1440p and 4K Performance, Wrap Up
Even at 1440p the mid-range GPUs provide very playable performance, but for high refresh rate gaming you will want at least a Vega 56 or GTX 1070 graphics card. The leap from the GTX 1080 to the 1080 Ti is a massive 35% and this saw both the 1080 Ti and Titan X destroy Vega 64 Liquid. Vega 56 was at least competitive with the GTX 1070 and 1070 Ti so that's something.
For the previous gen models we see that the GTX 970 and R9 390 are still getting it done, but ideally gamers will want a GTX 980 or better. It's very interesting to note that the Nano does much better than the 980 while the Fury range isn't that far behind the 980 Ti. Of course you can overclock the 980 Ti for a 20% performance boost, but still for stock results the Fury doesn't look that bad.
Then at 4K you really need the GTX 1080 Ti and I have to say the experience was impressive, 91 fps on average at 4K, wow. Gameplay was incredibly smooth as you'd expect with a 1% low result of 75 fps, it's possible in other sections of the game the frame rate will drop lower but I can't image it getting anywhere near unplayable levels. Strange Brigade appears very well optimized, so let's move on to see how the previous generation GPUs handle it.
Here is a quick look at scaling performance using the four quality presets with the GeForce GTX 1060 and Radeon RX 580 at 1440p. We've already seen the ultra results but here we see dropping the preset to high boosts performance of both GPUs by about 10%, then medium allows for an additional 24% performance boost and then low a further 22% increase. So those with lower-end GPUs certainly have plenty of wriggle room to boost frame rates.
Conclusion
Frankly we're impressed with how well optimized Strange Brigade is. And not just for AMD hardware (who is a sponsor), but also Nvidia hardware, which is great to see. In fact, this is becoming a common trend, where every game AMD has a hand in developing turns out being extremely well optimized for all.
To enjoy this game in all of its glory at 1080p and push over 60 fps all you need is an RX 570 or GTX 1060 3GB. Coincidently, if you just so happened to be in the market for a new mid-range GPU and wanted to play Strange Brigade and are also keen on Star Control: Origins and Assassin's Creed Odyssey, then AMD's "Raise The Game" bundle couldn't have come at a better time.
As of writing, the Radeon RX 570 is priced at $200, which isn't a bad deal given the GTX 1060 3GB is currently selling for around $220. Better yet though, throw in the $130 worth of games and you end up paying just $70 for the graphics card, assuming you planned on buying all three titles. Still, even one is a solid deal.
Anyway we're not trying to sell you on an RX 570 or any Radeon graphics card for that matter. We just think that's a great deal if all the stars were to align for you.
Speaking of which, AMD does point out that Strange Brigade includes Ryzen optimizations, something we'll test at a later date. The game is compiled using Visual Studio 2017 which contains optimizations and improved code for modern processors like Ryzen. Additionally, multithreaded command buffer generation accelerates rendering by distributing work onto multiple logical processors. AMD says that as a result of this, the gameplay experience is virtually indistinguishable from competing processors from Intel.
We might test that at some point, but for now based on what we saw with the 8700K, Strange Brigade is not a CPU demanding title anyway. Perhaps though that could change in later stages of the game or with more players. Until the next one... by the time we publish our next gaming benchmark feature, RTX will likely be out and we'll be expanding our GPU test bench to include the new graphics chips.