Kingdom Come: Deliverance
In Kingdom Come: Deliverance we are running this game in DX11 at the highest custom in-game settings. This means we set the graphics to “Ultra High” but then we also increased the distance sliders to the maximum values as well as upped AA to SMAA 2TX and we enabled HD Textures. A new patch for this game also came out this past week, we are running that new version now which is 1.9.0-379c. We are performing a manual-run through in this game a little later in gameplay in an outdoor area with long view distances.
This game is very demanding, so to receive any kind of uplift on performance with newer drivers is welcomed. It appears that this is indeed the case, we again are seeing the most changes at 1080p and 1440p. At 1080p there is a 4% performance increase with newer drivers versus performance at launch. The most difference though is at 1440p, here we are seeing a 4% improvement in performance. It allows 1440p to average at the 60FPS mark now which is playable.
While there is a slight change at 4K, for this game 4K is still out of the question for the Radeon VII. It doesn’t have anywhere enough performance to allow an acceptable 4K experience. Even turning down image quality we have to set it very low in order for the Radeon VII to be playable at 4K.
Metro Exodus
In Metro Exodus we are running this new game in DX12 using the highest “Extreme” in-game settings with full tessellation. This game is certainly demanding on the Radeon VII. We are using the built-in in-game benchmark.
We are seeing a slight increase at 1080p with new drivers versus launch press drivers, but it is small at only 1.1%. Performance at 1440p and 4K is within the margin of error. It appears that even though this game was released just this year newer drivers have not really optimized performance with the Radeon VII in this game.
At 1440p this game is very demanding with the highest in-game settings. You will have to lower settings by one level and will not be able to play at the highest possible settings even at 1440p. You will at 1080p, but even then, it’ll be hard to reach an average of 60FPS at “Extreme” settings. There is no way that you will be able to play this game at 4K without majorly sacrificing image quality. The Radeon VII suffers greatly in this game even with the latest drivers.
Resident Evil 2
For this game we are running in DX11 as DX12 actually runs slower in this game. We have the game set at the highest in-game settings. We are performing a manual run-through of this game through the point of the introduction and part of the first mission.
This game performs extremely well on the AMD Radeon VII producing high framerates even at 4K. The latest driver has improved performance slightly over the press driver, mainly at 1080p. At 1080p the newest driver is 1.3% faster, but at 1440p and 4K there is no change. You really won’t be able to tell it however because the framerates are so high to begin with. The Radeon VII makes easy work of this game and even 4K is very playable.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
We are running Shadow of the Tomb Raider in the DX12 API at the highest game settings and SMAA 2TX. We are using the built-in in-game benchmark.
Performance in this game is good at 1080p and 1440p on the Radeon VII with playable performance. However, at 4K you will have to lower settings quite a bit to be playable. Performance hasn’t really changed since the press launch driver in January, the newest driver today performs about the same as it did back in the January driver.
The Division 2
In The Division 2 we are running the game in the DX12 API with the highest in-game settings. We are using the built-in in-game benchmark.
In this game we experienced some significant performance improvements with the latest Adrenalin 19.5.2 driver versus the press driver in January 19.1.2. This game presented the largest differences experienced in our lineup; at 1080p the latest driver is 9.3% faster than the press driver back in January. That’s a significant bump. At 1440p performance is up 9.8%. These are near 10% jumps and are typically what you’d want from driver updates when new games are released. This shows that AMD has indeed optimized performance with the Radeon VII in this game when it was released this year.
In terms of performance 1080p and 1440p perform great, but at 4K you won’t be able to play with the highest in-game settings. At 4K you will have to make significant image quality sacrifices in order to be playable on the Radeon VII. Once again, it suffers greatly at 4K.