Rage 2 Laptop and Desktop Benchmarks
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We can sum up Rage 2 in one sentence: Borderlands meets Mad Max. While veteran studio id Software solely developed Rage, it has involved Avalanche Studios for Rage 2, which is mainly known for the Just Cause series.
Gone is the id Tech 5 engine that underpinned Rage, which may not necessarily be a bad thing. id Software incorporated visual texturing into id Tech 5, the inclusion of which has been controversial. id Tech 5 has been replaced by the Apex game engine, which Avalanche Studios develops. The latter can, as fans of the Just Cause series will attest, conjure huge, freely accessible game worlds with tremendous viewing distances. Another highlight of Apex is its ability to produce visually impressive explosions, lighting, smoke and things like muzzle flashes.
Top 10 Laptops
Multimedia, Budget Multimedia, Gaming, Budget Gaming, Lightweight Gaming, Business, Budget Office, Workstation, Subnotebooks, Ultrabooks, Chromebooks
under 300 USD/Euros, under 500 USD/Euros, 1,000 USD/Euros, for University Students, Best Displays
Top 10 Smartphones
Smartphones, Phablets, ≤6-inch, Camera Smartphones
Speaking of weapons, Rage 2 shines with its first-class weapon feedback as many id-developed games have done. The experience in Rage 2 reminds us of Doom and is very satisfying. If your hardware is powerful enough, then Rage 2 will not only look buttery smooth with its fast-paced movements, but also gameplay will look incredibly smooth. Few other engines can deliver as rounded an experience as Apex can.
We were less satisfied with the quality of Rage 2’s textures though. Some surfaces still look blurry even at maximum graphics. We have definitely seen sharper textures from games released in 2019. Nevertheless, Rage 2 has a coherent overall look, in our opinion.
Rage 2 uses resolution scaling by default, which alters the resolution to minimise performance bottlenecks and keep frame rates at optimal levels. We conducted our benchmarks with this disabled, for reference.
No graphics changes require a reboot. All take effect when you apply them, which saves time having to wait for the game to reload.
We have included screenshots below of the four presets for you to compare the differences between them. In our opinion, Rage 2 looks visually impressive when at all presets apart from low. The game starts to shine from the medium preset upwards, and there are only minor differences to our eyes between the high and maximum presets. Both presets look and perform more or less the same. Curiously, Avalanche and id appear to have developed Rage 2 to run at a minimum of 30 FPS. We say that as the game runs in slow-motion speed when frame rates drop below that threshold, along with the typical stuttering that accompanies gaming at below 30 FPS.
Benchmark
Avalanche and id have based Rage 2 on the Vulkan API, which does not currently work with Fraps, the frame-rate recording tool that we typically use for our gaming benchmarks. Luckily there is OCAT, a tool that has served us well, albeit with a few quirks, during our Destiny 2 and Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus tests.
However, we needed to employ a few tricks to get OCAT to work with Rage 2. The game always crashes if we start it with OCAT already running. A workaround is to launch Rage 2, press Alt + Tab to return to the desktop and open OCAT, before returning to the game. OCAT stores its results in C:\This PC\Documents\OCAT\Captures as perf_summary. Opening this reveals the average in-game FPS while OCAT was running.
Our benchmark consists of a 30-40 second drive from Vineland, where the in-game tutorial starts, to the Highroad Block blockade, which is on the way to the first main quest. We have included a video below of the route.
Results
HD (1280x720)
Rage 2 is graphically challenging, even at 720p. Integrated GPUs like the Intel HD Graphics 630 are not powerful enough to play the game smoothly even at minimum graphics in this resolution. The same is the case for low-end older GPUs like the GeForce GTX 960M too. Hence, you will need at least a GeForce GTX 965M, or better still a GeForce GTX 1050, to play Rage 2 comfortably in 720p at minimum graphics.
Rage 2 | |
1280x720 Low Preset (Resolution Scale Off) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Desktop), i7-7740X | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop), i9-9900K | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Mobile, i7-7820HK | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Max-Q, i7-7700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop), i9-9900K | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Mobile, 6820HK | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop), i9-9900K | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile, 6820HK | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M, 6700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile, i7-7700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M, 6700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M, 6700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile, i7-7700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M, i7-7700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce 940M, 5700HQ | |
Intel HD Graphics 630, i7-7700HQ |
FHD (1920x1080)
Stepping up to 1080p requires a GeForce GTX 980M or better. The card averages playable frame rates on the medium preset, but we would recommend a minimum of a GeForce GTX 1060 for playing on the high and ultra presets.
Rage 2 | |
1920x1080 Medium Preset (Resolution Scale Off) 1920x1080 High Preset (Resolution Scale Off) 1920x1080 Ultra Preset (Resolution Scale Off) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Desktop), i7-7740X | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop), i9-9900K | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Mobile, i7-7820HK | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Max-Q, i7-7700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop), i9-9900K | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Mobile, 6820HK | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop), i9-9900K | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile, 6820HK | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M, 6700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile, i7-7700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M, 6700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M, 6700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile, i7-7700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M, i7-7700HQ |
QHD (2560x1440) & UHD (3840x2160)
A mix of 1440p and the maximum preset makes even high-end GPUs sweat. You can only expect jerk-free gameplay from a GeForce GTX 1070 or GTX 1080 Max-Q. Moreover, only the GeForce RTX 2080 is currently powerful enough out of laptop GPUs to play Rage 2 smoothly at 2160p, better known as 4K.
Rage 2 | |
2560x1440 Ultra Preset (Resolution Scale Off) 3840x2160 Ultra Preset (Resolution Scale Off) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Desktop), i7-7740X | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop), i9-9900K | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Mobile, i7-7820HK | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Max-Q, i7-7700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop), i9-9900K | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Mobile, 6820HK | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop), i9-9900K | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M, 6700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile, i7-7700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M, 6700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile, i7-7700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M, 6700HQ |
Please note:
Gaming tests are often time-consuming and are hampered by activation or installation limits. Hence, we can currently only provide some of the benchmarks for Rage 2. We shall update this article with more GPUs in the coming days and weeks.
Overview
Test Systems
Device | Graphics Card | Processor | RAM | OS |
---|---|---|---|---|
Desktop-PC I | MSI GeForce GTX 1080 (8 GB GDDR5X) MSI GeForce GTX 1070 (8 GB GDDR5) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6 GB GDDR5) |
Intel Core i9-9900K | 4 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 i7-7740X | 2 x 8 GB DDR4 | Windows 10 64-Bit |
Desktop-PC III | AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 (8 GB HBM2) XFX AMD Radeon RX 590 (8 GB GDDR5) Sapphire AMD Radeon RX 580 (8 GB GDDR5) NVIDIA Titan X (Pascal) (12 GB GDDR5X) Zotac NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 (2 GB GDDR5) |
AMD Ryzen 7 2700X | 2 x 8 GB DDR4 | Windows 10 64-Bit |
Desktop-PC IV | NVIDIA Titan RTX (24 GB GDDR6) | AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2920X | 4 x 16 GB DDR4 | Windows 10 64-Bit |
Alienware 17 R4 | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (8 GB GDDR5X) | Intel Core i7-7820HK | 2 x 16 GB DDR4 | Windows 10 64-Bit |
Acer Triton 700 | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Max-Q (8 GB GDDR5X) | Intel Core i7-7700HQ | 2 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 (2 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 16 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 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 drivers | AMD drivers |
---|---|---|
2 x ASUS PB287Q, Philips Momentum 436M6VBPAB | ForceWare 430.64 | Adrenalin 19.5.1 |