Final Fantasy XV Laptop and Desktop Benchmarks
Technology
While we cannot yet judge the Windows version of the Luminous Engine which underpins Final Fantasy XV, such as the implementation of keyboard controls, the engine convinces us visually despite its hefty System requirements. As demonstrated in the screenshots and video below, Final Fantasy XV impresses on the PC with its enormous draw distance, thick vegetation and its attention to detail.
Added to that is the unique design, which while potentially looking somewhat strange for Western gamers at first, feels fresh and atmospheric. Moreover, when the texture quality is set to higher levels, Final Fantasy XV competes with the open-world competition, examples being Assassin's Creed Origins, Ghost Recon Wildlands and The Witcher 3.
If you would like to get a better idea of the expected performance of Final Fantasy on your Laptop or PC then go ahead and download the recently released free benchmarking tool. At just under 4 GB in size the tool offers only a handful of settings, but these should be enough to judge approximate framerates provided that performance does not markedly change upon release.
The benchmark tool includes options to test at three resolutions and with three qualitative presets. The resolutions are 1,280 x 720, 1,920 x 1,080, or 3,840 x 2,160 in windowed or full screen mode, and Lite, Standard and High qualitative presets. These vary the levels of antialiasing, draw distance, effects, lighting, shadows, and sharpness among others. Our editorial staff would consider good graphics to be at medium settings, while they consider high to maximum settings look first-class save for minor exceptions.
Meanwhile, the benchmark's built-in scoring system is contentious. Unusually, instead of distributing the refresh rate, the benchmark calculates a score and splits benchmarked machines into eight categories. The benchmark considers a system with a score of under two thousand points to render Final Fantasy XV unplayable, whereas a score of twelve thousand points is recommended for optimum performance. In our editorial staff's experience, a score of four and half thousand points or more is needed to play the game at relatively high settings and still at over forty frames per second.
There are several tables on the Square Enix benchmark homepage, which can compare your system's score with other graphics cards. This makes it easy to see whether your system's score is normal or below average.
As is the case with most games, Final Fantasy is GPU-heavy, with the CPU being a limiting factor when playing at lower qualities and resolutions. Bear in mind that one pass of the benchmark took, on average, in excess of six minutes. Integrated benchmarks typically are finished in under half that time. Our editorial staff would therefore recommend a greater degree of patience than usual when letting the Final Fantasy XV benchmark run.
Benchmarks
The high system requirements mean that Final Fantasy XV is unsuitable to be played on budget office and multimedia devices that have only a processor based or low-end dedicated GPU. Even a GeForce GTX 960M or GTX 1050 can only comfortably manage minimal details set at a resolution of 1,280 x 720. Moreover, our editorial staff could only consistently achieve forty FPS at 1,920 x 1,080 on Standard when using a minimum of a GeForce GTX 980M.
As may be expected, playing the game at the highest settings is out of reach for all but a few graphics cards. Playing comfortably at 1,920 x 1,080 on High required at least a GeForce GTX 980 or GTX 1060. While not officially supported by the benchmark, laptops with a GeForce GTX 1070 or GTX 1080 should sufficiently run at 2,560 x 1,440. By contrast, 3,840 x 2,160 currently overwhelms all notebook GPUs and even gives a GeForce GTX 1080 Ti a run for its money.
Final Fantasy XV Benchmark | |
3840x2160 High Quality 1920x1080 High Quality 1920x1080 Standard Quality 1280x720 Lite Quality | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Desktop), 4790K | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop), 6700K | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop), 4790K | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Mobile, i7-7820HK | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop), 6700K | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Mobile, 6820HK | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti, 4790K | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop), 6700K | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980, 6700K | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile, 6820HK | |
AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop), 4790K | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970, 4790K | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M, 6700HQ | |
AMD Radeon RX 470 (Desktop), 4790K | |
AMD Radeon R9 280X, 4790K | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M, 6700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile, i7-7700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (Desktop), 4790K | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M, 6700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile, i7-7700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile, i7-7700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (Desktop), 4790K | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M, i7-7700HQ | |
AMD Radeon RX 460 (Desktop), 4790K | |
AMD Radeon R7 370, 4790K | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M, 6700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce MX150, i7-7700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce 940MX, 6700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce 940M, 5700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce 920M, 2970M | |
AMD Radeon R9 M280X, FX-7600P | |
Intel HD Graphics 630, i7-7700HQ |
Update
We have been able to look at the final version of the game given that Final Fantasy XV has now been released on PC. As the benchmark had already suggested, graphically Final Fantasy XV looks first-class. The screenshots below are at maximum details.
It is worth bearing in mind that you will need to have plenty of storage to appreciate the full Final Fantasy XV experience. The game requires 148 GB of storage including the freely available high-resolution DLC. Because of this record-breaking storage requirement, we installed Final Fantasy XV onto an external HDD rather than on our test equipment SSDs. This resulted in extremely high load times.
Conversely, the retail version has many graphics options, all of which can be applied without restarting the game and are outlined by text. NVIDIA GPU owners should be pleased by the Gameworks effects, which include HairWorks, VXAO, TurfEffects, and ShadowLibs.
Together with the aforementioned high-resolution content, Final Fantasy XV is a beautiful game which tests hardware to its limits. Accordingly, Final Fantasy XV is heavy on RAM and video memory. Konami includes an optional FPS counter which provides various information to better understand the extent to which your system is being tested.
Speaking of that: Konami has implemented maximum frame rate limit of 120 FPS. During our testing, we rarely encountered technical problems, although on some devices we noticed strong stutters every now and again irrespective of settings.
We have re-tested Final Fantasy XV against some graphics cards to give you a better impression of the game’s final performance. We tested performance at medium to high quality, driving between the ‘Outpost Hammerhead’ and the quest location ‘The Errand Prince’. The settings used in this test are listed in the leftmost section of the table below.
Graphics card | HD Graphics 630 (7700HQ) | GeForce GTX 960M (2 GB GDDR5) | GeForce GTX 970M (3 GB GDDR5) | GeForce GTX 980M (4 GB GDDR5) | GeForce GTX 1060 (6 GB GDDR5) | GeForce GTX 1070 (8 GB GDDR5) | GeForce GTX 1080 Max-Q | GeForce GTX 1080 (8 GB GDDR5X) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1.920 x 1.080, Highest Preset, High-Res DLC, Nvidia Gameworks Effects | 1.2 FPS | 12 FPS | 24 FPS | 30 FPS | 39 FPS | 54 FPS | 57 FPS | 59 FPS |
2.560 x 1.440, Highest Preset, High-Res DLC, Nvidia Gameworks Effects | - | 9 FPS | 17 FPS | 20 FPS | 25 FPS | 37 FPS | 42 FPS | 41 FPS |
Overview
Test Systems
Device | Graphics Card | Processor | RAM | Operating System |
---|---|---|---|---|
Desktop-PC I | MSI GeForce GTX 1080 (8 GB GDDR5X) MSI GeForce GTX 1070 (8 GB GDDR5) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 (6 GB GDDR5) Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 (4 GB GDDR5) |
Intel Core i7-6700K | 2 x 8 GB DDR4 | Windows 10 64 Bit |
Desktop-PC II | Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (11 GB GDDR5X) Asus GeForce GTX 980 Ti (6 GB GDDR5) XFX Radeon R9 Fury (4 GB HBM) Sapphire Radeon R9 290X (4 GB GDDR5) Sapphire Radeon R9 280X (3 GB GDDR5) MSI Radeon R7 370 (2 GB GDDR5) |
Intel Core i7-4790K | 2 x 4 GB DDR3 | Windows 10 64 Bit |
Alienware 17 R4 | Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 (8 GB GDDR5X) | Intel Core i7-7820HK | 1 x 16 GB DDR4 | Windows 10 64 Bit |
Asus G752VS | Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 (8 GB GDDR5) | Intel Core i7-6820HK | 2 x 16 GB DDR4 | Windows 10 64 Bit |
MSI GT62VR | Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 (6 GB GDDR5) | Intel Core i7-6820HK | 2 x 8 GB DDR4 | Windows 10 64 Bit |
MSI GE72 | Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (4 GB GDDR5) | Intel Core i7-7700HQ | 2 x 4 GB DDR4 | Windows 10 64 Bit |
Asus GL753VD | Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 (4 GB GDDR5) | Intel Core i7-7700HQ | 1 x 8 GB DDR4 | Windows 10 64 Bit |
MSI GL62 | Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 (2 GB GDDR5) | Intel Core i7-7700HQ | 2 x 4 GB DDR4 | Windows 10 64 Bit |
Asus G752VY | Nvidia GeForce GTX 980M (4 GB GDDR5) | Intel Core i7-6700HQ | 2 x 16 GB DDR4 | Windows 10 64 Bit |
MSI GS60 | Nvidia GeForce GTX 970M (3 GB GDDR5) | Intel Core i7-6700HQ | 2 x 4 GB DDR4 | Windows 10 64 Bit |
MSI GE72 | Nvidia GeForce GTX 965M (2 GB GDDR5) | Intel Core i7-6700HQ | 1 x 8 GB DDR4 | Windows 10 64 Bit |
MSI GL72 | Nvidia GeForce GTX 960M (2 GB GDDR5) | Intel Core i7-7700HQ | 1 x 8 GB DDR4 | Windows 10 64 Bit |
MSI PE60 | Nvidia GeForce GTX 950M (2 GB GDDR5) | Intel Core i7-6700HQ | 2 x 4 GB DDR4 | Windows 10 64 Bit |
MSI PL62 | Nvidia GeForce MX150 (2 GB GDDR5) | Intel Core i7-7700HQ | 1 x 8 GB DDR4 | Windows 10 64 Bit |
MSI CX72 | Nvidia GeForce 940MX (2 GB DDR3) | Intel Core i7-6700HQ | 2 x 8 GB DDR4 | Windows 10 64 Bit |
MSI GP62 | Nvidia GeForce 940M (2 GB DDR3) | Intel Core i7-5700HQ | 1 x 8 GB DDR3 | Windows 10 64 Bit |
MSI CX61 | Nvidia GeForce 920M (2 GB DDR3) | Intel Celeron 2970M | 1 x 8 GB DDR3 | Windows 10 64 Bit |
Asus N551ZU | AMD Radeon R9 M280X (4 GB GDDR5) | AMD FX-7600P | 2 x 4 GB DDR3 | Windows 10 64 Bit |
4K Monitor | Nvidia Driver | AMD Driver |
---|---|---|
2 x Asus PB287Q, Philips 328P6VJEB | ForceWare 390.77 | Adrenalin 18.2.1 |