If anyone else has been waiting like I have, Battlefield 4 was originally supposed to ship the patch to support the new Graphics API by AMD back in December.
Finally, on the last day of January, DiCE released the patch. But wait! AMD was not ready to release the drivers to support the new Mantle API.
So here we are, today is the 3rd of February. AMD has released the new Catalyst drivers, so Mantle is now live!
But was it worth the wait?
Unfortunately for me, no! Not at all. Not only is the performance not improved, it actually runs much worse on my system.
My system is an AMD FX-8320 @ 4.0gHz with an AMD HD 7870 @ 1176mHz.
I have fraps running to monitor FPS.
In this test, I am running recommended settings at 1280x768 @60Hz.
DX Settings: http://oi57.tinypic.com/2hcnptl.jpg
Mantle Settings: http://oi61.tinypic.com/34nmj3c.jpg
With DirectX 11, I hit a smooth 60fps at ~50% GPU usage.
With Mantle, I cant say what the FPS is since Fraps does not seem to work with Mantle, but since VSYNC is enabled it cant be higher than 60.
What I can say is that it is running at ~97% GPU usage. Also, CPU usage seems to increase by a solid margin.
I am disappointed and stunned by my results. Almost as stunned as watching my home team loose the Super Bowl last night
Just curious if anyone else has tried this yet? How does it run for you?