Black Myth: Wukong is out on Steam and Epic Games, breaking records and reaching new heights thanks to an incredible player reception. It is the most taxing game we’ve ever benchmarked, with even the mighty RTX 4090 failing to hit 60 FPS (without ray tracing) at 4K. Fortunately, Black Myth scales well across its five graphics presets, delivering a consistently playable experience on the Steam Deck. Here’s how it performs on some of the most popular Steam GPUs.
Black Myth Wukong: Official PC Requirements
The recommended system requirements for 1080p “High” include a Core i7-9700 or a Ryzen 5 5500 alongside the GeForce RTX 2060 or the Radeon RX 5700 XT. Game Science recommends 16 GB of main memory, 6 GB of graphics memory, and 130 GB of SSD storage.
Our Test Bench
| Motherboard | CPU | GPU | Memory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alienware x14 | Intel Core i7-13620H | NVIDIA RTX 4060 Laptop GPU | 8GB x4 DDR5-4800 |
| GIGABYTE B450M DS3H WIFI ($84) | AMD Ryzen 5 5600 ($116) | NVIDIA RTX 4060 ($299)/NVIDIA RTX 3060 Ti (Used-$269) | 8GB x2 D4 ($40) |
PC/System Optimizations
- Turn on Game Mode.
- Enable Resizable BAR.
- Ensure you use the proper XMP/EXPO memory profile (if available).
- Enable Hardware-accelerated GPU Scheduling and Windowed Optimizations.
- Overclock your GPU if you’re narrowly missing the 60 FPS mark.
- For detailed instructions, refer to this guide.
Black Myth Wukong: Low-end PC Benchmarks
As noted in our optimization guide, Black Myth Wukong is quite taxing on midrange GPUs. The GeForce RTX 4060 averages a meager 28 FPS at 1080p “Cinematic” without ray-tracing. Frame generation gets the framerates to 37 FPS, but it’s only when DLSS upscaling is implemented that we get decent, playable performance.
The GeForce RTX 4060 mobile GPU on the Alienware x14 performs similarly to its desktop counterpart. We’re looking at average framerates of 30-35 FPS at 1080p with DLSS upscaling and 50-60 FPS with frame generation enabled as well.
We used the Alienware x14 gaming notebook for this benchmark. The 14″ device features a Core i7-13620H and a GeForce RTX 4060 mobile GPU. The Alienware Command Center comes with a set of predefined presets for boosting performance (including overclocking), and a power saving mode to improve battery life. Considering the display and build quality, the x14 is among the best gaming laptops under $1500.
VRAM Usage and CPU Bottlenecks
Black Myth: Wukong used 6-7 GB of VRAM on our GeForce RTX 4060 desktop and laptop GPUs. FHD or 1080p allocated a bit over 6 GB, while 1440p required over 7 GB. These figures were observed at the “Cinematic” preset using frame generation.
The Ryzen 5 5600 starts to choke on limited DDR4 memory bandwidth, showing a GPU-Busy deviation of 26% at 1080p and 1440p. Interestingly, the game was GPU-bound at native resolution, with the CPU bottleneck kicking in when frame generation was enabled.
The Core i7-13620H on the Alienware x14 handled the game with ease. We only observed a GPU-Busy deviation of 6% at 1080p “Cinematic” with frame generation on.
Best Settings for Black Myth Wukong: Low-end PC
| Optimized Settings | NVIDIA RTX 3060 | NVIDIA RTX 4060 | NVIDIA RTX 3060 Ti |
|---|---|---|---|
| Resolution | 1080p | 1080p | 1080p |
| Target FPS | 60 FPS | 60 FPS | 60 FPS |
| View Distance | Cinematic | Cinematic | Cinematic |
| Anti-aliasing | Cinematic | Cinematic | Cinematic |
| Post-processing | Cinematic | Cinematic | Cinematic |
| Shadow Quality | High | Cinematic | Cinematic |
| Reflection Quality | Cinematic | Cinematic | Cinematic |
| Reflected Shadows | Cinematic | Cinematic | Cinematic |
| Global Illumination | Medium | Medium | Medium |
| Visual Effects | Medium | Cinematic | Medium |
| Vegetation Quality | Cinematic | Cinematic | Cinematic |
| Full Ray Tracing | Off | Off | Off |
| Ray Tracing Level | Off | Off | Off |
| Super Resolution | 75 | 75 | 75 |
| Super Resolution Sampling | FSR | DLSS | FSR |
| Frame Generation | On | On | On |
| V-Sync | Off | Off | Off |
