Low-end

XDefiant is Ubisoft’s take on the battle royale genre. It has created a Frankenstein (of sorts) using characters and factions from its various franchises. You’ve got the elite backops soldiers from Ghost Recon and Splinter Cell hashing it out with the civilian militia from “The Division.” Each faction has its own special abilities that can be paired with weapons or throwables. Our optimization guide highlighting the performance impact of each graphics option is already up. This is a mini-guide for low-end PCs.

XDefiant System Requirements for 1080p, 1440p & 4K

XDefiant requires an Intel Core i7-4970K or a Ryzen 5 1600 and a GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4 GB or a Radeon RX 5500 XT 4 GB for 1080p 60 FPS at “Low” graphics settings. On the memory side, you need 8 GB of dual-channel RAM and 35 GB of storage.

For the “High” quality graphics preset at 1080p 60 FPS, you’ll need an Intel Core i7-4790K or AMD Ryzen 5 1600 paired with the GeForce GTX 1060 6GB or the AMD RX 5500 XT 8GB. Top it off with 16 GB of dual-channel memory.

Our Test Bench

Motherboard	CPU	GPU	Memory
Gigabyte B760M DS3H DDR4 ($99)	Intel Core i5-12400F ($127)	AMD RX 6600 ($189)	8GB x2 D4 ($40)
GIGABYTE B450M DS3H WIFI ($84)	AMD Ryzen 5 5600X ($144)	NVIDIA RTX 4060 ($299)/NVIDIA RTX 3060 Ti (Used-$269)	8GB x2 D4 ($40)
Alienware x14 ($1399)	Intel Core i7-13620H	NVIDIA RTX 4060 8GB laptop GPU	8GB x4 DDR5

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, read this guide.

XDefiant Benchmark: Low-end PC

XDefiant leverages the Snowdrop engine and is highly optimized for modern PCs. Using our optimized settings, even the $300 GeForce RTX 4060 8GB nets an average framerate of ~150 FPS at 1440p. The RTX 3060 Ti is slightly slower at 134 FPS, while the RTX 4060 laptop GPU manages 130 FPS at 1080p.

The GeForce RTX 3060 Ti and 4060 (desktop) should easily produce averages of over 200 FPS at 1080p with these settings. For 60-class notebook GPUs, however, 1080p is more stable due to the increased CPU overhead. Of course, you can dabble with resolution scaling/upscaling to get higher framerates but you’ll have to deal with a fair amount of blurring.

XDefiant VRAM Usage and CPU Bottleneck

XDefiant is mostly GPU-bound at 1080p and 1440p. Our Ryzen 5 5600/RTX 3060 Ti system reported a GPU-Busy Deviation of 10% at 1440p while averaging 148 FPS. The game is more stable with DX11, especially on NVIDIA GPUs, so it’s better to avoid DX12, at least for now.

The RTX 3060 Ti and 4060 used around 5 GB of VRAM at 1440p, and a bit under 4 GB at 1080p. Interestingly, the two GPUs produced roughly the same framerates with vastly different power consumption. The RTX 3060 Ti used more than 200W, while the 4060 stayed under 120W.

XDefiant Best Settings for Low-End PC

Low-end PC	RTX 3060/R5 5600	RTX 3060 Ti/R5 5600	RTX 4060/R5 5600	RTX 3060 Laptop GPU	RTX 4060 Laptop GPU
Resolution	1080p/1440p	1080p/1440p	1080p/1440p	1080p	1080p
FPS Target	165 FPS/144 FPS	240 FPS/144 FPS	240 FPS/144 FPS	144 FPS	144 FPS
Display Mode	Fullscreen	Fullscreen	Fullscreen	Fullscreen	Fullscreen
Refresh Rate	Highest	Highest	Highest	Highest	Highest
Triple Buffering	On	Off	Off	Off	Off
Reduced Latency	On	On	On	On	On
NVIDIA Reflex Low Latency	On + Boost	On + Boost	On + Boost	On + Boost	On + Boost
DX12 Renderer	Off	Off	Off	Off	Off
V-Sync	Disabled	Disabled	Disabled	Disabled	Disabled
Framerate Limit	Off	Off	Off	Off	Off
Shadow Quality	High	High	High	High	High
Spot Shadows	Medium	Medium	Medium	Medium	High
Spot Shadow Resolution	High	High	High	High	High
Contact Shadows	Sun Low	Sun Low	Sun Low	All Low	Sun Low
Particle Detail	High	Low	Ultra	Low	High
Volumetric Fog	Medium	Low	Medium	Low	Medium
Global Reflection Quality	Medium	Medium	Medium	Medium	Medium
Local Reflection Quality	Medium	Off	Medium	Off	Medium
Vegetation Quality	High	High	High	High	High
Sub-Surface Scattering	On	On	On	On	On
Ambient Occlusion	Medium	Medium	Medium	Medium	Medium
Object Detail	100	100	100	100	100
Extra Streaming Distance	10	10	10	10	10
Water Quality	High	High	High	High	High
Terrain Quality	High	High	High	High	High
Sharpening	Personal Choice	Personal Choice	Personal Choice	Personal Choice	Personal Choice
Lens Flare	Personal Choice	Personal Choice	Personal Choice	Personal Choice	Personal Choice
Chromatic Aberration	Personal Choice	Personal Choice	Personal Choice	Personal Choice	Personal Choice
Resolution Scale	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%

Following the release of the Erdtree DLC, Elden Ring has returned to the list of the most-played games on Steam. From Software has released optimizations, easing the performance impact of ray-tracing, allowing lower-end PCs to experience the game at maximum quality. We have benchmarked the individual graphics settings to formulate an optimized preset for high and midrange PCs. This mini-guide will focus on low-end hardware with benchmarks on multiple $600 systems.

Elden Ring System Requirements

Elden Ring has modest system requirements, with a GTX 1070 8 GB or an RX Vega 56 8 GB recommended for 1080p “High.” A hex-core Intel i7-8700K or an AMD Ryzen 5 3600X should be sufficient in most cases, backed by 16 GB of main memory, and 80 GB of storage.

Accordingly, 1440p “Maximum” will require a GeForce RTX 2080/RTX 3070, while 4K is best tackled with an RTX 4070 Ti/4070 Ti Super. Any 12th or 13th Gen Core i5 or a Ryzen 5 7600X should fulfill the CPU requirements at these settings.

Our Test Bench

Motherboard	CPU	GPU	Memory
Gigabyte B760M DS3H DDR4 ($99)	Intel Core i5-12400F ($127)	AMD RX 6600 ($189)	8GB x2 D4 ($40)
GIGABYTE B450M DS3H WIFI ($84)	AMD Ryzen 5 5600X ($144)	NVIDIA RTX 4060 ($299)/NVIDIA RTX 3060 Ti (Used-$269)	8GB x2 D4 ($40)
Alienware x14 ($1399)	Intel Core i7-13620H	NVIDIA RTX 4060 8GB laptop GPU	8GB x4 DDR5

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, read this guide.

Elden Ring Benchmark: Low-end PC

Elden Ring runs well on our <$600 PCs, averaging 60 FPS even on the RTX 3060 and the 3060 Ti at 1080p. Ray-tracing has to be disabled on the former (or set to Low/Medium), while the latter can manage even the “High” quality RT preset. The two GPUs deliver consistent 60 FPS at 1440p using our optimized settings.

The GeForce RTX 4060 on the Alienware x14 laptop performs similarly, delivering an average of 55 FPS at 1080p using the “Maximum” quality settings, with ray-tracing set to “High.” At 1440p, ray-tracing has to be disabled, but all the other graphics options can be maxed out.

The x14 offers pre-configured CPU and GPU overclocking profiles (Overdrive) that boost performance over the stock hardware. You won’t need a cooling pad, but make sure not to keep the device on your lap.

Elden Ring VRAM Usage and CPU Bottleneck

Elden Ring can be pretty CPU-bottlenecked even at 1440p with the frame rates locked at 60 FPS. We observed a GPU-Busy deviation of 26% on our Ryzen 5/RTX 3060 Ti PC with intense CPU-limited intervals in between. Similar numbers were seen with the RTX 4060 and the 4060 laptop GPU.

Luckily, Elden Ring goes easy on the graphics memory (VRAM), taking up less than 5 GB at 1440p on the RTX 3060 Ti and the 4060.

Elden Ring Optimized Settings for Low-End PC

For Low-end PC	RTX 3060/RX 6600 (R5 5600)	RTX 3060 Ti (R5 5600)	RTX 4060 (R5 5600)	RTX 3060 Laptop GPU	RTX 4060 Laptop GPU
Resolution	1080p	1080p/1440p	1080p/1440p	1080p	1080p/1440p
Target FPS	60 FPS	60 FPS	60 FPS	60 FPS	60 FPS
Motion Blur	Up to you	Up to you	Up to you	Up to you	Up to you
Depth of Field	Up to you	Up to you	Up to you	Up to you	Up to you
Texture Quality	Maximum	Maximum	Maximum	Maximum	Maximum
Shadow Quality	Maximum	Maximum	Maximum	Maximum	Maximum
Volumetrics Quality	Maximum	Maximum/High	Maximum/High	Maximum	Maximum
Reflection Quality	Maximum	Maximum/High	Maximum/High	Maximum	Maximum
Screen Space Ambient Occlusion (SSAO)	Maximum	Maximum/Medium	Maximum/Medium	Maximum	Maximum
Global Illunmination	High	High	High	High	High
Lighting Quality	Maximum	Maximum/High	Maximum/High	Maximum	Maximum
Shader Quality	High	High/Medium	High/Medium	High	High
Water Surface Quality	High	High	High	High	High
Grass Quality	Maximum	Maximum/Medium	Maximum/Medium	Maximum	Maximum
Effects Quality	Maximum	Maximum/High	Maximum/High	Maximum	Maximum
Ray Tracing Quality	Off	High/Off	High/Off	Off	High/Off
Anti-aliasing	High	High	High	High	High

F1 24 from Codemasters, is among the most well-optimized games of this year. This racing simulator features lifelike tracks with ray-tracing and VR support for enthusiasts. We covered the optimization process for the game, with benchmarks for every graphics setting, and Windows/system-level tweaks such as Resize BAR, XMP, HAGS, etc. This time we’ll bench F1 24 on our lower-end test bench to find the right balance between quality and performance for low-end PCs.

F1 24: Minimum System requirements

• CPU (AMD): FX 4300 | VR: Ryzen 5 2600X.
• CPU (Intel): Core i3-2130 | VR: Core i5-9600K.
• Memory: 8GB.
• GPU (AMD): Radeon RX 480 8GB | VR: RX 590 | RT: RX 6700 XT.
• GPU (Nvidia): GeForce GTX 1060 6GB | VR: GTX 1660 Ti | RT: RTX 2060.
• Hard Drive Space: 100Gb.

F1 24: Recommended System Requirements

• CPU (AMD): Ryzen 5 2600X.
• CPU (Intel): Core i5-9600K.
• Memory: 16GB.
• GPU (AMD): Radeon RX 6600XT | VR: RX 6700XT | RT: RX 6800.
• GPU (Nvidia): GeForce RTX 2070 | VR: RTX 2070 | RT: RTX 3070.
• Hard Drive Space: 100Gb.

Our Test Bench

Motherboard	CPU	GPU	Memory
Gigabyte B760M DS3H DDR4 ($99)	Intel Core i5-12400F ($127)	AMD RX 6600 ($189)	8GB x2 D4 ($40)

The CPU requirements for F1 24 are modest, requiring the 6-year-old Ryzen 5 2600X for a 60 FPS experience. The GPU requirements are relatively higher, with our Radeon RX 6600 *just* falling short of the recommended specs.

F1 24 Benchmarks: Low-end PC

Our <$600 PC averaged 38 FPS at 1080p Ultra with ray-tracing maxed out, without upscaling. Enabling FSR 2 “Quality/Ultra Quality” nets an average of 54 FPS with lows of 38-39 FPS. The “Balanced” upscaling preset gets us to 61.5 FPS which is more than playable. If you require higher framerates, set FSR 2 to “Performance” mode or turn off “ray-traced reflections” or “ray-traced ambient occlusion.”

Using our optimized graphics settings from the above-linked guide gets us an average of 148 FPS at 1440p, and 75 FPS at 4K. In the case of the former, you can enable ray-traced reflections for increased visual fidelity, and still average higher than 60 FPS. If you want ray-traced reflections at 4K, you’ll have to switch to FSR 2 “Balanced” or “Performance” depending on your PC specifications.

VRAM Usage and CPU Bottleneck

F1 24 is highly optimized for modern CPUs. We observed a GPU-Busy Deviation of 1% at 1080p Ultra, with FSR 2 set to “Performance” mode. Ergo, you’re fully GPU bottlenecked.

The game used almost the entire 8GB VRAM buffer on our Radeon RX 6600, averaging 7.8 GB with a peak of 7.93 GB.

F1 24: Best Settings for Low-End PC

Optimized Settings	RX 6600/RTX 3060
Texture Streaming Quality	Ultra
Lighting Quality	Ultra
Shadow Quality	Ultra
Post Processing	Ultra
Particle Quality	Ultra
Reflection Quality	Ultra
Car Reflections	Ultra
Mirror Reflections	Ultra
Weather Detail	Ultra
Crowd Quality	Ultra
Ground Cover	Ultra
Tree Quality	Ultra
Ambient Occlusion	HBAO+
Variable Rate Shading	On
Texture Filtering	16x AF
HQ Hair	On
Skidmarks	Ultra
Ray Traced Reflections	On
Ray Traced Transparent Reflections	On
Ray Traced Shadows	On
Ray Traced Ambient Occlusion	On
Ray Traced DDGI	On
Ray Tracing Quality	High
Upscaling	DLSS/FSR 2 “Balanced”

GTA 5 was released over 9 years ago, but the player base is largely intact due to regular updates to the Online Multiplayer. The game had some technical issues at launch, most notably a CPU utilization issue, but recent PCs should chew through them. Our optimization guide for GTA V provides a closer look at the performance of every graphics setting along with Windows/system-level optimizations such as Resize BAR, XMP, HAGs, etc. The recommended settings for the Steam Deck can be found here. This post covers the game’s performance on low-end PCs.

Test Bench

Motherboard	CPU	GPU	Memory
Gigabyte B760M DS3H DDR4 ($99)	Intel Core i5-12400F ($127)	AMD RX 6600 ($189)	8GB x2 D4 ($40)

Testing and analysis: Dipin.

GTA 5 Best Settings for Low-end PC: RTX 3060/Radeon RX 6600

GTA 5 runs well on modern hardware. Our $600 Radeon RX 6600 PC produced an average of 76.6 FPS at 1080p “Ultra” with 1% lows of 52.5 FPS. Ramping the resolution up to 1440p reduces the averages to 48 FPS and the lows to 36 FPS. The optimized preset nets 141 FPS, but you’re better off at Ultra with MSAA disabled which should get you close to 70 FPS.

At 4K “Ultra,” we get an average framerate of 23.5 FPS with lows of 18 FPS. We recommend using our optimized graphics settings that produce close to 70 FPS on average with lows of 50 FPS. We use the “High” and “Very High” settings for most options.

Optimized Settings	i5-12400F/RX 6600
Resolution	1080p
Texture Resolution	Very High
Texture Filtering	8x AF
Shadows	Softest
Shadow Quality	High
Reflection Quality	Very High
Reflection AA	2x MSAA
Shader Quality	High
Grass Quality	Very High
Ambient Occlusion	High
Water Quality	High
Particle Quality	High
PostFX	Very High
Anti-Aliasing	FXAA
Tesselation	Very High
Distance Scaling	50
Population Density	50
Population Variety	100
Extended Shadows	50
Extended Distance Scaling	0
Long Shadows	On
High Res Shadows	On

GTA 5 Best Settings for RTX 3060/RTX 4060 Laptop GPU

Testing GTA 5 on the Alienware x14 produced similar results. The game is GPU-bound on both configurations, showing CPU bottlenecks during loading. At 1080p “Ultra,” the GeForce RTX 4060 laptop GPU averages 68 FPS with lows of 48 FPS.

The x14 offers pre-configured CPU and GPU overclocking profiles (Overdrive) that offer a healthy performance boost over the stock hardware. You won’t even need a cooling pad, but make sure not to keep the device on your lap.

QHD/1440p produces an average framerate of 53 FPS using the ultra preset with lows of 37 FPS. It’s recommended that you keep these settings, but reduce MSAA to 2x which should get you past 60 FPS. Pumping the resolution up to 4K nets a paltry 22.6 FPS on average, with the lows dropping to 17 FPS. Our optimized settings boost framerates to 55 FPS and the lows to 41 FPS.

Optimized Settings	RTX 4060 Laptop GPU
Resolution	1080p
Texture Resolution	Very High
Texture Filtering	8x AF
Shadows	Softest
Shadow Quality	High
Reflection Quality	Very High
Reflection AA	2x MSAA
Shader Quality	High
Grass Quality	Very High
Ambient Occlusion	High
Water Quality	High
Particle Quality	High
PostFX	Very High
Anti-Aliasing	FXAA
Tesselation	Very High
Distance Scaling	50
Population Density	50
Population Variety	100
Extended Shadows	50
Extended Distance Scaling	0
Long Shadows	On
High Res Shadows	On

Baldur’s Gate 3 is hands-down the best RPG made in the last decade. Our optimization guide for Baldur’s Gate 3 covers every graphics quality preset, and its impact on game performance. To maximize framerates, you can also find Windows/system-level optimizations such as Resize BAR, XMP, HAGs, etc. This report will analyze its performance on low-end PCs featuring the Radeon RX 6600 graphics card. The Steam Deck settings guide can be viewed here.

Test Bench

Motherboard	CPU	GPU	Memory
Gigabyte B760M DS3H DDR4 ($99)	Intel Core i5-12400F ($127)	AMD RX 6600 ($189)	8GB x2 D4 ($40)

Testing and analysis: Dipin.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Best Settings for Low-end PC: RTX 3060/Radeon RX 6600

Baldur’s Gate 3 runs decently on entry-level hardware, averaging 62 FPS on our Radeon RX 6600 PC, with lows of 42.6 FPS at 1080p “Ultra”. Enabling FSR 2.2 pushes the framerates up to 65 FPS with lows of 49 FPS. Our optimized settings for low-end PCs net an average of 72.5 FPS with 54 FPS 1% percentile.

At 1440p “Ultra,” Baldur’s Gate 3 averages 52 FPS on the RX 6600, with lows of 28 FPS. Enabling FSR 2.2 boosts the framerates up to 64 FPS, with lows of 47 FPS. The same performance can’t be replicated at 4K regardless of the chosen settings. Our optimized settings produce 38 FPS with FSR set to quality. Further reducing the upscaling preset doesn’t help as the CPU bottleneck intensifies.

Optimized Graphics Settings	i5-12400F/RX 6600
Resolution	1080p
Texture Quality	Ultra
Model Quality	High
Anti-Aliasing	FSR 2 Quality
Instance Distance	Medium
Distance Detail	Medium
Animation Detail	Medium
Fog Quality	Low
Cloud Quality	Low
Ambient Occlusion	On
God Rays	On
Shadow Quality	Medium
Dynamic Crowds	On
Texture Filtering	8x AF

Baldur’s Gate 3 Best Settings for RTX 3060/RTX 4060 Laptop GPU

We used the Alienware x14 (2023) featuring the Core i7-13620H and the GeForce RTX 4060 laptop GPU for the below benchmarks. Baldur’s Gate 3 remains CPU bottlenecked at 1080p and 1440p, with upscaling failing to uplift the framerates as a result.

The x14 offers pre-configured CPU and GPU overclocking profiles (Overdrive) that offer a healthy performance boost over the stock hardware. You won’t even need a cooling pad, but make sure not to keep the device on your lap.

At 1080p, the game runs best at the “Ultra” quality preset, averaging 54 FPS with lows of 38.6 FPS. Increasing the resolution to 1440p reduces the framerate to 38.5 FPS, with 26 FPS 1% percentile. Our optimized settings are good for 44.4 FPS on average with lows of 31 FPS.

Optimized Graphics Settings	RTX 4060 laptop GPU
Resolution	1080p
Texture Quality	Ultra
Model Quality	High
Anti-Aliasing	DLAA
Instance Distance	High
Distance Detail	High
Animation Detail	High
Fog Quality	High
Cloud Quality	High
Ambient Occlusion	On
God Rays	On
Shadow Quality	High
Dynamic Crowds	On
Texture Filtering	8x AF

Alan Wake 2 is one of the best-looking games on PC, following in the footsteps of Quantum Break, and Control. Our PC optimization guide addresses performance tuning for mainstream and high-end systems, alongside Windows/system-level optimizations such as Resize BAR, XMP, HAGs, etc. In this one, we’ll look at how it performs on budget PCs that cost $500-600 to build. Before you ask, path tracing isn’t viable in this segment. Regardless, the game looks pretty even with traditional rasterization.

Test Bench

Motherboard	CPU	GPU	Memory
Gigabyte B760M DS3H DDR4 ($99)	Intel Core i5-12400F ($127)	AMD RX 6600 ($189)	8GB x2 D4 ($40)
Gigabyte B450M DDR4 ($89)	AMD Ryzen 5 5600 ($104)	NVIDIA RTX 3060 Ti ($300-Used)	8GB x2 D4 ($40)

Testing and analysis: Dipin.

Alan Wake 2: Best Settings for a Low-end PC: RTX 3060/RX 6600

Alan Wake 2 averages a meagre 36 FPS at 1080p “High” on the Radeon RX 6600. Enabling ray-tracing “Low” pulls it down to 25 FPS and no amount of upscaling helps. Fortunately, you can get a healthy 60 FPS+ without ray tracing by tweaking some of the graphics settings.

Screen space reflections, shadows, and volumetric lighting are the three settings you need to keep an eye on. Setting them to Medium/Low along with a few other options like Fog and LOD, gets you up to an average of 73.4 FPS. Setting FSR 2 to “Quality” nets an average framerate of 63.5 FPS with lows of 51 FPS. The performance upscaling preset with the “High” graphics settings also produces a very acceptable 62 FPS, with lows of 38 FPS.

The GeForce RTX 3060 Ti and the Ryzen 5 5600 net an average of 65.5 FPS at 1080p using a mix of “Medium-Low” graphics settings, with “Texture Quality” set to “Ultra” and “Scattered Object Density” set to “High.”

Low-end PC	Radeon RX 6600/Core i5-12400F	RTX 3060 Ti/Ryzen 5 5600
Resolution	1080p	1080p
Texture Resolution	Ultra	Ultra
Texture Filtering	High	High
Volumetric Lighting	Medium	High
Volumetric Spotlight	High	High
Global Illumination	High	High
Shadow Resolution	Medium	Medium
Shadow Detail	Medium	Medium
Shadow Filtering	Medium	Medium
Ambient Occlusion	On	On
Global Reflections	High	Low
SSR	Low	Low
Fog	Medium	Medium
Terrain	High	High
Far Object LOD	Medium	Medium
Scattered Object Density	Medium	High
Upscaling	DLSS/FSR Performance	DLSS Quality
Post-Processing	Medium	Medium

Alan Wake 2 Settings for RTX 3060/4060 Laptop GPU

We tested Alan Wake 2 on the Alienware x14 featuring the GeForce RTX 4060 laptop GPU and the Intel Core i7-13620H. The x14 offers pre-configured CPU and GPU overclocking profiles (Overdrive) that offer a healthy performance boost over the stock hardware. You won’t even need a cooling pad, but make sure not to keep the device on your lap.

Using our optimized settings, Alan Wake 2 averages 63 FPS on the RTX 4060 laptop GPU, up from 25.6 FPS at the “High” preset. Being able to use frame generation means you can leverage “medium” quality path-traced lighting at 1080p, or the “High” quality preset at 1440p (without ray tracing).

	RTX 3060	RTX 4060 laptop GPU
Resolution	1080p	1440p (High preset for 1080p)
Texture Resolution	Ultra	Ultra
Texture Filtering	High	Medium
Volumetric Lighting	Medium	Medium
Volumetric Spotlight	High	Medium
Global Illumination	High	Medium
Shadow Resolution	Medium	Medium
Shadow Detail	Medium	Medium
Shadow Filtering	Medium	Medium
Ambient Occlusion	On	On
Global Reflections	High	Low
SSR	Low	Low
Fog	Medium	Medium
Terrain	High	High
Far Object LOD	Medium	Medium
Scattered Object Density	Medium	Medium
Upscaling	DLSS/FSR Performance	DLSS B
Post-Processing	Medium	Medium

Following the release of the Fallout TV show, Bethesda’s post-apocalyptic RPG has shot up in popularity. The game remains among the most played titles on Steam, with nearly 90K concurrent players. Our optimization guide for Fallout 4 offers a detailed look at the performance of individual graphics settings, plus Windows-level optimizations such as Resize BAR, XMP, HAGs, etc. Here, we’ll analyze the game’s performance on a low-end PC and laptop to strike a balance between quality and frame rates.

Test Bench

Motherboard	CPU	GPU	Memory
Gigabyte B760M DS3H DDR4 ($99)	Intel Core i5-12400F ($127)	AMD RX 6600 ($189)	8GB x2 D4 ($40)

Testing and analysis contributions: Dipin.

Fallout 4 Settings for Low-end PC: RTX 3060/RX 6600

Fallout 4 ran well on our $600 PC, averaging 95 FPS at 1080p Ultra with lows of 73.3 FPS. It yielded an average framerate of 60.4 FPS at 1440p Ultra with lows of 45 FPS. The optimized settings push the lows to 66 FPS and the average to 77.7 FPS.

Graphics Settings	Low End PC
Resolution	1440p (all Ultra at 1080p)
Texture Quality	Ultra (6GB VRAM, or High)
Lighting Quality	Ultra
Anti-Aliasing	TAA
Volumetric Lighting (Godrays)	Medium
Screen Space Reflections	On
Decals Quality	Ultra
Shadow Distance	Ultra
Shadow Quality	Ultra
Ambient Occlusion	HBAO+
Object Detail Fade	High
Distant Object Detail	High
Object/Item/Grass/Actor Fade	100%
Texture Filtering	8x AF

Fallout 4 Performance on RTX 4060/3060 Laptop GPU

We tested Fallout 4 on the Alienware x14 featuring the GeForce RTX 4060 laptop GPU and the Intel Core i7-13620H. The x14 offers pre-configured CPU and GPU overclocking profiles (Overdrive) that offer a healthy performance boost over the stock hardware.

The x14 offers pre-configured CPU and GPU overclocking profiles (Overdrive) that offer a healthy performance boost over the stock hardware. You won’t even need a cooling pad, but make sure not to keep the device on your lap.

Fallout 4 is locked at 55 FPS on the Alienware x14, and that’s how much it averages at 1080p and 1440p Ultra. The lows come in at 41 FPS and 38 FPS, respectively. Since unlocking the framerate breaks the game, you’re better off using a higher internal resolution instead. NVIDIA’s DSR downscaler found in the control panel is an easy way to do that:

Using an internal resolution of 2400p produced an average framerate of 53 FPS with lows of 37 FPS. All the graphics settings were maxed out except godrays which were disabled. 2133p proved more stable, hitting the 55 FPS ceiling (38 FPS lows), with godrays set to Medium. We believe this is the sweet spot for RTX 4060 laptop owners.

Fallout 4: Best Settings for RTX 3060/4060 Laptop GPU

Graphics Settings	RTX 3060 laptop GPU	RTX 4060 laptop GPU
Resolution	1440p	1440p (up to 4K)
Texture Quality	Ultra	Ultra
Lighting Quality	Ultra	Ultra
Anti-Aliasing	TAA	TAA
Volumetric Lighting (Godrays)	High	Ultra (Medium at 4K)
Screen Space Reflections	On	On
Decals Quality	Ultra	Ultra
Shadow Distance	Ultra	Ultra
Shadow Quality	Ultra	Ultra
Ambient Occlusion	SSAO	HBAO+ (SSAO at 4K)
Object Detail Fade	High	High
Distant Object Detail	High	High
Object/Item/Grass/Actor Fade	100%	High
Texture Filtering	8x AF	16x AF

Dragon’s Dogma 2 was one of the most awaited RPGs of 2024. It is also among the most poorly optimized PC games of 2024. We tested the game’s individual graphics settings in our optimization guide only to find severe CPU bottlenecks in and around settlements. Title updates have somewhat alleviated this issue on high-end PCs. This guide will focus on the performance and optimization of the game on a low-end PC. For Windows/system-level optimizations such as Resize BAR, XMP, HAGs, etc, visit the above guide.

Test Bench

Motherboard	CPU	GPU	Memory
Gigabyte B760M DS3H DDR4 ($99)	Intel Core i5-12400F ($127)	AMD RX 6600 ($189)	8GB x2 DDR4-3200 ($40)

Testing and analysis: Dipin.

Dragon’s Dogma 2: Every Graphics Setting Benchmarked

Dragon’s Dogma 2 performs the same at 1080p Low, 1080p High, 720p High, and 720p Low. Even 1440p High performs within 2 FPS of 720p High. The reason is that the game is CPU-limited at all sub-1440p resolutions even on a budget PC.

The settings below affect the performance by reducing the CPU bottleneck in addition to the GPU workload. Setting the textures to Low will make the world look blocky, but it improves framerates by 3-4 FPS over “High” at 1080p.

Anti-aliasing is a critical part of the visual setting and eats up a couple of frames on average. Ray tracing and the “Max” shadow settings notably impact performance, reducing framerates by 2-3 FPS on average.

The remaining graphics options, including shadows, texture filtering, mesh quality, ambient occlusion, resource-intense effects, and even FSR 3 “upscaling” don’t improve or worsen performance by much.

Dragon’s Dogma 2: Optimized for a Low End PC

The optimized settings at the bottom grant a partly stable 50 FPS on average, with FSR 3 disabled. It would seem that the overhead incurred by the upscaler makes things even dire for the CPU.

If you enable ray-tracing, then most of the increased GPU load is absorbed by FSR 3, leaving you with just a couple of FPS less.

CPU Bottleneck and VRAM Usage

Dragon’s Dogma 2 produces a GPU-Busy deviation of 38% at 1080p Low, and 29% at 1080p High. 720p increases the bottleneck to over 40%.

At 1440p and above are the CPU and GPU workloads more reasonably balanced with a GPU-Busy deviation of 6%.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 dynamically adjusts the VRAM usage per the graphics buffer regardless of the selected settings. Consequently, you’ll see that High (3GB) consumes about the same amount of memory as Low (0.5GB), though lower presets may produce better lows with fewer stutters.

Dragon’s Dogma 2: Best Settings for a Low End PC

	i5-12400F/RX 6600
Resolution	1080p
Texture Quality	High (3GB)
Ray Tracing	Off
Contact Shadows	Off
Shadow Quality	High
Special Effects	High
Screen Space Reflections	Off
Vegetation Quality	High
Ambient Occlusion	SSAO
Mesh Quality	High
Texture Filtering	16x
Anti-Aliasing	–
Upscaling	Off
Render Mode	Progressive

Performance Optimization Guide for the RTX 4060 Laptop GPU

Dragon’s Dogma 2 performs even worse on thermally constrained mobile processors. Getting a consistent 60 FPS within settlements is impossible. You’ll hover between 30-40 FPS with lows of 20-something now and then. Luckily, the game performs much better in the wilderness and can be optimized to deliver a healthy 50-60 FPS in most areas.

In the farmer’s quarter, the GeForce RTX 4060 averages just above 30 FPS using the Max quality graphics settings (minus ray-tracing) at 1080p. Enabling DLSS with the “Balanced” preset boosted the framerate to a 43 FPS average. However, the lows remained the same. Next, we disabled “Contact Shadows” and set “Shadow Quality” to High. This produced a playable 52 FPS on average, with lows of ~27 FPS.

Beyond this, further reducing any settings didn’t have a noticeable impact on performance. Heck, switching to DLSS “Performance” granted zero gains. You’re reducing the internal resolution from 626p to 540p and getting the same framerates.

Within castle walls, the game is 51% CPU-bound with frequent stuttering, though “walking slowly” helps to an extent. Jokes aside, don’t expect fluid gameplay within settlements using the current build. You can try the DLSS 3.5 mod, but it tends to crash on some configurations.

The x14 offers pre-configured CPU and GPU overclocking profiles (Overdrive) that offer a healthy performance boost over the stock hardware. You won’t even need a cooling pad, but make sure not to keep the device on your lap.

Dragon’s Dogma 2: Best Settings for NVIDIA RTX 4060 Laptop GPU

	NVIDIA RTX 4060 Laptop GPU	NVIDIA RTX 3060 Laptop GPU
Resolution	1080p	1080p
Texture Quality	High (3GB)	High (3GB)
Ray Tracing	Off	Off
Contact Shadows	Off	Off
Shadow Quality	High	High
Special Effects	High	High
Screen Space Reflections	On	On
Vegetation Quality	High	High
Ambient Occlusion	SSAO	SSAO
Mesh Quality	Max	Max
Texture Filtering	16x	16x
Anti-Aliasing	–	–
Upscaling	DLSS “Balanced”	DLSS “Performance”
Render Mode	Progressive	Progressive

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 is out on Steam and GamePass. A gorgeous adventure built using Unreal Engine 5, Hellblade 2 features Nanite and Lumen global illumination. The game is understandably taxing even on modern hardware but includes multiple upscaling options to take the edge off. We tested the Xbox exclusive on our primary rig and have posted our optimization guide and GPU benchmark review. Windows-level optimizations such as Resize BAR, XMP, HAGs, etc, can be found in the former.

Test Builds

Motherboard	CPU	GPU	Memory
Gigabyte B760M DS3H DDR4 ($99)	Intel Core i5-12400F ($127)	AMD RX 6600 ($189)	8GB x2 D4 ($40)
GIGABYTE B450M DS3H WIFI ($84)	AMD Ryzen 5 5600X ($144)	NVIDIA RTX 4060 ($299)/ NVIDIA RTX 3060 Ti ($299- Used)	8GB x2 D4 ($40)
Alienware x14 (2023)	Intel Core i7-13620H	NVIDIA RTX 4060 Laptop GPU	8GB x4

To remove the black bars at the top and bottom of the screen, add the following lines (without bullets) at the end of the “engine.ini” file located in C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Hellblade2\Saved\Config\WinGDK:

• [SystemSettings]
• r.NT.AllowAspectRatioHorizontalExtension=0
• r.NT.EnableConstrainAspectRatio=0

Hellblade 2: 1080p Performance Benchmarks

Using the “High” quality preset at 1080p yields an average framerate of 26 FPS on our Radeon RX 6600 PC. The “Medium” preset averages 44.5 FPS, while “Low” manages 51 FPS. FSR 3 “Balanced” upscaling nets 44.5 FPS on average, while our “optimized” settings (below) along with the upscaler post an average of 63 FPS.

The GeForce RTX 4060 desktop graphics card averages 53.6 FPS at 1080p “High.” All you need to do is enable DLSS “Quality” with Frame Generation or FG with DLAA, and you’re set. GeForce RTX 3060 users will have to reduce “Reflection Quality” in addition to the former.

The GeForce RTX 4060 laptop GPU produces an average of 32.6 FPS at 1080p “High.” Reducing the reflections to “Low,” and enabling DLSS upscaling will get you to 60 FPS. The x14 offers pre-configured CPU and GPU overclocking profiles (Overdrive) that offer a healthy performance boost over the stock hardware. You won’t even need a cooling pad, but make sure not to keep the device on your lap.

Hellblade 2 Best Settings for Low-End PC

Graphics Settings	AMD RX 6600	NVIDIA RTX 4060	NVIDIA RTX 3060 Ti	NVIDIA RTX 4060 Laptop GPU
Resolution	1080p	1080p	1080p/1440p	1080p
Texture Quality	High	High	High	High
Shadow Quality	Medium	High	High	High
Reflection Quality	Medium	High	High	High
Draw Distance	Medium	High	High	High
Global Illumination	Medium	High	Medium	High
Foliage Quality	Medium	High	Medium	High
Volumetrics	Medium	High	Medium	High
Upscaling	FSR 3 B	DLSS Q FG	DLSS Q/DLSS B	DLSS Q FG

Helldivers 2 is among the most-played games on Steam. We have spent hours in-game, playing, testing, and tweaking different graphics settings for optimal performance. Our optimization guide for Helldivers 2 went live last month, exploring the performance impact of every graphics setting and resolution. This post analyzes the game’s performance on budget and entry-level PCs, costing between $600-700. Windows-level optimizations such as Resize BAR, XMP, HAGs, etc, can be found in the above guide.

Test Beds

Motherboard	CPU	GPU	Memory
Gigabyte B760M DS3H DDR4 ($99)	Intel Core i5-12400F ($127)	AMD RX 6600 8GB ($189)	8GB x2 D4 ($40)
GIGABYTE B450M DS3H WIFI ($84)	AMD Ryzen 5 5600X ($144)	NVIDIA RTX 4060/RTX 3060 Ti 8 GB ($299)	8GB x2 D4 ($40)

Helldivers 2: 1080p Performance Benchmarks

We tested Helldivers 2 at 1080p on our two budget builds, aiming for a solid 60 FPS. A mix of medium/low settings got us over 60 FPS on average, with upscaling required for the Radeon RX 6600. Particles, reflections, and volumetrics should be toned down for satisfactory performance.

For the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti and 4060, the below graphics settings grant over 60 FPS at native 1080p with lows of 49 FPS. The Radeon RX 6600 averages 36.5 FPS at native 1080p “Ultra.” Reducing the visual fidelity and enabling upscaling with Ultra Quality nets an average of ~70 FPS. Resolution scaling can be disabled but might lead to FPS drops in intensive scenes.

Helldivers 2: Optimized Settings for Low-End PC

Best settings for low-end	Ryzen 5 5600/RTX 3060 Ti	Ryzen 5 5600/RTX 4060	i5-12400F/RX 6600
Resolution	1080p	1080p	1080p
FPS Target	60 FPS	60 FPS	60 FPS
Texture Quality	High	High	High
Object Detail Quality	High	Medium	Medium
Render Distance	High	High	High
Shadow Quality	Low	Medium	Medium
Particle Quality	Low	Low	Low
Reflection Quality	Low	Medium	Low
Space Quality	Low	Low	Low
Ambient Occlusion	On	On	On
Screen Space Global Illumination	Off	Off	Off
Vegetation and Rubble Density	High	High	High
Terrain Quality	Low	High	Medium
Volumetric Fog Quality	Lowest	Medium	Low
Volumetric Cloud Quality	Low	Low	Lowest
Lighting Quality	Low	Medium	Medium
Anti Aliasing	On	On	Off
Upscaling	Native	Native	Ultra Quality
Bloom, Depth of Field, Motion Blur	Up to you	Up to you	Up to you

Helldivers 2: NVIDIA RTX 4060 Laptop GPU Benchmarks

We tested the game on the GeForce RTX 4060, one of the most popular laptop GPUs among Steam gamers. We used the Alienware x14 powered by the Core i7-13620H, the RTX 4060 mobile, and 32GB (8GB x4) of DDR5-4800 MT/s memory.

The x14 offers pre-configured CPU and GPU overclocking profiles (Overdrive) that offer a healthy performance boost over the stock hardware. You won’t even need a cooling pad, but make sure not to keep the device on your lap.

Helldivers 2 averaged 48 FPS at 1080p on one of those fiery/foggy planets using the Ultra quality graphics preset. Increasing the resolution to 1440p reduced the frame rates to 39.6 FPS, with lows of 30.6 FPS. Let’s unpack. While 1080p is still playable with close to 50 FPS on average, 1440p isn’t quite there yet. Before we move to tweak the settings, let’s see if Helldivers 2 is GPU or CPU-bound:

As you can see, the game is completely GPU-bound at 1080p where most titles show some degree of CPU limitation. Using our previous optimization guide, we know the most taxing graphics options that tank performance: Shadows, Particle Effects, Volumetric Fog, and Volumetric Clouds. Anti-aliasing is also quite punishing, but there’s too much shimmering everywhere without it.

Reducing the “Shadow Quality” and “Particle Quality” to LOW increased the average framerate to 55.6 FPS, up from 48 FPS at Ultra. The lows are also quite tolerable, staying over 45 FPS through the run. We found this to be a satisfying experience, but if you want more frames, continue reading:

Next, we increased the screen resolution to 1440p and reduced “Volumetric Clouds” and “Reflections” to MEDIUM. The “Volumetric Fog” quality was set to LOW. Keep in mind that Shadows and Particles are also set to Low. This improved the performance to 56 FPS on average, up from just 39.6 FPS at Ultra. However, the lows are still lower than we’d like at 40 FPS.

Lastly, we disabled “Screen Space Global Illumination” which doesn’t impact the outdoors as much, especially during daytime. This boosted our 1440p average to 62 FPS, with lows of 55 FPS. You can disable the same setting at 1080p to get more than 55 FPS on average.

Helldivers 2: Best Settings for RTX 3060/4060 Laptop GPU

Optimized Settings	NVIDIA RTX 4060 Laptop GPU	NVIDIA RTX 3060 Laptop GPU
Resolution	1080p/1440p	1080p
Texture Quality	Ultra/High	High
Object Detail Quality	High	High
Render Distance	Ultra	Ultra
Shadow Quality	Low	Low
Particle Quality	Low	Low
Reflection Quality	High/Medium	Low
Space Quality	High	Low
Ambient Occlusion	On	On
Screen Space Global Illumination	Off	Off
Vegetation and Rubble Density	Ultra	High
Terrain Quality	High	Medium
Volumetric Fog Quality	High/Low	Low
Volumetric Cloud Quality	High/Medium	Lowest
Lighting Quality	High	Medium
Anti Aliasing	On	On (or off with upscaling enabled)
Upscaling	Native	Ultra Quality or Quality
Bloom, Depth of Field, Motion Blur	Personal choice	Personal choice