No Man's Sky - Notebook and Desktop Benchmarks

Risky gamble. Infinite worlds, endless boredom - critics could easily sum up No Man's Sky with this sentence. We checked this game by British indie developer, Hello Games, on laptops and desktop PCs to see how it performs.

Florian Glaser, ✓ Sven Kloevekorn (translated by Vinay Pradhan), Published 09/25/2016 🇩🇪

For the original German article, see here.

Game Engine

The launch of the new Nvidia Pascal generation took a lot of time, which means we only got around to testing No Man's Sky now. Perhaps it was better like this, as this hyped game had many technical bugs being reported in the first month. Although we did not encounter any major issues, the game itself suffers from various flaws.

The start problems are annoying, but one can deal with them. Regardless of the test model we used, the game needed to be clicked two to four times in Steam before it actually launched. The graphics-to-performance ratio is imbalanced: despite having modest visuals, which include blurry textures and weak effects (like lighting), the game is hungry for resources. The large universe and spanning worlds are not enough to make up for this resource drain.

The game was launched for the PS4 simultaneously and it seems there are issues with the controls, as it constantly feels as if they have been customized for console controllers. In the menus, the mouse cursor is slow and to change any settings, the user must click and wait multiple seconds. This is understandably uncomfortable for PC users.

When the game starts the first time on an HDD, it takes a long, long time to load. Depending on the settings and the hardware, this problem might persist even with an SSD. Thankfully, the cut-scenes, which depict a spaceship flying through galaxies and star systems, look really good. The biggest highlight of this game is its brilliant soundtrack, which is a rare thing for games.

The graphics settings are far less impressive. The game offers 15 options, which is not bad, but it does require the user to restart to change the resolution. Other open world games, like The Witcher 3, Far Cry Primal, The Division, Mad Max or Need for Speed, simply change the resolution.

In terms of individual settings, No Man's Sky covers its bases. The developer has included options for the display mode, the pixel quality, view distance (field of view), the gamma value, anisotropic filtering and anti-aliasing (AA). The only AA options available are the conservative FXAA (can be a little blurry) and the very demanding SSAA x 4. The video menu is rounded out with four quality and detail scales, a HUD option and an FPS limit range, which offers 30, 60, 90 or 110 frames per second. The lack of presets was inconvenient as this means the user cannot simply change all settings in one go.

As mentioned in the intro, the game quickly bored us. After a few planets, the whole ordeal is repetitive, despite having a whole universe at our disposal. Soon, most things run in a set way, which dampens the explorer spirit and the joy from the crafting system (Minecraft says "hi"). When combined with the lack of storytelling, the game simply lacks content for continual entertainment.

As such, we can only recommend this game to people who enjoy simple exploration and upgrade mechanisms. A lot of potential under the hood, but the game simply cannot live up to it.

Benchmark

Space travel runs at higher FPS (frames per second) than planet travel. For our test, we took a trip on foot, as can be seen in the video. First, we get out of the spaceship via an alien facility, which shows the performance in buildings. Afterwards, we go around the landing zone and take a look at the flora and fauna of the planet we have landed on (which we named NBC). The benchmark ends after 30 seconds with us getting back on the spaceship.

Although the FPS should be affected by the dynamic day and night change, our test sequence should provide an average expected performance for this game. Due to the "Ego" perspective, we recommend a minimum of 40 FPS. At lower ranges, the game will stutter.

▶ load Youtube video

Results

The game may have great art style, but the system requirements are far too high for our liking. Devices running on Intel IGPs (Integrated Graphics Processors) will refuse to start the game ("not currently supported"). Low- and middle-class graphics chips from Nvidia and AMD will run it at low details and a resolution of 1280x720 pixels. At normal settings and a resolution of 1366x768 pixels, No Man's Sky needs a multimedia laptop or a slightly old high-end graphics card (like the GeForce GTX 860M or the GTX 960M).

If you want Full HD, you need a cutting-edge, gaming GPU. Medium to high details will run on the GeForce GTX 880M and the GTX 970M smoothly. If you want a mix of 1920x1080 pixels, max settings and 4x SSAA, then you need at least a GeForce GTX 1060 or GTX 980. Our 4K test (3840x2160 pixels, High, FXAA) can only be run smoothly on ultra high-end models, such as the GeForce GTX 1070.

No Man's Sky
3840x2160 High AA:FX AF:8x 1920x1080 Ultra High AA:4x SS AF:16x 1920x1080 High AA:FX AF:8x 1920x1080 Medium AA:Off AF:4x 1366x768 Medium AA:Off AF:4x 1280x720 Low AA:Off AF:1x
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop), 4790K Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition	58.5 (21^min) fps ∼86% 64.7 (46^min) fps ∼86% 133 (91^min) fps ∼84%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Mobile, 6820HK Asus G752VS	46.1 (38^min) fps ∼68% 52 (41^min) fps ∼69% 113 (94^min) fps ∼71% 130 (96^min) fps ∼100% 134 (96^min) fps ∼100% 135 (96^min) fps ∼91%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti, 4790K Asus Strix GTX 980 Ti Desktop PC	46.7 (38^min) fps ∼69% 49.3 (40^min) fps ∼66% 102 (73^min) fps ∼64%
AMD Radeon R9 Fury, 4790K XFX Radeon R9 Fury Pro	35.7 (26^min) fps ∼53% 39 (32^min) fps ∼52% 69 (54^min) fps ∼43%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980, 6700K Desktop PC	33.9 (27^min) fps ∼50% 36.1 (28^min) fps ∼48% 80.4 (61^min) fps ∼51% 98.1 (78^min) fps ∼75% 129 (101^min) fps ∼96% 149 (110^min) fps ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop), 6700K Desktop PC	33 (27^min) fps ∼49% 37.6 (29^min) fps ∼50% 80.1 (65^min) fps ∼50% 94.3 (80^min) fps ∼73% 131 (109^min) fps ∼98% 147 (114^min) fps ∼99%
AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop), 4790K AMD Radeon RX 480 8 GB Reference	30.3 (23^min) fps ∼45% 33.7 (28^min) fps ∼45% 68 (54^min) fps ∼43%
AMD Radeon RX 470 (Desktop), 4790K MSI RX 470 Gaming X 4GB	28.2 (21^min) fps ∼41% 31.6 (27^min) fps ∼42% 62.5 (48^min) fps ∼39% 93 (70^min) fps ∼69% 98 (71^min) fps ∼66%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M, 4700MQ Schenker W504	23.7 (14^min) fps ∼35% 26.3 (20^min) fps ∼35% 48.4 (33^min) fps ∼30% 59.1 (41^min) fps ∼45% 74.6 (41^min) fps ∼56% 99.1 (66^min) fps ∼67%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M, 4700MQ Schenker W504	19.1 (13^min) fps ∼28% 20.5 (15^min) fps ∼27% 38.3 (20^min) fps ∼24% 49.7 (35^min) fps ∼38% 64.9 (40^min) fps ∼48% 74 (47^min) fps ∼50%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M, 6700HQ MSI GE72 965M Ti	17.8 (9^min) fps ∼24% 38.6 (32^min) fps ∼24% 47.3 (39^min) fps ∼36% 66 (55^min) fps ∼49% 76 (60^min) fps ∼51%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M, 4700MQ Schenker W504	14.2 (9^min) fps ∼21% 16.8 (12^min) fps ∼22% 38.7 (29^min) fps ∼24% 43.4 (30^min) fps ∼33% 61.4 (43^min) fps ∼46% 73.4 (61^min) fps ∼49%
AMD Radeon RX 460 (Desktop), 4790K XFX RX-460P4DFG5 Double Dissipation 4 GB	15.4 (10^min) fps ∼21% 33 (23^min) fps ∼21% 57.3 (44^min) fps ∼43% 70.1 (53^min) fps ∼47%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 870M, 4700MQ Schenker W504	13.4 (8^min) fps ∼20% 14.4 (8^min) fps ∼19% 33.5 (28^min) fps ∼21% 39.9 (31^min) fps ∼31% 55.8 (44^min) fps ∼42% 66 (53^min) fps ∼44%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M, 4700MQ Schenker W504	11.2 (7^min) fps ∼15% 25.8 (21^min) fps ∼16% 30.5 (23^min) fps ∼23% 44 (35^min) fps ∼33% 52.3 (35^min) fps ∼35%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M, 4720HQ Schenker XMG A505	10.8 (5^min) fps ∼14% 24.5 (13^min) fps ∼15% 29.9 (23^min) fps ∼23% 42.6 (33^min) fps ∼32% 50.6 (40^min) fps ∼34%
NVIDIA GeForce 940MX, 6700HQ MSI CX72 6QD	25.5 (12^min) fps ∼17%
NVIDIA GeForce 940M, 5700HQ MSI GP62 2QD	22.1 (15^min) fps ∼16% 26.7 (20^min) fps ∼18%
AMD Radeon R9 M280X, FX-7600P Asus N551ZU-CN007H	32.5 (9^min) fps ∼22%
NVIDIA GeForce 920M, 2970M MSI CX61 2QC 2970M MS-16GD	17 fps ∼11%
NVIDIA GeForce GT 720M, 4200M MSI CX61-i572M	12 fps ∼8%
Intel HD Graphics 4600, 4700MQ Schenker W504

Overview

Test Systems

Desktop-PCs	Custom Nvidia	Custom AMD
Mainboard	Asus Z170-A	Asus Z97-Deluxe
Processor	Intel Core i7-6700K (Skylake)	Intel Core i7-4790K (Haswell)
Graphics Card	Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 (6 GB GDDR5) Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 (4 GB GDDR5)	Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 (8 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)
RAM	2 x 8 GB DDR4-2133	2 x 4 GB DDR3-1600
Storage Device	Crucial MX100 SSD (256 GB) Crucial M500 SSD (480 GB) OCZ Trion 100 SSD (480 GB) OCZ Trion 150 SSD (960 GB)	Intel SSD 530 (240 GB) OCZ Trion 100 SSD (480 GB)
OS	Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit	Windows 10 Home 64 Bit

Schenker Notebooks	Schenker W504	Schenker XMG A505	Schenker S413
Mainboard	Intel HM87	Intel HM87	Intel HM87
Processor	Intel Core i7-4700MQ (Haswell)	Intel Core i7-4720HQ (Haswell)	Intel Core i7-4750HQ (Haswell)
Graphics Card	Nvidia GeForce GTX 980M (8 GB GDDR5) GTX 970M (6 GB GDDR5) GTX 880M (8 GB GDDR5) GTX 870M (6 GB GDDR5) GTX 860M Kepler (4 GB GDDR5)	Nvidia GeForce GTX 960M (2 GB GDDR5)	Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
RAM	2x 4 GB DDR3-1600	2x 4 GB DDR3-1600	2x 8 GB DDR3-1600
Storage Device	Samsung SSD 840 EVO (250 GB)	Micron M600 SSD (128 GB) HGST Travelstar 7K1000 HDD (1.000 GB)	Intel SSD
OS	Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit	Windows 10 Home 64 Bit	Windows 10 Home 64 Bit

MSI Notebooks	MSI GE72	MSI PE60	MSI GP62	MSI CX61	MSI CX61
Mainboard	Intel HM170	Intel HM170	Intel HM86	Intel HM86	Intel HM86
Processor	Intel Core i7-6700HQ (Skylake)	Intel Core i7-6700HQ (Skylake)	Intel Core i7-5700HQ (Broadwell)	Intel Celeron 2970M (Haswell)	Intel Core i5-4200M (Haswell)
Graphics Card	Nvidia GeForce GTX 965M 2016 (2 GB GDDR5)	Nvidia GeForce GTX 950M (2 GB GDDR5)	Nvidia GeForce 940M (2 GB DDR3)	Nvidia GeForce 920M (2 GB DDR3)	Nvidia GeForce GT 720M (2 GB DDR3)
RAM	1 x 8 GB DDR4-2133	2 x 4 GB DDR4-2133	1 x 8 GB DDR3-1600	1 x 8 GB DDR3-1600	1 x 8 GB DDR3-1600
Storage Device	Toshiba THNSNJ128G8NU SSD (128 GB) WDC WD10JPVX HDD (1.000 GB) OCZ Trion 100 SSD (480 GB)			Toshiba MQ01ABF050 HDD (500 GB)	WDC Scorpio Blue HDD (1.000 GB)
OS	Windows 10 Home 64 Bit	Windows 10	Windows 10	Windows 10	Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit

Asus Notebooks	Asus G752VS	Asus N551ZU
Mainboard	Intel CM236	AMD K15.1
Processor	Intel Core i7-6820HK (Skylake)	AMD FX-7600P (Kaveri)
Graphics Card	Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 (8 GB GDDR5)	AMD Radeon R9 M280X (4 GB GDDR5)
RAM	4 x 16 GB DDR4-2400	2 x 4 GB DDR3-1600
Storage Device	Toshiba NVMe THNSN5512GPU7 SSD (512 GB)	Samsung SSD 830 (256 GB)
OS	Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit	Windows 10 64 Bit

4K Monitor	Nvidia Driver	AMD Driver	Intel Driver
2 x Asus PB287Q	ForceWare 372.70	Crimson 16.9.1	15.40.28.4501

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Editor of the original article: Florian Glaser - Managing Editor Gaming Laptops - 648 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.

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > Reviews > No Man's Sky - Notebook and Desktop Benchmarks

Florian Glaser, 2016-09-25 (Update: 2024-08-15)

Pos	Model	< Prev Next > No Man's Sky (2016)
Pos	Model	low 1280x720 Low 1x AF Off AA	med. 1366x768 Medium 4x AF Off AA	high 1920x1080 High 8x AF FXAA	ultra 1920x1080 Ultra High 16x AF 4x SSAA	4K 3840x2160 High 8x AF FXAA
96	NVIDIA Titan X Pascal	116.8	118.3	118.7	88.4	79.9
99	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 SLI (Laptop)			146	77.4	74.7
114	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop)			133	64.7	58.5
137	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Mobile				95
163	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Mobile	126.8ⁿ²	124.25ⁿ²	108.5ⁿ²	50.35ⁿ²	44.7ⁿ²
186	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti			102	49.3	46.7
195	AMD Radeon R9 Fury			69	39	35.7
197	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980	149	129	80.4	36.1	33.9
214	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop)	147	131	80.1	37.6	33
218	AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop)			68	33.7	30.3
253	AMD Radeon RX 470 (Desktop)	98	93	62.5	31.6	28.2
272	AMD Radeon HD 8970M Crossfire	60.6	46.2	31.5	15.6
275	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M	99.1	74.6	48.4	26.3	23.7
288	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile			44.6	22	18.1
289	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (Desktop)	79		44.6	20.7
294	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M	74	64.9	38.3	20.5	19.1
298	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680	88.7	89.8	47	19.7	18.2
317	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M	73.4	61.4	38.7	16.8	14.2
334	AMD Radeon RX 460 (Desktop)	70.1	57.3	33	15.4
Pos	Model	< Prev Next >No Man's Sky
Pos	Model	low	med.	high	ultra	4K
337	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M	76	66	38.6	17.8
341	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 870M	66	55.8	33.5	14.4	13.4
343	AMD Radeon HD 8970M	60.4	51.3	32.6	16.7
362	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M	48.4ⁿ²	41.15ⁿ²	24.4ⁿ²	10.85ⁿ²
396	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M	52.3	44	25.8	11.2
405	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M	35.6	29.4	18.2
417	AMD Radeon R9 M280X	32.5
507	NVIDIA GeForce 940MX	28ⁿ²	24.3	14.3	6.2
512	NVIDIA GeForce 940M	26.7	22.1
615*	AMD Radeon R7 M460	19.8	15.7	8.6
618	AMD Radeon R7 M360	18.1	14.9	7.9
620	NVIDIA GeForce 920M	17
623	AMD Radeon R8 M445DX	21.8	18	10
653	AMD Radeon R6 (Carrizo)	10.7	8.5
724	AMD Radeon R5 M255	18.8	14.8
732	NVIDIA GeForce GT 720M	12
753	Intel HD Graphics 4600	12

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.