Oxide's StarSwarm out on Steam later today. Performance inside

[Lorien]

http://techgage.com/news/amd-shares-fresh-mantle-numbers-promises-driver-to-support-it-soon/

Oxide Games’ StarSwarm is AMD’s other proof-of-concept. Oxide consists of industry veterans from Firaxis and Microsoft Studios, so they seem like good candidates for executing Mantle at its full potential.

CPU-limited scenario: 319% (1080p) and 281% (1600p) performance improvement in the “RTS” test on Extreme settings with the AMD A10-7700K and an AMD Radeon R9 290X.
GPU-limited scenario: 5.1% (1080p) and 16.7% (1600p) performance improvement in the “RTS” test on Extreme settings with the Core i7-4960X and an AMD Radeon R7 260X
Average uplift for 1080p: 115.65% (Average of 290X and 260X data on the i7-4960X, A10-7700K, FX 8350 and i5-4670K)
Average uplift for 1600p: 75.19% (Average of 290X and 260X data on the i7-4960X, A10-7700K, FX 8350 and i5-4670K)

Well, that’s quite a different picture. A 319% increase might seem a bit outlandish, but the reason for it has to do with some of the tasks Mantle takes off of the CPU. In this particular case, Mantle allows more units to be introduced into the game, an issue that a high-end CPU negates thanks to its extra performance potential. Even so, with Mantle enabled, a small gain can still be seen on high-end rigs. It’s worth noting that a demo of StarSwarm is due out Thursday afternoon on Steam.

 

[cageymaru]

That is ridiculous! Thx for the heads up! Downloading StarSwarm right now!

 

[The Mac]

its now out for those waiting...

 

[Lorien]

Yup, grab it here:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/267130/

 

[mi7chy]

DirectX lagfest. Anxiously awaiting Mantle drivers to see the difference.

===========================================================
Oxide Games
Star Swarm Benchmark - ©2013
Version 0.95
01/30/2014 10:59
===========================================================

== Hardware Configuration =================================
GPU: AMD Radeon R9 200 Series
CPU: AuthenticAMD
AMD Opteron(tm) Processor 6376
Physical Cores: 8
Logical Cores: 16
Physical Memory: 34341036032
Allocatable Memory: 140737488224256
===========================================================


== Configuration ==========================================
API: DirectX
Scenario: ScenarioAttract.csv
User Input: Disabled
Resolution: 1920x1080
Fullscreen: True
GameCore Update: 16.6 ms
Bloom Quality: High
PointLight Quality: High
ToneCurve Quality: High
Glare Overdraw: 16
Shading Samples: 64
Shade Quality: Mid
Motion Blur Frame Time: 16
Motion Blur InterFrame Time: 2
Detailed Frame Info: Off
===========================================================


== Results ================================================
Test Duration: 120 Seconds
Total Frames: 2115

Average FPS: 17.62
Average Unit Count: 3662
Maximum Unit Count: 5640
Average Batches/MS: 373.30
Maximum Batches/MS: 520.91
Average Batch Count: 22012
Maximum Batch Count: 74017
===========================================================

 

[eloj]

Requires an account with Stardock. Jebus.

(I'm not a statistician but those averages over different configurations seem less than useful)

 

[The Mac]

SOSE, already have one

lol

 

[mi7chy]

Requires an account with Stardock.

Just use a dummy email account. I would think everyone has one of those as standard.

 

[The Mac]

there is nothing wrong with having a stardock account.

besides this is going to be starcontrol, if you are going to buy it, youll need one anyway.

 

[cageymaru]

there is nothing wrong with having a stardock account.

besides this is going to be starcontrol, if you are going to buy it, youll need one anyway.

Very true! And Steam remembers your Stardock login information so when you go from game to game or application, it supplies your registration information.

 

[Lorien]

Imagine a Sins game with this engine. :drool:

 

[Dark12]

Imagine a Sins game with this engine. :drool:

You mean The Sims right?
I agree. Droooool!!

 

[The Mac]

You mean The Sims right?
I agree. Droooool!!

no, he means Sins of a Solar Empire.

And ive been saying that since last october when they said in the demo they got the art assets from stardock,

The last video with the womans voiceover finally admitted starswarm was Starcontrol.

I think maybee starcontrol will be the spirtual successor of Sins, as the original SCII was similar, but near as deep as sins.

SC II:Urquan Masters, and SC3 (stupid yellow fish heads aside) were fantastic games.

 

[Porter_]

no, he means Sins of a Solar Empire.

you missed the joke.

 

[socK]

I looked at some space ships and turned motion blur on then the batch count skyrocket up to 250,000+ and my computer almost died.

 

[Araxie]

DirectX lagfest. Anxiously awaiting Mantle drivers to see the difference.

===========================================================
Oxide Games
Star Swarm Benchmark - ©2013
Version 0.95
01/30/2014 10:59
===========================================================

== Hardware Configuration =================================
GPU: AMD Radeon R9 200 Series
CPU: AuthenticAMD
AMD Opteron(tm) Processor 6376
Physical Cores: 8
Logical Cores: 16
Physical Memory: 34341036032
Allocatable Memory: 140737488224256
===========================================================


== Configuration ==========================================
API: DirectX
Scenario: ScenarioAttract.csv
User Input: Disabled
Resolution: 1920x1080
Fullscreen: True
GameCore Update: 16.6 ms
Bloom Quality: High
PointLight Quality: High
ToneCurve Quality: High
Glare Overdraw: 16
Shading Samples: 64
Shade Quality: Mid
Motion Blur Frame Time: 16
Motion Blur InterFrame Time: 2
Detailed Frame Info: Off
===========================================================


== Results ================================================
Test Duration: 120 Seconds
Total Frames: 2115

Average FPS: 17.62
Average Unit Count: 3662
Maximum Unit Count: 5640
Average Batches/MS: 373.30
Maximum Batches/MS: 520.91
Average Batch Count: 22012
Maximum Batch Count: 74017
===========================================================

I really hope to see what mantle can do.. look at the result with my brothers machine (where I am right now testing and making some bench.) i'll post later some different results with mixed AMD/intel/Nvidia configurations.. I have 8PCs at home to test xD..

===========================================================
Oxide Games
Star Swarm Benchmark - ©2013
C:\Users\HP-Arturo\Documents\Star Swarm\Benchmark_14_01_30_2006.txt
Version 0.95
01/30/2014 20:06
===========================================================

== Hardware Configuration =================================
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti
CPU: GenuineIntel
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2600K CPU @ 3.40GHz
Physical Cores: 4
Logical Cores: 8
Physical Memory: 17119105024
Allocatable Memory: 8796092891136
===========================================================


== Configuration ==========================================
API: DirectX
Scenario: ScenarioAttract.csv
User Input: Disabled
Resolution: 1920x1080
Fullscreen: True
GameCore Update: 16.6 ms
Bloom Quality: High
PointLight Quality: High
ToneCurve Quality: High
Glare Overdraw: 16
Shading Samples: 64
Shade Quality: Mid
Motion Blur Frame Time: 16
Motion Blur InterFrame Time: 2
Detailed Frame Info: Off
===========================================================


== Results ================================================
Test Duration: 120 Seconds
Total Frames: 4365

Average FPS: 36.37
Average Unit Count: 3608
Maximum Unit Count: 5384
Average Batches/MS: 838.12
Maximum Batches/MS: 1533.64
Average Batch Count: 24413
Maximum Batch Count: 90856
===========================================================

 

[Kor]

This will make a much better case for Mantle than BF4. BF4 was already built within the confines of what was possible under DX11 so really unless your CPU was completely rubbish most of the extra performance is just the result of the fully utilized GPU core (10-20%), this game (well... bench) scales well beyond what you can do under Direct3D with regards to the CPU overhead.

 

[Dr3amCast]

From frames 90 - 94 I was at a solid 4.0 fps lol


== Configuration ==========================================
API: DirectX
Scenario: ScenarioAttract.csv
User Input: Disabled
Resolution: 1920x1080
Fullscreen: True
GameCore Update: 16.6 ms
Bloom Quality: High
PointLight Quality: High
ToneCurve Quality: High
Glare Overdraw: 16
Shading Samples: 64
Shade Quality: Mid
Motion Blur Frame Time: 16
Motion Blur InterFrame Time: 2
Detailed Frame Info: Off
===========================================================


== Results ================================================
Test Duration: 120 Seconds
Total Frames: 2072

Average FPS: 17.26
Average Unit Count: 3613
Maximum Unit Count: 5471
Average Batches/MS: 618.19
Maximum Batches/MS: 796.60
Average Batch Count: 35290
Maximum Batch Count: 174631
===========================================================

 

[Nahawand]

Wanna download this because I saw the mantle demo will this work on nVidia cards ?

Edit: it does no sli thought


== Configuration ==========================================
API: DirectX
Scenario: ScenarioAttract.csv
User Input: Disabled
Resolution: 1920x1080
Fullscreen: True
GameCore Update: 16.6 ms
Bloom Quality: High
PointLight Quality: High
ToneCurve Quality: High
Glare Overdraw: 16
Shading Samples: 64
Shade Quality: Mid
Motion Blur Frame Time: 16
Motion Blur InterFrame Time: 2
Detailed Frame Info: Off
===========================================================


== Results ================================================
Test Duration: 120 Seconds
Total Frames: 3026

Average FPS: 25.21
Average Unit Count: 3721
Maximum Unit Count: 5347
Average Batches/MS: 576.19
Maximum Batches/MS: 1576.51
Average Batch Count: 26322
Maximum Batch Count: 95872
===========================================================

 

[Venomous]

Here's mine with the specs below:
3770K @ 4.4
Asrock Z77 Formula OC
16gb Gkill PC 2400
Dual Gigabyte 280x CFX

===========================================================
Oxide Games
Star Swarm Benchmark - ©2013
C:\Users\Cymru\Documents\Star Swarm\Benchmark_14_01_30_2025.txt
Version 0.95
01/30/2014 20:25
===========================================================

== Hardware Configuration =================================
GPU: AMD Radeon R9 200 Series
CPU: GenuineIntel
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3770K CPU @ 3.50GHz
Physical Cores: 4
Logical Cores: 8
Physical Memory: 16047046656
Allocatable Memory: 8796092891136
===========================================================


== Configuration ==========================================
API: DirectX
Scenario: ScenarioAttract.csv
User Input: Disabled
Resolution: 1920x1080
Fullscreen: True
GameCore Update: 16.6 ms
Bloom Quality: High
PointLight Quality: High
ToneCurve Quality: High
Glare Overdraw: 8
Shading Samples: 64
Shade Quality: Mid
Motion Blur Frame Time: 16
Motion Blur InterFrame Time: 3
Detailed Frame Info: Off
===========================================================


== Results ================================================
Test Duration: 120 Seconds
Total Frames: 3522

Average FPS: 29.35
Average Unit Count: 3804
Maximum Unit Count: 5249
Average Batches/MS: 923.97
Maximum Batches/MS: 1284.85
Average Batch Count: 33557
Maximum Batch Count: 139307
===========================================================

 

[Silent.Sin]

Here are my results with a 7870 and an older i7. I wanted to show the difference between 13.11 and 14.1 and then D3D vs. Mantle, but I didn't realize they had updated the benchmark to v1.0 and changed the way it worked before I installed 14.1. I didn't feel like going back and installing 13.11 after the fact so the numbers between 13.11 D3D and 14.1 D3D are just for reference.

The default bench scenario in v.95 was attract at 2 minutes. For v1.0 it is now the follow scenerio at 6 minutes long.

System specs:
CPU- i7 920 @ 3.67GHz (175 bclock), HT enabled
RAM- 3x4GB RAM @ 1150MHz (7-7-7-19)
GPU- 7870 2GB @ 1225/1400 +20%powertune
Drivers- 13.11 beta4, 14.1

Benchmark specs:
Resolution- 1920x1080
Settings- "High"
Scenario- "Follow"
Timed Run

Spoiler: 13.11 D3D

===========================================================
Oxide Games
Star Swarm Benchmark - ©2013
Benchmark_14_01_30_2205.txt
Version 0.95
01/30/2014 22:05
===========================================================

== Hardware Configuration =================================
GPU: AMD Radeon HD 7800 Series
CPU: GenuineIntel
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 920 @ 2.67GHz
Physical Cores: 4
Logical Cores: 8
Physical Memory: 12883320832
Allocatable Memory: 8796092891136
===========================================================


== Configuration ==========================================
API: DirectX
Scenario: ScenarioFollow.csv
User Input: Disabled
Resolution: 1920x1080
Fullscreen: True
GameCore Update: 16.6 ms
Bloom Quality: High
PointLight Quality: High
ToneCurve Quality: High
Glare Overdraw: 8
Shading Samples: 64
Shade Quality: Mid
Motion Blur Frame Time: 16
Motion Blur InterFrame Time: 3
Detailed Frame Info: Off
===========================================================


== Results ================================================
Test Duration: 120 Seconds
Total Frames: 5004

Average FPS: 41.70
Average Unit Count: 3640
Maximum Unit Count: 5507
Average Batches/MS: 513.69
Maximum Batches/MS: 983.18
Average Batch Count: 13171
Maximum Batch Count: 78256
===========================================================

Spoiler: 14.1 D3D

===========================================================
Oxide Games
Star Swarm Stress Test - ©2013
Output_14_02_02_1123.txt
Version 1.00
02/02/2014 11:23
===========================================================

== Hardware Configuration =================================
GPU: AMD Radeon HD 7800 Series
CPU: GenuineIntel
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 920 @ 2.67GHz
Physical Cores: 4
Logical Cores: 8
Physical Memory: 12883320832
Allocatable Memory: 8796092891136
===========================================================


== Configuration ==========================================
API: DirectX
Scenario: ScenarioFollow.csv
User Input: Disabled
Resolution: 1920x1080
Fullscreen: True
GameCore Update: 16.6 ms
Bloom Quality: High
PointLight Quality: High
ToneCurve Quality: High
Glare Overdraw: 8
Shading Samples: 64
Shade Quality: Mid
Deferred Contexts: Disabled
Temporal AA Duration: 16
Temporal AA Time Slice: 3
Detailed Frame Info: Off
===========================================================


== Results ================================================
Test Duration: 360 Seconds
Total Frames: 11659

Average FPS: 32.39
Average Unit Count: 3998
Maximum Unit Count: 5487
Average Batches/MS: 399.82
Maximum Batches/MS: 1101.19
Average Batch Count: 14421
Maximum Batch Count: 86863
===========================================================

Spoiler: 14.1 Mantle

===========================================================
Oxide Games
Star Swarm Stress Test - ©2013
Output_14_02_02_1114.txt
Version 1.00
02/02/2014 11:14
===========================================================

== Hardware Configuration =================================
GPU: AMD Radeon HD 7800 Series
CPU: GenuineIntel
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 920 @ 2.67GHz
Physical Cores: 4
Logical Cores: 8
Physical Memory: 12883320832
Allocatable Memory: 8796092891136
===========================================================


== Configuration ==========================================
API: Mantle
Scenario: ScenarioFollow.csv
User Input: Disabled
Resolution: 1920x1080
Fullscreen: True
GameCore Update: 16.6 ms
Bloom Quality: High
PointLight Quality: High
ToneCurve Quality: High
Glare Overdraw: 8
Shading Samples: 64
Shade Quality: Mid
Deferred Contexts: Disabled
Temporal AA Duration: 16
Temporal AA Time Slice: 3
Detailed Frame Info: Off
===========================================================


== Results ================================================
Test Duration: 360 Seconds
Total Frames: 16412

Average FPS: 45.59
Average Unit Count: 4259
Maximum Unit Count: 5425
Average Batches/MS: 631.94
Maximum Batches/MS: 2057.42
Average Batch Count: 16161
Maximum Batch Count: 96873
===========================================================

Results:

13.11beta4 D3D->14.1 D3D: -28.7%, -8.31fps* Settings between v.95 and 1.0 are different, not comparable
14.1 D3D->14.1 Mantle: +40.7%, +12.2fps

 

[maboblivion]

more ships more batches more fps noiceeeee

 

[fanboy]

Put it in low and watch it go as my avg was 74 fps..

 

[petertew]

If anyone is still interested in some benchmarks:
AMD HD 7850 2GB RAM
Core i5-3350 (3.1GHz)
1920x1280 resolution

DX
AVG FPS: 20.96
Average Unit Count: 4065
Maximum Unit Count: 5465

Mantle
Average FPS: 32.55
Average Unit Count: 4137
Maximum Unit Count: 5502

Mantle @ 2560x1440
Average FPS: 33.06
Average Unit Count: 4206
Maximum Unit Count: 5334

I was pretty surprised to see 1080p and 1440p perform pretty much identically. That gets me very excited.

 

[jbltecnicspro]

If anyone is still interested in some benchmarks:
AMD HD 7850 2GB RAM
Core i5-3350 (3.1GHz)
1920x1280 resolution

DX
AVG FPS: 20.96
Average Unit Count: 4065
Maximum Unit Count: 5465

Mantle
Average FPS: 32.55
Average Unit Count: 4137
Maximum Unit Count: 5502

Mantle @ 2560x1440
Average FPS: 33.06
Average Unit Count: 4206
Maximum Unit Count: 5334

I was pretty surprised to see 1080p and 1440p perform pretty much identically. That gets me very excited.

That's a pretty healthy boost especially for a 7850. Takes it from being unplayable to now barely playable (or is 30 fps decent for this game?). I can only imagine with a few IQ tweaks it would be butter.

 

[petertew]

That's a pretty healthy boost especially for a 7850. Takes it from being unplayable to now barely playable (or is 30 fps decent for this game?). I can only imagine with a few IQ tweaks it would be butter.

That was on extreme settings. This makes me want mantle starcraft 2.

 

[Gumbi10]

That was on extreme settings. This makes me want mantle starcraft 2.

It would be insane on SC2. SC2 is hilariously cpu bound, it's essentially a single threaded game (well, it uses about 1.5 cores). Even with a 4770k at 4.5ghz, my mins dip to 20 FPS in large 1v1 fights.

Given the IPC of AMD chips, you can imagine how unplayable they are with max settings (specifically physics, etc) with SC2.

 

[tybert7]

It would be insane on SC2. SC2 is hilariously cpu bound, it's essentially a single threaded game (well, it uses about 1.5 cores). Even with a 4770k at 4.5ghz, my mins dip to 20 FPS in large 1v1 fights.

Given the IPC of AMD chips, you can imagine how unplayable they are with max settings (specifically physics, etc) with SC2.

blizzard really should revamp that game for the last installment, it's not like they are hurting for cash.

 

[Lorien]

New build released with even more performance improvements
http://oxidegames.com/2014/02/04/new-star-swarm-build-better-mantle-performance/

We just deployed a new build of our Star Swarm stress test that significantly improves the demo’s performance using AMD’s Mantle API. We suggest that those of you interested in benchmarking and performance numbers re-run your Mantle scenarios; you may be surprised at the results.

Did we crack some secret code or find a crazy new optimization? No, nothing so spectacular. The truth is that we made a mistake in our haste to deploy the build that stripped out the activation process. We didn’t follow our normal release process, and missed how a minor change in that build had disabled some of the Nitrous engine’s multi-threading features when using Mantle. Unfortunately we didn’t notice that at first, as nobody was running Mantle last week due to the beta driver being delayed.

It’s all fixed now, so Mantle users should see a noticeable boost in performance on most configurations (this fix doesn’t have a huge effect on powerful-CPU/slow-GPU systems). We’ve also addressed the “gray screen” issue that was affecting some non-English Windows systems.

We appreciate everyone’s patience and feedback as we hunt down some of these hard-to-reach bugs for this alpha test of the Nitrous Engine.

 

[cptnjarhead]

== Hardware Configuration =================================
GPU: AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series
CPU: AuthenticAMD
AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1100T Processor
Physical Cores: 6
Logical Cores: 6
Physical Memory: 12875210752
Allocatable Memory: 8796092891136
===========================================================


== Configuration ==========================================
API: DirectX
Scenario: ScenarioFollow.csv
User Input: Disabled
Resolution: 1920x1080
Fullscreen: True
GameCore Update: 16.6 ms
Bloom Quality: High
PointLight Quality: High
ToneCurve Quality: High
Glare Overdraw: 16
Shading Samples: 64
Shade Quality: Mid
Deferred Contexts: Disabled
Temporal AA Duration: 16
Temporal AA Time Slice: 2
Detailed Frame Info: Off
===========================================================


== Results ================================================
Test Duration: 360 Seconds
Total Frames: 7541

Average FPS: 20.94
Average Unit Count: 3832
Maximum Unit Count: 5599
Average Batches/MS: 367.36
Maximum Batches/MS: 811.04
Average Batch Count: 19376
Maximum Batch Count: 78375
===========================================================



..........


== Hardware Configuration =================================
GPU: AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series
CPU: AuthenticAMD
AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1100T Processor
Physical Cores: 6
Logical Cores: 6
Physical Memory: 12875210752
Allocatable Memory: 8796092891136
===========================================================


== Configuration ==========================================
API: Mantle
Scenario: ScenarioFollow.csv
User Input: Disabled
Resolution: 1920x1080
Fullscreen: True
GameCore Update: 16.6 ms
Bloom Quality: High
PointLight Quality: High
ToneCurve Quality: High
Glare Overdraw: 16
Shading Samples: 64
Shade Quality: Mid
Deferred Contexts: Disabled
Temporal AA Duration: 16
Temporal AA Time Slice: 2
Detailed Frame Info: Off
===========================================================


== Results ================================================
Test Duration: 360 Seconds
Total Frames: 13656

Average FPS: 37.93
Average Unit Count: 4117
Maximum Unit Count: 5452
Average Batches/MS: 694.57
Maximum Batches/MS: 3937.65
Average Batch Count: 20753
Maximum Batch Count: 138915
===========================================================

 

[hcforde]

Star Swarm reminds me of Homeworld from a few years back with updated graphics.