Starcraft 2 Performance Tip for Native Resolution+ or High AA

[Ashtefere]

I'm locked at 60 fps (vertical sync) on M17x R1, with no OC required. Dual gtx260ms. Do the ATI cards seriously have that big of a problem with this game?

Hi mate - does that include a largish battle? Please see below:

Sorry every 1.

For some reason last few games I have been playing been getting fps on 1v1. About 35 fps.

wow

It seems like sometimes when you enter a game the ACTUAL settings dont always preserve from previous.

Make sure you have everything set to ultra, then play a 2v2 game and start a battle, check your fps.

Dual 260m does not physically have the shader count or throughput OR vram to actually render sc2 with all settings ultra and show a battle at 60fps - its just mathematically impossible.

Same with the 5870m's. as Maedhros found out.

-Ash

[Ashtefere]

Anyone saying "zomg i get full fps at max details" please check that.
They use the same resolution, and all details at ultra.
If you are getting full fps with your dual HD5870m or dual gtx 260m... you should really call ati/nvidia as some alien has abducted your card and done magic tech upgrades on it!
For reference, a HD5870m is between a desktop HD5770 and HD5750.

Also look at:


Of particular note is that CPU severely effects performance, as I suspected.
A quick SetFSB should help a lot.

Also of note is that a desktop HD5870 totally annihilates a gtx260m sli config so... yeah.

Coming in and saying "zomg i get 999999 fps on max detail!" doesnt help ANYONE, especially when it is clearly untrue. It will in fact make people think they have something WRONG with their systems when they dont.
Starcraft 2 is the latest greatest most graphically taxing game out, and naturally there will be weaknesses for either platform (nvidia or ati).

Thus, the purpose of this thread. In future, anyone who is thinking about posting how "awesome" their fps is on max detail, check out that pic, do the numbers, and think again before posting non-factual information.

Thanks!

-Ash

[no92stallion]

Yeah, I'm stuck at 59 FPS (refresh rate on my R1's screen), I just checked it out with FRAPS. I'm on the highest for every setting as well (As far as I know, I don't think there is any AA). I took a few screenshots, and then realized that the fraps number obviously wasn't going to be in them, but whatever . It'll dip to around 55 (during some REALLY heavy battles) or so in a 1v1, but usually no further than that (just did a quick gold league match, void ray rush is no match for mutalisks ). This game is MUCH more CPU intensive than GPU intensive...I don't really see how people are getting such low performance numbers with high end graphics cards.

Edit: Here's some pictures (using FRAPS' built in feature).






This is with two gtx260ms in SLI and a t9600; no OC on the graphics cards, the processor is at 3.40 GHz (1300 FSB).

[dma550]

I am enjoying SC2, and yes, it's of course better than 1, but it makes me appreciate how they did SC1 with no 3D acceleration and the fact it ran on any pc. I am running a supercomputer here just to run a RTS!

[Ashtefere]

Theres definately something wrong with your setup because those screenshots look like they are running on medium or low detail.

For a start, there is no ambient occlusion whatsoever in those screenshots. Good example is bottom screenshot, bottom left corner of your bottom left gateway has no ambient occlusion on it.

Also, your 2d textures are all in low resolutions (including map and icons) and your unit portraits are in low quality mode.

It looks like either your nvidia drivers are "pretending" to be in ultra quality and are reducing the graphics on you without you know, OR your graphics settings arent actually DOING anything.
Probably the latter.

Looks to me that you are stuck in medium settings TBH.
When I get home Ill make a screenshot of what ultra quality actually looks like.

-Ash

[no92stallion]

Theres definately something wrong with your setup because those screenshots look like they are running on medium or low detail.

For a start, there is no ambient occlusion whatsoever in those screenshots. Good example is bottom screenshot, bottom left corner of your bottom left gateway has no ambient occlusion on it.

Also, your 2d textures are all in low resolutions (including map and icons) and your unit portraits are in low quality mode.

It looks like either your nvidia drivers are "pretending" to be in ultra quality and are reducing the graphics on you without you know, OR your graphics settings arent actually DOING anything.
Probably the latter.

Looks to me that you are stuck in medium settings TBH.
When I get home Ill make a screenshot of what ultra quality actually looks like.

-Ash

...It's because they're jpegs that I saved in paint (I just reformatted, I'm in the process of getting an R2 replacement b/c of stuttering). If you want me to post a 7 megabyte BMP, I will.

[Ashtefere]

jpegs dont make ambient occlusion go away.



Thats what ambient occlusion does - its a feature of starcraft 2 and makes the connecting edges of objects shadow eachother.
There is none of that in your screenshot, which leads me to believe you are running in DX9 mode or some other sneaky thing that nvidia or blizzard is doing to you.

-Ash

[granyte]

i hate how tomhw always make nvidia look beter on my m17-r1 i can max sc2 at 60 fps but in 7 min my cards overheat and shutdown
high is insta crash

i had to set seting to medium use the fix and set vsinc to stop from overheatin but i'm deinitly runing higher then tom'shw review state the 5870 to

[Ashtefere]

For reference.

You can clearly see the ambient occlusion around the building in the real 'ultra quality' settings on the left. Best way to explain it is an edged shadow.

In the 260m screenshot, its just not there.

I would like you to change your preset to "custom", then set everything to ultra and see if you can make it look like the above image.

I have a feeling the "ultra" preset means ultra "for your system" whereas custom means "all settings unlocked".

-Ash

[no92stallion]

jpegs dont make ambient occlusion go away.



Thats what ambient occlusion does - its a feature of starcraft 2 and makes the connecting edges of objects shadow eachother.
There is none of that in your screenshot, which leads me to believe you are running in DX9 mode or some other sneaky thing that nvidia or blizzard is doing to you.

-Ash

Look in the upper right corner of my picture--you can see ambient occlusion on that building. It's a graphical glitch on the gateway (probably uneven ground)

Edit: Also, that isn't how Ultra works. At all. If you played WoW, you'd know that (not saying that's a good thing, I don't anymore either :P )