re-logging in. It’s a good thing that this is a free game.
Still, it’s one of the few RTS-based tests, and it is free, so it’s worth checking out if you’re into these types of titles.
This particular demo supports DirectX 9 and 10, but also has support for Nvidia’s 3D Vision stereoscopic 3D, so you can even benchmark this card wearing shutter glasses, if you think that’s interesting.
As game demos go, it’s not a huge download, at about 580MB. It’s dead simple to run, too. When you run the launcher, choose either DX9 or DX10 mode. When in the demo, you press a key, select “System Settings”, then set the resolution and features. Once you ESC back to the main screen, you hit a key again and select “Benchmarks.” The “Fixed Benchmark” is shorter, and generates more repeatable results. At the end, you’ll get a summary screen, showing you an average frame rate and a chart of frame rate over time.
Resident Evil 5, with all the eye candy turned up, can still stress a graphic card, even though it’s almost a pure port of the console title.
Although based on an actual game engine, the Unigine Heaven is a synthetic test, designed to check out DirectX 11 performance on the latest generation of graphics cards. It even offers manual settings for hardware tessellation, a feature available only on DirectX 11 capable GPUs. It will also run in DX10, DX9 and OpenGL, so you can test a variety of APIs, but remember that performance will vary by API and enabled, API specific feature, like hardware tessellation.
Unigine’s Heaven benchmark runs all currently supported graphics APIs, and supports hardware tessellation under DX11.
If you’re a graphics artist or professional CAD user, you may want to test performance of your card in that context. The problem here is that professional graphics apps vary in performance on specific GPUs even more than games, and the CPU can often be a big factor.
If you do want to see how your graphics card performs, there are several free benchmarks that can assist you. We won’t go into details as to how to run them, but there are a couple of good free benchmarks. In addition, there are several application-specific tests, but those often require you to own the app. If you are, for example, a 3dsmax 9 user, you may want to see how your card (and system performs with benchmarks for that particular app.
One quick and easy source is SPEC, the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation, a standards group that develops a variety of benchmarks. One free benchmark that’s widely used is SPECViewperf, now at version 10. SPEC also offers app specific tests for 3dsmax 9, Maya 6.5, SolidEdge and others.
It’s easy to get mired in frame rates, feature sets and driver versions. Remember, though, a difference of a few frames per second really doesn’t matter (as long as you’re staying above 45 fps in shooters and 30fps in simulation and RTS titles.) Benchmarking graphics cards is a great way to check out the performance of your rig, and maybe help you decide when it’s really time to upgrade. In the end, though, it’s about how well the games you like perform on the hardware you own. Benchmarking should be a tool to help you enjoy your gaming experience, not a competition unto itself.
Comments are closed on this article
Philips
October 25, 2011 at 6:12am
Thank you for the casualty of providing all of these information. This is a lot actually. These are very helpful.
Azrael808
February 16, 2011 at 8:13am
This is a great article; I'm currently using this as a basis to benchmark my home machine so I can see how it stacks up against other rigs, but mainly so I can see how much an upgrade improves the overall system. Some useful comments too! :)
I did have one question: when taking an average of the benchmark runs, why do you use the median, and not the mean score? Is it simply because a mean score will most likely produce a result that wasn't actually obtained by a run of a utility?
jlfrank83
January 27, 2010 at 8:12am
The article states that real-world performance is what you are shooting for when you run your benchmarks, Yet they also want you to disable antivirus, disconnect from your network, manually launch idle process, etc, before benchmarking. Isn't creating a "virtual clean room" tainting your results as much as a synthetic benchmark application or biased video driver would? I don't go through all these preflight steps before playing a game or running Photoshop, so why would I do them before benchmarking and expect realistic, real-world results?
mrvander
January 27, 2010 at 8:40am
... one has to eliminate as many variables as possible in order to produce repeatable results. This is a basic of any scientific testing method - whether it be life sciences or computer sciences. Once you can produce a repeatable result - you have established a control (or a baseline.) THEN add in the other variables to determine the effect it has, preferably one at a time. Turn on your virus scanner. Repeat the testing and compare it to your control. Analyze the data. Add in another variable, say your network. Repeat and rinse.
This is also why they don't recommend using FRAPS and just running through a level of your favorite game. It's not accurately reproducable. It can give you a general idea over many runs, but it can vary wildly.
Of course you can customize this to your heart's content and maybe just a general idea is all you need. The article does mention the idea of "play more games" as opposed to just endlessly benchmarking one's PC and analyzing every last little detail to get that extra tenth of a framerate.
nekollx
January 26, 2010 at 6:06pm
Daz 3d is good real world test since the preview/maniptlation window is GPU bound but renders are CPU bound
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Modred189
January 26, 2010 at 5:55pm
No furmark?
It's one of the most stressing GPU-only benches I know of.
And I must say, real-world benchmarking your graphics card is the best way to go. Pick a game or two you know well (HL2 works well), and play through a level a few times, measuring your fps with fraps. Throw the data into excel and average the columns. You can even make nice graphs from multiple data sets and compare them to show what scenes your PC is best at and which it has issues with.
jlfrank83
January 27, 2010 at 8:19am
Your columns are going to be radically different if you are controlling the action yourself. It's better to use a game that has in-game, real time rendered cutscenes, like Mass Effect or Assassin's Creed. If you use a playable section of a game, your graphics card will be rendering differently every time, since each playthrough is going to vary in length, FOV, etc.
Modred189
January 27, 2010 at 5:54pm
I have done this a few times before, and if you play through the level a few times first, you can get it relatively reproducible. The problem with in-game benchmarks is that they disable a lot of things like AI, which is a big CPU drain.
bikerbub
January 27, 2010 at 10:39am
GTA IV also has a benchmark option. it's not very long, but it is an actively rendered test with AI and lots of gunfire. also somewhat humorous, as you are a clown (if i remember correctly) riding on a moped, through the streets, weaving in between the Liberty City skyscrapers.
