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Deathloop Performance Analysis

In an infinite loop. Deathloop is not only an original and well-designed game, it is also a visually striking one. The story does not disappoint either. We benchmarked Deathloop on desktop PCs and notebooks. Our findings: It needs a lot of VRAM.
Deathloop

Technology

French developer Arkane Studios, which is primarily known for the Dishonored franchise (the first game in the series released in 2012, the second one in 2016), has a knack for making unconventional games. Deathloop is no exception, and it brings the level of originality to new heights. The first-person shooter is hard to categorise visually or gameplay-wise. It blends together elements from looter-shooters such as Borderlands 3, role-playing games (various quests in various locations) and old-school dungeon-crawlers like Rogue (dying has dire consequences).

Deathloop
Deathloop
Deathloop
Deathloop

One of the main features of Deathloop is the degree of freedom it allows. Thanks to a large selection of weapons, gadgets and abilities, players can freely customise their play style. The stealth system is robust, and so is gunplay. However, motion feels a bit more fluid in games such as Doom, and AI is not as advanced as it could have been. Visually, Deathloop also has something to offer. There is a lot of visual variety in the game in contrast to many other modern titles.

Deathloop
Deathloop
Deathloop
Deathloop

Overall, the visuals can be described as good to very good. Both textures and effects look impressive. The PC version of the game offers a very comprehensive graphics settings menu. While the Video tab contains 15 settings (one of them for optional upscaling), the Advanced tab also features about 15 settings, all of which can be changed in one fell swoop thanks to the included presets. The presets range from Very Low to Ultra (six in total). Very nice: Graphics changes can be applied without a restart.

Deathloop
Deathloop
Deathloop
Deathloop

Arkane Studios really needs to work on optimising the VRAM usage. According to the built-in VRAM gauge, Deathloop gobbles up VRAM like hot pancakes. To run the game on ultra settings at 1080p, you will need a GPU with at least 6 GB of VRAM. If you want to game at 4K on ultra settings, a graphics card with 8 GB of VRAM will be required. We shall see how things actually stand in our benchmarks. Deathloop is supposed to support ray tracing. Because there is only one RT effect (soft shadows), which is coupled with the presets, we shall not conduct any additional ray-tracing benchmarks.

Deathloop
Deathloop
Deathloop
Deathloop
Deathloop
Deathloop

Benchmark

We created our own benchmark sequence for this performance analysis. Our benchmark takes place in The Complex (about one hour into the game). As you can see from the video below, in our benchmark the main character runs for 30 seconds outside The Complex. We use CapFrameX to capture the frame rate data. Deathloop features a hard 120-FPS cap, meaning that at 1080p on reduced settings the frame rate often hits the ceiling when gaming with powerful GPUs.

Results

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

FHD (1920x1080)

Deathloop will not run on a GPU with a 2 GB frame buffer. Entry-level GPUs such as the MX350 and MX450 cannot handle the game even on the lowest settings. Here, 4 GB is the bare minimum. Mid-range graphics cards on the level of the GeForce GTX 1650 (Ti) can run Deathloop on the medium preset at 1080p. An upper mid-range GPU such as the GTX 1660 Ti is required to achieve playable frame rates on the highest settings. 

Deathloop
    1920x1080 Low Preset     1920x1080 Medium Preset     1920x1080 High Preset     1920x1080 Ultra Preset
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, i9-9900K
MSI GeForce RTX 3070 Ventus 3X
120 (24.7min, 96P0.1, 105P1) fps ∼63%
119 (84.7min, 98.7P0.1, 105P1) fps ∼60%
119 (80.8min, 88.4P0.1, 100P1) fps ∼6%
109 (75.8min, 79.2P0.1, 85.4P1) fps ∼63%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Neo 17 @140 W TGP
120 (28.1min, 94.7P0.1, 106P1) fps ∼63%
118 (4.52min, 78P0.1, 103P1) fps ∼60%
110 (44.5min, 73.5P0.1, 88.9P1) fps ∼6%
100 (37min, 55.3P0.1, 75.3P1) fps ∼57%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Neo 15 @165 W TGP
120 (42.6min, 93.2P0.1, 108P1) fps ∼63%
120 (28.3min, 93.8P0.1, 107P1) fps ∼61%
113 (46.5min, 74.4P0.1, 93.4P1) fps ∼6%
107 (41min, 65.8P0.1, 82.5P1) fps ∼61%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, i9-9900K
MSI GeForce RTX 3090 Suprim X
119 (95.7min, 99P0.1, 105P1) fps ∼62%
119 (23.8min, 92.1P0.1, 103P1) fps ∼60%
118 (86.8min, 88.7P0.1, 98.5P1) fps ∼6%
114 (80.9min, 82.5P0.1, 89.6P1) fps ∼66%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, i9-9900K
MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Gaming X Trio
119 (87.5min, 96.4P0.1, 103P1) fps ∼62%
119 (62.6min, 93.2P0.1, 101P1) fps ∼60%
119 (24.9min, 91.7P0.1, 103P1) fps ∼6%
114 (80.3min, 83.1P0.1, 89.4P1) fps ∼66%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Core 15 @130 W TGP
116 (19.2min, 27.4P0.1, 94.3P1) fps ∼61%
107 (18min, 23.4P0.1, 88.3P1) fps ∼54%
90.6 (20.5min, 46.5P0.1, 68.7P1) fps ∼5%
81.3 (32.2min, 35P0.1, 42.9P1) fps ∼47%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile, i7-9750H
MSI GP65 Leopard 9SD
92.8 (15.6min, 18.5P0.1, 74.8P1) fps ∼49%
81.5 (18.5min, 60.4P0.1, 68.3P1) fps ∼41%
65.6 (26.1min, 49.4P0.1, 52.6P1) fps ∼4%
57.4 (25.9min, 43.3P0.1, 45.9P1) fps ∼33%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
SCHENKER XMG Focus 17
79.6 (17.8min, 58P0.1, 63.3P1) fps ∼42%
70.2 (27.6min, 56.5P0.1, 58.5P1) fps ∼35%
49.3 (24min, 37.8P0.1, 39P1) fps ∼3%
42.2 (21.5min, 29.9P0.1, 31.4P1) fps ∼24%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti Mobile, i7-10750H
MSI GP75
64.6 (20.1min, 45.4P0.1, 50.9P1) fps ∼34%
56.4 (19.7min, 43.6P0.1, 47.2P1) fps ∼28%
43.8 (17.5min, 18.5P0.1, 36.6P1) fps ∼2%
40.4 (17min, 20.9P0.1, 33.2P1) fps ∼23%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile, i7-10750H
MSI GL75
59 (18.7min, 36.8P0.1, 46.4P1) fps ∼31%
51.2 (17.5min, 26.3P0.1, 39.7P1) fps ∼26%
37.3 (15.1min, 15.6P0.1, 27.3P1) fps ∼2%
34.3 (14.9min, 19.9P0.1, 27.2P1) fps ∼20%
NVIDIA GeForce MX450, i7-11370H
Xiaomi RedmiBook Pro 15
11.1 (6.99min, 7.11P0.1, 7.77P1) fps ∼6%
6.94 (4.03min, 4.2P0.1, 4.85P1) fps ∼4%
6.34 (2.64min, 2.81P0.1, 3.85P1) fps ∼0%
5.81 (3.76min, 3.81P0.1, 4.16P1) fps ∼3%
NVIDIA GeForce MX350, i5-10210U
Honor Magicbook Pro
9.96 (5.56min, 5.91P0.1, 7.11P1) fps ∼5%
8.17 (5.02min, 5.08P0.1, 5.63P1) fps ∼4%
6.62 (4.1min, 4.14P0.1, 4.58P1) fps ∼0%
6.4 (3.06min, 3.36P0.1, 4.46P1) fps ∼4%

QHD (2560x1440)

For an enjoyable 1440p gaming experience, a high-end GPU with 6 GB of VRAM is a must. You will need something like a GeForce RTX 3060 to run Deathloop at 1440p on the ultra preset at decent frame rates.

Deathloop
    2560x1440 Ultra Preset
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, i9-9900K
MSI GeForce RTX 3090 Suprim X
114 (78.1min, 81.3P0.1, 88P1) fps ∼67%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, i9-9900K
MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Gaming X Trio
108 (60.3min, 75P0.1, 82.6P1) fps ∼64%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, i9-9900K
MSI GeForce RTX 3070 Ventus 3X
82.9 (14.5min, 17.2P0.1, 62.1P1) fps ∼49%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Neo 15 @165 W TGP
80.3 (38.8min, 59.9P0.1, 65.6P1) fps ∼47%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Neo 17 @140 W TGP
72 (15.7min, 15.9P0.1, 58P1) fps ∼42%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Core 15 @130 W TGP
58.7 (31.8min, 46.5P0.1, 48.9P1) fps ∼35%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile, i7-9750H
MSI GP65 Leopard 9SD
40.1 (21.2min, 33.7P0.1, 34.7P1) fps ∼24%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti Mobile, i7-10750H
MSI GP75
26.3 (11.7min, 13.7P0.1, 22.3P1) fps ∼15%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile, i7-10750H
MSI GL75
22.1 (12.3min, 14.9P0.1, 17.9P1) fps ∼13%

UHD (3840x2160)

At 4K, even the most capable GPUs with 8 to 16 GB of VRAM are struggling. Among laptop GPUs, only the RTX 3070 and the RTX 3080 can handle Dealthloop at 4K. However, the highest-end desktop graphics cards can hit even 60 FPS on average.

Deathloop
    3840x2160 Ultra Preset
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, i9-9900K
MSI GeForce RTX 3090 Suprim X
77.5 (51.6min, 61.8P0.1, 64.6P1) fps ∼45%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, i9-9900K
MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Gaming X Trio
68.5 (48.9min, 57.1P0.1, 58.6P1) fps ∼40%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, i9-9900K
MSI GeForce RTX 3070 Ventus 3X
49.7 (14.5min, 16.4P0.1, 42.5P1) fps ∼29%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Neo 15 @165 W TGP
44.9 (30.1min, 37.6P0.1, 39.8P1) fps ∼26%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Neo 17 @140 W TGP
40.3 (14.3min, 15.2P0.1, 33.7P1) fps ∼23%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Core 15 @130 W TGP
32.8 (21.2min, 26.9P0.1, 28.2P1) fps ∼19%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile, i7-9750H
MSI GP65 Leopard 9SD
21 (13.7min, 16.5P0.1, 18.8P1) fps ∼12%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti Mobile, i7-10750H
MSI GP75
11.9 (9.29min, 9.33P0.1, 10P1) fps ∼7%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile, i7-10750H
MSI GL75
8.11 (6.26min, 6.48P0.1, 7.11P1) fps ∼5%

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

Annoying: Our all-AMD laptop Dell G5 (Ryzen 7 4800H & Radeon RX 5600M) could not launch Deathloop with the dedicated GPU, even though we used the latest GPU drivers.

Overview

Show Restrictions
PosModel< PrevNext >Deathloop
 Deathloop (2021)
low
1280x720
Very 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 3090
122
119n2
119n2
115n2
110.5n2
70.85n2
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU
130.5
129.4
123.5
112.8
60.7
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080
119
119
114
108
68.5
NVIDIA Titan RTX
128
125
124
119
91.6
51.8
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Laptop GPU
143
133
112
80.2
44.4
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU
139.9
129.8
106.3
65.4
37.4
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070
119
119
109
82.9
49.7
AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT
134
134
117
95.4
65.9
34.5
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU
120
113
107
80.3
44.9
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Laptop GPU
122.8n2
105.15n2
85.25n2
59.35n2
30.8
AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT
134
123
86
75.7
51.2
20.8
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU
117.5n2
108n2
95.05n2
72
40.3
AMD Radeon RX 6800S
121
98.1
71.4
48.9
24.4
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
120
102
87.3
72
51.9
28
AMD Radeon RX 6700M
99.8
85.1
77.3
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal
120
111
94.8
78.9
57.1
31.3
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Super (Desktop)
119
115
103
57.45n2
59.4
AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT (Desktop)
131
119
98.6
71.9
49.8
25.8
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU
132
104.5n2
81.8n3
81.3n3
54.3n2
30.4n2
PosModel< PrevNext >Deathloop
low med. high ultra QHD 4K
AMD Radeon RX 7600S
112.1
93.2
69.4
48.7
23
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Super (Desktop)
119
102
86.9
69
46.8
27.4
AMD Radeon RX 6600
131
106
87.6
65.6
44.1
21.2
AMD Radeon RX 5700 (Desktop)
132
108
89.6
65.4
44.7
23.9
AMD Radeon RX 6600M
98
80.9
58.8
AMD Radeon RX 6700S
110.8
89
66.3
39.6
AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT (Desktop)
135
102
72.4
52.6
38.7
17.6
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Super (Desktop)
131
81.5
66.5
50.9
35
18.1
AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT (Desktop)
118
69.4
57
41.3
28.8
14.5
Intel Arc A730M
76.2
65.5
54.6
37
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile
81.5
65.6
57.4
40.1
21
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU
71.3n2
53.35n2
46.7n2
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 (Desktop)
117
74.2
60.1
49
33.5
16.8
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Super (Desktop)
105
62.8
49.6
19.87n2
24.9
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4GB Laptop GPU
109
63.4
51.7
38.1
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile
81
55.5
43.4
34.7
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti Mobile
56.4
43.8
40.4
26.3
11.9
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2050 Mobile
77.9
39.5
30.1
22.4
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 (Desktop)
98.4
51.4
40
31.4
20
3.13
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile
51.2
37.3
34.3
22.1
8.11
PosModel< PrevNext >Deathloop
low med. high ultra QHD 4K
NVIDIA T600 Laptop GPU
68.9
34.4
28.4
25.2
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile
36.8
23.6
20.7
16.8
AMD Radeon 680M
80.1
38.1
29.5
24.5
NVIDIA GeForce MX450
27.7
10.22n2
8.67n2
5.81
AMD Radeon 660M
45.5
23.3
18.1
AMD Radeon RX 560X (Laptop)
39.7
23.2
19.8
NVIDIA GeForce MX350
8.17
6.62
6.4
AMD Radeon RX 550 (Laptop)
8.99
NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 (Desktop)
11.9
AMD Radeon 540X
17.1
AMD Radeon RX Vega 10
22.8
AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 4000/5000)
32.2n2
15.75n2
13.7
AMD Radeon RX Vega 7
29.1
14.2
11.7
AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 2000/3000)
23.7
11.2
AMD Radeon RX Vega 6 (Ryzen 2000/3000)
11.6
(-) * 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 @85 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
Honor MagicBook Pro Nvidia GeForce MX350 (2 GB GDDR5) Intel Core i7-10210U 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 2080 Super (8 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 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 16 GB DDR4 Windows 10 64 Bit
4K monitors Nvidia drivers AMD drivers
Asus PB287Q, Philips Brilliance 329P9H, Acer Predator XB321HK ForceWare 471.96 Adrenalin 21.9.1
static version load dynamic
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Florian Glaser, 2021-09-22 (Update: 2021-09-23)