Back 4 Blood in test: Notebook and desktop benchmarks

Co-op battle against zombie hordes.

Back 4 Blood is very reminiscent of the old Left 4 Dead. No wonder, since the shooter comes from the same developer studio. We checked the graphics requirements of the action title with several notebook and desktop GPUs.

Florian Glaser, 👁 Florian Glaser, ✓ Brian Burriston (translated by DeepL / Ninh Duy), Published 10/22/2021 🇩🇪 🇳🇱 ...

Technology

Back 4 Blood should be a good choice for fans of continuous shooting. The zombie shooter from Turtle Rock Studios sends countless undead and special monsters after the players or in front of the virtual shotgun.

The whole thing happens with a solid technical foundation. The Unreal Engine 4 used is characterized by quite good textures and first-class effects. In addition to the lighting, the particle effects (e.g. for the weapons) and the fire display (flames, explosions, etc.) are also convincing. The package is rounded off by a homogeneous and pleasing graphic style and overall look.

In terms of gameplay, Back 4 Blood is - as mentioned at the beginning - very similar to the Left 4 Dead series, although the developers follow the current trend and focus on customizing. Among other things, we have weapon upgrades, a shopping system and special skill cards. Left 4 Dead meets Warzone, so to speak. The gunplay and movement are also up to date, in our opinion.

In short: If you are looking for a fun and - depending on the difficulty level - quite challenging bullet feast, Back 4 Blood should be a good choice, especially since you can also impersonate the special monsters in multiplayer mode instead of the human players. In single player mode, which unfortunately still requires an online connection, you have to make do with halfway intelligent bots, which is also entertaining for a while.

But back to the technology. In the graphics menu, which you can see further down in two of the screenshots, there are over 20 setting options. Starting with classics like the resolution (unfortunately, only the monitor's native resolution is available in Borderless Fullscreen; conventional Fullscreen doesn't exist), the field of view and Motion Blur, there are also some modern features like upscaling (including DLSS) and Chromatic Aberration.

As edge smoothing, Back 4 Blood supports FXAA and TAA. You can also switch between DirectX 11 and DirectX 12 if necessary. V-Sync and an FPS limit can also be enabled if desired.

Equally praiseworthy is the presence of various presets. The presets take care of the five fold-out quality sliders. Plus points are also given for the fact that setting changes (with the exception of DirectX) do not require a restart and are adopted directly. It would only be nice if the developers would add short text explanations to the individual graphics options.

The game size of around 25 GB turns out to be moderate by today's standards. The in-game loading times are decent. Only the game start takes a bit of time.

Benchmark

In order to get the most consistent results possible, we do not use a mission for the benchmarks, but the lobby camp "Fort Hope", which you enter between missions. According to our experience, the frame rate of the benchmark sequence matches the real missions quite well. Although there can be significant performance fluctuations or drops in the latter depending on the number of zombies and the amount of effects, the average frame rate is similarly high (missions 1 and 2 of the first act were checked for 200 seconds each on an RTX 3070 with maximum details).

With the help of the CapFrameX tool, we recorded a 30-second sprint through the warehouse, which contains various objects, figures and fire elements. Since this is a fast first-person shooter, the system should reach an average of at least 40 FPS or - to be better prepared for particularly CPU-intensive and image-intensive situations - more than 60 FPS.

▶ load Youtube video

Results

For the benchmarks, we mainly use loan devices from our partners at XMG (Schenker Technologies) and MSI.

FHD (1,920 x 1,080)

In contrast to other current games, Back 4 Blood does not necessarily require a real gaming computer. Entry-level GPUs on the level of the GeForce MX450 can at least handle 1,920 x 1,080 pixels and the Low preset. The Medium preset would also be possible with some compromises. Midrange graphics cards like the GeForce GTX 1650 (Ti) can easily cope with the High and Epic presets in Full HD.

Back 4 Blood
1920x1080 Low Preset (DX12) 1920x1080 Medium Preset (DX12) AA:FX 1920x1080 High Preset (DX12) AA:T 1920x1080 Epic Preset (DX12) AA:T
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H XMG Neo 15 @165 W TGP	378 (26.3^min, 184^P0.1, 235^P1) fps ∼50% 281 (44.4^min, 139^P0.1, 180^P1) fps ∼43% 235 (38.8^min, 121^P0.1, 148^P1) fps ∼40% 220 (43.6^min, 105^P0.1, 141^P1) fps ∼37%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H XMG Neo 17 @140 W TGP	377 (30.5^min, 185^P0.1, 239^P1) fps ∼50% 273 (40^min, 150^P0.1, 194^P1) fps ∼42% 227 (31.9^min, 137^P0.1, 162^P1) fps ∼39% 209 (25.9^min, 118^P0.1, 146^P1) fps ∼35%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, i9-9900K MSI GeForce RTX 3090 Suprim X	332 (75.7^min, 152^P0.1, 189^P1) fps ∼44% 300 (70.7^min, 139^P0.1, 173^P1) fps ∼46% 274 (67.3^min, 113^P0.1, 144^P1) fps ∼47% 272 (75.9^min, 122^P0.1, 150^P1) fps ∼45%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, i9-9900K MSI GeForce RTX 3070 Ventus 3X	321 (56^min, 155^P0.1, 187^P1) fps ∼43% 295 (120^min, 145^P0.1, 176^P1) fps ∼45% 260 (30.6^min, 128^P0.1, 155^P1) fps ∼44% 248 (62.8^min, 128^P0.1, 155^P1) fps ∼41%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, i9-9900K MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Gaming X Trio	317 (136^min, 155^P0.1, 190^P1) fps ∼42% 290 (116^min, 129^P0.1, 168^P1) fps ∼45% 273 (97.6^min, 120^P0.1, 154^P1) fps ∼47% 270 (77.4^min, 119^P0.1, 149^P1) fps ∼45%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H XMG Core 15 @130 W TGP	288 (23.2^min, 93^P0.1, 176^P1) fps ∼38% 212 (18.5^min, 65.8^P0.1, 143^P1) fps ∼33% 181 (51.7^min, 67.1^P0.1, 124^P1) fps ∼31% 163 (57.4^min, 84.7^P0.1, 113^P1) fps ∼27%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU, i7-11800H XMG Focus 17 @75 W TGP	205 (22.6^min, 106^P0.1, 134^P1) fps ∼27% 152 (55.7^min, 87.1^P0.1, 96.8^P1) fps ∼23% 123 (26.3^min, 48.7^P0.1, 78^P1) fps ∼21% 114 (59.4^min, 61.4^P0.1, 70.2^P1) fps ∼19%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile, i7-9750H MSI GP65 Leopard 9SD	197 (24.8^min, 96.1^P0.1, 124^P1) fps ∼26% 146 (57.2^min, 75.2^P0.1, 97.6^P1) fps ∼22% 126 (57.9^min, 70.9^P0.1, 83.4^P1) fps ∼21% 115 (63.4^min, 64.9^P0.1, 73.4^P1) fps ∼19%
AMD Radeon RX 5600M, R7 4800H Dell G5 15 SE	184 (44.8^min, 105^P0.1, 118^P1) fps ∼24% 137 (32.2^min, 69.2^P0.1, 78.3^P1) fps ∼21% 117 (6.13^min, 55.3^P0.1, 65.8^P1) fps ∼20% 110 (52.7^min, 55.6^P0.1, 59.4^P1) fps ∼18%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti Mobile, i7-10750H MSI GP75	157 (26.9^min, 89.7^P0.1, 100^P1) fps ∼21% 106 (51.3^min, 57.1^P0.1, 63.7^P1) fps ∼16% 91.5 (47.3^min, 48.1^P0.1, 54.2^P1) fps ∼16% 83.8 (45.5^min, 45.8^P0.1, 49.7^P1) fps ∼14%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile, i7-10750H MSI GL75	147 (22.1^min, 84.5^P0.1, 92.3^P1) fps ∼19% 96 (31.8^min, 51^P0.1, 57.2^P1) fps ∼15% 82.3 (41.8^min, 44.8^P0.1, 49.4^P1) fps ∼14% 75 (38.7^min, 40.3^P0.1, 43.8^P1) fps ∼13%
NVIDIA GeForce MX450, i7-11370H Xiaomi RedmiBook Pro 15	77 (22.8^min, 27.1^P0.1, 41.8^P1) fps ∼10% 46.3 (13.5^min, 18.1^P0.1, 22.7^P1) fps ∼7% 35.3 (11.8^min, 12.1^P0.1, 14.9^P1) fps ∼6% 33 (13.4^min, 14.1^P0.1, 15.2^P1) fps ∼6%

QHD (2,560 x 1,440)

The latter mid-range GPUs can even theoretically handle a mix of 2,560 x 1,440 pixels and maximum details, although we would recommend a model from the upper mid-range for an all-round smooth gaming experience (e.g. the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti or the Radeon RX 5600M).

Back 4 Blood
2560x1440 Epic Preset (DX12) AA:T
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, i9-9900K MSI GeForce RTX 3090 Suprim X	241 (76.5^min, 101^P0.1, 139^P1) fps ∼42%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, i9-9900K MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Gaming X Trio	223 (67.7^min, 98^P0.1, 132^P1) fps ∼38%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, i9-9900K MSI GeForce RTX 3070 Ventus 3X	179 (59.9^min, 90.4^P0.1, 117^P1) fps ∼31%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H XMG Neo 15 @165 W TGP	146 (25.2^min, 53^P0.1, 101^P1) fps ∼25%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H XMG Neo 17 @140 W TGP	140 (39.1^min, 56.1^P0.1, 89.9^P1) fps ∼24%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H XMG Core 15 @130 W TGP	111 (19.8^min, 31.8^P0.1, 69.4^P1) fps ∼19%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU, i7-11800H XMG Focus 17 @75 W TGP	75 (26.3^min, 27.7^P0.1, 42.7^P1) fps ∼13%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile, i7-9750H MSI GP65 Leopard 9SD	74.3 (25.1^min, 26.4^P0.1, 34.4^P1) fps ∼13%
AMD Radeon RX 5600M, R7 4800H Dell G5 15 SE	71.4 (30.5^min, 31.3^P0.1, 35.5^P1) fps ∼12%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti Mobile, i7-10750H MSI GP75	52.7 (22.8^min, 25.9^P0.1, 28.1^P1) fps ∼9%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile, i7-10750H MSI GL75	49.1 (23.9^min, 24.2^P0.1, 26.2^P1) fps ∼8%

UHD (3,840 x 2,160)

3,840 x 2,160 pixels in combination with the Epic preset, on the other hand, should only be unleashed on a high-end representative (GeForce RTX 3060 upwards). The VRAM requirements of the title generally seem to be within limits. 6 GB are sufficient for all common resolutions and quality levels.

Back 4 Blood
3840x2160 Epic Preset (DX12) AA:T
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, i9-9900K MSI GeForce RTX 3090 Suprim X	151 (53.3^min, 67.3^P0.1, 103^P1) fps ∼34%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, i9-9900K MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Gaming X Trio	131 (48.9^min, 55.3^P0.1, 87.5^P1) fps ∼30%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, i9-9900K MSI GeForce RTX 3070 Ventus 3X	96.4 (44.5^min, 50.9^P0.1, 61.7^P1) fps ∼22%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H XMG Neo 15 @165 W TGP	76.6 (15.4^min, 21.6^P0.1, 45.9^P1) fps ∼17%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H XMG Neo 17 @140 W TGP	71.7 (31.9^min, 34.3^P0.1, 40.6^P1) fps ∼16%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H XMG Core 15 @130 W TGP	57.2 (14^min, 16.4^P0.1, 30.9^P1) fps ∼13%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile, i7-9750H MSI GP65 Leopard 9SD	37.4 (19.3^min, 19.5^P0.1, 20.1^P1) fps ∼8%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU, i7-11800H XMG Focus 17 @75 W TGP	37.3 (14.4^min, 18.1^P0.1, 19.3^P1) fps ∼8%
AMD Radeon RX 5600M, R7 4800H Dell G5 15 SE	36.3 (14.9^min, 15.2^P0.1, 16.4^P1) fps ∼8%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti Mobile, i7-10750H MSI GP75	26.1 (12.4^min, 12.5^P0.1, 13^P1) fps ∼6%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile, i7-10750H MSI GL75	23.3 (11.3^min, 11.5^P0.1, 12.3^P1) fps ∼5%

Note

Since gaming tests are very time-consuming and often hindered by installation or activation limits, we can only provide you with a part of the benchmarks for the publication of the articles. More graphics cards will be installed in the coming days and weeks.

Overview

Test system

XMG Neo 15 (RTX 3080) - Click on photo to open the configurator (bestware.com)

XMG Neo 17 (RTX 3070) - Click on photo to open the configurator (bestware.com)

XMG Core 15 (RTX 3060) - Click on photo to open the configurator (bestware.com)

XMG Focus 17 (RTX 3050 Ti) - Click on photo to open the configurator (bestware.com)

Device	Graphics card	Processor	Memory	Operating system
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 driver	AMD driver
Asus PB287Q, Philips Brilliance 329P9H, Acer Predator XB321HK	ForceWare 496.13	Adrenalin 21.10.2

Loading Comments

Comment on this article

Editor of the original article: Sebastian Jentsch - Managing Editor Consumer Laptops - 1751 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2010

Computers always had an important place in my life, starting with an Intel 80286 microprocessor in the early 1990s. I became interested in the productive side of technology, especially in campus radio, while studying at TU Chemnitz and during a trainee program in Belfast. Hardware interests led me to manage Notebookjournal.de, which is now a division of Notebooksbilliger, for a few years. I became self-employed in 2010 and took the next logical step in my career by starting to write for Notebookcheck.

contact me via: Xing

Translator: Ninh Ngoc Duy - Editorial Assistant - 489825 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2008

My main responsibility as an editorial assistant is maintaining the Library section, which aggregates reviews from other publications and channels. In addition, my daily breakfast is Notebookcheck's long list of new content, which I comb through to select the most interesting topics for translation from English to French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch."

contact me via: Facebook

Please share our article, every link counts!

> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > Reviews > Back 4 Blood in test: Notebook and desktop benchmarks

Florian Glaser, 2021-10-22 (Update: 2024-08-15)

Legend
5	Stutters – 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.
30	Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 25fps
40	Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 35fps
60	Fluent – 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.