September 13th, 2023 at 1:45 p.m. by Valentin Sattler – According to a technology analysis by Digital Foundry, Starfield runs significantly better on Radeon graphics cards and Ryzen processors than on competing products. The collaboration between Bethesda and AMD is apparently not just limited to features like FSR 2, but also includes preferred optimization.
Hardly any game has been as eagerly awaited this year as Bethesda’s Starfield. Anyone who buys the space role-playing game should have more than just a lot of free time, because Starfield also requires powerful hardware. An analysis by Digital Foundry now confirms what has been suspected since its release: the game runs significantly better on Radeon graphics cards and Ryzen processors than on competing products from Intel and Nvidia.
Huge differences
In terms of GPU performance, the Radeon models are clearly ahead of their respective GeForce competitors. In one scenario, for example, a Radeon RX 6800 XT is said to work 46 percent faster than a Geforce RTX 3080, although according to the PCGH performance index it can actually only just beat it. In addition, the frame times at Nvidia are also said to cause more problems, so that the game feels more jerky.
“If you’re on Intel and Nvidia you’re getting a bizarrely worse experience here in comparison to AMD GPUs in a way that’s completely out of the norm.”
“If you rely on Intel and Nvidia, you’re going to get a bizarrely inferior experience compared to AMD GPUs that’s completely outside the norm.”
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At the same time, there are also differences in processors. Activated Hyperthreading on an Intel Core i9-12900K is said to have led to significantly lower frame rates. However, if you activate SMT on a Ryzen, this problem does not occur. Instead, there are even slightly higher frame rates and smoother frame times.
Overall, it seems as if the technology partnership between AMD and Bethesda will not only result in a focus on FSR 2, but also an AMD-focused optimization. The fact that the graphics pipeline basically takes a little more consideration into the individual architectural characteristics of Radeon and Ryzen products is quite understandable given the AMD SoCs in the Xbox and Playstation consoles. Of course, such big differences shouldn’t occur.
Also exciting: Starfield has some graphical bugs, but most are pretty funny
Digital Foundry also sees the problem here at Bethesda, which should now also take care of optimization for Geforce, Arc and Core products. At the same time, there is apparently still potential seen in the graphics drivers, so Intel and Nvidia may be able to provide a bit of fine-tuning on their own.
Those: via The Verge
