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EA Sports WRC in review: Laptop and desktop benchmarks

Technically average.

In association with EA, the British firm Codemasters, known for the F1, Dirt, and Grit series among others, has released a brand-new racing game. We reviewed the WRC hardware specifications in further detail.
EA Sports WRC

Test systems

XMG Neo 17 E23 (RTX 4090)
XMG Neo 17 E23 (RTX 4090)
Razer Blade 16 Mid 23 (RTX 4080)
Razer Blade 16 Mid 23 (RTX 4080)
XMG Pro 15 E23 (RTX 4070)
XMG Pro 15 E23 (RTX 4070)
Razer Blade 14 Mid 23 (RTX 4060)
Razer Blade 14 Mid 23 (RTX 4060)
Medion Erazer Scout E20 (RTX 4050)
Medion Erazer Scout E20 (RTX 4050)
Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 (RTX 3080 Ti)
Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 (RTX 3080 Ti)
Asus TUF Gaming Advantage A16 (RX 7600S & 780M)
Asus TUF Gaming Advantage A16 (RX 7600S & 780M)
be quiet! Silent Base 802 (RTX 4080 & RX 7900 XT)
be quiet! Silent Base 802 (RTX 4080 & RX 7900 XT)
Philips Evnia 8000 Series 41,5" UHD OLED gaming monitor
Philips Evnia 8000 Series 41,5" UHD OLED gaming monitor

We have been running gaming benchmarks on these devices. Clicking on the images will take you to the company's website. More information about the requirements may be found at the end of the article.

Tech

EA Sports WRC is based on the Unreal Engine 4, which has always delivered decent to very good graphic results. In the case of WRC, however, the developers do not fully exploit the potential. While adjacent things are extremely clear and crisp, distant objects, even on the highest settings, are somewhat muddy, if they are presented at all, and do not "pop" into the screen, which regrettably happens quite frequently.

EA Sports WRC
EA Sports WRC
EA Sports WRC
EA Sports WRC
EA Sports WRC
EA Sports WRC

We would even characterize WRC as ugly at low or minimal settings. Below high details, the title appears rather small (the image also tends to flicker a lot owing to lesser edge smoothing). In addition, regardless of the hardware installed, we frequently had to deal with ugly intermediate jerks and low minimum FPS during the test, which further reduced the enjoyment of driving.

EA Sports WRC
EA Sports WRC
EA Sports WRC
EA Sports WRC
EA Sports WRC
EA Sports WRC

Codemasters deserve credit for their successful vehicles. Aside from the overall driving style, the engine sound, the level of realism, and the destruction model are all remarkable. 
Furthermore, the title offers a lush density of vegetation (at least at close range), varied regions and tracks, and some nice effects (dust etc.). Racing wheel support is also included in WRC and for example the Thrustmaster T248 was instantly recognized and worked without changing any settings.

EA Sports WRC
EA Sports WRC
EA Sports WRC

The graphics menu scarcely has anything to be unhappy about. The Advanced tab offers nearly 20 quality and detail options, which can be conveniently adjusted in one go via preset and do not require a restart. The Basic tab handles resolution, picture mode, anti-aliasing, VSync, anisotropic filtering, and optional upscaling (FSR and DLSS are supported). Another useful feature is that all options are described, although the creators have omitted comparative images. Apart from a solitary, non-reproducible crash, WRC ran stable. The Steam version we tested required around 85 GB on the hard disk (approximately 72 GB download).

Benchmark

Because the WRC lacks an integrated benchmark, we used a time trial in Croatia for the speed measurements, specifically on the Bliznec track in dry circumstances using the Puma Rally1 Hybrid (see video). The frame rate is captured using the CapFrameX tool from the beginning until the first time measurement, which takes around a minute. 40 FPS is sufficient for proper gaming; 60 FPS or above is optimal.

Results


FHD (1,920 x 1,080)

Despite iGPUS's moderate graphics appetite, the title often overpowers it. When using a combination of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels and the Low preset, even AMD's Radeon 780M only achieves about 30 frames per second (the Ultra Low preset, on the other hand, runs at a consistently high 70 frames per second). However, you are well positioned in Full HD with a pretty modern mid-range GPU. Here, the GeForce RTX 4050 and the Radeon RX 7600S both surpass 60 frames per second at high detail.

EA Sports WRC
    1920x1080 Low Preset AA:Low AF:16x     1920x1080 Medium Preset AA:Medium AF:16x     1920x1080 High Preset AA:High AF:16x     1920x1080 Ultra Preset AA:Epic AF:16x
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, i9-13900K
Desktop-PC Asus ROG Strix Z790-F
179.5 (53.6min, 123.2P0.1, 148.2P1) fps ∼100%
170.1 (51.6min, 106.6P0.1, 140.5P1) fps ∼100%
153 (53.9min, 85.3P0.1, 126.4P1) fps ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX
XMG Neo 17 E23
124.4 (19.3min, 21.3P0.1, 95.7P1) fps ∼69%
117.2 (17.7min, 20.7P0.1, 88.6P1) fps ∼69%
105.4 (6.67min, 21.8P0.1, 81.2P1) fps ∼69%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU, i9-13950HX
Razer Blade 16 Mid 23
115.1 (27.9min, 36.1P0.1, 72.4P1) fps ∼64%
107.3 (33.3min, 41.3P0.1, 69.1P1) fps ∼63%
97.8 (29.5min, 37.1P0.1, 68.5P1) fps ∼64%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Laptop GPU, i9-12900H
Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 G733ZX
107.8 (6.76min, 34.2P0.1, 69.8P1) fps ∼60%
101 (22.6min, 37.8P0.1, 63.7P1) fps ∼59%
91.6 (11min, 36.3P0.1, 60.9P1) fps ∼60%
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT, i9-13900K
Desktop-PC Asus ROG Strix Z790-F
104.4 (38.8min, 71.3P0.1, 82.7P1) fps ∼58%
97.9 (14.3min, 56.6P0.1, 78.1P1) fps ∼58%
90 (6.75min, 42.1P0.1, 71.8P1) fps ∼59%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX
XMG Pro 15 E23
94.9 (9.52min, 37.4P0.1, 70.6P1) fps ∼53%
89.6 (25.2min, 38.6P0.1, 66.7P1) fps ∼53%
81.2 (22.7min, 42.3P0.1, 61.1P1) fps ∼53%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU, R9 7940HS
Razer Blade 14 Mid 23
91.5 (24.1min, 41.3P0.1, 70.3P1) fps ∼51%
85.7 (26.1min, 39.8P0.1, 62.5P1) fps ∼50%
78.4 (21.9min, 39.1P0.1, 58.5P1) fps ∼51%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU, i7-13700H
Medion Erazer Scout E20
79 (35.8min, 58.7P0.1, 65.9P1) fps ∼44%
72.9 (20.6min, 51.5P0.1, 60P1) fps ∼43%
67.3 (41.9min, 49.4P0.1, 55.9P1) fps ∼44%
AMD Radeon RX 7600S, R9 7940HS
Asus TUF Gaming Advantage A16
80.4 (15.1min, 50.5P0.1, 63.2P1) fps ∼45%
73.7 (32.2min, 46.2P0.1, 58.9P1) fps ∼43%
66.6 (5.87min, 37.1P0.1, 55P1) fps ∼44%
AMD Radeon 780M, R9 7940HS
Asus TUF Gaming Advantage A16
30.6 (9.13min, 11.6P0.1, 18.1P1) fps ∼100%
20.8 (5.42min, 10.8P0.1, 17.1P1) fps ∼12%
18.5 (7.01min, 10P0.1, 15.5P1) fps ∼11%
17.3 (11.4min, 13.2P0.1, 14.9P1) fps ∼11%

QHD (2,560 x 1,440)

A quick mid-range model is also enough for QHD. The aforementioned RX 7600S or RTX 4050 gets better than 40 FPS with 2,560 x 1,440 pixels and the Ultra setting.

EA Sports WRC
    2560x1440 Ultra Preset AA:Epic AF:16x
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, i9-13900K
Desktop-PC Asus ROG Strix Z790-F
149.4 (49.4min, 94.9P0.1, 121.8P1) fps ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX
XMG Neo 17 E23
103 (13.4min, 21.3P0.1, 76.4P1) fps ∼69%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU, i9-13950HX
Razer Blade 16 Mid 23
94.3 (9.64min, 31.9P0.1, 61P1) fps ∼63%
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT, i9-13900K
Desktop-PC Asus ROG Strix Z790-F
87.9 (38min, 58.2P0.1, 71.2P1) fps ∼59%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Laptop GPU, i9-12900H
Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 G733ZX
72.9 (4.49min, 27.7P0.1, 49.6P1) fps ∼49%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX
XMG Pro 15 E23
68.8 (13.6min, 30.9P0.1, 54.1P1) fps ∼46%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU, R9 7940HS
Razer Blade 14 Mid 23
59.6 (20.4min, 30.1P0.1, 45.8P1) fps ∼40%
AMD Radeon RX 7600S, R9 7940HS
Asus TUF Gaming Advantage A16
48.2 (13min, 27.4P0.1, 40.4P1) fps ∼32%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU, i7-13700H
Medion Erazer Scout E20
42.9 (8.54min, 20.3P0.1, 36.4P1) fps ∼29%

UHD (3,840 x 2,160)

It only gets demanding in the 4K range. While a GeForce RTX 4060 is sufficient for full details with quality DLSS, a genuine high-end or top model (GeForce RTX 3080 Ti or better) is required without DLSS.

EA Sports WRC
    3840x2160 Ultra Preset AA:Epic AF:16x     3840x2160 Ultra Preset + Quality DLSS AA:Epic AF:16x
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, i9-13900K
Desktop-PC Asus ROG Strix Z790-F
89.1 (37.7min, 49.4P0.1, 75.3P1) fps ∼100%
128.9 (21.8min, 84.4P0.1, 107.4P1) fps ∼100%
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT, i9-13900K
Desktop-PC Asus ROG Strix Z790-F
81.6 (7.6min, 36.1P0.1, 63.3P1) fps ∼92%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX
XMG Neo 17 E23
67.9 (10.1min, 17.7P0.1, 39.2P1) fps ∼76%
95.8 (7.58min, 20P0.1, 71.3P1) fps ∼74%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU, i9-13950HX
Razer Blade 16 Mid 23
57.3 (19.1min, 25.4P0.1, 43.9P1) fps ∼64%
81.2 (25.9min, 38.2P0.1, 56.6P1) fps ∼63%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Laptop GPU, i9-12900H
Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 G733ZX
42.9 (21.9min, 25.4P0.1, 35.5P1) fps ∼48%
61.5 (22.9min, 29.1P0.1, 49.6P1) fps ∼48%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX
XMG Pro 15 E23
37.7 (5.06min, 19.8P0.1, 31P1) fps ∼42%
56.2 (19.5min, 30P0.1, 46.5P1) fps ∼44%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU, R9 7940HS
Razer Blade 14 Mid 23
32.6 (3.47min, 6.88P0.1, 26.3P1) fps ∼37%
49.3 (7.23min, 25.8P0.1, 38.6P1) fps ∼38%
AMD Radeon RX 7600S, R9 7940HS
Asus TUF Gaming Advantage A16
26.6 (8.35min, 10.8P0.1, 22.8P1) fps ∼30%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU, i7-13700H
Medion Erazer Scout E20
22 (7.87min, 17.6P0.1, 19.1P1) fps ∼25%
38.2 (23.7min, 29.2P0.1, 32.9P1) fps ∼30%

Overview

Show Restrictions
PosModel< PrevNext >EA Sports WRC
 EA Sports WRC (2023)
low
1920x1080
Low Preset
16xAF LowAA
med.
1920x1080
Medium Preset
16xAF MediumAA
high
1920x1080
High Preset
16xAF HighAA
ultra
1920x1080
Ultra Preset
16xAF EpicAA
QHD
2560x1440
Ultra Preset
16xAF EpicAA
4K DLSS
3840x2160
Ultra Preset + Quality DLSS
16xAF EpicAA
4K
3840x2160
Ultra Preset
16xAF EpicAA
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090
239.5n2
158.95n2
148.05n2
143.65n2
139.55n2
131.4n2
120.85n2
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX
322
209
195.5
188.9
179.2
106.8
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Super
300n2
204.5n2
191.35n2
184.55n2
158.4n2
131.7n2
90.85n2
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080
179.5
170.1
153
149.4
128.9
89.1
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT
104.4
97.9
90
87.9
81.6
AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT
272
178.9
162.9
158.9
128.2
76.7
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU
124.4
126.2n2
110.25n2
100.45n2
95.8
67.9
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090
234.5n2
169.25n2
158.2n2
147.75n2
114.8n2
96.9n2
67.65n2
AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT
287
182.9
163.2
143
109.4
63.3
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU
115.1
107.3
97.8
94.3
81.2
57.3
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB
167.8
154.5
143.1
107.3
61.4
AMD Radeon RX 6800
240
150.9
138.4
123.4
95.6
55.7
AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT
240
155.8
140.4
125.5
92.8
51.8
NVIDIA Titan RTX
175.3
133.1
122.3
111.5
83.3
70.6
49.5
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti
191.4
146.5
134.9
126.3
93.8
77.5
52.2
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Laptop GPU
107.8
101
91.6
72.9
61.5
42.9
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU
147.4
94.9n3
89.6n3
81.2n3
67n3
55.35n2
37.2n2
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070
137.4
126.8
118.3
84.5
48.6
AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT
209
129.4
115.8
103.4
78.1
45.4
PosModel< PrevNext >EA Sports WRC
low med. high ultra QHD 4K DLSS 4K
AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT
192.8
123
110.2
98.2
74.1
42.5
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU
128.6n2
96.75n2
89.2n2
81.1n3
62n3
50.6n2
35.3n3
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti
164.2
122.3
113.4
105.2
75.5
62.2
41.7
Intel Arc A770
107.1
77.7
70.1
65.9
52.7
33.2
AMD Radeon RX 7600
158.8
107.4
95.8
86.1
61.2
33.8
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU
129.3
92.6n2
85.45n2
79n2
59.6
49.3
32.6
AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT
169
109.6
96.4
89
64
35.6
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU
130.8
98.1
90.7
83.4
63.2
52.5
35.5
AMD Radeon RX 7600M XT
145.8n2
97.7n2
87.65n2
79.2n2
56.75n2
31.35n2
Intel Arc A750
98.4
72.3
66
61
49
30.3
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal
118
85.4
78.6
71.7
53.7
31.8
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Super (Desktop)
134.4
100.8
93.3
85.5
62.2
50.8
34.9
AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT (Desktop)
138
89.4
80.1
72.6
52.7
30.1
AMD Radeon RX 7600S
80.4
73.7
66.6
48.2
26.6
Intel Arc A580
91.7
65.7
60.3
55.5
42.8
26.7
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Super (Desktop)
122.3
89.6
81.4
73
53.6
44
29.7
AMD Radeon RX 6600
133.7
90.1
79.6
71.7
51
27.6
AMD Radeon RX 5700 (Desktop)
123.5
79.3
72.4
65.6
47.7
26.9
AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT (Desktop)
113.9
71.8
64.6
58.3
43.4
22
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Super (Desktop)
82
59.6
55.4
50.6
35.7
11.1
PosModel< PrevNext >EA Sports WRC
low med. high ultra QHD 4K DLSS 4K
AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT
80.3
58.3
17.8
15.6
8.9
AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT (Desktop)
79
50
44.9
40.9
29.6
16.6
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU
75.1n2
69.75n2
64.15n2
42.9
38.2
22
Intel Arc A730M
65.9
48.8
42.9
40.2
27.8
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile
77.9
56.8
51.8
46.9
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 (Desktop)
76.1
55
50.8
47.1
27.8
12.9
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Super (Desktop)
71.3
55.3
31.4
27.4
10.7
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4GB Laptop GPU
65.7
51.8
34.4
30
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti Mobile
51.6
42.5
31.8
26.7
Intel Arc 8-Core iGPU
35.8
26.6
24.7
22.4
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2050 Mobile
33.8
27
20.4
14.9
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile
50.5
40.8
26.4
17.8
Intel Arc A380
41.2
30.2
27.5
25.2
Intel Arc 7-Core iGPU
28.6
21
19.2
17.9
Intel Arc A310
34.3
27.3
18.6
16.8
AMD Radeon 780M
36.5n2
24.9n2
22n2
20.6n2
16
AMD Radeon 760M
28.9
19.8
16.8
15.4
NVIDIA GeForce MX350
10.1
NVIDIA GeForce MX250
10.6
Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 80EUs
13.5
PosModel< PrevNext >EA Sports WRC
low med. high ultra QHD 4K DLSS 4K
Intel Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU)
12.4
Intel UHD Graphics Xe 32EUs (Tiger Lake-H)
11.1
Intel UHD Graphics 770
10.4
AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 4000/5000)
14.2
Intel UHD Graphics Xe 16EUs (Tiger Lake-H)
6.6
Intel UHD Graphics 620
5.46
AMD Radeon R5 M255
2.72
AMD Radeon RX Vega 3
6.99
(-) * 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 system details

Notebook Graphics card Processor Memory
XMG Neo 17 E23 Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 @175 W TGP (16 GB GDDR6X) Intel Core i9-13900HX 2 x 16 GB DDR5
Razer Blade 16 Mid 23 Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 @175 W TGP (12 GB GDDR6X) Intel Core i9-13950HX 2 x 16 GB DDR5
XMG Pro 15 E23 Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 @140 W TGP (8 GB GDDR6) Intel Core i9-13900HX 2 x 16 GB DDR5
Razer Blade 14 Mid 23 Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 @140 W TGP (8 GB GDDR6) AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS 2 x 8 GB DDR5
Medion Erazer Scout E20 Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 @100 W TGP (6 GB GDDR6) Intel Core i7-13700H 2 x 8 GB DDR5
Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti @150 W TGP (16 GB GDDR6) Intel Core i9-12900H 2 x 16 GB DDR5
Asus TUF Gaming Advantage A16 AMD Radeon RX 7600S (8 GB GDDR6) & AMD Radeon 780M AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS 2 x 8 GB DDR5
Tower-PC Graphics card Processor Memory
Asus ROG Strix Z790-F Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 (16 GB GDDR6X)
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT (20 GB GDDR6)
Intel Core i9-13900K 2 x 24 GB DDR5 G.Skill
4K monitor Operating system Nvidia driver AMD driver
Philips Evnia 42M2N8900 Windows 11 ForceWare 546.17 Adrenalin 23.11.1
static version load dynamic
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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > Reviews > EA Sports WRC in review: Laptop and desktop benchmarks
Florian Glaser, 2023-11-21 (Update: 2024-08-15)