Borderlands 2 Gameplay Performance and IQ Review @ [H]

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FrgMstr

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Borderlands 2 Gameplay Performance and IQ Review - Gearbox Software and 2K Games have released the much anticipated sequel to Borderlands. Borderlands 2 is a DX9 game that has unique comic-book like graphics called Cell Shading. We will be looking at the performance and image quality of this PhysX driven, visually refreshing game with a variety of AMD and NVIDIA video cards.
 
I have read that you are able to to run physics on the cpu with amd cards if you change a .ini file. I heard its a monster performance hit though but it would been nice to see if it how much it affects performance.
 
Nice review.

This game begs for EyeFinity or Crossfire.
Unlike the original, Gearbox put everything in place this time for three screen play.
I was able to play in EyeFinity right out of the box.

Crossfired 7970s at 1125 MHz gives me a consistant 85 FPS with all settings on highest, except sadly no Physx.

My second run-through is going to be with SLi GTX 670s in Surround......so I'll see what physx has to offer.

This game has been smooth as silk right out of the box (for a change) for EF and runs without problem in Crossfire......12.4 + Caps 12.9:D
 
magoo said:
Nice review.

This game begs for EyeFinity or Crossfire.
Unlike the original, Gearbox put everything in place this time for three screen play.
I was able to play in EyeFinity right out of the box.

Crossfired 7970s at 1125 MHz gives me a consistant 85 FPS with all settings on highest, except sadly no Physx.

My second run-through is going to be with SLi GTX 670s in Surround......so I'll see what physx has to offer.

This game has been smooth as silk right out of the box (for a change) for EF and runs without problem in Crossfire......12.4 + Caps 12.9:D
Click to expand...

I was able to set physX at high in settings with a 7850... does that mean I'm getting physX in the game? or it's all meaningless without an nvidia card
 
Fantasyalive said:
I have read that you are able to to run physics on the cpu with amd cards if you change a .ini file. I heard its a monster performance hit though but it would been nice to see if it how much it affects performance.
Click to expand...

It was stated in the article that we tried this, but for us it was unstable, and caused crashing. We had a bad experience where it literally broke the game, and ended up having to re-ghost the system and re-download the game. AMD and PhysX don't play well together.
 
I noticed something really odd with this game and NVSurround that I tried posting about in the nVidia section, but got no response. I've found that with my setup, the game runs far better with ForceEnableGen3 used, easily maintaining a solid 60 FPS at 6010x1080 with PhysX on High, but the the same hack makes my system unstable after a few hours of playing. Running the stock PCIe 2.0 gives me a framerate closer to 20-30 FPS when the PhysX starts getting insane, but so far, it hasn't crashed yet.
 
I thought you could use an old nvidia card for physX processor only, alongside say a Amd card. Is this true and how would it work using a old 9800gt just for physX while using a 7950 for graphics
 
That's kind of strange that you've had all the crashes with Physx on. I turned them on in game using the Medium option and have played the game for about 29 hours without any crashes (I see the flag destruction and other things, so I know it is working without editing the ini file). I am using an AMD 7970 card also and I have a friend who has a 6970 and has not had any issues there either.
 
In the same vein as BHenry's comment, does the PhysX option in the in-game menu just do nothing when enabled and running an AMD GPU? The option is certainly available with no editing of any config files.
 
Nice review, but as expected from a PhysX title, conversations of collusion to ensue. :rolleyes:
 
Youn said:
any way to turn toon shading off?
Click to expand...

There is a hack that reduces the cell shading outlines. I read it in the Borderlands2 thread in the gaming section......or google it.

Goty said:
In the same vein as BHenry's comment, does the PhysX option in the in-game menu just do nothing when enabled and running an AMD GPU? The option is certainly available with no editing of any config files.
Click to expand...

I set physx to low or medium.....cant remember, on my AMD Crossfire system, but I'm not seeing anything special......I don't think it works for AMD at all unless you hack the files and then iy sounds like it FUBARS the game......not worth it, IMO.

My one and only gripe (and its a small one) about 2 compared to 1 is the lack of grizzled enemies......I'm just not seeing pieces-parts like I saw in the first game. Maybe Gearbox made this a PG rated shooter??
 
BHenry said:
That's kind of strange that you've had all the crashes with Physx on. I turned them on in game using the Medium option and have played the game for about 29 hours without any crashes (I see the flag destruction and other things, so I know it is working without editing the ini file). I am using an AMD 7970 card also and I have a friend who has a 6970 and has not had any issues there either.
Click to expand...

Can't imagine you're getting the full PhysX effects using an AMD GPU regardless if you turned it on in the game menu. Never seen a PhysX game that allowed PhysX to work to full effect like it would using an Nvidia card.
 
physX blows.:( we need the devs to use code that works regardless of hardware chosen by potential customers.
 
Whatever negative things come with the proprietary nature of Physx, it DOES indeed make a difference in gameplay of Borderlands 2. There is a noticeable improvement in the "blow-uppy" stuff when Physx is on that I wouldn't want to miss.

The game runs like butter on my OC'ed dual gtx 680ms (about equiv of dual desktop 670m) at 1920x1080.
 
@Brent/Grady/Kyle: Is there a plan to test performance with a dedicated physx card? Or adding such a test to future reviews where applicable? I have my GT430 set as the default Physx card in my machine and it would be interesting to get a performance comparison of different cards as the physics processors and how it affects the overall performance.

/Sucks that the AMD folks are left out on that one.
 
Last edited:
Brent_Justice said:
It was stated in the article that we tried this, but for us it was unstable, and caused crashing. We had a bad experience where it literally broke the game, and ended up having to re-ghost the system and re-download the game. AMD and PhysX don't play well together.
Click to expand...

I apologize, I missed it.
 
This article is curious, because I'm running a pair of 7970s and can just set PhysX to "high" in-game. Performance takes a hit, but it's definitely playable and it looks just like the youtube videos of PhysX. I've not had to do anything in the ini. :confused:

I'm running
2x7970 Lightning in CF-X
i7-2600k @ 4.8 GHz
on an ASRock z68 extreme7 gen3
 
Grebuloner said:
@Brent/Grady/Kyle: Is there a plan to test performance with a dedicated physx card? Or adding such a test to future reviews where applicable? I have my GT430 set as the default Physx card in my machine and it would be interesting to get a performance comparison of different cards as the physics processors and how it affects the overall performance.

/Sucks that the AMD folks are left out on that one.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the review. Also would like to see ^ if possible.
 
^Yes yes^

Dedicated PhysX card performance review of Borderlands 2 would be great. Hell maybe throw in some of that AMD/hydrid PhysX jazz that people have going for them ;)
 
PhysX wrecks my 2500k @ 4.7 Ghz / 7970 reference stock at 1080. Physx low with everything else maxed, the lowest I have seen it hit was 90 FPS with 4 players in a massive firefight. Same scenario with PhysX on medium, and it hit under 30.
 
I don't play co-op, but I'm seeing typical drops to 30-40 in big firefights. In small fights, min. fps will stay around 50-70.

That's with PhysX set to high (via the normal in-game settings) and a 4.8 GHz 2600k + 2 7970s. 1920x1200 resolution, everything else maxed.
 
The only place I've seen big FPS drops is in certain parts of the Corrosive Caverns. I have everything maxed except PhysX which is on medium. Found the high setting obnoxious.

i7-2600k @ stock
8GB RAM
256GB SSD
GTX 670
 
Physx high brought my gtx 690 to a complete slideshow with four players in chaotic battles with e.g. the turret, the sirens power, etc. all on. The fps drop by half even with that card just turning physx low to high.

I realize this is hard to test but four players going all out in bigger battles is way different then a single player run. In single player I only see drops every now and then and it's very smooth with extremely high fps.

All with an i7 980 @ 4+ GHz (6 core/12 thread)

Nice review, but it's pretty important to note that the setups will encounter slideshows in 4 player in certain scenarios.
 
BHenry said:
That's kind of strange that you've had all the crashes with Physx on. I turned them on in game using the Medium option and have played the game for about 29 hours without any crashes (I see the flag destruction and other things, so I know it is working without editing the ini file). I am using an AMD 7970 card also and I have a friend who has a 6970 and has not had any issues there either.
Click to expand...
Yep same for me i have it on medium with my 6950 2gb. Haven't experienced a single crash and about 90% of the time its completely playable. I wish there was a way we could tweak how many particles there are limited to spawning in because it could easily just be modified a bit to run 100% playable with not much loss to the physx.
 
With a SB i7 at 4GhZ (turbo) and my GTX 660 Ti at stock (stock as far as Galaxy factory OC is concerned), I hit a minimum of 55FPS and maximum of 135FPS (so far) with everything cranked (including physx). The factory OC isn't too huge, either, still have some breathing room. Haven't played with more than a party of 2 yet, though. Lovin' this game.
 
BigMack70 said:
This article is curious, because I'm running a pair of 7970s and can just set PhysX to "high" in-game. Performance takes a hit, but it's definitely playable and it looks just like the youtube videos of PhysX. I've not had to do anything in the ini. :confused:

I'm running
2x7970 Lightning in CF-X
i7-2600k @ 4.8 GHz
on an ASRock z68 extreme7 gen3
Click to expand...

I'm running two 6970's and I set the physx to high by editing the .ini (in-game it reads it as High as well) and have played for tens of hours without a single crash. Getting all the effects too and its playable at 2560x1440 (only two player max so far)

I7-2600k (HT OFF) @ 4.7GHZ
8GB RAM
 
I think that's absolute shit that they leave stuff out of the game without PhysX being enabled.
I shouldn't have to hack my game files or buy a specific brand of cards to get the "complete" game versus playing something less. That's BS.

I loved BL1 and was planning on buying BL2 soon but after seeing pictures of flags missing, I can't help but wonder what else is absent if you play without PhysX on. At this point I'll probably boycott the game entirely until that's patched or changed.

I suppose then the game is also gimped on the 360 since that's AMD as well. :rolleyes:
 
I am annoyed with PhysX leaving AMD users without digital glory, but I am wondering, can I just use the hack drivers and play the game using my 5850 with a 460 providing PhysX?
 
I have BL2 with a 660Ti.

The missing flags won't change the game for you. They're cool, but not essential.

The explosions (as indicated by screenshots in this article) are indeed beautiful. When it comes to multiplayer with 4 players and a lot of mayhem going on, you're gonna want performance over beauty since as someone indicated even a 690 was brought to a crawl.

What I read about AMD and PhysX and doing Hybrid:

When enabling PhysX with an AMD card, your CPU is what is taking the load.

When using an old nVidia card (8800GT or better that has PhysX) as a dedicated PhysX card, there are unofficial/underground drivers. However they currently only work with older nVidia drivers (280 series or so) and older PhysX versions.
 
I'm currently running a 7970 as my main card and my old GTX 285 as a Phys X card with Borderlands 2. There is a guide out there for how to run this setup without putting the phys X load on the CPU.

I've verified it is using the GTX 285 for Phys X by showing load on it with techpowerup GPU-Z.

I run with v-sync and a 60hz monitor but 1920x1200 with everything maxed out and phys x at high I stay pegged at 60 and get all the eye candy I could want.

If anyone has say a 8800GT or better nvidia card laying around and are running AMD currently, I would highly recommend doing hybrid phys x, the game looks a lot better with it.

Here is the forum link for how to do it, make sure you read the posts farther down as well. It worked for me although I had to do one extra step of running an older/alternate hybridize.exe as well for it to finally work.

Running it on Borderlands 2 and Batman Arkham City for now and I belive X-Com will support it when it gets released here on the 9th as well.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1307142/borderlands-2-with-hybrid-physx
 
zero2dash said:
I think that's absolute shit that they leave stuff out of the game without PhysX being enabled.
I shouldn't have to hack my game files or buy a specific brand of cards to get the "complete" game versus playing something less. That's BS.

I loved BL1 and was planning on buying BL2 soon but after seeing pictures of flags missing, I can't help but wonder what else is absent if you play without PhysX on. At this point I'll probably boycott the game entirely until that's patched or changed.

I suppose then the game is also gimped on the 360 since that's AMD as well. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I think you've completely misunderstood what this is or what it does. they're not trivial details that they can just turn on/off at will, the simulations for this geometry consume actual computing power that weaker systems just don't have. modern rigs can brute force it even with amd graphics due to lots of spare cpu overhead, but for something like the 360, not a chance. so calling it "gimped" would make zero sense.
 
TysonM said:
I have BL2 with a 660Ti.

The missing flags won't change the game for you. They're cool, but not essential.

The explosions (as indicated by screenshots in this article) are indeed beautiful. When it comes to multiplayer with 4 players and a lot of mayhem going on, you're gonna want performance over beauty since as someone indicated even a 690 was brought to a crawl.

What I read about AMD and PhysX and doing Hybrid:

When enabling PhysX with an AMD card, your CPU is what is taking the load.

When using an old nVidia card (8800GT or better that has PhysX) as a dedicated PhysX card, there are unofficial/underground drivers. However they currently only work with older nVidia drivers (280 series or so) and older PhysX versions.
Click to expand...

PhysX Hybridized user here running latest 306.23 drivers and 9.12.0613 system software.

Very easy to get it working and the game runs flawlessly!

edit:

I have seen 70% load on my gt430 using Afterburners OSD.
 
BigMack70 said:
This article is curious, because I'm running a pair of 7970s and can just set PhysX to "high" in-game. Performance takes a hit, but it's definitely playable and it looks just like the youtube videos of PhysX. I've not had to do anything in the ini. :confused:

I'm running
2x7970 Lightning in CF-X
i7-2600k @ 4.8 GHz
on an ASRock z68 extreme7 gen3
Click to expand...

Not sure what to think, I'm running @ 1920x1080 on the system below with everything maxed out, including PhysX, and have after 16-20 hours I've yet to notice any slowdowns.

i7-930 OC'ed
6GB ram
Radeon HD 5970
 
zero2dash said:
I suppose then the game is also gimped on the 360 since that's AMD as well. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

You do understand that the XBox 360's graphics is about the equivalent of an Nvidia 7800 or ATI X1900, right? The XBox 360 wouldn't be able to do the PhysX stuff even if it had Nvidia graphics because it's like a mid-range 2005 PC.
 
Excellent article. I hope you'll follow it up with a performance tuning guide, much like you did for Dragon Age, looking at both the high end and the lower end.
 
hd 7950 on an i7 980 @4GHz

Physx high, these were a bunch of the missions before the warrior. Some battles, a lot of running around etc.
This was PHYSX HIGH. I know due to running nvidia cards before this.
96fLS.png


Physx low. The warrior battle.
I8Onf.png



The physx seems to be running on the CPU, so using a hybrid with a HD 7XXX and nvidia card for physx would be the best choice if you really must use physx.

How do you shrink these puppies? XD
 
I have an older 5830 running on a 955BE system overclocked to somewhere in the 3.6ghz range.

Didn't have to edit any ini files and could just set PhysX to High or Medium from launcher or in game. In both cases, I seem to see all of the PhysX effects.

High absolutely destroys my underpowered system. Snipe an enemy and green/red fluid bogs down to the single digit frame rates. Medium seems to keep me in the 30fps range consistently though, with everything else turned up.
 
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