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Alan Wake Remastered Performance Analysis

Rejuvenated after a decade. A lot of classic games have been remade and remastered already. After Crysis and Mafia, Alan Wake gets a major face-lift. We conduct our performance analysis to determine the system requirements.
Alan Wake Remastered

Technology

Remedy Entertainment has a knack for unconventional, if not outright crazy, games. While the ability to slow down time in Max Payne was probably inspired by Matrix, Quantum Break introduced rather unique time manipulation mechanics. One of the latest titles from the developer is Control, which focuses on supernatural phenomena and grants players supernatural abilities.

Alan Wake Remastered
Alan Wake Remastered
Alan Wake Remastered
Alan Wake Remastered

Alan Wake was one of the first titles for which we did a performance analysis. All in all, Alan Wake left a very good impression, what with its great storytelling and remarkable protagonist. The third-person title deals with the trials and tribulations of a horror fiction writer who, just like the player, is not always sure what is real and what is not. 

Light plays a very important role in Alan Wake, both visually and gameplay-wise. For instance, the light beam from the flashlight was impressive back then and it looks impressive today, as well.

Alan Wake Remastered
Alan Wake Remastered
Alan Wake Remastered
Alan Wake Remastered

While the main campaign often takes players into secluded places, Alan Wake manages to maintain a dark and gloomy atmosphere all throughout, thanks to creative storytelling.

In the light of day, the remastered version looks good. However, the ageing engine does not always manage to pull off a modern presentation when it comes to face animations, polygon counts, etc. The reworked textures look solid, though. Light physics and the slick effects (for example, the slowdown of time when firing the flaregun) are the main highlights of the title.

Alan Wake Remastered
Alan Wake Remastered
Alan Wake Remastered
Alan Wake Remastered

Unfortunately, the remastered version does not appear to be completely finished. We ran into graphics glitches and crashes during our benchmarks (with GPUs with less than 6 GB of VRAM at 4K).

The remaster inherits a few gameplay weaknesses from the original. PC controls are not that tight. Moreover, the game can get a bit repetitive over time.

Alan Wake Remastered
Alan Wake Remastered

The graphics menu was reworked when compared to the original. While some settings are missing, new settings were added. Alan Wake now features support for DLSS, which only works with certain Nvidia GPUs. The resolution scaling setting is also a new addition (Note: problems may arise when changing graphics settings with resolution scaling enabled).

In the expanded menu, there are graphics presets which affect the anti-aliasing (TAA, FXAA, MSAA), anisotropic filtering, three visual settings, and the draw distance. Players can also create a custom graphics profile. Positive: graphics settings can be changed without a restart.

Benchmark

With our performance analysis of the original version of Alan Wake, we used a nighttime sequence, here we use a daylight one. As you can see from the video below, our benchmark sequence consists of the ride on the ferry to the town. For each benchmark pass, we record a 40-second chunk of gameplay with CapFrameX (until the waterplane makes the landing). The playable character stands still the whole time.

Because Alan Wake is a third-person title that does not require split-second reactions, the game is playable even at well below 60 FPS. 40 FPS should be enough for most gamers. However, performance can tank in very intensive scenes.

Results

The benchmarks were conducted mainly using the laptops which our partners MSI and XMG (Schenker Technologies) lent us.

FHD (1920x1080)

While entry-level GPUs with meagre amounts of VRAM (up to 2 GB) cannot handle Alan Wake even at the lowest settings, mid-range graphics cards such as the GeForce GTX 1650 (Ti) can achieve playable frame rates at 1080p at the highest settings.

Alan Wake Remastered
    1920x1080 Low Preset     1920x1080 Medium Preset     1920x1080 High Preset
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, i9-9900K
MSI GeForce RTX 3090 Suprim X
110 (41.4min, 49.3P0.1, 65.4P1) fps ∼32%
107 (40.4min, 45.9P0.1, 63.3P1) fps ∼30%
103 (39.1min, 44.8P0.1, 61.3P1) fps ∼32%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, i9-9900K
MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Gaming X Trio
109 (40.3min, 46.6P0.1, 64.1P1) fps ∼32%
106 (40.4min, 45P0.1, 63.5P1) fps ∼30%
102 (43.7min, 47.4P0.1, 61.2P1) fps ∼32%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, i9-9900K
MSI GeForce RTX 3070 Ventus 3X
107 (42.1min, 48.2P0.1, 63.9P1) fps ∼31%
104 (42.3min, 43.5P0.1, 61.4P1) fps ∼29%
101 (40.1min, 45.8P0.1, 59.5P1) fps ∼32%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Neo 15 @165 W TGP
104 (41min, 45.3P0.1, 80.6P1) fps ∼30%
99.5 (39.3min, 44.6P0.1, 75.9P1) fps ∼28%
95 (34min, 43.2P0.1, 73.6P1) fps ∼30%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Neo 17 @140 W TGP
103 (41.9min, 46.1P0.1, 82.5P1) fps ∼30%
98.7 (40.6min, 44.6P0.1, 78.7P1) fps ∼28%
93.9 (28.5min, 43P0.1, 76.5P1) fps ∼30%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Core 15 @130 W TGP
102 (32.9min, 40.1P0.1, 68.2P1) fps ∼29%
96.3 (38.2min, 39.9P0.1, 62.6P1) fps ∼27%
89.3 (37.8min, 40.1P0.1, 63.3P1) fps ∼28%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Focus 17 @75 W TGP
99.7 (40.1min, 45.1P0.1, 82.1P1) fps ∼29%
92.3 (42.1min, 45.8P0.1, 76.8P1) fps ∼26%
84.7 (42.9min, 44.1P0.1, 74.5P1) fps ∼27%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti Mobile, i7-10750H
MSI GP75
95.8 (37.6min, 47.1P0.1, 76.6P1) fps ∼28%
80.5 (40.9min, 43P0.1, 66.5P1) fps ∼23%
69 (33.2min, 41P0.1, 57.8P1) fps ∼22%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile, i7-9750H
MSI GP65 Leopard 9SD
92.8 (10.4min, 22P0.1, 54.4P1) fps ∼27%
87.6 (29.1min, 42.5P0.1, 53.7P1) fps ∼25%
82.6 (29.9min, 40.8P0.1, 50.9P1) fps ∼26%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile, i7-10750H
MSI GL75
87.3 (36min, 42.4P0.1, 69P1) fps ∼25%
73.2 (31.4min, 41.7P0.1, 59.2P1) fps ∼21%
63.4 (34.3min, 39.9P0.1, 51.5P1) fps ∼20%
AMD Radeon RX 5600M, R7 4800H
Dell G5 15 SE
84.4 (19.5min, 31.4P0.1, 57.6P1) fps ∼24%
79.1 (22.6min, 39P0.1, 52.6P1) fps ∼22%
75.3 (25min, 39.4P0.1, 51.3P1) fps ∼24%
NVIDIA GeForce MX450, i7-11370H
Xiaomi RedmiBook Pro 15
12.6 (9.3min, 9.34P0.1, 9.74P1) fps ∼4%
10.3 (7.13min, 7.36P0.1, 8.11P1) fps ∼3%
8.82 (6.12min, 6.18P0.1, 6.5P1) fps ∼3%

QHD (2560x1440)

Mid-range GPUs on the level of the Radeon RX 5600M or the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti can run Alan Wake at 1440p and maximum settings. However, here you should expect a sub-60 FPS experience with such GPUs.

Alan Wake Remastered
    2560x1440 High Preset
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, i9-9900K
MSI GeForce RTX 3090 Suprim X
102 (35.9min, 45.8P0.1, 61.9P1) fps ∼39%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, i9-9900K
MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Gaming X Trio
101 (41min, 45.1P0.1, 61.8P1) fps ∼39%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, i9-9900K
MSI GeForce RTX 3070 Ventus 3X
98.1 (26.9min, 44.4P0.1, 59.7P1) fps ∼37%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Neo 15 @165 W TGP
91 (42.4min, 44.4P0.1, 73.3P1) fps ∼35%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Neo 17 @140 W TGP
90.1 (41.9min, 42.6P0.1, 75.9P1) fps ∼34%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Core 15 @130 W TGP
82.9 (25.3min, 33.1P0.1, 54.2P1) fps ∼32%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile, i7-9750H
MSI GP65 Leopard 9SD
65.5 (23.6min, 39.9P0.1, 44.2P1) fps ∼25%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Focus 17 @75 W TGP
64.6 (33.6min, 37.7P0.1, 54.5P1) fps ∼25%
AMD Radeon RX 5600M, R7 4800H
Dell G5 15 SE
58.4 (23.1min, 37.3P0.1, 42.1P1) fps ∼22%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti Mobile, i7-10750H
MSI GP75
45.8 (29.3min, 38.3P0.1, 40.5P1) fps ∼17%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile, i7-10750H
MSI GL75
42 (23.1min, 30.9P0.1, 37.4P1) fps ∼16%

UHD (3840x2160)

The system requirements jump significantly at 4K. Here, you will need a powerful graphics card such as the GeForce RTX 3060 or better to enjoy Alan Wake at high settings.

Alan Wake Remastered
    3840x2160 High Preset
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, i9-9900K
MSI GeForce RTX 3090 Suprim X
97.9 (42.7min, 47.3P0.1, 60.1P1) fps ∼46%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, i9-9900K
MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Gaming X Trio
97 (17.4min, 40.1P0.1, 61.3P1) fps ∼46%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, i9-9900K
MSI GeForce RTX 3070 Ventus 3X
84.3 (37min, 41.9P0.1, 54.9P1) fps ∼40%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Neo 15 @165 W TGP
73.9 (31.6min, 41.4P0.1, 62.1P1) fps ∼35%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Neo 17 @140 W TGP
68.7 (41min, 41.6P0.1, 59.1P1) fps ∼32%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Core 15 @130 W TGP
50.9 (23.7min, 25.5P0.1, 33.2P1) fps ∼24%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile, i7-9750H
MSI GP65 Leopard 9SD
34.9 (11.4min, 25.3P0.1, 27.6P1) fps ∼16%
AMD Radeon RX 5600M, R7 4800H
Dell G5 15 SE
31.6 (19.2min, 23.6P0.1, 26.3P1) fps ∼15%

Note

Because benchmarking video games is very time consuming and is often constrained by installation/activation limits, at the time of publishing, we were able to provide only a part of our performance analysis of Alan Wake Remastered. Other graphics cards will be added in the coming days and weeks.

Overview

Show Restrictions
PosModel< PrevNext >Alan Wake Remastered
 Alan Wake Remastered (2021)
low
1280x720
Low Preset
med.
1920x1080
Medium Preset
high
1920x1080
High Preset
QHD
2560x1440
High Preset
4K
3840x2160
High Preset
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090
100.5n2
96.05n2
95.45n2
93.65n2
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080
106
102
101
97
AMD Radeon RX 6800
148
147
145
87.7
NVIDIA Titan RTX
93.1
88.3
88.4
88.5
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Laptop GPU
142.4
140.2n2
136.9n2
131.7n2
80.3n2
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070
104
101
98.1
84.3
AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT
94
90.1
89.2
86.7
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU
110.25n2
103n2
99.5n2
69.25n2
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Laptop GPU
169.3
145.15n2
138.25n2
104
56.7
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU
149.8
144.9
AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT
95.2
91.1
91.7
86.3
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU
98.7n3
93.9n3
104.15n2
90.9n2
AMD Radeon RX 6800S
141
133
94.9
51.6
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
96.1
91.6
91.4
87
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal
92.5
88.3
88.2
85.4
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Super (Desktop)
89.9
90.4
90.9
87.5
AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT (Desktop)
94.4
90.4
88.9
83.8
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU
93.7
91.25n2
82.2n3
79.95n2
48.7n2
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Super (Desktop)
93.7
90.3
89.7
85.1
PosModel< PrevNext >Alan Wake Remastered
low med. high QHD 4K
AMD Radeon RX 6600
92.1
87.9
87
81.8
AMD Radeon RX 5700 (Desktop)
102
95.7
89.9
82.8
AMD Radeon RX 6600M
124.25n2
121.2n2
AMD Radeon RX 6700S
133.3
120.8
78.2
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050
135
131
117
69.3
AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT (Desktop)
96
91.9
89.2
76.8
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Super (Desktop)
97.4
93.3
89.7
69.9
AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT
147
123
93.3
55
AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT (Desktop)
92.2
87.6
85.4
52.4
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU
161.5
118n2
109.15n2
80.2n2
Intel Arc A730M
116.7
98.6
67.5
AMD Radeon RX 5600M
79.1
75.3
58.4
31.6
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile
87.6
82.6
65.5
34.9
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU
98.85n2
90n2
64.6
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 (Desktop)
92.6
88.2
85.9
60
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Super (Desktop)
91.9
86.4
84
54.8
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4GB Laptop GPU
91.9
70.6
64.2
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile
71.2
67.6
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti Mobile
80.5
69
45.8
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2050 Mobile
73.6
57.8
49.7
PosModel< PrevNext >Alan Wake Remastered
low med. high QHD 4K
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 (Desktop)
90.1
84.4
74.6
42.6
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile
73.2
63.4
42
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile
31.7
29.2
AMD Radeon 680M
64.9
44.2
34.7
NVIDIA GeForce MX450
25.5
13.25n2
11.11n2
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile
30.1
27.1
AMD Radeon 660M
53.6
32.7
26.4
AMD Radeon RX 560X (Laptop)
78.7
40.7
35
Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs
83.3
40.3n3
32.1n3
AMD Radeon RX 550 (Laptop)
8.3
NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 (Desktop)
13.5
11.8
NVIDIA GeForce MX250
16
10.2
Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 80EUs
48.9n2
20.85n2
15.75n2
Intel Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU)
41.9
20.5
16.7
AMD Radeon RX Vega 10
35.3
15.2
12
Intel UHD Graphics Xe G4 48EUs
34.9
16.3
12.5
Intel UHD Graphics Xe 32EUs (Tiger Lake-H)
38.6
17.7
14.9
AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 4000/5000)
53.8n2
31.1n5
25.4n5
27.9
15.1
AMD Radeon RX Vega 7
41.3
19.1
14.7
AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 2000/3000)
32.5
13.7
PosModel< PrevNext >Alan Wake Remastered
low med. high QHD 4K
Intel Iris Graphics 550
25.4
12
9.47
AMD Radeon RX Vega 6 (Ryzen 2000/3000)
19.8
8.44
AMD Radeon RX Vega 5
34.1
13.7
Intel UHD Graphics G1 (Ice Lake 32 EU)
22.2
10.5
Intel UHD Graphics 630
21.6
Intel UHD Graphics Xe 16EUs (Tiger Lake-H)
21.7
Intel UHD Graphics 620
15
AMD Radeon R5 M255
7.01
AMD Radeon RX Vega 3
21.5
7.64
Intel UHD Graphics (Jasper Lake 32 EU)
10.6
Intel HD Graphics 610
11.1
(-) * Smaller values are better. / n123 Number of benchmarks for this median value / * Approximate position

 

Legend
5Stutters – This game is very likely to stutter and have poor frame rates. Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, average frame rates are expected to fall below 25fps
May Stutter – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game. Based on interpolated information from surrounding graphics cards of similar performance levels, stutters and poor frame rates are expected.
30Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 25fps
40Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 35fps
60Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 58fps
May Run Fluently – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game. Based on interpolated information from surrounding graphics cards of similar performance levels, fluent frame rates are expected.
?Uncertain – This graphics card experienced unexpected performance issues during testing for this game. A slower card may be able to achieve better and more consistent frame rates than this particular GPU running the same benchmark scene.
Uncertain – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game and no reliable interpolation can be made based on the performances of surrounding cards of the same class or family.
The value in the fields displays the average frame rate of all values in the database. Move your cursor over the value to see individual results.

Test Systems

Device GPU CPU RAM OS
XMG Neo 15 Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 @165 W TGP (16 GB GDDR6) Intel Core i7-11800H 2 x 16 GB DDR4 Windows 10 64 Bit
XMG Neo 17 Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 @140 W TGP (8 GB GDDR6) Intel Core i7-11800H 2 x 16 GB DDR4 Windows 10 64 Bit
XMG Core 15 Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 @130 W TGP (6 GB GDDR6) Intel Core i7-11800H 2 x 16 GB DDR4 Windows 10 64 Bit
XMG Focus 17 Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti @75 W TGP (4 GB GDDR6) Intel Core i7-11800H 2 x 16 GB DDR4 Windows 10 64 Bit
MSI GP65 Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti (6 GB GDDR6) Intel Core i7-9750H 2 x 8 GB DDR4 Windows 10 64 Bit
MSI GP75 Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Ti (4 GB GDDR6) Intel Core i7-10750H 2 x 8 GB DDR4 Windows 10 64 Bit
MSI GL75 Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 (4 GB GDDR6) Intel Core i7-10750H 2 x 8 GB DDR4 Windows 10 64 Bit
Xiaomi RedmiBook Pro 15 Nvidia GeForce MX450 (2 GB GDDR5) Intel Core i7-11370H 1 x 16 GB DDR4 Windows 10 64 Bit
Dell G5 15 SE AMD Radeon RX 5600M (6 GB GDDR6) AMD Ryzen 7 4800H 2 x 8 GB DDR4 Windows 10 64 Bit
MSI Prestige 14 Evo Intel Iris Xe (96 CUs) Intel Core i7-1185G7 1 x 16 GB DDR4 Windows 10 64 Bit
Desktop PC I MSI GeForce RTX 3090 (24 GB GDDR6X)
MSI GeForce RTX 3080 (10 GB GDDR6X)
MSI GeForce RTX 3070 (8 GB GDDR6)
Intel Core i9-9900K 4 x 8 GB DDR4 Windows 10 64 Bit
Desktop PC II Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 FE (24 GB GDDR6X)
Nvidia Titan RTX (24 GB GDDR6)
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super (8 GB GDDR6)
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super (8 GB GDDR6)
KFA2 GeForce GTX 1660 Super (6 GB GDDR6)
PNY GeForce GTX 1660 (6 GB GDDR5)
KFA2 GeForce GTX 1650 Super (4 GB GDDR6)
KFA2 GeForce GTX 1650 (4 GB GDDR5)
AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT (12 GB DDR6)
AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT (8 GB GDDR6)
AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT (8 GB GDDR6)
AMD Radeon RX 5700 (8 GB GDDR6)
AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT (6 GB GDDR6)
AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT (8 GB GDDR6)
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 2 x 32 GB DDR4 Windows 10 64 Bit
4K monitors Nvidia drivers AMD drivers
Asus PB287Q, Philips Brilliance 329P9H, Acer Predator XB321HK ForceWare 496.13 Adrenalin 21.10.2
static version load dynamic
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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > Reviews > Alan Wake Remastered Performance Analysis
Florian Glaser, 2021-10-18 (Update: 2021-10-19)