Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation (DX12)

A veteran from both our 2016 and 2017 game lists, Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation remains the DirectX 12 trailblazer, with developer Oxide Games tailoring and designing the Nitrous Engine around such low-level APIs. The game makes the most of DX12's key features, from asynchronous compute to multi-threaded work submission and high batch counts. And with full Vulkan support, Ashes provides a good common ground between the forward-looking APIs of today. Its built-in benchmark tool is still one of the most versatile ways of measuring in-game workloads in terms of output data, automation, and analysis; by offering such a tool publicly and as part-and-parcel of the game, it's an example that other developers should take note of.

Settings and methodology remain identical from its usage in the 2016 GPU suite. To note, we are utilizing the original Ashes Extreme graphical preset, which compares to the current one with MSAA dialed down from x4 to x2, as well as adjusting Texture Rank (MipsToRemove in settings.ini).

We've updated some of the benchmark automation and data processing steps, so results may vary at the 1080p mark compared to previous data.

Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation - 2560x1440 - Extreme Quality

Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation - 1920x1080 - Extreme Quality

Ashes: Escalation - 99th Percentile - 2560x1440 - Extreme Quality

Ashes: Escalation - 99th Percentile - 1920x1080 - Extreme Quality

Interestingly, Ashes offers the least amount of improvement in the suite for the GTX 1660 Ti over the GTX 1060 6GB. Similarly, the GTX 1660 Ti lags behind the GTX 1070, which is already close to the older Turing sibling. With the GTX 1070 FE and RX Vega 56 neck-and-neck, the GTX 1660 Ti splits the RX 590/RX Vega 56 gap.

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  • rwsgaming - Friday, February 22, 2019 - link

    Awesome review but you guys always missed the target audience. Lots of gamers are looking for the benchmarks of online games like PUBG, Fortnite, Apex, Overwatch, etc...
  • dezonio2 - Friday, February 22, 2019 - link

    Multiplayer only games are pretty hard to consistently benchmark and get a repeatable results.
  • DominionSeraph - Friday, February 22, 2019 - link

    Anandtech is a highly technical hardware review site, not a pop culture gaming site. The benchmarks are meant to be a highly repeatable, representative sample. Online multiplayer-only games are rarely repeatable run to run due to netcode and load variations, and you can often only run on the latest patch meaning you can't make an apples to apples comparison with older tests.
  • Cooe - Friday, February 22, 2019 - link

    *facepalm* You're not the target audience. AnandTech isn't a gaming website... It's literally in the name lol. (*cough* "Tech" *cough*)
  • Korguz - Friday, February 22, 2019 - link

    rwsgaming
    " but you guys always missed the target audience. Lots of gamers are looking for the benchmarks of online games like PUBG, Fortnite, Apex, Overwatch, etc..."
    none of the games they use for testing.. are ones i play.. so meh... hehehhehe
  • 29a - Friday, February 22, 2019 - link

    I started reading this article until the SSD buyers guide video started taking up 1/4 of my screen space after scrolling down a bit. I'll read about the card on a site that doesn't take up so much of my screen space for something I have no interest in. This site sucks so much since Anand sold it.
  • PeachNCream - Sunday, February 24, 2019 - link

    Reading Anandtech without an ad blocker is like banging a hooker without wearing a condom.
  • AustinPowersISU - Friday, February 22, 2019 - link

    So it's a GTX 1070 with 2GB less RAM. The small difference in power consumption can be explained away by having 2 more GB of RAM.

    Go to eBay, buy a 1070 for $200. Smile because you have the same performance, 2GB more RAM, and $80 more in your pocket.
  • Oxford Guy - Saturday, February 23, 2019 - link

    Are they really that cheap? Ebay is flooded with absurdly high prices. Every time I see a deal it's already in the sold listing section.

    It's very irritating to deal with Ebay because of this.
  • Oxford Guy - Saturday, February 23, 2019 - link

    There are also tons of sellers who don't understand the basics of static electricity. They love to take glamour shots of cards on tables and carpets.

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