Crysis Warhead Hardware Performance Review

Old and New

Crytek has had a year to tinker and muddle around with the CryEngine, and as stated earlier, optimization has been a key focus. It is speculated that Crysis sales suffered as a result of its high settings and thus shut out a portion of its potential player base. Many gamers were upset that they were unable to experience the full features of the game, so with a year to improve hardware and the game itself, many eagerly anticipated what Warhead would offer.

Our results take our bench system, and run Crysis through a set of three different maps at the specified quality settings. As Warhead uses a different naming scheme for its quality settings please refer below for the matchup:
Gamer = High (Described as Medium)
Enthusiast = Very High (Described as High)


If the first thought in your head was "Huh?" you are not alone. Warhead practically blew past the original at Medium settings, but suffered terribly when turned to High. With Crysis one would be meandering along smoothly while Warhead would appear rather sluggish. Looking at the graphical differences in the screenshots below, it is clear that the enthusiast settings add far greater detail than seen previously, hence the extra strain. One can only surmise that while Gamer settings treat players to an abundance of graphical eye candy, there is still a bit left for those daring to push the envelope and get the full epic view... at least with DirectX9.


The DirectX10 numbers show a bit of a different story. Here we see a reflection of what was originally expected. Warhead posts a marked improvement over Crysis, taking a small hit in performance, but overall maintaining an even drop. The original dips a bit on Medium, but falls through the floor with the graphics at High. Looking at our comparison screenshots of the original, there is a clear increase in graphical detail, whereas - as pointed out in our DirectX section - Warhead has leveled the field between DX9 and 10.