- Joined
- Nov 8, 2015
- Messages
- 45
Please bear in mind that the game is not long into Beta now, so it hasn't officially been released yet.
Well, to start with, I understand that Ashes of the Singularity (or Ashes as I'll refer to the game as from now on) is being intended for high end specifications right now, big CPU and GPU power due to the very intense demand on the CPU to cope with a large amount of units doing different things on the same screen (with a 4K display most preferably) so you can see everything that's going on, or at least for the part of the map you are zoomed into; and the GPU with all the lighting effects that effect not only the units themselves; and the using of weapons; but the very map itself which can be a sight worth seeing all by itself for those who appreciate realism and detail in the terrain they game over.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2YPs0AkzvU
This is an odd review in at least one respect, the hardware I'm running it on is not predominantly gaming specific, the system spec it is running on is below.
CPU: i7 4790K with Corsair Hydro Series H80i GT cooling
Motherboard: MSI Gaming 7 Z97A
Memory: HyperX FURY Series (2 x 8 GB) DDR3 1866 MHz
Hard Drive: WD Blue 1TB HDD
Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster 2232BW (1600 x 900 pixel best quality display, will go higher but looks funny and only has one setting beyond that resolution)
So all in all it's probably slightly above average performance but not brand new kick butt kind of performance.
The game itself plays beautifully, for some odd reason though, the developers of Ashes decided not to allow DirextX 12 to work with the game, which I have to admit is quite odd considering it can handle DirectX 12 content without issue and has done so with Diablo 3 - Reign of Fire, Nosgoth and a few other games. So sadly this review has used DX11 instead of 12 for the most part. In all honesty I will say that the game surprised me, not because of the game itself, but the limitations it imposed on my hardware; which I grant you isn't the best; but at the same time is hardly the worst either; I can only hope this was because of it being in beta mode rather than release. Having said that and despite the software imposed limitations, the game played really well, scrolling was smooth and precise, the graphics were rendered very nicely, besides the zoom in/out which was a bit pixely at times, was handled quite happily by my hardware.
The cut scenes were very cool, but nothing different to any other game that has them. It was the fact that it didn't lag or stutter that made an impression, bearing in mind that the hardware specs say that I'm between the minimum and the recommendation for specification. So this system seems to be a bit of a mixed bag as far as running this game, as far as the play went however, it was virtually faultless, sure a 980 Ti was more like what it wanted, but my 780 Ti, which isn't SLI'd, was able to play the game very well. The pixely nature of the zoom/scroll wheel movement was mostly fine, just on odd occasions it seemed like it didn't render properly rather than was a fault by the 780, quite how true that statement is I'm unable to confirm without access to different hardware, but that seems to be the best conclusion at present.
Also, Ashes has an intro video scenario which actually changes the settings from user controlled to what the game itself wants you to use; that was ok ish but did start to irritate, especially when it refused to use DX12, the reason behind that was supposedly that it wanted a 9 series card rather than the 7 that I have. All in all, if you like; assuming you can even remember; Command and Conquer style gameplay, but with a whole lot more detail, better resolutions and an AI that actually seems to make plans that can change; given the system, it was able to run the game without hiccups and after a number of hours, was still just as stable and ready to play as when I started; sadly only I was starting to flag at that point.
So with a 9 series or high 7 series, Ashes played very well, there's not a lot of detail about the game chiefly because it's still in development and can change. My motherboard certainly showed no signs of fatigue, the water cooling doing it's job of keeping the CPU cool and allowing the system to play very well. I am hoping to change specs when finances allow, so with some good fortune, it will be a 980 Ti Golden Sample and Asus monitor with better reolution support.
Hopefully this was useful to people, as far as testing software goes I'm afraid I don't know of the sort of specs many reviewers can provide, all I can say is that it plays well and besides the zooming part, the images were very detailed and clear. Thanks.
Well, to start with, I understand that Ashes of the Singularity (or Ashes as I'll refer to the game as from now on) is being intended for high end specifications right now, big CPU and GPU power due to the very intense demand on the CPU to cope with a large amount of units doing different things on the same screen (with a 4K display most preferably) so you can see everything that's going on, or at least for the part of the map you are zoomed into; and the GPU with all the lighting effects that effect not only the units themselves; and the using of weapons; but the very map itself which can be a sight worth seeing all by itself for those who appreciate realism and detail in the terrain they game over.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2YPs0AkzvU
This is an odd review in at least one respect, the hardware I'm running it on is not predominantly gaming specific, the system spec it is running on is below.
CPU: i7 4790K with Corsair Hydro Series H80i GT cooling
Motherboard: MSI Gaming 7 Z97A
Memory: HyperX FURY Series (2 x 8 GB) DDR3 1866 MHz
Hard Drive: WD Blue 1TB HDD
Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster 2232BW (1600 x 900 pixel best quality display, will go higher but looks funny and only has one setting beyond that resolution)
So all in all it's probably slightly above average performance but not brand new kick butt kind of performance.
The game itself plays beautifully, for some odd reason though, the developers of Ashes decided not to allow DirextX 12 to work with the game, which I have to admit is quite odd considering it can handle DirectX 12 content without issue and has done so with Diablo 3 - Reign of Fire, Nosgoth and a few other games. So sadly this review has used DX11 instead of 12 for the most part. In all honesty I will say that the game surprised me, not because of the game itself, but the limitations it imposed on my hardware; which I grant you isn't the best; but at the same time is hardly the worst either; I can only hope this was because of it being in beta mode rather than release. Having said that and despite the software imposed limitations, the game played really well, scrolling was smooth and precise, the graphics were rendered very nicely, besides the zoom in/out which was a bit pixely at times, was handled quite happily by my hardware.
The cut scenes were very cool, but nothing different to any other game that has them. It was the fact that it didn't lag or stutter that made an impression, bearing in mind that the hardware specs say that I'm between the minimum and the recommendation for specification. So this system seems to be a bit of a mixed bag as far as running this game, as far as the play went however, it was virtually faultless, sure a 980 Ti was more like what it wanted, but my 780 Ti, which isn't SLI'd, was able to play the game very well. The pixely nature of the zoom/scroll wheel movement was mostly fine, just on odd occasions it seemed like it didn't render properly rather than was a fault by the 780, quite how true that statement is I'm unable to confirm without access to different hardware, but that seems to be the best conclusion at present.
Also, Ashes has an intro video scenario which actually changes the settings from user controlled to what the game itself wants you to use; that was ok ish but did start to irritate, especially when it refused to use DX12, the reason behind that was supposedly that it wanted a 9 series card rather than the 7 that I have. All in all, if you like; assuming you can even remember; Command and Conquer style gameplay, but with a whole lot more detail, better resolutions and an AI that actually seems to make plans that can change; given the system, it was able to run the game without hiccups and after a number of hours, was still just as stable and ready to play as when I started; sadly only I was starting to flag at that point.
So with a 9 series or high 7 series, Ashes played very well, there's not a lot of detail about the game chiefly because it's still in development and can change. My motherboard certainly showed no signs of fatigue, the water cooling doing it's job of keeping the CPU cool and allowing the system to play very well. I am hoping to change specs when finances allow, so with some good fortune, it will be a 980 Ti Golden Sample and Asus monitor with better reolution support.
Hopefully this was useful to people, as far as testing software goes I'm afraid I don't know of the sort of specs many reviewers can provide, all I can say is that it plays well and besides the zooming part, the images were very detailed and clear. Thanks.