Quantum Break PC Performance Review

Introduction

Even before launch Quantum Break had a bad reputation on PC, mostly due to the game shipping as a Windows 10 store exclusive and with all the issues that come with it.

Shipping as a UWP (Universal Windows Platform) app right now means that there are several key limitations, like the fact that the game will only run in a borderless fullscreen mode, V-Sync will always be forced on, that SLI and CrossFire are not supported and that right now the games cannot support mods or most software overlays. 

The game is one of Microsoft’s biggest game launches of the year, with the game having a huge marketing budget and getting generally favourable reviews online. On the PC side things have been strangely dark, with no real performance data for the game getting released and or even full reviews on the PC version of the game, leaving PC users in a strange position where they have to solely rely on the impression left by the public on social media sites like Twitter or Reddit, instead or having a professional review to look at. 

For us, UWP games present us with a unique issue, which is that traditional methods of benchmarking a game no longer apply, with proven apps like FRAPS simply not functioning on the UWP platform.  This leaves us no option but to use newer tools and look at this game in a different way than usual, but we have managed to get some solid benchmarking data on the game. 

 

 

Drivers 

For this game, we will be using the newest drivers that were available when the game released, which is Nvidia’s Game Ready Geforce 364.72 driver and AMD’s 16.4.1 driver, both of which are the most recent GPU drivers for either company. 

Test Setup  

We will be testing this game on our dedicated GPU test rig using the current flagship GPUs from both AMD and Nvidia. Both GPUs will be the reference design and will be running at stock settings. 

 

AMD R9 Fury X & Nvidia GTX 980Ti
Intel Core i7 6700K @ 4.7GHz
ASUS Maximus VIII Hero
G.Skill Ripjaws 4x4GB DDR4 3200MHz
Corsair HX1200i
Corsair H110i GT
Windows 10 x64 

         

Nvidia GTX 980Ti (Left), AMD R9 Fury X (Right)

 

To represent AMD and Nvidia’s Mid-range GPU offerings we have decided to use the AMD R9 380 and the Nvidia GTX 960. Both of these GPUs will be the ASUS Strix models

Both of these GPUs offer very similar performance in most scenarios and come in at very similar price points, so it will be very interesting to see which GPU will come out on top. 

 

            

Nvidia GTX 960(Left), AMD R9 380(Right)