God of War on PC - Digital Foundry Tech Review - PlayStation vs PC, Performance, Optimised Settings!

[@YDINO69]

Including “original settings” is awesome!!! More PC ports should have this

[@Battleneter]

As a PC gamer why do I care about how it looks on consoles?

[@griffgames9538]

@@Battleneter If you're a PC player who is mid or low end on the min spec requirements, and you want to play 60fps but match console image presets, it's a useful setting for tweaking.

[@ForExampleJon]

@@Battleneter How it looked on consoles likely helped with sales which likely resulted in the PC Port even happening at all.

[@redrangerJ]

@@Battleneter To flex on console players, duh!

[@phattjohnson]

@@Battleneter As a true gamer you should care to compare the differences between the two so you know EXACTLY why you spend $5000 on your next upgrade :P

[@DreadyBearBoi]

This game even runs cutscenes in Ultrawide. Seriously some of the best attention to detail on PC that isn’t just cranked settings.

[@RicochetForce]

Yeah, think about how much work that demanded. They likely hid a ton of stuff and narrow the rendering frustrum during cutscenes, but instead of just keeping to 16:9 like many games they did the legwork. The 21:9 aspect ratio really helps improve the visibility since you can't pull the camera further back.

[@saiksaikatai594]

The thing is the gamz has no "cutscenes" per say since the camera NEVER stops shooting from the first scene to the end of the game. The entire game direction is done through a single shoot.

[@Zorro33313]

So good attention to details control scheme is not even fully customizable, lmao. Another pathetic port from a lazy greedy company.

[@casedistorted]

Yeah I was pretty happy about that on my LG 75hz 1080p Ultrawide, the game looks gorgeous with DLSS Quality on. Even on Ultra settings with DLSS it's still cranking the game in a few spots to 99% gpu usage

[@JigglypuffTutorials]

@@Zorro33313 You can remap in steam settings you concern troll

[@husleman]

This is EXACTLY the type of video im looking for when it comes to PC ports. So much good information on performance. Very good video. This is why you guys are the best in the business.

[@mechiellouw3315]

You know it!

[@BP_Volodymyr]

Same

[@brady9592]

When it comes to analyzing settings, Alex F#*&'s

[@nakedsnake4378]

That’s true

[@Risenshinenfall]

Would've been nice to know the game has negative mouse acceleration.

[@sprintingsnail9492]

Playing this Sony game, on PC, with my Xbox controller.

[@JudeTheYoutubePoopersubscribe]

Snoy fanboys are raging

[@Herr.Mitternacht]

@@JudeTheKZbinPoopersubscribe That's money for Sony so...

[@Sekiroborn]

Playing your mom on my ps controller

[@florider_hd]

Same

[@DatOneGuy901]

The way nature intended

[@Synkhan]

Shows just how impressive the art direction and optimisation for this game is. It still looks amazing even at original.

[@soad48]

PlayStation Studios my friend...

[@chrisbullock6477]

When something is so well done in all aspects you can't deny it.

[@AndrewTSq]

and its a game for a gameconsole from 2013/14. Still I actually think God Of War 3 on PS3 impress me more.

[@ssteinerjr]

@@soad48 Also, Santa Monica my friend :)

[@weaverquest]

@@AndrewTSq I think Ascension is more impressive than GoW 3 and it really is mind blowing for its hardware. Going from early to late PS3 games is like stepping into the next-gen but on the same exact console.

[@dstns]

I'm glad that Sony has put serious effort into doing their PC ports well. They're not perfect but they're getting close

[@GreatDeadGod]

This is far better than 90% of pc games at launch... Rarely do we get an experience that is this solid on day one

[@thoughts9856]

Square enix on the other hand

[@photonboy999]

@@GreatDeadGod , It might be a launch on PC but it still came out almost four years ago on the PS4 and then got a bunch of updates. It really is a great port, but it also had an excellent starting point so it's not exactly apples-to-apples comparing to other PC launch titles. NOTHING you said was incorrect though, and of course there have been many titles on modern console's that got crappy ports to PC.

[@b3at2]

@@photonboy999 it's crazy how it's been four years already.

[@nepnep6894]

Horizon zero dawn is still their best port so far imo. Performance scales much better than days gone and god of war. The only issue with horizon is the heavy pcie bottleneck around 120fps with pcie 3.0 16x, and the performance with less than 8 threads.

[@kris24_lawson]

Honestly Alex's time, dedication and attention to detail is astounding! Great review

[@chrisbullock6477]

Not always necessary though.

[@MadViking82]

I was about to say, Alex's pacing, and ability to check thoroughly all aspects impressed me here. This was very informative, and enjoyable to watch!

[@37654]

@@chrisbullock6477 then why do you follow this channel lol

[@XZ-III]

Better than how Oliver did the FF7 PC game... effing failed imo -_-

[@weaverquest]

Even though I have no intention of buying the game again for PC I am glad that it has gotten the treatment it deserves as a PC port and that more people will get to experience this awesome game.

[@nether6209]

Carribean

[@tzi_music]

Hey! 🤚 I write instrumental music with an oriental theme) 🏮 Thank you for your attention! 🙃 Sorry for the off-topic comment and have a nice day! 😊

[@JagsP95]

@@nether6209 deserves the money tho for the effort

[@sholva6809]

Lol most Sony fanboys don't think so I remember a dude on the Days Gone forums on Steam say if Sony bought God of War to PC he would boycott them and only buy Playstation games second hand. I don't understand this since I have a gaming pc and upgraded from a ps4 pro not long ago to PS5 so I don't miss Sony exclusives. I also own an Xbpx one but with Gamepass being on pc I doubt i'll need to buy a series x.

[@miner2119]

@@sholva6809 same I have ps5 and gaming pc haven't missed out yet, doubt I'll ever buy a series x seems like a waste of money lol

[@MetragoonGaming]

I'm really happy that PlayStation is adding DLSS to their PC releases. Such a user friendly move and it'll be nice for when others finally can experience RTX GPU power.

[@AthosJosue]

That is a big when considering the market.

[@TaimatCR]

It's great that I has both dlss and fsr as well as a render scale so you can choose what you want and what works with your hardware, even if it is not the latest and greatest

[@hhhfdsfs]

I love dlss, but it's really bad in this game.

[@brandon_nope]

@@hhhfdsfs It looks good in the video though?

[@bearpuns5910]

@@hhhfdsfs looks great for me at 1440p DLSS quality. Maybe a little oversharpened but that’s it

[@iyaramonk]

Hope the industry takes a good look at this and realizes good ports can be done. Specifically you Ubisoft.

[@YuGo_Wolverino]

And SquareEnix

[@bigboulder]

@@YuGo_Wolverino ubisoft vs square enix is like bad vs worse when it comes to pcversions of their games

[@hurairaqureshi1031]

@@bigboulder ubi has much better PC port than SE, like newly released FC6, WD Legion which worked well on day one, SE garbage money hungry never made a good port adds DRM Denvos to make it even worse.

[@meurer13daniel]

Sony got shit with HZD and now it's being praised with GOW. Looks like they learned their lesson. Just an hour to go!!!

[@Zlatko815]

@@hurairaqureshi1031 Didn't FC6 have a bunch of problems at launch?

[@plushquasar653]

This is good to hear that Sony took feedback from the Horizon port and made the GoW one better. We are happy to wait abit longer for ports if they are done right.

[@JN-hg5wn]

Totaly agree buddy. That the absolut most important 👍

[@kuruptzZz]

Horizon 5 is also one of the best PC ports I've seen in recent memory

[@BlackPlated]

@@kuruptzZz Forza Horizon 5 AA is garbage; I have to set the game to 1440p to eliminate jagged edges on my 1080p monitor.

[@mappybc6097]

Maybe Nixxes did or at least helped with the port? Porting ips to PC is basically what Sony acquired the studio for after all.

[@plushquasar653]

@Dan_Xenos Not sure if that counts since it was developed in parallel for both platforms. 🤷‍♂️

[@GMMReviews]

DLSS really is magic. Renders the game at a lower resolution and upscales to achieve a higher frame rate, AND manages to look better too? Just... HOW?

[@RezaAghapour]

How? Nvidia knows!😍😇

[@awesome9174]

There's a reason why Nvidia stock increased over 100% in the last year.

[@VatchGaming]

Same thing they did on their GPU. Add 2 more GB and increase the price to 999 from 699.

[@banginbadger75]

The most use I get out of it is on RDR2, it looks the best & runs the best because that game either looks blurry or jagged without it. At 2k resolution w/ DLSS I can run it at around 90fps at max settings, it's insanely good.

[@DidoInFlames]

idk it's a miracle

[@AnvilGaming]

Excellent work. I can always trust you guys to make an in-depth technical analysis that's easy to understand. Looking forward to playing this on PC for the first time. Hopefully this sets a standard of future ports for PC and Consoles alike.

[@imaad2001]

Horizon zero dawn was pretty good too imo

[@mtrx1708]

Days Gone is still the standard, tbh. Had every graphics option you needed and live previews of changes made.

[@TechnoFreak-IN]

@@imaad2001 wasn't on launch, it took patches but now its really good

[@imaad2001]

@@TechnoFreak-IN oh

[@bestledisthe]

Death Stranding though

[@rocketpunchgo1]

Glad to hear this game got the port it deserves.

[@jpHasABadHandle]

Now we just need the earlier games be ported as well 🤞

[@reyesarsenal9]

@@jpHasABadHandle Nobody want to play those old games.

[@miikatenkula6356]

@@reyesarsenal9 We God of War fans are dying to play those old games. Speak for yourself.

[@Leavekidsalone758]

@@reyesarsenal9 I would love to play those on PC

[@Bestgameplayer10]

@@miikatenkula6356 Then y’all are better off using emulators than expecting ports of those dinosaurs.

[@DangerBay]

The best tech reviews in the business hands down. ALWAYS look forward to these port to PC videos, the RE8 one was amazing, and this is no different, thanks DF

[@dionmiller8547]

Great video! Thanks for including the 580/1060 seeing how very few of us own $1500+ graphic cards. I'm shocked to see AMD cards having trouble seeing how the game was built for AMD Apu consoles.

Problem with amd cards is bad dx 11 optimisation in drivers. For DX 11 is better nvidia, for DX 12 amd. If it have DX 12, RX 580/590 will be easy wipe floor with GTX 1060.

[@bigboss-yv2nr]

Been searching for an MSRP 3070 for like a year and a half without luck. it's practically impossible to find a graphics card, the new walmart queue for the consoles has been great for me. I got the walmart plus membership and have scored twice in a row now.... got a ps5 the first time and an xbox yesterday. I actually got into the queue for both the first time and could've checked out for both consoles but i read that they cancel if you purchase more than one. I wish they did something like when graphics cards come in stock.

[@monkfishy6348]

Completely different architecture, even if they are both AMD.

[@OOOcannal]

DX11 isn't good for AMD cards

[@photonboy999]

@ , That's a massive oversimplification and not even necessarily true in the way described. There's SOME truth to it, but... I believe the main "AMD card is bad at DX11" argument has to do with extra CPU cycles to do the same task as NVidia DX11 drivers. That's a non-issue if the CPU isn't the bottleneck. It's also incorrect to say "If it have DX12... 590 will wipe the floor with GTX1060" because you're back to the question of bottlenecks. Again, if the CPU is sufficiently fast for the game/resolution/settings then it's a non-issue. And that's just talking about CPU bottlenecks. Guess what, it's complicated. Too many people make incorrect assumptions because they have incomplete knowledge.

[@GillesSoulet]

Exactly the kind of video that makes DF above and beyond anyone else on KZbin. GG Alex !

[@azarules69]

IGN did a comparision - and quite a good one - but Alex absolutely smashed this vid out of the park. Every little nuance and technical disparity noted. Really impressive work

[@fensoxx]

Alex, there is nobody else doing what you do so succinctly. You are the best at this. You have helped myself and I imagine so many others. Thank you.

[@Noah-Lach]

Back when this game was new, my friend managed to delete my save file where I’d made it 2/3 if the way through the story including most side quests and optional upgrades. Maybe this port will finally give me the heart to start from the beginning again.

[@kickass2733]

I can’t get myself to play the game again. I beat it back when it first came out and it’s a great game. But I can’t get over the unskippable cutscenes. Its great for a 1st playthrough but not sure about a 2nd or 3rd

[@iFaFo_0]

Thats not your friend

[@cyberedge881]

Oh man, that's terrible.

[@justinascencio832]

@@kickass2733 don't know about PC but the playstation release was updated and you can skip the cutscenes now.

[@Bestgameplayer10]

“Managed.” He definitely did it on purpose or he’s a bit of an airhead. No offense to your friend though.

[@lucipanset9076]

Alex you are fantastic. Your work on this channel has been incredibly helpful to so many people.

[@baphi865]

I fully agree sir.

[@Aristowi]

The fact that this game is still one of the best looking out there, especially at 4K 60fps shows the great studio that Sony Santa Monica is. Many first party PS4 games that got enhancements for PS5 and PC look and play better than most games released in the past year.

[@malazan6004]

On a gameplay aspect it's one of the best games ever made too

[@M8Military]

I wish it was more like the ps2 games

[@manuelp7472]

@@M8Military Times have changed.

[@saleplains]

playing through this at 4k ultra on a 3080 right now and it looks better than anything ive experienced before im addition to just being a really fun game. i played the ps2 games as a kid and it is weird to have such a different style of gameplay but i still think its a great game.

[@flockelocke2297]

PC Gaming get's no optimized games that take full advantage of these sick, expensive graphic cards. I don't want to bash PC gaming and actually I feel sorry for some PC gamers and these nice cards for example when they(very good developers like Santa Monica, Naughty Dog, Guerilla Games or insomniac) build some games around let's just say a 3070 high end PC people wouldn't believe their eyes and lose their minds. Some cards already have potential we can't imagine.

[@LookHereMars]

I am glad that PC players who dont own a playstation get to play this masterpiece. What an absolute riot of a game. ENJOY BOY......s.

[@LookHereMars]

@Bruno Utech [Kaheeros] Cant condone it mate, they deserve every penny for their effort. Support good games.

[@tristman8413]

@Bruno Utech [Kaheeros] it's not free if you're pirating then it is theft

[@slay3rgamingyt]

@Bruno Utech [Kaheeros] first rule of piracy, never discuss publicly about piracy, it's both legally and in this case morally wrong. If you for other reasons, have no other choice but to pirate it, then do it but don't encourage others.

[@Luiko0406]

the true power of weakstation 5

[@alvybar2990]

@@tristman8413 if he’s not paying then it’s free

[@bensunnyisaac]

THE definitive review for this game. Excellent work as always, gentlemen!

[@spacechannelfiver]

The definitive _technical_ review. Exactly what I love about this channel. I rely on SkillUp or maybe ACG for the _game_ review.

[@aragornelesar3862]

Excellent analysis. So glad Sony aren't half assing thier ports and doing them extremley well now. Huge improvement over HZD launch, which also runs excelently now.

[@matacachorro4090]

HZD right now on PC is perfect

[@ASTRALEGION]

Well it'd be surprising for anything coming to pc as port being perfect the first time. Sony has already gotten ports down better than xbox too, wish id get this performance while playin halo infinite.

[@Galahad993]

They literally are

[@photonboy999]

@@matacachorro4090 , HZD runs well. It's not perfect.

[@LeOneToyota]

@@ASTRALEGION Facts Halo Infinite should be running better.

[@Mixing_It_Up]

Unbelievable video, Alex. It is amazing that we can get this kind of analysis just by clicking a KZbin link. Not from a technical journal, not an engineering conference, Digital Foundry outputs info like this on a super regular basis, and it really should be applauded. Thank you!

[@JamanWerSonst]

Yes! I think this kind of well done rigoros analysis actually had a positive impact on our games, too. DF calling out frame pacing issues for example definitely registered with devs and often led to fixes. They clearly lead the way in this kind of games-journalistic work. And they never lost their appreciation for this intersection of tech and art.

[@Dionyzos]

I'm still blown away by DLSS. A few years ago 4k60 seemed like a decade away. I wish we could experience Matrix Awakens on PC with an RTX card.

[@Tee_B]

My 6700k and Titan Xp got 4k60 in a lot of games, so.

[@EarthIsFlat456]

@@Tee_B A lot of old games you mean.

[@mechanicalmonk2020]

"exclusives are good that only benefit the consumer" /s

[@Bestgameplayer10]

@@mechanicalmonk2020 It’s true. It’s what strives Sony & Microsoft to make actually compelling games in order to get people on their platform. And now that at least some of those games are coming to PC, everyone can potentially enjoy the games now.

[@Tee_B]

@@EarthIsFlat456 Yeah, games old nowadays. My 5950x and 3090 perform similar at 4k in today's games as my 6700k and Titan Xp did in 2017's games.

[@concinnus]

DLSS has gotten to the point where it has basically no downsides, and actually less ghosting than TAA. Amazing.

[@gregorB92]

there is alot of shimmering with dlss in this game even on the quality setting. and everything seems to sharp

[@TracerX]

Everyone who has taken part in developing DLSS should be ascended to godhood.

[@stevegordon3856]

It's just incredible at this point. Nothing comes close.

[@vampiszon6620]

IF it's implemented properly.

[@CounterFlow64]

@@TracerX I wish it was open source like AMD's fidelity FX.

[@markodimic]

You guys at DF are producing such high quality content, it's crazy! Keep up the good work, please.

[@luf4rall]

Hey we're twins

[@markodimic]

@@luf4rall hey there white wolf

[@brewski535]

DLSS performance mode looks much better than checkerboard. Checkerboard is 1/2 resolution of 4k, DLSS performance is 1/4 the resolution of 4k. So DLSS has 2x better performance whilst having better image quality. Amazing stuff, reconstruction technologies have come along way.

[@iFaFo_0]

Dlss isn't only 1/4 you can pick how low you want it to be.

[@brewski535]

@@iFaFo_0 it seems for a 4k output it's: Quality - 2560x1440 Balanced - 2227x1253 Performance - 1920x1080 Ultra performance - 1280x720

[@03chrisv]

I would love to see a real PS5 version of this game. It's essentially just the PS4 Pro version running at 60fps, but I'm glad to see it looking so great on the PC.

[@RU-pj5rt]

Yeah , this is just ps4 pro back compat at 60fps , works be nice to get a ps5 version.

[@carpetfluff35]

Yeah, a native app could probably do away with the aggressive checkerboarding, even if it couldn't make use of DLSS.

[@NexGenTek]

Actually they updated a lot compared to PS4 pro version

[@paddoww]

Hopefully most watching this breakdown know this is a PS4 title (Backward Compatibility shown upper left), and by that I mean PC fans like myself. Seems every time Alex says “PS5”, you get the feeling he really means PS5.

[@03chrisv]

@@NexGenTek According to Digital Foundry they didn't update anything, just changed the frame cap to 60fps. There is no PS5 version, it just runs the PS4 Pro at double the framerate.

[@doniscoming]

Daamn. Epic "port", I have it on PS4 and PS5 so I won't be buying on Steam but still so happy my friends can play it ;) Great job Alex, I'm impressed as always man :)

[@Necr0Mancer666]

Why the hate for Epic port?

[@pandaboogus]

You don’t need to buy the game again if you have it on ps5

[@TheButtDr]

Why did you put port in quotes?

[@mtrx1708]

@@TheButtDr 1. He wasn't talking about the Epic Games port, he was calling it an epic port, like an awesome port. 2. I assume he put port in quotations because it is so good that it surpasses usual "port" quality and feels native. 3. He literally said he wasn't going to buy it on Steam because he had it on PS4 and PS5 lol Can any of you read?

[@Necr0Mancer666]

@@mtrx1708 now I feel like an ass. He meant the game is epic on PC or something and we thought he is talking about epic app lol.

[@FFCVenom]

I think Sony is really on the right track. They create these massive AAA games, but do so that PC is now also receiving these great games. With more money earned they are able to keep creating these fantastic single player games.

[@CyberDustCapsuled]

It's also good promo... PC only players like HZD. Okay, now they have to buy a Playstation to play part 2. PC only players like GoW. Okay, now they have to buy a Playstation to play GoW Ragnarök. Smart move.

[@festive5476]

@@CyberDustCapsuled hopefully when spiderman 2 is coming out they release spiderman on pc

[@Droogie128]

@@CyberDustCapsuled PC players aren't going to go out and buy a Playstation for that. It's great having it on PC, but people can wait for the port. Consoles just don't offer the experience PC does, and that's why PC players are on PC.

[@felipepetersberchielli1651]

@@Droogie128 some people will def going to buy consoles after playing such amazing games to play their sequel, it is not only God of War and Horizon, it is also Spiderman,Ghost of Tsushima, Last of Us and other titles, both already released like Bloodborne and Uncharted and incoming

[@Droogie128]

@@felipepetersberchielli1651 It's more likely that these will eventually be ported to PC. PC players are as unlikely to buy a console as a console player is to buy a PC. They have their platform of choice for a reason.

[@buldozzer3456]

This PC port introduced me to this incredible franchise two years ago. After that I bought a PS5 just to play Ragnarök and a used PS3 to play the rest of the series. I absolutely love it!

[@toxiclow]

The fact that this game ran on my 2013 OG PS4 flawlessly speaks volume of the wizardry done by the devs!

[@TheKayliedGamerChannel-YouTube]

🤣🤣🤣👍

[@i3l4ckskillzz79]

If you consider 1080 @30FPS as flawless than yes 😂

[@metanick1837]

i still remember when i used to play god of war ghost of sparta on PPSSPP, it was so laggy and now watching it coming on PC makes me so Happy😊

[@ZoraTheExplora]

Your happiness is pointless.

[@mattbobjim911]

@@ZoraTheExplora happiness ratio

[@OCD-GIRL]

God of War on GameCube, Good Times 😎

[@ZoraTheExplora]

@@mattbobjim911 was a joke comment on his name. Also sad people looking for acceptance care about likes and dislikes.

[@callumdointhings5]

The amount of work, time and effort that this video must have taken to make absolutely blows my mind. Major props Alex

[@dr.loomis4221]

I know, I was thinking "The amount of work, time and effort that this video must have taken to make absolutely blows my mind. Major props Alex"

[@thats4thebirds]

Was waiting for this. Not getting it on another system, but just love to see your breakdowns. Dad of War is my all time favorite game.

[@Seatanic]

I might get it during the steam summer sale. I still havent checked out the PS5 update. Game is still fresh in my mind

[@thats4thebirds]

@@Seatanic yeah I have a habit of rebuying games on another platform but usually it’s switch/ps5 indie games. This is something I’d absolutely cop again for 15$~ tho if it ever drops to that or below.

[@Seatanic]

@@thats4thebirds i do have to say days gone was worth it for the pc re-buy

[@l67swap1]

Waiting on that mom of war sequel tho 😂

[@Luiko0406]

the true power of weakstation 5

[@harveydegree]

Excellent review. The port could've been trash and Alex's review still would've been on point. Also great job Santa Monica for an awesome port. Much better than the disappointing FF7R port released by Square Enix earlier this month.

[@TerraWare]

Santa Monica didn't make the pc port actually. It was subcontracted to Jetpack Interactive by Sony although I'm sure some of SM developers were involved and worked in tandem with the studios.

[@ablazedguy]

The port is trash, try it with amd gpu.

[@TerraWare]

@@ablazedguy It really isn't. I'm playing it with an AMD gpu (benchmark videos on my channel). There are some spots where there's some fps drops like The Stranger fight but other than that the game plays just fine. At least that's been my experience.

[@oropher1234]

@@ablazedguy The port is trash in general, a memory leak that creates huge stutters after playing for more than 30-60 minutes is just unforgivable. DF supposedly didn't know that, but i think they do know it. They just kept information from us in order to show a better picture than what is available.

[@Maratuer]

@@TerraWare I also have an amd GPU which most of the time sits around 70-80% utilization on this game. Even on the patch notes the devs wrote that they know what's the cause of the problem with AMD gpus and Alex says that this is a Superb port while half of the gpus out there have problems running It and while knowing about the issue... That's just lying

[@marwan4358]

These videos really makes me appreciate the time and effort been put into these games, really well done.

[@xxManscapexx]

I'll be playing it in an hour! Thanks for the super high quality videos dudes.

[@MosesGcult]

Its outstanding how impressive the PS4 Version still looks compared to the PC Version.

[@arthurb5194]

Still love to see good console games as a PC gamer, considering how much knowledge devs gain by trying to squeeze the most performance out of such limited systems. PS3 was cool for that even thought most games ran below 30fps, Sony first parties really had to learn how to push the system. Can't wait to see what the PS5 can do in like 2028.

[@nicane-9966]

there is a huge difference especially in performance where it can go up to almost 6 times better but of course the price is prohibitive.

[@germansherman7707]

@@nicane-9966 6 times better? ok

[@Shadowdancer777]

@@germansherman7707 6x? lol yeah right. More like 1x

[@Doc_Valparaiso]

@@germansherman7707 Maybe he meant 6x better than the PS4. If that was the case then he's correct about gpu's and cpu's. PS5's gpu has 5.5x compute of the standard PS4. Due to a multitude of PC configurations optimization will never be 1:1. But, good optimization that gets better should yield some amazing results.

[@soliderarmatang5664]

Can confirm optimization. Solid 60fps at native 4K resolution, DLS OFF, Ultra settings. RTX 3080 and 2700X, 16GB 3000Mhz, on NVMe WD 550 Blue. No stutters or fps dips experienced.

[@samgoff5289]

I find that hard to believe considering your low end cpu

[@andytunnah7650]

Same spec, 3700X though, and yeah it's crazy how good it runs. I had everything maxed out and was happy with the 60fps, but my TV is 120hz so think I'll turn DLSS on and shadows down to get around 90, which I personally find to be the FPS sweet spot.

[@samgoff5289]

@Zane White this game is hard on your cpu and he is saying no fps drops at all which is hard to believe with that low end cpu

[@soliderarmatang5664]

@@andytunnah7650 Nice, when i turn off vsync and fps limiter i get around 70, my RTX Aorus Master has 2-8pin so im limited around 340W, wonder if i will get much difference with a 3-pin 3080, i still can't get over how good the game looks tho

[@soliderarmatang5664]

@@samgoff5289 I just ran the game with Task Manager on the 2nd screen, my cpu usage is mostly around 40% utilization at 3.88GHZ consistently, i have a good cpu cooler too, dark rock pro 4, the cpu is not the bottleneck, this game doesn't have much to calculate. The game is very GPU intensive, my 3080 is always around 90-95%. Lastly the Ryzen 7 2700X is a ~100W cpu, and it auto ramps to 140W when needed, its a great cpu! The case has strong ventilation which greatly helps too.

[@josenaranjo_26]

Damm The quality and dedication that Alex puts into these PC videos is amazing, nothing but props to him for this!

[@bodacious12]

@Ching Vang According to people, DF are Sony fanboys, MS fanboys and PC fanboys at the same time.

[@nitehawk-cg6jb]

@Ching Vang not a ps5 native app. Ps4 pro version with unlocked frame rate

[@jesseomollo9405]

@@bodacious12 lol, they are are PC fanboys today then Sony fanboys tomorrow. I always find those guys who say these things ridiculous..

[@josenaranjo_26]

@Ching Vang lol you sound like ps fanboy 😂

[@hhhfdsfs]

@@nitehawk-cg6jb he literally states this

[@Demoerda]

Great Video Alex! I would have loved to see how FSR/DLSS and the ingame scaler compare. Apart from that, thank you so much for your fantastic PC Analysis Videos :3

[@tkermi]

Yea, both fps and quality wise.

[@qualitygaming7169]

My personal experience with FSR isnt good compared to DLSS. FSR is a low quality upscaler. It doesnt use AI or motion vectors as DLSS does.

[@MatheusMarti]

@@qualitygaming7169 well, obviously, as you can use FSR on ANY GPU, unlike DLSS

[@GameslordXY]

@@qualitygaming7169 Even at Ultra Quality?

[@Ben-Rogue]

​@@qualitygaming7169 IDK what you're on about "low quality". I've tried FSR in HZD and it works wonderfully at resolutions around 1440p and above with Ultra quality, it gives a noticeable quality boost over a native image while improving framerate in the region of 5-10% at 4k. It's obviously not good at sub 1080p though, but if you're upscaling to 1080p to get playable frame rates, you've got bigger problems DLSS can't fix

[@dstutz]

This might be the best implementation of DLSS I've seen yet. Just pure sorcery.

[@Dr.WhetFarts]

Outriders was probably better. Improved on native for sure.

[@xXJeReMiAhXx99]

i think its over sharpened actually, look at the skin, sometimes it looks like its made out of stone instead of soft flesh

[@gregorB92]

i disagree. everything is to sharp and there is lots of shimmering

[@dstutz]

@@xXJeReMiAhXx99 I actually agree, it looks oversharpened, especially if you do a side by side comparison. But on a 4K TV at a reasonable distance it's not too bad. I wouldn't use it for a 1440p monitor though

[@xXJeReMiAhXx99]

@@dstutz i wish they were over cautious with the sharpening, id rather a touch of softness than notice the sharpening

[@ZioComposite]

Alex's Optimised Settings - 16:11 Texture Quality - GPU -Dependent Model Quality - High Anisotropic Filtering - Ultra Shadows - High Reflections - High Atmospherics - High Amibent Occlusion - High

[@wealth7385]

can't believe how far I had to scroll to get to this. Sir, you are a literal saint.

[@stuartzimmermann4180]

So pleased others can now enjoy this masterpiece . It still looks fantastic in 1080p on my old ps4 slim I can only imagine how amazing it plays ans looks on a top pc . Great video as always

[@ddha0000]

i hope its actually good. had people saying Spiderman on ps4 was a great game.......so far it is basic as fuck. i guess many have low standards.

[@stuartzimmermann4180]

@@ddha0000 spiderman is a good game . Not in my top 10 or even top 20 but I really like it . God of war is in a different league

[@TheColdBloodedGamerS]

@@ddha0000 Spider-Man was GOTY, Unless your standards are cyberpunk ? SMH

[@37654]

My man, PLEASE get a 4K HDR display, it will literally change your life

[@stuartzimmermann4180]

@@37654 if I had a ps4pro or a ps5 I would get one

[@frazbo11]

DLSS is genuinely magic, it blows me away every time!

[@Dorraj]

DLSS is not magic, why even say that lmao

[@phattjohnson]

@@Dorraj It might not be magic but it's fuckin' fantastic on my RTX2070 at 1440p. Free frames for days!

[@Dorraj]

@@phattjohnson It looks so fantastic because it's being compared to TAA, which looks like shit. I'm not saying DLSS isn't good, it's really good, but it makes it seem like "magic" because it's always compared with TAA.

[@samgoff5289]

@@Dorraj that is such a stupid arguement..."money isn't everything, being rich just seems awesome because everyone compares it to being poor"

[@Dorraj]

@@samgoff5289 What? How is that even relevant at all? Are you okay?

[@g3arsgam3r]

16:07 for the optimized settings 😎

[@zubochonk9205]

I am glad console ports have Original Settings hopefully most games use that as a baseline. My issue is GTX 1060 is not a low end gpu by any means on today's market because of the chip shortage.

[@Jojo-nq3bp]

the 10 series gpus and the 5700 gpus are low end by today's standards. do you see how the minimum settings for new games fall under the 10 series and 57 series

[@SanchezS1998]

@@Jojo-nq3bp I think that he was referring to “low-end” in terms of desktop GPU pricing. It’s definitely low-end by today’s standards, but the price, like a lot of things right now, doesn’t reflect that.

[@otti3397]

It's a 250$ GPU from almost 6 years ago It's a low end you

[@WybremGaming]

aRTX 3050 is bottom-end, RTX 3060-3070ti is low-end, 3080-3080ti is mid-tier, 3090 -3090ti is high-end, titan is top-end, 1060 is ancient.

[@Cheatman5]

A 1060 is 100% a low end GPU… chip shortage or not. Doesn’t change what the card can do or is capable of

[@chrisbullock6477]

When you're playing this on PS5 and on a nice 4k tv like an OLED you're just enjoying this well crafted game.

[@NexGenTek]

You mean PC

[@rochester3]

@@NexGenTek I have both with a 3090 on pc..

[@Starfey]

@@NexGenTek try to enjoy ragnarok

[@NexGenTek]

@@Starfey it'll be easy

[@thealgerian3285]

Playing God of War, on PC, with an Xbox One controller, what a time to be alive.

[@czarkowskipawelyt]

PCSX2 came out in 2002.

[@OCD-GIRL]

Playing God of War, on PS5, with an PS5 controller, the way it was meant to be played.

[@JeffZ1028]

@@OCD-GIRL What's the difference?🤷‍♂️🤣

[@JP-me7sy]

@@OCD-GIRL Xbox controller>>>>

[@pixeljauntvr7774]

@@JP-me7sy Nah, not this generation at least.

[@TheMusic4Soul]

Cool, God of War is now the best selling game on Steam, left even Monster Hunter Rise behind which is huge on PC. Nice to see.

[@Douglas102007]

Not trying to take anything away from it, but pretty much any aaa tops the best selling close to launch. Mhr is a 1yo game

[@paulovinasrocha6166]

@@Douglas102007 god of war is 2.5 years old.

[@nobody13o7]

@@Douglas102007 God of war will be 4 this year. That's pretty good and proves theres plenty of customers for Sony to reach on pc. If bloodborne showed up on pc I have zero doubts that will sell incredibly well. Also came out in 2015.

[@Douglas102007]

@@paulovinasrocha6166 not on pc, it's not priced like a 4yo game either lmao.

[@Douglas102007]

@@nobody13o7 not on pc

[@poodlemeister22314]

For the FOV, check out the article on PCGamer as to why it's a technical limitation, due to the "one shot/take" style of cinematography that would've made implementing higher FOV's extraordinarily difficult (it was difficult enough to get ultrawide to work, because they had to redo some animations that normally wouldn't be seen in a standard 16:9 aspect ratio)

[@HenryTownsmyth]

I will wait until someone mods it like in 2 weeks.

[@Zer01neBDTDev]

Higher FOV will make things POP because Scene has been built for 16:9, just the fact that it have Ultrawide is a miracle because its already an higher FOV.

[@AndersLiljeblad]

Thank you, Digital Foundry! As always, a great analysis. :]

[@SiStockbridge]

Platinumed this and also played through 3 times. AWESOME story and great gameplay. Won't be going back for a 4th playthrough on PC as it doesn'l look exceeding better than the PS5 patch

[@deeplaysgaming4754]

will if you hve a 3090 graphics card

[@paulovinasrocha6166]

@@deeplaysgaming4754 not many do

[@cruelplatypus67]

@@paulovinasrocha6166 Shit is harder to find that ps5 lol

[@firexallst4rz277]

Actually it does look a little better my guy. The first thing I noticed in the video is that once again PS5 can't render 4k properly so therefore does checkerboarding 4k which In turn produces static blurry and fuzzy images. In your defense you would have to pause the game and actually zoom in and see it, but it's there.

[@kanpeki3033]

@@firexallst4rz277 lol ps5 doesn’t have a native god of war app yet.

[@abitterberry2149]

So it received the treatment it deserved. How refreshing! That game almost made me dig out my old PS4! I'm so glad they took the time to polish this amazing game!

[@darktempest53]

Great comparison, though imo it's quite silly to call it the 'PS5' version, when it's not really. It's just the PS4 Pro version running unlocked. It's not as if the game on PS5 is a (wait for it) bespoke app

[@EDcaseNO]

eh, was pointed out in the video but his footage is from the ps5 which allows the better frametimes. if he used ps4 footage people would be whining about not showing the game in the best light.

[@bass-tones]

You’re right, but give DF credit where credit’s due; in all of the PS5 footage, it’s extremely clearly labeled “PS5 Backwards Compatibility” for the purpose of avoiding the exact confusion you’ve described. But still thumbs-upping your comment for “bespoke.”

[@Geronimoux]

It's not really fair as it's not a full PS5 game. It's a PS4 (Pro) game with some framerate optimizations. In that regard, the console version holds up remarkably well

[@leeg12000]

Great comment, that's what I was thinking.

[@pixeljauntvr7774]

What does "fair" have to do with anything? It's not a competition. They're just comparing the current PC build to the most optimal console version.

[@leeg12000]

Because a lot of people (wrongly admittedly) may think this is the best the PS5 can do. When it's not even a native PS5 game. I think the video is a bit misleading.

[@cldpt]

great video, and even though I own an Nvidia 30 series GPU, I applaud the love given to older generations of both Nvidia and especially AMD RX 500 series. This is the type of content this GPU crysis needs from Digital Foundry. Great Work Alex!

[@drunkcoler]

I agree, it's great to see older hardware being used.

[@gabrielst527]

Too bad cause the optimization of the game is terrible. 48 - 55 frames on a rx 580 on original console settings (on a 2018 game) when we get 78 average frames in RE Village 100 frames average in Devil may cry 5 that also is of the same genre as god of war and with much better graphics.

[@devilmikey00]

It took Horizon ZD 11 patches to get to this level. Glad to see we're improving with these sony ports. I hope they keep coming.

[@Bestgameplayer10]

I hope to see games like The Last Of Us Part II and Uncharted come to PC someday. I have them on console but I’d love to be able to play those games again at higher frame rates and slightly better graphics. EDIT: Changed my comments so people will stop giving me the same reply as I guess how I worded it gave off the impression that GOW isn’t a good (selling) game which is not what I was saying.

[@phrozac]

The Death Stranding and Days Gone ports were good from the start. With GOW, this makes it 3-1 for great Sony ports. Seems more like PC HZD was just an outlier.

[@thefury4815]

@@Bestgameplayer10 lesser blockbuster? God of War won all the awards in 2018. Also uncharted 4 and lost legacy are coming to pc after the ps5 port

[@branflake6048]

@@Bestgameplayer10 I'm hoping for a Bloodborne port someday. It'd be cool if Sony just went through their catalog and ported a bunch of their older exclusive titles like Heavenly Sword or Jak & Daxter.

[@candidosilva7755]

Not to mencion the badly optimized Detroit became human.

[@01chohan]

A few of the DLSS shots look a fair bit over sharpened, you can see some quite noticeable haloing effects such as in 8:20

[@simonrockstream]

still looks better than the native lower res image, as you can clearly see.

[@unclelucas2389]

i checked and notice nothing. WTF are you even talking about? jeeeez kids nowadays so hard to please.

[@01chohan]

@@unclelucas2389 Relax sunshine, just because you can't see it doesn't mean it's not there. If you're an amateur don't comment

[@hhhfdsfs]

Your minitor is probably over sharpened

[@unclelucas2389]

@@01chohan thats the thing, im NOT an amateur. i dont have a problem agreeing to your comment but i looked and there's really nothing there. you kids really are just hard to please. you're like tony soprano's mom. just a bottomless pit. no satisfaction. nothing pleases you.

[@ablazedguy]

Soo the game has a huge problem with a memory leak and falls under 45 fps in many areas on Amd GPUs, but it's an excellent port?

[@jthree2001]

I would have enjoyed a quick peek at comparing the up-scaling for this port. I, like many others, are stuck using old gpus and are forced to upscale. Would have loved to see which one was the best version to go with.

[@1350abraham]

To answer this quickly if you have AMD use fsr because thats all you can use, of you have an NVIDIA gpu then decide of you care more about visuals or performance. If you care more about visuals then DLSS as it will look better and still offer more fps, FSR if you don't mind a lower quality picture and want even better performance

[@NkeliteYT]

Like I said crank everything up to 11 and turn off motion blur

[@paul1979uk2000]

If there is one thing I've noticed with Nvidia optimized games is that if you wait a few weeks/months, those games will run better on AMD hardware than they did on release, so the performance difference we are seeing here is what I expected and a big reason why I rarely buy games on release when they run so much better a few weeks/months later as the game gets patched up and drivers are better optimized for it and as an added bonus, the game usually ends up being cheaper to buy, win/win all around.

[@nonyabusiness6084]

AMD makes the GPU in the PS4. So this makes no sense. This should be an AMD optimized game, not Nvidia.

[@mduckernz]

@@nonyabusiness6084 Should be, but NVIDIA has tons of cash it can throw into optimisation. That and it has always had a better DX11 implementation.

[@Dr.WhetFarts]

Stop the BS. AMD had a launch day driver for this game. Nvidia improves their performance too. Debunked tons of times but AMD fanboys want to believe it's not true 😂 Nvidia simply has better overall performance than AMD, and way more features. Hence the higher price on general (and higher re-sell value too). AMD is cheaper for a reason.

[@dstns]

@@nonyabusiness6084 You'd think so, but where they went from Playstation's near-the-metal BSD/GNM stuff to Win/DX11, I bet they were kind of starting over with the optimizations

[@nonyabusiness6084]

@@mduckernz But Nvidia did not design this game & it wasn't orginally designed to run on an Nvidia GPU, but an AMD one.

[@Aetohatir]

I'm in an interesting position as I actually just played the original for the first time on PS5 the other week. On quite the large screen at 4K HDR as well. and none of the checkerboard really bothered me personally. It's an excellent looking game. The only thing I wish I had on PS5 was the better Shadow quality as the scenes you showed actually changed the feel of the areas showns quite a bit.

[@toasty3719]

I'm in the same position and I am fortunate enough to have a really good PC. But I don't feel the need to buy the game again on PC. I was conflicted, but I think I'm good with playing it on PS5.

[@Kowanpoop]

Maybe they'll release an actual ps5 version when ragnarok releases. They did so with Ghost of Tsushima.

[@videogameobsession]

@@Kowanpoop I have a feeling Santa Monica will releasee a full on PS5 remaster, probably around the time we get an actual trailer of Ragnarok. They did that with the PS3 version of GOW3, on the PS4.

[@CarlosDiaz-is8cu]

@@toasty3719 if you have a couch and a nice tv I don't think is worth to play the game on PC, it has stutters as the majority of PC games

[@mihailgorgieski8193]

@@CarlosDiaz-is8cu Did you even watch the video? It said that it was smooth

[@chrisd8180]

Wasnt aware that there wasnt an upgraded Ps5 version of this 1st party PS title besides a higher frame rate, and its only available in backwards capable. Of course checkerboarding techniques from 4 years ago wont compare to a modern gpu with FX super resolution or Dlss technology.

[@bass-tones]

I hope that now that they’ve put in the work to scale this to PC, a native PS5 build is around the corner. You would think it’d be in their best interest to revive interest in the game on PS5 like that when the sequel is coming relatively soon. Either way though, this game looks incredible. However, I always appreciate native ports, if only just for the complete removal of load times.

[@kbthegoat824]

@@bass-tones won't happen with ragnorak around the corner. Most ps guys that wanted to play the game already played it and been waiting for the next game for a while.

[@chrisd8180]

@nick T well not everyone, but i see what your saying.

[@chrisd8180]

@Alex H good point

[@deathstarr109]

My only issue is a lack of a full screen option. It makes dldsr harder to use without actually changing it in the display options on windows

[@nepnep6894]

Exclusive fullscreen options are going to be very uncommon in the near future as borderless done in dxgi flip mode is superior to exclusive fullscreen. Windows 11 takes exclusive fullscreen and converts to flip model as well. Windows 10 was supposed to, but it was buggy and used bitblt instead.

[@Neoxon619]

The developers did a great job with this port. No wonder it took 2 years to make.

[@otti3397]

Hey 👋 where did you hear it took two years?

[@poros4588]

@@hurairaqureshi1031 maybe check some news outlets before commenting? it was in development for 2 years for the PC Version

[@ulrichleukam1068]

@@wizzenberry It depend on several factors ...especially the amount of devs on the project. Santamonica Studio is busy on Ragnarok and i can easily believe they dedicated som 50 devs on the project with extra staff from another supporting studio over 2 years: It is not just copy and and paste. PC development / port is like developing/optimising a game for like 10 different Configuration of GPU and CPU (from several manufacturers Intel CPU/GPU, AMD GPU/CPU) and fixing the bugs

[@notlekrut]

@@wizzenberry they actually did confirm in two different interviews I've read so far the process started 2 years ago. So not that far off at least.

[@notlekrut]

@@hurairaqureshi1031 Lol, definitely not 2 months, AT ALL. People really don't know much about software or game development. They also just confirmed in a interview it took around 2 years(one of the devs said in an interview "I actually play most of the time on mouse and keyboard now just because I've working on it for two years) A custom engine made for consoles won't run on a PC until you actually had support for it, then there's many issues and performance considerations to make(GPU-driver specific issues, shader compilation can be very tricky, key bindings and commands since the PS4 commands were hardcoded according to the devs themselves on an interview, and that's just to start assuming you already ported to DX11/12/Vulkan), then there's adding the support for those other features. A port like this can take AT LEAST a year, depending on how big the team is, and how much custom stuff is in the engine that needs to be fully ported to completely different APIs like DX11.

[@hdrmadness2731]

Absolute stunner. Nice work as always Dachsjaeger

[@MgoMSx]

I remember being subscribed many many years ago to digital foundry.. Literally when they were first starting up. They were posting time graphs and FPS footage of ps3 games and Xbox 360 games.. Normally there was no talk over at all, you just watched.. Man they have evolved so much! What great content.. Keep it coming, I was tempted to pick a ps5 up to replay God of war at 60fps 4K checkboard.. But may wait now until ragnorak!! I'll pick this up for my gaming laptop, ryzen 5800h and a RTX 3070.. Equalivalent to performance of a 2070 super, but it'll be worth it. Thanks guys!! Enjoy the game everyone.

[@saurabhpathakYT]

14th Jan 2022, A History was made! PC gamers will treasure this moment.

[@JasonZakrajsek]

“A History”?

[@Delta169]

Call me when Ghost of Tsushima, Bloodborne and Demon Souls come to PC.

[@johnmorgan6316]

Demons souls probably not for another five years though

[@samdixon3719]

@@johnmorgan6316 i believe demons souls will come before bloodborn

[@Delta169]

@@johnmorgan6316 probably this year or next year for sure. They don't want to take away sales from Elden Ring.

[@RonnieBanerjee007]

At this point you're just torturing the PS fanboys that cried sony would never release to PC.

[@Delta169]

@Aoaxe I'm a patient man.

[@Gustavoides]

I am facing some performance issues. My system is a RTX 3070, i7 10700F, 16GB RAM, 1440p monitor. When traveling between the areas I always have frame drop. Moreover, the game is using all VRAM and take a lot of the RAM. Even using Original or High settings I still getting these issues.

[@CaveyMoth]

Finally, some good f***ing ports.

[@OrchalionTheFog]

And not just any port 🌟

[@silentassasin4202]

ps4 architecture was ahead of its time. Given ps4 version is running at 30 fps and pro between 40 to 60 fps in unlocked mode. But visually the game running on heightest end pc is very marginally superior to the graphics produced by base ps4 and pro. It's a shame amd did not have a good cpu at the time that would fit the lower power consumption profile of ps4

[@defeqel6537]

I read "sports" and thought "you've been doing it wrong"

[@Shaker1000]

@@silentassasin4202 again what's the point of this comment

[@anthonybonstead3914]

Downloading now, can't wait to play this masterpiece again

[@redhunter1535]

Halo is better than this crap don't waste too much time on this

[@marioluigi1523]

@@redhunter1535 got both gow is way better

[@adnan8837]

@@redhunter1535 maybe Bungie Halo, but 343 Halo isn't even close to GoW

[@SOoFlyy_o]

@@redhunter1535 the only thing crap here is your take

[@theorangecandle]

@@redhunter1535 Halo is multiplayer FPS, GOW is single player third person adventure. Can't compare. Halo Infinite campaign is good but not as good as GoW. Although I think the core combat in Halo Infinites campaign is better than GoW combat, the overall lack of diversity hurts it. I think the future of Halo has a lot of promise now that they've prefected the 'feel' of Halo.

[@Bry.89]

Apparently they're already working on a patch that will improve the stutter caused by CPU utilization when going between large areas.

[@Navhkrin]

Shadows at Ultra seems like huge improvement to visuals so I would take it honestly. It would be good if you guys also did "high end" settings where you tweak down unnecessary settings but keep anything that has considerable visual impact.

[@photonboy999]

Isn't that the entire point of the "Alex's Optimized Settings" section?

[@resColts]

@@photonboy999 no the point is to maximize fps without sacrificing too much quality and if you have any setting that lowers fps too much doesn't matter what the quality lost is. What navhkrin is looking for is quality optimized settings that will achieve 60fps a setting like shadows ultra that setting to high raises fps by 23 so now you have 90fps isn't necessary. It's only necessary as last resort for 60fps. Also he literally says in the video the point of his optimized settings for this specific video at around 14:22

[@djbpresents9584]

They show u best setting or u know try for yaself

[@Not_Lewis]

Im also bugged my the fact that the mid tier CPU test was comparing an old gen Ryzen with a new generation Intel. Wouldn't it make sense from a strict CPU test to compare across the same AMD platform? 3600 versus a 5900x? So the comparisons can be made between direct architecture improvements?

[@GameslordXY]

Well he clearly prefers Intel as his main CPU,while 3600 is most popular CPU in recent years

[@TerraWare]

I understand what you're saying,the way DF does these performance tests isn't all that focused on hardware and isn't the type of benchmark testing you'd normally see from PC focused channels like Hardware Unboxed for example who tests a bunch of cpu's/ gpu's etc. The way DF seem to do it is they use a 3600 to represent the sort of low end/midrange cpu, the 10900K the high end.

[@samgoff5289]

@@TerraWare that is obviously what he is doing, showing low end vs high end...he even says this multiple time in the video. The idiot who made this comment is some kind of weird fanboy who got butt hurt over someone not using his preferred brand for both tests rather than just 1 🤦‍♂️ so cringe

[@TerraWare]

If you are curious about how the 5900x performs in this game I'm currently uploading a benchmark video that should be processed and up for viewing tomorrow morning with that cpu.

[@arik2216]

I play on system with i5 4590, 8Gb ddr 3, RX560 2 gb and 7200 rpm hdd. It's still beautifull playable. Thank you so much for optimatization Santa Monica and Jetpack Interactive and the director of the GoW himself 🙏

[@AndyGilleand]

I think Alex has some misconceptions about how checkerboard rendering works. As it's not an upscaling algorithm, it doesn't cause the blurring/smearing he's referring to. Checkerboard renders every single pixel in a 1:1 pixel mapping pattern, where half the pixels are rendered on one frame, and the other half are rendered on the second frame, in a checkerboard pattern. Then, the system uses pixel details from the last several frames (rendered with a subpixel jitter) to project forward and fill in the gaps. In concept it's very similar to interlace, only it has the benefit of the checkerboard pattern which is easier to interpolate with when necessary, as well as the temporal projection, which has the ability to reconstruct a perfectly native image when there's no motion, as well as works as a form of TAA. When motion is very subtle like the camera sway here, it's absolutely easy to fill in the gaps nearly perfectly. The areas where checkerboard has trouble is around the edges of parallaxing objects, and high motion, although high motion usually has motion blur on it on most modern games, so these issues really aren't visible to the naked eye. The reason the ps4/ps5 version has blurrier PQ than the "original" settings on PC almost certainly has nothing to do with checkerboard rendering, but with those settings not actually being a perfect match for the ps4 game. Maybe those are the settings they're using in Ragnarok on PS5. Checkerboard rendering will give you an image virtually identical to native 4K probably 95% of the time, with only minimal artifacting visible if you pause and zoom in around edges, often covered up by motion blur. Certain scenarios, like walking sideways in front of a fence or leaves of a tree for example are hard to reconstruct on any system, and as such are similarly hard to reconstruct in checkerboard as well, but that's not what's happening here. Nothing in the examples given here are hard for checkerboard to derive an image practically identical to native. So I can only assume the "original" settings are wrongly named.

[@venom_snake1984]

He has misconceptions about a lot of things. No one corrects him because few people with expertise bother watching his PC fanboy videos. Honestly, his work is garbage when you work or study in the industry.

[@PantsaBear]

@@venom_snake1984 His work is garbage? lol alright, glad we have so many devs willing to speak directly to consumers in an understandable lingo how games work and are willing to give entire run downs on whether the games are in a good technical state when released (we don't, and from what Ive seen devs don't like educating unless its speaking to other devs, and obviously can't/won't speak about their games technical state publically when the game just comes out). Why cant you just correct Alex so he knows better for next time if you know something he doesn't? The guy has always shown he's fine with others doing so on many occasions. He also obviously prefers PC, and has always worn that on his sleeve, does that make him uninformed on other topics or some kind of idiot? He has said on many occasions when he simply doesn't know something or needs to fact-check something

[@Not_Lewis]

Not entirely sure why the devs opted for dx11 here. Would dx12 improve performance and frame time issues significantly with mid range CPU's? I was very shocked an 8core CPU was recommended at 1440p when their requirements chart released. It makes me reconsider my upgrade path for the future now.

[@Dmc63613]

Maybe it could be the game engine?

[@strohhuttv8848]

Alex explained it DX 12 has a huge problem it can create stuttering because of shader compilation, DX 11 is arguably a better choice.

[@Not_Lewis]

@@strohhuttv8848 I'll have to watch it again, I might have missed that.

[@strohhuttv8848]

@@Not_Lewis Start watching from 1:53 he explains it pretty well.

[@Simonsavvi]

Alex: There is jitter on the snow when you look at it. Alex: Shows it. Alex: Zooms in. Me: I still can't see it but I've trusted you for 3 years and I won't stop now.

[@thedofflin]

I've been waiting years to play this, very happy that the developers actually took their PC port seriously. For many people like me who haven't played any Sony exclusives on console, first impressions still matter a lot for a studio's ongoing reputation. Looking at you Square Enix.

[@Space-Diver]

That's 1st rule for PS Studios, Quality.

[@MrTurtle15]

This game was so good im glad more people get to play this masterpiece 👍

[@darthmon26]

How do you change the output resolution? There's only two display options (windowed and borderless) Windowed mode lets me change the resolution but borderless mode doesn't...How is there no option for Fullscreen?

[@brewski535]

Unfortunately you need to use custom resolutions or DLDSR/DSR if you want higher resolutions than your display.

[@Bestwick1983]

8:04: Most modern GPU's out there? Are you sure about that? Seemingly that would only apply to Nvidia 2000 and 3000 series cards. Certainly not "most" by any means.

[@DigitalFoundry]

Most modern GPUs that are sold are RTX GPUs in terms of raw numbers sold.

[@WybremGaming]

keyword MODERN. 2-3000series are modern. 3000series are current gen. current gen low-end is 3050, not 1060.

[@Bestwick1983]

@@DigitalFoundry Yes, new gpu's sold, but not the install base. A key fact considering supply issues.

[@Bestwick1983]

@@WybremGaming then the term should have been current gen, not "modern" which is somewhat abstract when you talk about technology.

[@chuckmayhem1991]

The steam survey is there for you to find information. 120,000,000 users, 25% of which are RTX cards, meaning 2060 or better(the 2060 with DLSS has better IQ and according to alex holds 60 at 4k in all but a few cutscenes) Thats over 30 million RTX users. Thats more than the ps5 and series X combined.

[@PixelShade]

Awesome work Alex, exceptionally great and in-depth video. It's just a shame FSR is almost not mentioned AT ALL, although far from the majority of viewers own RTX cards-, or can even get hold of them. The only time FSR is mentioned is "if you want to disable it". Which just seem comical due to the MASSIVE focus on DLSS. Comparing the different upscaling options available should be crucial to such an in-depth technical review (even if it is just briefly). With Nvidias previous debacle of pushing certain editorial directions on youtubers (Hardware Unboxed). DFs credibility takes on a big hit. I have had a lot of nvidia cards in the past. But this time I have upgraded to a 6600XT (mainly due to having more value and better availability than RTX cards). I enjoy RT in a lot of games (with good performance at that) FSR Ultra Quality works great at 1440p and exceptionally well at 4K. But my setup (and the setup of many other's) make most of DFs content completely irrelevant. Because DF currently lives in the fabled RTX-land, where only proprietary nvidia features exist.

[@THEchakkid]

This. I'm a low-spec gamer (don't judge haha), and if it wasn't for FSR performance mode, I wouldn't be playing and enjoying this masterpiece right now. Kudos to the developers for incorporating this setting into GoW, but all I read everywhere is "wow dlss" "kudos to Sony for including dlss" and it's like "hello? Amd exists too, you know?"

[@CarlosCamposvc92]

Despite their shady marketing techniques, Nvidia really is the big dog, there’s no denying it, their drivers are better, their software is more user friendly with most applications, their work in terms of software innovation is none stop with several technologies being used to improve gaming experience not only visually but in terms of performance for several different users that may not have a high resolution monitor and so can take advantage of technologies like DLAA and DLDSR or other users with higher resolution screens but don’t have the GPU power and so they can take advantage of DLSS. Plus, Ray Tracing performance optimized for Nvidia GPUs. I’m not an Nvidia fanboy, I had 3 AMD GPUs and 3 Nvidia ones and my experience has always been more pleasant with Nvidia GPUs.

[@PixelShade]

​@@CarlosCamposvc92 I have owned GPUs since the late 80s with CGA and VGA cards and have been using Voodoo, nvidia, ati etc. over the years. so from me there's no hard feelings from me. But nvidia dominion-, and their duopoly with AMD is devistating for the PC hardware market However, I would actually counter argue. AMDs DX12 and Vulkan drivers are much more matured and use less CPU resources on Radeon cards. Their DX9-DX11 drivers has however always been somewhat worse. When it comes to Software, Nvidia doesn't even come close to Radeon Software today. They have a slow, old Windows98-style control panel, with extremely bad user experience, my experience as a GTX1070 user was that it took about 10s for it to populate the individual games list and applying settings took a second of delay. Not what I like to expect from a 16 thread, 32GB RAM and GTX1070 machine with blistering fast nVME. :) Geforce Now forces people to have "registered accounts" to push marketing, and only has a fragment of nvidias functions. It's quite honestly a terrible user experience. Nvidias linux drivers are also proprietary and badly supported. nvidia often throws away game-ready optimizations for older cards, while AMD generally has one architecture which they support for a very long time. Radeon software is super easy to understand, has full control over your whole hardware setup, integration with Ryzen Master, Windows Display options (HDR etc), It has software support for OSD with detailed information about performance statistics and temperature. They also have detailed overclocking capabilities, and graphics options, all accessible and editable from within games in the overlay. When I got my 6600XT I was shocked, nvidia doesn't hold a candle against the Radeon Software. Nvidia is somewhat in the forefront, but not by much. RT performance on 6000-series cards are actually much greater than what reviewers make people believe with their ultra settings benchmarks. RDNA2 share their RT performance with rasterization performance. So really once you lower a couple of settings, the RT performance increases quite a lot and becomes much more balanced competitor to nvidia. DLSS is great, but also sucks. Because I see no reason to flood the market with brand proprietary tech. it's a matter of time before it is buried under more open alternatives. Developers, Games, or gamer's do not gain anything from proprietary tech... Only nvidia does. With all this being said, even if nvidia are current top dogs, there's no reason for DF to completely exclude AMD or their features. The PC is an open platform with a lot of settings and harware configurations. DF is a very nvidia-focused channel. It skews the market in favour of nvidias marketing scheme, even though AMD has offered much more value and availability this generation.

[@PixelShade]

@@THEchakkid I agree. on my laptop I play through linux and often use performance FSR... it isn't prestine quality but it makes demanding games playable and less taxing on heat. :) PC has SO many hardware configuration. I feel DF is doing something really bad for not including any sort of FSR coverage.

[@nepnep6894]

@@CarlosCamposvc92 In my experience the drivers on the 5700xt and my 6900xt were far better than the gtx1080 and titan x pascal. Nvidia's weird cpu overhead makes it difficult to target very high framerates even with a high end cpu.

[@TheAbsoluteJay]

Digital Foundry is THEE place for these kinds of breakdowns, and this is yet another amazing one. Thank you, Alex!

[@malazan6004]

Honestly one of the best games ever made and I can't wait to re experience it on PC.

[@BlindBison]

Wish it was a good DX12 or Vulkan implementation since I’ve got a high core/thread count CPU (3900X) but good to see the port came out alright on the whole. Vulkan/DX12 would’ve allowed for modern RT features to boot, but at least we got the now great DLSS integrated.

[@supanjibobu372]

You can play on vulkan with DXVK

[@BlindBison]

@@supanjibobu372 how much does that actually help? I’ve seen the GW2 tests and it does help overall in that game, but that’s a DX9 title. Nvidia appears to have a truly exceptional DX11 driver and DXVK can cause some bugs from what I’ve read. I may try it out to see how it compares, but isn’t it really more of a Linux focused tool? I could be wrong but my understanding was DXVK had a lot more consistent improvement on Linux systems VS windows.

[@TheDevil69270]

The work behind these videos is just ridiculous, great job

[@m0rdresh]

desktop graphics card shortage to extreme, the rise of gaming laptops up from frowned upon for decades, and... a God of War game on PC; can it get anymore crazy?

[@GameslordXY]

Yes. Imagine HALO,Gear's & Forza on Playstation & God of War,Uncharted & Gran Turismo on Xbox.

[@timothygibney159]

Thankfully GOW includes FSR in addition to dlss for those on older GPUs

[@TheNerd]

I just imagined Alex in his room with his 27 different PC's and 360 GPU's benchmarking all day/night to make this video happen. Reminds me of myself when I was young and my room looked like a PC store with a lot of "I could probably need this in the future" parts all over the place xD Auf wiedersehen! ✋Bis zum nächsten mal!👍

[@prince_warhero]

Amazing port.. also shows how much talented the devs are at Santa Monica studios because they created such an amazing looking game with PS4 hardware

[@spinymold]

Absolutely love this game, played it to death on PS4 Pro and I’ve purchased it on steam. All perfectly timed as my wife is due to start a 2 week house sit this weekend. Awesome

[@justinthematrix]

My ps4 pro was screaming playing this game

[@spinymold]

@@justinthematrix 😂 mine too

[@BobAg_]

My 3070 is going to melt

[@spinymold]

@@BobAg_ I’ve got a 6700xt in my build and I can’t wait to see what the outcome is.

[@patarciofo7538]

Another incredibly useful and high quality video, thank you! I've noticed another little problem of DLSS: very sharp and high contrast edges look a bit to aliased, like Kratos head over some background (Quality mode in 1440p). Maybe it's a problem only in 1440p, for this reason I'd like to see more 1440p focused analysis. It's a more widespread resolution than 4k

[@rxman4453]

Just curious because I had the same question. Would you use balanced or performance for 1440p? Right now I'm using Alex's setting with DLSS (Quality)//Reflex(on). Thanks ahead for any response.

[@patarciofo7538]

@@rxman4453 in 1440p i recommend you quality mode because it's already a bit worse than native. Balanced is not so different, so if it's necessary I think it's a viable option. I use it in shadow of the tomb raider because it's pretty heavy. Performance is not good enough for me

[@lucidx2]

Really impressed with this port ,cant find anything to complain about other than the area loading stutters which im sure can get patched up but compared it to the issues HZD had when it first launched its a pretty flawless port

[@lucidx2]

@Google User I'm sure they will fix that it's because the game doesn't use Async compute

[@SayakMajumder]

Was expecting an exclusive ultrawide DF Tech Review.