High standards feel disappointing.
High standards feel disappointing.
This appears to be more suited for a PCMR rather than an enthusiast.
It's because of OCD. If something can be better theoretically we do not want to settle... Even if it does not benefit us. Human nature I guess.
In Dawn Of War 3, your 980 Ti only reached over 70 FPS in most situations, dropping below 60 during intense moments. Lower the anti-aliasing to Medium now—your system hits 100+ FPS with at least 80 FPS while keeping visual quality nearly the same.
When I experienced the issue: Andromeda default settings on my 2x 980Ti were "Ultra" with 2560x1440 resolution (no DSR included). At that ultra configuration, I noticed stuttering and frame drops when playing at 35-40fps during cutscenes, dropping to around 50-60fps while navigating Habitat 7. After switching to medium settings and disabling performance enhancements, I've consistently achieved stable 110-120fps across all scenarios.
Ultra seems completely unreasonable, it confuses me. Many say they need 4K at 60 frames per second but modern systems can’t handle it, yet you can easily run 4K at that speed just by adjusting settings. Sometimes it’s extremely tough to spot the difference between high and ultra when comparing side by side, so you’ll rarely notice it in practice. Ultra’s main goals are to ruin performance and boost ego.
The noticeable variations in visual quality between "ultra" and "high" are small for me. I see the distinction only when placed next to each other, and even then it’s not very apparent. I just switch to "high" to improve frame rate or adjust other parameters like anti-aliasing.
I support the person in the video who believes tech reviewers should test high settings on hardware. However, if you're using top-of-the-line gear like a 1080Ti, I understand trying ultra settings at 1440p or 4K. At those resolutions, the distinction between high and ultra becomes more noticeable than at 1080p.
In the main game I use (TF2), textures improve noticeably from high to very high quality, especially for skins and weapons. The same applies to models, going from medium to high. However, shadows see minimal benefit when moving from low to medium to high settings.