Helldivers 2 tech review: Laptop and desktop benchmarks

Co-op shooter. Helldivers 2 has climbed pretty far up the Steam charts within a short time after its release. This is enough reason for us to take a closer look at the hardware requirements of this promising title.

Florian Glaser, 👁 Florian Glaser (translated by Zhiwei Zhuang), Published 02/15/2024 🇩🇪 🇸🇪 ...

Test systems

Asus TUF Gaming Advantage A16 (RX 7600S & 780M)

be quiet! Silent Base 802 (RTX 4080 & RX 7900 XT)

Philips Evnia 8000 Series 41.5" UHD OLED gaming-monitor

We currently carry out our gaming benchmarks using these devices. Clicking on the photos will take you to the respective manufacturer's website. More details on the specifications are listed at the end of the article.

Tech

Unlike its predecessor, which was still played from a top-down view, Helldivers 2 now takes place from a third-person perspective. Although the engine behind the game is still struggling with a few problems (e.g. poor performance on AMD GPUs; many users have reported crashes), Helldivers 2 cuts an excellent figure based on visuals alone. Besides the game's textures, the flashy effects are also particularly impressive.

Gameplay-wise, Helldivers 2 also made a fantastic impression during our brief play session. The fluid movement, combined with outstanding gunplay, results in enjoyable controls that are easy to get a hang of. The nicely made tutorials also help players get into the game quickly. In terms of style (e.g. monster design) and story, Helldivers 2 reminds us a lot of the trash classic Starship Troopers.

Swedish game developer Arrowhead Game Studios deserves praise for the surprisingly comprehensive options menu. The Display tab lets you change settings like resolution, render scale (with optional upscaling), display mode and V-Sync. Awaiting you in the Graphics tab are four convenient presets that modify numerous detail and quality settings. Less than optimal is the fact that texture quality isn’t affected by the presets, meaning you’ll always have to adjust it manually. According to explanation provided, the following amounts of VRAM are recommended for each preset: 3 GB for Low, 6 GB for Medium, 8 GB for High and 10 GB for Ultra.

By contrast, it’s fantastic that you can modify any of the settings without having to restart the game. In our opinion, Helldivers 2 is a great-looking game at medium settings and above. The download size on Steam is a compact 20 GB, but the game takes up roughly 70 GB of storage space after installations.

Benchmark

The player’s ship is used as the backdrop for our benchmarks. It serves as a base of operation and can even be renamed by the player. Using CapFrameX, we recorded a 30-second sequence of the player character running around the command bridge (see video). The game’s hardware requirements are fairly moderate, i.e. neither low nor especially high.

Results

FHD (1,920 x 1,080)

Integrated GPUs have some work cut out for them in Helldivers 2. Even the relatively snappy Radeon 780M can only manage about 40 fps at 720p and the lowest settings. Going up to Full HD makes the game unplayable at all setting levels. The situation is much more comfortable if you have a fairly modern mid-range GPU or better. For instance, a Radeon RX 7600S is already good enough for the Ultra preset.

Helldivers 2
1920x1080 Low Preset 1920x1080 Medium Preset 1920x1080 High Preset 1920x1080 Ultra Preset
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, i9-13900K Desktop-PC Asus ROG Strix Z790-F	215 (63.3^min, 164.2^P0.1, 180.2^P1) fps ∼100% 209 (66.4^min, 156.2^P0.1, 176.1^P1) fps ∼100% 204 (78.3^min, 155.9^P0.1, 168.2^P1) fps ∼100% 200 (82.7^min, 154.1^P0.1, 167.3^P1) fps ∼100%
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT, i9-13900K Desktop-PC Asus ROG Strix Z790-F	153.8 (3.59^min, 20.6^P0.1, 134.8^P1) fps ∼72% 149.3 (35^min, 117.3^P0.1, 127.8^P1) fps ∼71% 148.1 (72.1^min, 107.3^P0.1, 125.8^P1) fps ∼73% 147.4 (68^min, 119.4^P0.1, 127.7^P1) fps ∼74%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, i9-13900H Asus ROG Zephyrus M16	136.7 (58.2^min, 107.7^P0.1, 113.6^P1) fps ∼64% 136.7 (54.6^min, 98.7^P0.1, 112.2^P1) fps ∼65% 136.1 (53.3^min, 101^P0.1, 112.5^P1) fps ∼67% 130.2 (50.3^min, 100.1^P0.1, 107.8^P1) fps ∼65%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU, i9-13950HX Razer Blade 16 Mid 23	114.3 (41^min, 60.2^P0.1, 90.3^P1) fps ∼53% 109.5 (35.5^min, 59.1^P0.1, 87.2^P1) fps ∼52% 106.5 (44.6^min, 50.9^P0.1, 70.2^P1) fps ∼52% 106.4 (37.1^min, 45.1^P0.1, 77.5^P1) fps ∼53%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX XMG Pro 15 E23	129.5 (46.3^min, 88.3^P0.1, 102.7^P1) fps ∼60% 117.3 (41.8^min, 69.6^P0.1, 93^P1) fps ∼56% 107.5 (39.4^min, 69.2^P0.1, 86.8^P1) fps ∼53% 105.3 (38.4^min, 72.4^P0.1, 84.7^P1) fps ∼53%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU, R9 7940HS Razer Blade 14 Mid 23	117.9 (50.8^min, 73.3^P0.1, 90.6^P1) fps ∼55% 92.9 (29.7^min, 47.2^P0.1, 77.8^P1) fps ∼44% 84.7 (45.2^min, 62.6^P0.1, 74.7^P1) fps ∼42% 82.3 (12^min, 47.4^P0.1, 68.6^P1) fps ∼41%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU, i7-13700H Medion Erazer Scout E20	106.5 (34.1^min, 54^P0.1, 84.7^P1) fps ∼50% 82.2 (41.6^min, 51.9^P0.1, 68.8^P1) fps ∼39% 74.4 (36.3^min, 48.3^P0.1, 63.4^P1) fps ∼36% 72.1 (47.9^min, 48.3^P0.1, 59.4^P1) fps ∼36%
AMD Radeon RX 7600S, R9 7940HS Asus TUF Gaming Advantage A16	77.2 (13^min, 16^P0.1, 56.9^P1) fps ∼36% 64.4 (17.1^min, 18^P0.1, 50.9^P1) fps ∼31% 56 (14.5^min, 15^P0.1, 44.5^P1) fps ∼27% 54.3 (14.2^min, 14.6^P0.1, 44.1^P1) fps ∼27%
AMD Radeon 780M, R9 7940HS Asus TUF Gaming Advantage A16	23 (19.4^min, 19.7^P0.1, 20.4^P1) fps ∼11% 18.4 (6.65^min, 7.18^P0.1, 16.6^P1) fps ∼9% 17 (3.24^min, 5.61^P0.1, 15.5^P1) fps ∼8% 16.7 (14.3^min, 14.4^P0.1, 15^P1) fps ∼8%

QHD (2,560 x 1,440)

Helldivers 2 becomes slightly more demanding at QHD. The combination of 1440p and max settings is going require at least a GeForce RTX 4050 (or better yet, an RTX 4060).

Helldivers 2
2560x1440 Ultra Preset
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, i9-13900K Desktop-PC Asus ROG Strix Z790-F	162.4 (76.8^min, 137^P0.1, 147.8^P1) fps ∼100%
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT, i9-13900K Desktop-PC Asus ROG Strix Z790-F	122.5 (67^min, 108.8^P0.1, 113.5^P1) fps ∼75%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, i9-13900H Asus ROG Zephyrus M16	105.5 (52.4^min, 85.2^P0.1, 96.4^P1) fps ∼65%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU, i9-13950HX Razer Blade 16 Mid 23	96.8 (37.8^min, 51.5^P0.1, 65.2^P1) fps ∼60%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX XMG Pro 15 E23	75.2 (42.8^min, 46.8^P0.1, 68.1^P1) fps ∼46%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU, R9 7940HS Razer Blade 14 Mid 23	54 (8.75^min, 13.8^P0.1, 47.5^P1) fps ∼33%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU, i7-13700H Medion Erazer Scout E20	44.5 (9.88^min, 18.2^P0.1, 24.2^P1) fps ∼27%
AMD Radeon RX 7600S, R9 7940HS Asus TUF Gaming Advantage A16	36.7 (11.9^min, 12.9^P0.1, 28^P1) fps ∼23%

UHD (3,840 x 2,160)

You are going to need a true high-end graphics card to run the game at 4K. At this resolution and Ultra preset, a GeForce RTX 4070 or above is required to get reasonably smooth gameplay, but we recommend going straight for an RTX 4080.

Helldivers 2
3840x2160 Ultra Preset
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, i9-13900K Desktop-PC Asus ROG Strix Z790-F	96.3 (78.7^min, 86.2^P0.1, 89.1^P1) fps ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, i9-13900H Asus ROG Zephyrus M16	66.9 (41.6^min, 58.5^P0.1, 61.4^P1) fps ∼69%
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT, i9-13900K Desktop-PC Asus ROG Strix Z790-F	65.1 (57.7^min, 60^P0.1, 60.8^P1) fps ∼68%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU, i9-13950HX Razer Blade 16 Mid 23	59.6 (36.2^min, 46^P0.1, 53^P1) fps ∼62%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX XMG Pro 15 E23	40 (16.8^min, 21^P0.1, 32.9^P1) fps ∼42%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU, R9 7940HS Razer Blade 14 Mid 23	29.6 (10.1^min, 11.6^P0.1, 16.3^P1) fps ∼31%
AMD Radeon RX 7600S, R9 7940HS Asus TUF Gaming Advantage A16	18.8 (7.6^min, 8.38^P0.1, 10.1^P1) fps ∼20%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU, i7-13700H Medion Erazer Scout E20	17.8 (11.1^min, 12.3^P0.1, 13.5^P1) fps ∼18%

Note

Because gaming tests are highly time-consuming and often constrained by installation or activation limits, we are only able to deliver part of the benchmark results at the time of publishing this article. More graphics cards will be added subsequently.

Overview

Details of the test system

Notebook	Graphics card	Processor	Memory
Asus ROG Zephyrus M16	Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 @150 W TGP (16 GB GDDR6X)	Intel Core i9-13900H	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 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	Grafphics 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 drivers	AMD drivers
Philips Evnia 42M2N8900	Windows 11	ForceWare 551.23	Adrenalin 24.1.1

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Editor of the original article: Florian Glaser - Managing Editor Gaming Laptops - 615 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2009

I discovered my interest in computers in my childhood, growing up with MS-DOS and Windows 3.1 in the early 1990s. I was especially fascinated with computer games, even from an early age. From Monkey Island through Lands of Lore to Doom, I tried every game I could get my hands on. I have been working for Notebookcheck since 2009 with my focus mostly being on high-performance gaming laptops.

Translator: Zhiwei Zhuang - Translator - 150 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2022

After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in environmental engineering, I moved from Singapore to Cologne in 2014 and began pursuing a career as a freelance translator. Much of my translation work focuses on science, engineering and technology. My fascination with computers and mobile electronics began when I was young. And I have fond memories reading countless tech and gaming magazines. Working with Notebookcheck gives me the opportunity to incorporate my personal interests into my professional work.

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > Reviews > Helldivers 2 tech review: Laptop and desktop benchmarks

Florian Glaser, 2024-02-15 (Update: 2024-02-15)

Pos	Model	< Prev Next > Helldivers 2 (2024)
Pos	Model	low 1920x1080 Low Preset	med. 1920x1080 Medium Preset	high 1920x1080 High Preset	ultra 1920x1080 Ultra Preset	QHD 2560x1440 Ultra Preset	4K 3840x2160 Ultra Preset
2	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090	228	212	207	210	211	133.1
3	AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX	211	203	198	196.8	153.7	82.7
4	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Super	214	202	199.1	196.7	165.8	99.4
5	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080	215	209	204	200	162.4	96.3
8	AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT	153.8	149.3	148.1	147.4	122.5	65.1
11	AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT	211	174.1	157.5	155	112.3	59.9
12	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU	141.75ⁿ²	140.25ⁿ²	139.7ⁿ²	135.7ⁿ²	114.05ⁿ²	66.9
14	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090	225	189.6	169.2	167.4	129.7	75.7
22	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU	112.45ⁿ²	109.95ⁿ²	105.2ⁿ²	106.4ⁿ³	96.8ⁿ³	59.6
30	AMD Radeon RX 6800	170	136.6	122.3	119.9	84.5	44.5
32	NVIDIA Titan RTX	188.3	143.6	127.9	125.3	90.9	51.3
36	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Laptop GPU				112.4	82.7	47.9
37	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU	129.5	117.3	99.5ⁿ²	98.2ⁿ²	72.2ⁿ²	40
41	AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT	147.4	119.2	105.2	102.9	70.8	36.5
43	AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT	142.8	114.6	101.9	99.5	68.1	35.2
44	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU	125.9	95.2	85.6	91.85ⁿ²	68.05ⁿ²	39.25ⁿ²
45	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti	168.2	129.8	117.1	115	82.7	42.6
46	Intel Arc A770	121.9	94.9	91.4	90.1	69.2	39.8
48	AMD Radeon RX 7600	122.6	93.5	85	82.5	54.2	22.7
Pos	Model	< Prev Next >Helldivers 2
Pos	Model	low	med.	high	ultra	QHD	4K
53	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU	120.9ⁿ²	95.25ⁿ²	86.6ⁿ²	83.95ⁿ²	54	29.6
58	AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT	110.9	90.2	83.2	80.9	53.5	22.8
62	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU	130	101	91.3	89.5	65.6	35.3
66	Intel Arc A750	108.5	88.1	82.2	81.2	60.7	32.1
76	NVIDIA Titan X Pascal	120.3	92.7	81.1	80.4	57.3	32.2
80	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Super (Desktop)	139.5	105.8	91.7	90.3	63.7	33.2
84	AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT (Desktop)	108.5	85.1	75.1	73.9	51.3	25.2
89	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU				73.9	37.9	27.6
91	AMD Radeon RX 7600S	77.2	64.4	56	54.3	36.7	18.8
97	Intel Arc A580	96.5	77.2	72.7	71.6	53.7	29
98	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Super (Desktop)	124.5	92.5	79.5	77.8	54.1	26.6
100	AMD Radeon RX 6600	93	73.5	67.4	66	42.9	17.6
104	AMD Radeon RX 5700 (Desktop)	97.5	77.1	67.7	66.2	46.1	22.9
134	AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT (Desktop)	89.6	70.2	62.1	61.1	39.6	18.8
142	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Super (Desktop)	87.9ⁿ²	65.2ⁿ²	55.65ⁿ²	54.45ⁿ²	37.3ⁿ²	18.7ⁿ²
143	AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT	23.8	12.8	12.9	12.3
144	AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT (Desktop)	62.5	48.6	42.5	41.9	29.1	12.9
145	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU	106.5	82.2	74.4	72.1	44.5	17.8
148*	Intel Arc A730M	79.6	62.4	57.8	55.9	36.9	17.9
161	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Super (Desktop)	48.8	37.4	29.7	29	20.8
Pos	Model	< Prev Next >Helldivers 2
Pos	Model	low	med.	high	ultra	QHD	4K
167	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4GB Laptop GPU	62.5	47.5	44.4	33.4
173	AMD Radeon RX 6500M	43.4	32.8	24.5	12.1
198	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2050 Mobile	50.4	19.4	18.8	17.4
203	Intel Arc A380	46.6	36.5	32.4	33.1
222*	Intel Arc A310	22.4	19.5	16.7	16.3
223*	Intel Arc 8-Cores iGPU	39.2	30	27.5	27.2
225*	Intel Arc 7-Cores iGPU	32.1	25	22.7	21.7
241*	AMD Radeon 780M	26.55ⁿ²	20.7ⁿ²	18.95ⁿ²	18.35ⁿ²	13.2
316	Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs	22.6

Legend
5	Stutters – 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.
30	Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 25fps
40	Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 35fps
60	Fluent – 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.