Catalyst Control Center Settings - Do you change anything?

[B0UJI]

Hi All,
Just curious if any of you change any of the default settings (like AMD optimized Tessellation, or Texture Quality)?

Curious in case I'm missing out on some pretty standard settings everyone changes, but AMD have on by default for benchmark optimizations!

Thanks!

[Zka17]

For 3D benchmarks turn of Tessellation...

[B0UJI]

I've seen people say that, is that why some... say Heaven 3.0 Benchmarks for 7970's are higher than mine? I was getting kinda worried due to my Heaven scores but if every ones is higher as they turn of Tessellation that's kind of defeating the point.

[Zka17]

Also, depending on your monitor's resolution, turning off Vsync can give you a bump in your scores...

[HiVizMan]

Defeating what point? 🙂

The point of running benchmarks for most people is to get a high score. So you do what you can (legally) to achieve a higher score. Be it overclock your card, overclock your CPU, have fast ram optimise your OS, what ever.

If you just want to run the benchmark to see what your card can do then run the benchmark on stock VGA and CPU.

[B0UJI]

Defeating the point (in my eyes) of testing your hardware. The test uses Tessellation as a feature to push the cards. The test is to get your card running the best, in the high performance requirements of the test. Turning off Tessellation is like saying "man i can run the game EVERYTHING MAXED at a solid 60FPS!!!! oh I've turned down decals and shading because otherwise my performance takes a huge hit" so you know, your not running it at max, your saying yeah i can get an awesome fps rating by running it in LOW!

Obviously it's not that extreme but can you see what I mean?

And yep i know about the VSYNC catch, on the standard (non-adaptive vsync) if it aint 60fps, it's 30fps.

[HiVizMan]

Yip that is a valid point and just higlights the gulf in value between the touted benchmark results in reviews or on the box and real world. I like your way of thinking more. You have actually nailed what is the best actual benchmark or test for a graphic card, play the game. And play the game at the settings you want to play on.

Nothing provides a more accurate representation of your cards performance than when you use it for the purposes you bought it. And in all honesty all a benchmark shows is what your card can do running that application. If a person needs to compare it against others scores to be validated then all good. But no matter what your benchmark score is you are still going to get the same performance in game consistent with that card and the overclock you set. Once you start lowering performance to gain FPS you do defeat the purpose I agree.

For many many folks the purpose is benching. And that means using all the tweaks (legal) that are available. And yes that means lowering the level of detail if you like to get more score. The purpose for benchers is to get the highest score not have a pretty picture.

Both worlds are fun, and both are valid for the respective users. 🙂

[Zka17]

Well said, HiVizMan! 🙂

BOUJI, you were asking in your OP for benchmark optimizations... as HiVizMan said, if your goal is to get higher scores in benchmarks, then you setup your system accordingly... - everyday use, including gaming, may be a totally different story... other settings than for benchmarking may be better...

[B0UJI]

Hmmmm I've re-read my OP and yes it isn't written concisely. What I intended to ask is, are there settings on by default that AMD set specifically to increase Benchmarks but are better turned off to increase the visual quality of your games?

[Zka17]

Regarding the games, I do not have experience... but, if I would be interested, I would look in the forums of that particular game... - I assume that every game has it's best settings...

Actually, this Forum has a gaming section too... :cool: