Kane & Lynch 2 PC Performance

Few days ago, we had the chance to test the preview code of 'Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days'. The results were quite disheartening and we were really looking forward to the final version to see if IO Interactive addressed those issues. So, let's see if the final version is any better.

As always, we used a Q6600 with 4GB DDR2 RAM and a GTX295. The preview code didn't take full advantage of quadcores (or six-cores). This limitation has a huge impact to the GPU usage and the overall gaming experience, as there were some places in which our framerate dove bellow 50fps. So what about the final version? After playing the first two levels, we checked the CPU usage and saw the same thing. This game doesn't scale well with quadcores!

We also tested the game with only two cores, to see how well it scales to a dual-core. The CPU usage was great, as you can see bellow (we disabled the last two cores). 'Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days' will take full advantage of your dual-core system. It's really sad though that the game doesn't scale as well with the quadcores. Therefore, if you want to enjoy the game, you'll need a dual-core with high amount of cache memory. Core frequency is essential too, as we saw a nice boost (10fps) when we upped the frequency of our Q6600 to 3.6Ghz (from 3.02Ghz).

As Nvidia's latest drivers don't support this game yet, if you are an SLI user you'll have to enable it by yourself. Or you can download the SLI Enhancement patch from EVGA. With an SLI profile, the game was running fine without any stuttering. The only issue we had was when we were limited by our CPU, due to the bad optimization of the engine. The GPU usage was dropping to 55-65% even when we tried to push the game by enabling 4xAA @ 1920x1440. This also means that you'll be able to raise the AA even higher without any impact at all if you're using a high-end GPU like the GTX295.

We were really disappointed with the final version and the bad optimization of 'Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days'. We weren't expecting miracles from IO Interactive, but then again, why do the developers rely solely on PC's raw power instead of optimizing their engines? The game doesn't take full advantage of the quadcores and as a result it has some framedrops at places with lots of NPC's. It won't ruin your gaming experience, but you'll definitely notice them.