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Stalker Clear Sky: DX10 Benchmark Review

Since Friday Stalker: Clear Sky in on sale. But with the unpachted version it wasn't possible to test the game appropriately. The update to version 1.5.03 stabilized the game and removed enough bugs to make benchmarks possible. The result is a comparison between eleven graphics cards and three different resolutions.

Visual differences
Stalker: Clear Sky is based on the X-Ray Engine of the predecessor Shadow of Chernobyl. Among enhanced visual effects and better textures, the new Direct X 10 support is advertized. The differences between DX9 and DX10 can be seen in our exclusive screenshot comparison.

But in the game the new effects are visible in certain situations only. Due to the enhanced lighting of objects in Direct X 10, Clear Sky looks more realistic but compared to DX9 the performance doesn't differ very much in our benchmarks. The only option to deliver some noticeable visual differences is the wet surfaces - but they don't cause a real loss of performance either.

Stalker Clear Sky: DX10 Benchmark Review

[Source: view picture gallery]

Therefore the two versions (DX9 and DX10) are identical in regards of the required hardware but not in regards of the visualization.

(Video) Memory requirements
We decided to test all cards on Direct X 10 and Windows Vista x64, in order to receive the full benefit of 4 GiByte RAM - and Stalker: Clear Sky likes it. The game uses up to 1.6 GiByte memory after some time. In combination with the memory required by the operating system, this exceeds the capabilities of systems with only 2 GiByte RAM and therefore lags are inevitable.

This problem gets worse because of the game's intense usage of video memory. Up to 800 MiByte in DX9 were not uncommon and, according to the console, in DX 10 even more VRAM was used. If you have a graphics card with only 512 MiByte memory, the remaining 300 MiByte are transferred to the system memory. Because of this we recommend 3 GiByte (Windows XP) or 4 GiByte (Windows Vista).

Processor requirements
Stalker: Clear Sky doesn't use more than a single core. Solely the graphics driver sometimes uses an additional CPU core sometimes. Therefore gigahertz and the performance per clock are important.

[Source: view picture gallery]

Index
• Stalker Clear Sky: RAM and CPU • Stalker Clear Sky: Graphics cards • Stalker Clear Sky: Conclusion

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Author: Marc Sauter (Sep 08, 2008)

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cloud_strife1

Re: Stalker Clear Sky: DX10 Benchmark Review

Junior Member

27.04.2009 06:19

The only problem I notice is that when I go to load a saved game it takes FOREVER to load, maybe about 4 minutes, but it's fast before and after that.

I'm running Windows 7 64-Bit Ultimate, AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+, 250GB Maxtor SATA 300GB/S HDD. 2 GB of DDR2 with a HIS 512MB GDDR3 ATI Radeon HD 4670 card and my framerates never drop below 35ish even during GPU intensive moments. I got the OC version though which is at 780Mhz/2Ghz.

Yapa

Re: Stalker Clear Sky: DX10 Benchmark Review

Senior Member

16.09.2008 05:51

The slowdown during morning and evenings could be due to a engine bug/loop rather than not enough GPU power. I have done a few tests... here is a screenshot which shows the fps drop suddenly at around 6.08am, without any change to the graphics/view. Same results can be seen when just staring at a wall... fps drops even tho the GPU is not under load

users.tpg.com.au/yapa/fps...

more info:
forums.steampowered.com/f...

senseless

Re: Stalker Clear Sky: DX10 Benchmark Review

Junior Member

14.09.2008 14:01

Thanks a lot for review!

As you can see we have 100% load on 1st CPU core and 0-10% on 2nd and so on with multicores CPU used. Just want add some hint about this trouble:

- start game and wait for intro start playing or game menu displayed
- press CTRL+SHIFT+ESC for call Task Manager (if it doesn't try ALT+TAB, WINKEY or CTRL+ALT+DEL and start it way you do)
- in Task Manager go to "processes tab" and find xrEngine.exe press RMB on it then select "Affinity" - you will see that all cores are used
- unselect all cores except 1st press "OK"
- now enter xrEngine.exe Affinity settings again and select all cores back to use then press "OK"
- press ALT+TAB to switch back in STALKER process
- now play and see the difference on ingame cores load - on AMD/Intel multicore CPUs i have seen 50-70% for each core (you may use RivaTuner OSD or switch back to TaskManager to see CPU load history)

And another one hint:
- on ATI cards is great performance boost measured when using Catalyst not 8.8final but 8.8beta.
- so it able that x86 vs x64 systems will give performance differense
so try yourself

pcghx_thilo	Re: Stalker Clear Sky: DX10 Benchmark Review
Administrator 13.09.2008 20:31	Thanks guys for all the feedback!
Administrator 13.09.2008 20:31

Jolaes

Re: Stalker Clear Sky: DX10 Benchmark Review

Junior Member

12.09.2008 21:50

I experienced the exact same phenomena as MiLaCrOn (and lots of other ppl I guess): the game (v1.5.0004) ran smooth one day and started lagging the next (didnt change ANY graphics settings). But it crossed my mind that it was the same with Shadow of Chernobyl until I modded my GPU BIOS and forced constant performance level via Rivatuner. Weird but it worked well for a 8800GT and now again for a 9800GX2 card.

So if you can take the risk,

1. edit video card BIOS with nibitor (give a little more voltage to low power 3D mode)
2. use Rivatuner to deny your card erroneusly switching back to low power 3D mode

plus, if you own SLI / multi GPU cards then use the latest BETA nvidia drivers.

as a sidenote: there is a quick fix on the web which allows you to change levels without restrictions: you can visit locations on foot WITHOUT first getting there with a guide... That is really a PITA issue in the game.

Cheers
J

RainStryke	Re: Stalker Clear Sky: DX10 Benchmark Review
Junior Member 12.09.2008 17:20	lol... If Crysis isnt made for a quad. Why does it use all 4 cores then? Please explain. What kind of video cards did you have to get the 50FPS? And was that 50FPS with 8X AA?
Junior Member 12.09.2008 17:20

Yapa	Re: Stalker Clear Sky: DX10 Benchmark Review
Senior Member 12.09.2008 06:45	I got 50 more fps with a 4.4ghz dual core than a 4ghz quad core in Crysis..... fast dual core is better than quad core. Crysis only uses 2 cores..... and Stalker CS only uses 1. Want fast fps? Dont get a quad core, get an SLI/CF system. Yapa
Senior Member 12.09.2008 06:45

RainStryke

Notice

Junior Member

12.09.2008 06:03

The test was done for a quad core... This game is clearly optimized for a quad. So was Crysis. I had a QX9650 @ 3.6ghz with 2 HD4870's (stock), was getting 45-65FPS at all times with 1900X1200 resolution and 8X AA, never lower than 40FPS. Then, switched to an E8400, pushed it up to 4.5ghz. With the same HD4870's. Crysis played around 15-28FPS with 1900X1200 resolution and 8X AA.

Quick fix for if you wanna play at high graphics:
Get a quad core.

MiLaCrOn

Re: Stalker Clear Sky: DX10 Benchmark Review

Junior Member

11.09.2008 11:21

Quote: (Originally Posted by Ryzor)

... so far, i have yet to notice any point at which the game is unplayable...

Quote: (Originally Posted by Steven81)

... I never get more than 30FPS and I'm usually on the teens...

Actually I’m not surprised by that. I think they just didn’t really optimize the game.

It’s been the same with Shadow of Chernobyl: The game was so f****d up that without several patches it was nothing but luck if you could play the game.

I personally bought Clear Sky, installed it and played it at 1280x1024 with a lot of details and it ran absolutely smooth. The next day – and that’s no joke – the same settings were absolutely unplayable, I had about 5 frames per second. I will wait for some patches before I start playing again. I almost went to the store and demand my money back.

Ryzor

dammit

Junior Member

11.09.2008 11:19

well, this matches reports on some of the russian reports (if google translator is accurate) of some people being able to play it well, and others stuggling big time when running a comparable pc.
unfortunately, clear sky has decided to kill all my savegames (some script/lua error that issomething to do with skygamedatascripts_g.script:973), so i will have to wait for a patch/fix before i can post any screenshots, since i am giving up the game till then.

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