Civilization 7 performance review: Which GPU reigns supreme?

Staying true to its strategy heritage, Civilization 7 maintains modest system requirements. Even integrated GPUs like the Radeon 780M can run it, provided one sticks to moderate settings, with anti-aliasing being a key limitation. A dedicated gaming graphics card is only required at higher resolutions and maximum graphics settings, as our benchmarks show.

Civilization 7 delivers a striking visual style that seamlessly merges comic-inspired elements with realistic details, achieving a well-balanced aesthetic. Crisp textures, intricate world design and a high level of detail create an immersive turn-based strategy experience, with the atmospheric soundtrack adding to the immersion.

PC users will find a well-rounded options menu with plenty of tweaking potential. The general settings menu takes centre stage, offering adjustments for display mode, resolution and upscaling or anti-aliasing settings. Civilization 7 skips DLSS in favour of XeSS and FSR (3), though our tests revealed no noticeable frame rate improvements when FSR was enabled.

For anti-aliasing, the game leans on MSAA – an effective but demanding choice that takes a noticeable toll on performance. The general settings menu also includes three graphics presets, which tweak nearly ten advanced settings. Conveniently, changes apply instantly – sparing players the hassle of restarting the game.

A welcome addition: Civilization 7 features a built-in benchmark, which we used for our measurements. The automated sequence runs for just under a minute, displaying a performance graph along with various stats. Bafflingly, just like in Civilization 6, Civilization 7 insists on displaying only frametimes. Anyone wanting FPS values is left digging through a CSV file, with the game revealing its save location only at the very end of the benchmark. This needlessly turns a simple task into a tedious chore.

When disabling anti-aliasing, the game remains light on graphics demands. For example, 1,920 x 1,080 pixels and the low preset are easily handled by a Radeon 780M, delivering over 60 FPS. Even when using the medium preset with 4x MSAA, the game runs smoothly in full HD, delivering stable performance on this GPU. However, at the high preset with 8x MSAA, a dedicated graphics card is required. A Laptop RTX 4050 hits over 60 FPS in this scenario.

For QHD displays, a high-end GPU is still overkill. The mobile RTX 4060 effortlessly tackles 2,560 x 1,440 pixels with maximum settings, including MSAA, ensuring a smooth and seamless experience.

Civilization 7 proves demanding only at 4K resolution. At 3,840 x 2,160 resolution, with the high preset and MSAA enabled, the game requires the power of a mobile RTX 4080 or something even more powerful.