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Battlefield 2042 Performance Analysis

Fresh start. Battlefield 2042 looks very impressive. However, the launch has been marred by numerous bugs which EA let slip into the final version. We have conducted our performance analysis to determine the system requirements.
Battlefield 2042

Technology

After the Call of Duty series elevated its visuals to the next level with Vanguard, DICE responded to its direct competitor with Battlefield 2042.

Battlefield 2042
Battlefield 2042

Battlefield 2042 is a worthy competitor to CoD Vanguard, what with its huge maps, vast draw distances and lush vegetation. The weather effects (rain, wind, …), reflections, and explosions (smoke, fire, …) all impress.

Battlefield 2042
Battlefield 2042

Battlefield 2042 cuts a very fine figure. At high settings, the textures look very sharp, and the tracks that the vehicles leave in the sand or wet soil are very realistic. The game offers a lot of visual variety. There are maps with tropical, winter and desert conditions. The maps are huge, but some of them look a bit sterile due to the futuristic look. 

Battlefield 2042
Battlefield 2042

The Frostbite engine has a very impressive destruction system. Most buildings can be completely demolished, and most objects can be blown to pieces.

Battlefield 2042
Battlefield 2042

Unfortunately, Battlefield 2042 has a lot of bugs. In addition to numerous visual and physics glitches, we have experienced stuttering. The developers should have spent a few more weeks on optimisation.

Battlefield 2042
Battlefield 2042

We do not have anything bad to say about the graphics settings menu. PC gamers are going to be happy with the amount of settings on offer. There are no sub-menus, though, which means a lot of scrolling. In the upper section, you can adjust the field of view. In the middle section, there are numerous graphics settings, which can be adjusted in one fell swoop via presets. In the bottom section, you can enable/disable dynamic resolution, DLSS, V-Sync and ray tracing.

With a few exceptions, changes do not require a restart to take effect. Battlefield 2042 takes up 47 GB of storage space. This is quite reasonable for a modern title.

Battlefield 2042
Battlefield 2042
Battlefield 2042

Benchmark

As you can see from the video below, we use the map known as Discarded (Alang, India) in Solo Conquest Mode. In our benchmark sequence, we drive an LATV4 Recon for 30 to 40 seconds through the grasslands. We use CapFrameX to record the frame rates. Because Battlefield 2042 is a fast-paced first-person shooter, 50 to 60 FPS is required for an enjoyable experience.

Results

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

FHD (1920x1080)

To achieve playable frame rates at 1080p, you will need a mid-range GPU with 4 GB of VRAM. The GeForce GTX 1650 manages to hit 70 FPS on average at low settings and 54 FPS on medium settings. A Radeon RX 5600M is required for high settings. The GeForce RTX 3050 Ti and the GTX 1660 Ti can run the game at the highest settings smoothly.

Battlefield 2042
    1920x1080 Low Preset     1920x1080 Medium Preset     1920x1080 High Preset     1920x1080 Ultra Preset
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, i9-9900K
MSI GeForce RTX 3090 Suprim X
134 (59.7min, 63.9P0.1, 101P1) fps ∼37%
132 (60.7min, 63.9P0.1, 93.1P1) fps ∼42%
124 (7.84min, 35.5P0.1, 84.6P1) fps ∼25%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, i9-9900K
MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Gaming X Trio
133 (28.4min, 65.2P0.1, 99.1P1) fps ∼36%
130 (30.3min, 61.3P0.1, 91.7P1) fps ∼41%
123 (7.33min, 50.3P0.1, 84.9P1) fps ∼25%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, i9-9900K
MSI GeForce RTX 3070 Ventus 3X
132 (64.6min, 67.4P0.1, 98.1P1) fps ∼36%
126 (17.2min, 62P0.1, 89.2P1) fps ∼40%
116 (7.04min, 31.5P0.1, 82P1) fps ∼23%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Neo 15 @165 W TGP
128 (14.8min, 40.8P0.1, 70.4P1) fps ∼35%
119 (52.1min, 57.7P0.1, 83.8P1) fps ∼37%
104 (36.6min, 50.9P0.1, 70.1P1) fps ∼21%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Neo 17 @140 W TGP
141 (29.9min, 60.5P0.1, 105P1) fps ∼39%
118 (41.9min, 59.2P0.1, 88.8P1) fps ∼37%
102 (45.9min, 50.4P0.1, 71.9P1) fps ∼20%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Core 15 @130 W TGP
79.4 (21min, 33P0.1, 49.4P1) fps ∼22%
73.5 (36.8min, 38.5P0.1, 46.2P1) fps ∼23%
63.9 (17.2min, 29.2P0.1, 37.4P1) fps ∼13%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile, i7-9750H
MSI GP65 Leopard 9SD
101 (46.8min, 51.4P0.1, 70.7P1) fps ∼38%
82.7 (15min, 41.8P0.1, 54.3P1) fps ∼23%
70.8 (14.5min, 19.3P0.1, 50.3P1) fps ∼22%
58 (2.16min, 3.14P0.1, 18.9P1) fps ∼12%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Focus 17 @75 W TGP
97.3 (7.06min, 20.5P0.1, 73.7P1) fps ∼37%
78.6 (6.81min, 9.77P0.1, 55.6P1) fps ∼21%
64.6 (9.28min, 10P0.1, 43.2P1) fps ∼20%
53.2 (9.05min, 10P0.1, 23.7P1) fps ∼11%
AMD Radeon RX 5600M, R7 4800H
Dell G5 15 SE
85.3 (11.7min, 13.3P0.1, 57.3P1) fps ∼32%
70.6 (5.85min, 8.29P0.1, 40.5P1) fps ∼19%
54.4 (5.94min, 7.65P0.1, 31P1) fps ∼17%
41.6 (0.968min, 1.679P0.1, 14.5P1) fps ∼8%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile, i7-10750H
MSI GL75
69.8 (6.76min, 10.8P0.1, 47.6P1) fps ∼27%
53.8 (5.99min, 10.2P0.1, 39.7P1) fps ∼15%
43.9 (7.61min, 10.3P0.1, 34.1P1) fps ∼14%
9.94 (6.35min, 6.37P0.1, 6.75P1) fps ∼2%

QHD (2560x1440)

At 1440p and high settings, playable frame rates can be achieved with a high-end GPU with 6 GB of VRAM such as the GeForce RTX 3060.

Battlefield 2042
    2560x1440 Ultra Preset
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, i9-9900K
MSI GeForce RTX 3090 Suprim X
118 (7.13min, 33.4P0.1, 81.3P1) fps ∼35%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, i9-9900K
MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Gaming X Trio
113 (6.92min, 24.4P0.1, 79P1) fps ∼33%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, i9-9900K
MSI GeForce RTX 3070 Ventus 3X
96.8 (6.18min, 12.1P0.1, 68.5P1) fps ∼28%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Neo 15 @165 W TGP
79.9 (6.97min, 14.1P0.1, 56.4P1) fps ∼23%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Neo 17 @140 W TGP
77.3 (5.87min, 13.9P0.1, 55.2P1) fps ∼23%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Core 15 @130 W TGP
50.8 (5.66min, 6.51P0.1, 28.5P1) fps ∼15%
AMD Radeon RX 5600M, R7 4800H
Dell G5 15 SE
31.7 (9.09min, 9.46P0.1, 12.1P1) fps ∼9%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile, i7-9750H
MSI GP65 Leopard 9SD
29.8 (6.65min, 9.97P0.1, 12.2P1) fps ∼9%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile, i7-10750H
MSI GL75
4.18 (3.33min, 3.33P0.1, 3.39P1) fps ∼1%

UHD (3840 x2160)

For 4K gaming at maximum settings, you will need a high-end GPU with 8 GB of VRAM. Here, the GeForce RTX 3070 and the RTX 3080 manage to achieve playable frame rates.

Battlefield 2042
    3840x2160 Ultra Preset
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, i9-9900K
MSI GeForce RTX 3090 Suprim X
86.5 (27min, 46.5P0.1, 59.7P1) fps ∼21%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, i9-9900K
MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Gaming X Trio
77.6 (10.6min, 33.2P0.1, 52P1) fps ∼19%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, i9-9900K
MSI GeForce RTX 3070 Ventus 3X
60.2 (21.2min, 30.6P0.1, 45P1) fps ∼15%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Neo 15 @165 W TGP
50.2 (21min, 27P0.1, 37.4P1) fps ∼12%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Neo 17 @140 W TGP
47.3 (2.57min, 5.9P0.1, 36P1) fps ∼12%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Core 15 @130 W TGP
17.6 (1.299min, 1.365P0.1, 2.5P1) fps ∼4%
AMD Radeon RX 5600M, R7 4800H
Dell G5 15 SE
5.29 (0.4552min, 0.536P0.1, 1.728P1) fps ∼1%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile, i7-9750H
MSI GP65 Leopard 9SD
4.34 (3.15min, 3.16P0.1, 3.32P1) fps ∼1%

Ray Tracing

Enabling RT effects incurs a severe performance penalty. The RTX 3060 can handle the title at 1080p and maximum settings with ray tracing enabled.

Battlefield 2042
    1920x1080 Ultra Preset + Ray Tracing
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, i9-9900K
MSI GeForce RTX 3090 Suprim X
89.6 (7.39min, 13.1P0.1, 68.3P1) fps ∼34%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, i9-9900K
MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Gaming X Trio
87.9 (7.09min, 14.5P0.1, 65.6P1) fps ∼33%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, i9-9900K
MSI GeForce RTX 3070 Ventus 3X
85.7 (3.6min, 13.3P0.1, 60.2P1) fps ∼33%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Neo 15 @165 W TGP
84.2 (7.01min, 17.8P0.1, 48.3P1) fps ∼32%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Neo 17 @140 W TGP
81.7 (7.14min, 15.6P0.1, 55.7P1) fps ∼31%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Core 15 @130 W TGP
55.9 (5.43min, 8.83P0.1, 31.2P1) fps ∼21%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Focus 17 @75 W TGP
3.7 (0.949min, 1.021P0.1, 1.729P1) fps ∼1%

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 Battlefield 2042. Other graphics cards will be added in the coming days and weeks.

Overview

Show Restrictions
PosModel< PrevNext >Battlefield 2042
 Battlefield 2042 (2021)
low
1280x720
Low Preset
med.
1920x1080
Medium Preset
high
1920x1080
High Preset
ultra
1920x1080
Ultra Preset
QHD
2560x1440
Ultra Preset
4K
3840x2160
Ultra Preset
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU
172.6
138.9
85.4
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090
105
139.5n2
135n2
126.5n2
118.5n2
84.1n2
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti
216
194
169
150
123
83
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080
133
130
123
113
77.6
AMD Radeon RX 6800
168
153
145
128
112
NVIDIA Titan RTX
99.3
139
129
117
93.6
60.2
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Laptop GPU
141
121
108
88.2
58.7
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070
132
126
116
96.8
60.2
AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT
101
155
145
125
99.5
57
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU
133
119n2
109.4n2
96.35n2
74.9n2
46.6n2
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti
182.3
136.5
115.2
101.1
78.2
49.3
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Laptop GPU
136.4
113.35n2
99.05n2
87.8n2
63.2
39.5
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU
145.6
123
106.1
AMD Radeon RX 6800M
118
107
99.9
88
AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT
150
122
103
75.3
22.8
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU
134
124n2
106.75n2
94.3n2
77.3
47.3
AMD Radeon RX 6800S
140
121
102
74.3
40.6
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
144
116
96.5
84.5
64.3
38.7
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal
148
115
96.5
87.4
65.2
39.3
PosModel< PrevNext >Battlefield 2042
low med. high ultra QHD 4K
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Super (Desktop)
99.1
123
106
92.6
71.4
66.8
AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT (Desktop)
162
128
108
91.7
70.6
42.7
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU
79.4
77.95n2
69.45n2
50.8
17.6
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Super (Desktop)
102
112
94.7
80.9
61.3
36.5
AMD Radeon RX 6600
101
138
113
91.2
66
25
AMD Radeon RX 5700 (Desktop)
134
116
98.5
83
67.7
39.9
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050
152
89.5
75.7
65.6
50.2
29.6
AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT (Desktop)
170
107
91.9
78.2
59
29.6
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti (Desktop)
154.8
90.4
73.5
65.8
48.5
18.1
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Super (Desktop)
147
88.6
74.5
64
46.3
25.4
AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT
145
80.4
39.8
25.3
18.5
3.95
AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT (Desktop)
145
83.8
70.4
57.9
42.6
24.2
AMD Radeon RX 5600M
70.6
54.4
41.6
31.7
5.29
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile
82.7
70.8
58
29.8
4.34
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU
140
78.6
64.6
53.2
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 (Desktop)
142
79.4
66.5
58.6
42.3
22.6
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Super (Desktop)
133
74.2
62.2
20.1
4.87
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4GB Laptop GPU
63.5
57.7
47.9
AMD Radeon RX 6500M
129.7
71.2
53.3
23.3
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile
86.4
61.3
50.2
44.2
PosModel< PrevNext >Battlefield 2042
low med. high ultra QHD 4K
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile
102
53.8
43.9
9.94
4.18
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile
63.2
31.2
12.6
AMD Radeon 680M
77.5
39.4
31.1
26.6
NVIDIA GeForce MX450
4.5
17.8
4.4
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile
50.4
23.1
7.11
AMD Radeon RX 560X (Laptop)
40.8
32.3
26.9
22.9
NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 (Desktop)
33.1
14.9
5.48
Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 80EUs
29.9
14.3
12.4
Intel UHD Graphics Xe G4 48EUs
14.4
Intel UHD Graphics Xe 32EUs (Tiger Lake-H)
25.1
10.7
Intel UHD Graphics 770
33.9
15.7
AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 4000/5000)
39.3n2
18.9n2
15.4n2
10.9
(-) * 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
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
Asus ROG Strix G15 AMD Radeon RX 6800M (12 GB GDDR6) AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX 2 x 8 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 GeForce RTX 3060 (12 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 6600 (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 496.76 Adrenalin 21.11.3
static version load dynamic
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Florian Glaser, 2021-11-30 (Update: 2021-11-30)