Ashes of the Singularity makes ashes out of frame rates

Now that Windows 10 is here (you did get your free upgrade to Microsoft’s latest operating system, right?) it’s time to put DirectX 12 to the test. All that fancy-schmancy talk about how the new software would get graphics cards screaming has been at the high-level because no one really had any real-world stuff to use it on. Thanks to Stardock and Oxide Games, we have that in the form of early code for Ashes of the Singularity that puts DirectX12 through its paces. The real-time strategy game is a good benchmark for performance, because like Supreme Commander, it throws hundreds of units on the screen at once. If you don’t have access to the demo, Digital Foundry posted a workup of their results. Although the testers at DF had some issues with consistent performance, Oxide pointed out that the fault was likely with the graphics card manufacturers’ code.

While there are still optimizations to be had, Ashes of the Singularity in its pre-beta stage is as or more optimized as most released games. What’s the point of optimizing code 6 months after a title is released, after all? Certainly, things will change a bit until release. But PC games with digital updates are always changing, we certainly won’t hold back from making big changes post launch if we feel it makes the game better!

Ashes of the Singularity is available in early access from the official site.