Is it though? Compared to the usual separate CPU & GPU combos for sure, but what about AMD CPUs (and probably now Intel CPUs) with iGPU? I mean what we used to call APUs.
Digital Foundry Article Technical Discussion [2025]
- Thread starter Shifty Geezer
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Flappy Pannus
Veteran
There's not enough APU's powerful enough to run modern games (Halo Strix notwithstanding) to warrant a significant engine variant just for them over discrete GPUs for one, but as far as I understand it, X86 APU's currently don't really operate like a 'truly' unified APU, like Apple M series - this is in part due to API limitations I believe. Someone correct me if I'm wrong though.
No, it's not "fully unified" as in single memory address space for everything, however at least Ryzen AI Max can read it all (while having at most 3/4 of installed memory dedicated to itself) to avoid needless copying around.
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I think Windows as a gaming platform has really stagnated. Maybe the whole hardware platform has stagnated. DX12 is ancient. CPUs and GPUs keep getting faster, but we just have PCIe and the same programming model. Plus Windows just keeps getting shittier. Not that excuses poor ports, but there's some amount of brute force that has to happen to overcome the lack of efficiency in the pc space, at least when you're porting a very highly optimized PS5 exclusive.
Indeed. The same issues keep popping up game after game in the PC space, and it feels like not enough attention is being brought to it. I honestly believe that Windows itself is a cause of a fair amount of these problems.. and I want to see Microsoft take a more proactive role in fixing these issues. It's time for Windows to change and evolve. I just have strong doubts that MS will ever do anything truly substantial.
Maybe it would be the same thing with Valve and Linux with SteamOS.. but at this point, I almost am begging for a reason to drop Windows and go to SteamOS. My PC is primarily a gaming device.. when SteamOS gets to the point where it can be used on desktops in general, I'll switch over. I think that once the dominoes start falling, things could happen very quickly regarding SteamOS.. despite how tiny of a fraction of the overall market have either tried it or are into it.
Things have to change.
PCIe itself isn’t really a problem but if you design a game without PCIe in mind it can become one. The PC programming model is ass though. So much horsepower is wasted on inefficient work distribution and poor occupancy. Honestly they should scrap the whole thing and just build hardware for pure path tracers or something. At least then we’ll be paying for hardware that actually gets used even if it’s at 5fps (7 with DLSS).
I should also say.. I truly appreciate Nixxes ports in how they pre-compile shaders... it's a very efficient way of reducing the upfront cost of pre-compiling...
But why on earth can we not have the option to pre-compile all shaders upfront in the main menu? Just give me the option. Give people with lower end CPUs with less cores the option if it can reduce or eliminate frametime spikes during gameplay on CPUs with less cores.. It also has the knock off effect of lowering loading times as well.
This should be standard practice in all games by now. Just give us the damn option.
But why on earth can we not have the option to pre-compile all shaders upfront in the main menu? Just give me the option. Give people with lower end CPUs with less cores the option if it can reduce or eliminate frametime spikes during gameplay on CPUs with less cores.. It also has the knock off effect of lowering loading times as well.
This should be standard practice in all games by now. Just give us the damn option.
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Sega_Model_4
Newcomer
Alex should consider testing on at least one AMD GPU just to check if the issues are the same. I realize that most Sony games perform better on AMD GPUs, perhaps because Playstation consoles use AMD GPUs, some low-level optimizations must take advantage of something from the architecture.
seems to run okay on Intel gpus.
as usual Valve showed the way to go with SteamOS, and if Microsoft doesn't change something they will hurt gaming on Windows -which in turn hurts Windows, even if just slowly..., if gamers didn't need Windows lots of them would use Linux-.
If you use certain Linux distros you might not need Windows. People love SteamOS -it kinda sucks for desktop use though- and is many people's preferred Linux distribution, although Linux Mint is first in Distrowatch.
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Based on this at least, AMD GPUs don't seem to perform any better.Alex should consider testing on at least one AMD GPU just to check if the issues are the same. I realize that most Sony games perform better on AMD GPUs, perhaps because Playstation consoles use AMD GPUs, some low-level optimizations must take advantage of something from the architecture.
Sega_Model_4
Newcomer
In most games, the 5070 Ti is more performant than the 9070 XT. In TLOU2 it is at the 5080 level.
TLOU Part 1 for reference.
DavidGraham
Veteran
According to the ComputerBase and PCGH, the 9070XT is only 4080 Super level. The 5080 is 15% faster at 4K.
The Last of Us Part 2 im PC-Test: PS5-Hit grafisch und atmosphärisch stark
The Last of Us Part 2: Benchmarks von 25 GPUs
The Last of Us Part II im Benchmark-Test: GPU-Benchmarks, Framepacing und VRAM
The Last of Us Part II im Test: GPU-Benchmarks, Framepacing und VRAM / Das Testsystem
www.computerbase.de
Sega_Model_4
Newcomer
According to the ComputerBase and PCGH, the 9070XT is only 4080 Super level. The 5080 is 15% faster at 4K.
The Last of Us Part 2 im PC-Test: PS5-Hit grafisch und atmosphärisch stark
The Last of Us Part 2: Benchmarks von 25 GPUswww.pcgameshardware.de
The Last of Us Part II im Benchmark-Test: GPU-Benchmarks, Framepacing und VRAM
The Last of Us Part II im Test: GPU-Benchmarks, Framepacing und VRAM / Das Testsystem
I would have to see more tests. In GameGPU, the difference is only 4%.
In PCGH, there is no 5080 in the test.
On ComputerBase, the analysis uses DLSS/FSR Quality. On GameGPU it is without upscaling.
Interestingly, in the ComputerBase review, he mentions better frametime on the 9070XT than the 5070 Ti.
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