Star Wars Outlaws review: Laptop and desktop benchmarks

Graphic cravings from another world? Outlaws faced some criticism prior to release, but the final version was relatively well received, at least by the press. However, as our benchmark article indicates, Star Wars fans will need fairly powerful hardware to run it smoothly.

Florian Glaser, 👁 Florian Glaser (translated by Carmen Pol), Published 09/03/2024 🇩🇪 🇫🇷 ...

Test systems

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

We ran our gaming benchmarks on these devices. Clicking on the various images will take you to the respective producer's website. Further details on the devices' specifications are listed at the end of the article.

Tech

Outlaws is built on Ubisoft's Snowdrop engine, which produces stunning on-screen graphics. Although it doesn't quite break new ground, the action-adventure game has a lot to offer in terms of audiovisual and detailed content.

While our test is based on the patch 1.1.1, which attempts to resolve stability and VRAM concerns, there are still a number of technical issues. For instance, startup and loading processes, as well as menu changes, can be slower than average—particularly on less powerful systems and/or when using an external storage device, even if it's a fast NVMe SSD. Consequently, we installed the game on each of the test computers. Running through Ubisoft Connect, the game requires a download of just under 50 GB, which is neither particularly less nor much by today’s standards.

The extensive graphics options in Outlaws, which Ubisoft has divided into two menus due to their quantity, deserve commendation. The Video tab includes essentials such as resolution and display mode (we use the 21:9 cinematic mode) as well as various upscaling options. Outlaws supports all modern techniques, from FSR to DLSS and XeSS, and offers Frame Generation and Ray Reconstruction for compatible cards.

The Graphics tab, or more specifically the Advanced Graphics submenu, provides even more customization. It features over 20 individual settings, including several for ray tracing. The high system requirements are partly due to ray tracing being automatically enabled at every quality level, with a total of four presets (Low to Ultra).

Changes do not require the game to be restarted, which is a pleasant feature. A VRAM display is also included, though the values shown can vary significantly from system to system. As is common with Ubisoft, the menus include useful explanatory texts and, in some cases, comparison images. In the ongoing rivalry between AMD and Nvidia, our experience indicates that Nvidia often performs significantly better in certain scenarios. Additionally, at moderate resolutions and settings, it becomes apparent that Outlaws can be limited by the CPU.

Benchmark

Our benchmarks are conducted in the ‘Underworld Toshara’, an area that becomes accessible after approximately two hours of gameplay and is quite demanding on performance. We use the CapframeX tool to record a fixed route for about 30 seconds, as demonstrated in the video below. We consider a frame rate of 40 FPS and above to be decent; however, Outlaws still occasionally suffers from low minimum FPS and unusual stuttering, regardless of the hardware.

▶ load Youtube video

Results

FHD (1,920 x 1,080)

Unfortunately, the title is virtually unplayable on integrated GPUs. Neither the Radeon 780M nor the Arc 8 could achieve smooth frame rates during testing, even at 1,280 x 720 resolution with the lowest settings. The performance is significantly better with reasonably modern mid-range GPUs. For instance, a GeForce RTX 4050 can handle 1,920 x 1,080 resolution and the High preset reasonably well. For the Ultra preset in Full HD, we recommend using at least an RTX 4060.

Star Wars Outlaws
1920x1080 cinem. low 1920x1080 cinem. medium 1920x1080 cinem. high 1920x1080 cinem. ultra
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, i9-13900K Desktop-PC Asus ROG Strix Z790-F	141 (76.7^min, 89.2^P0.1, 104.3^P1) fps ∼100% 137.5 (72.1^min, 86.4^P0.1, 103.8^P1) fps ∼100% 129.2 (61.2^min, 80.9^P0.1, 95.1^P1) fps ∼100% 115.5 (43.5^min, 69.5^P0.1, 82.1^P1) fps ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX XMG Neo 16 E23	90.5 (15^min, 29.2^P0.1, 55.3^P1) fps ∼64% 88.7 (25.3^min, 31.7^P0.1, 54.5^P1) fps ∼65% 83 (31^min, 33.5^P0.1, 56.3^P1) fps ∼64% 76.2 (23.9^min, 37.1^P0.1, 50.5^P1) fps ∼66%
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT, i9-13900K Desktop-PC Asus ROG Strix Z790-F	85.4 (47.3^min, 52.4^P0.1, 60.8^P1) fps ∼61% 82.9 (3.99^min, 30.2^P0.1, 57.1^P1) fps ∼60% 78.2 (30.9^min, 48.8^P0.1, 56.9^P1) fps ∼61% 70.7 (32.1^min, 41.8^P0.1, 47.9^P1) fps ∼61%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU, i9-13950HX Razer Blade 16 Mid 23	70.9 (25.7^min, 34.2^P0.1, 42.7^P1) fps ∼50% 63.4 (24.4^min, 27.6^P0.1, 44.1^P1) fps ∼46% 61 (28^min, 32.9^P0.1, 42.1^P1) fps ∼47% 57.7 (34.3^min, 34.9^P0.1, 38.8^P1) fps ∼50%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX XMG Pro 15 E23	73.7 (31.1^min, 41.4^P0.1, 51.8^P1) fps ∼52% 69.9 (15.6^min, 34.5^P0.1, 50.3^P1) fps ∼51% 60 (35.1^min, 37^P0.1, 42.3^P1) fps ∼46% 52.8 (19.2^min, 31.6^P0.1, 37.6^P1) fps ∼46%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU, R9 7940HS Razer Blade 14 Mid 23	63.2 (19.6^min, 33.6^P0.1, 41.8^P1) fps ∼45% 57.6 (23.5^min, 34.9^P0.1, 42.7^P1) fps ∼42% 50.7 (23.2^min, 29.8^P0.1, 39^P1) fps ∼39% 41.3 (21.6^min, 23.1^P0.1, 31.7^P1) fps ∼36%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU, i7-13700H Medion Erazer Scout E20	52.8 (30.2^min, 34.2^P0.1, 41.9^P1) fps ∼37% 49.5 (32.9^min, 33.1^P0.1, 39.7^P1) fps ∼36% 43.3 (25.3^min, 29^P0.1, 33.8^P1) fps ∼34% 35.1 (19^min, 20.5^P0.1, 27.5^P1) fps ∼30%
Intel Arc 8-Core iGPU, Ultra 7 155H Lenovo Yoga Pro 7 14	16.5 (11.4^min, 12.7^P0.1, 14.2^P1) fps ∼12% 15.9 (8.96^min, 10.8^P0.1, 12.9^P1) fps ∼12% 13 (6.32^min, 6.68^P0.1, 10.4^P1) fps ∼10% 10.8 (5.98^min, 6.6^P0.1, 8.61^P1) fps ∼9%
AMD Radeon 780M, Z1 Extreme Asus ROG Ally Z1 Extreme	14 (4.79^min, 5.96^P0.1, 9.33^P1) fps ∼10% 12.1 (3.13^min, 3.38^P0.1, 8.31^P1) fps ∼9% 9.09 (0.3888^min, 0.509^P0.1, 2.32^P1) fps ∼7% 7.59 (0.799^min, 0.944^P0.1, 3.43^P1) fps ∼7%

QHD (2,560 x 1,440)

Generally speaking, QHD display users will need a high-end GPU. At a resolution of 2,560 x 1,440 with the highest settings, the game achieved 40 FPS or higher only with a GeForce RTX 4080.

Star Wars Outlaws
2560x1440 cinem. ultra
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, i9-13900K Desktop-PC Asus ROG Strix Z790-F	84.9 (56.1^min, 62.5^P0.1, 68.5^P1) fps ∼100%
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT, i9-13900K Desktop-PC Asus ROG Strix Z790-F	66 (37.7^min, 43.6^P0.1, 49.7^P1) fps ∼78%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX XMG Neo 16 E23	60.6 (25.8^min, 29.6^P0.1, 46.7^P1) fps ∼71%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU, i9-13950HX Razer Blade 16 Mid 23	43.3 (22^min, 22.7^P0.1, 29.5^P1) fps ∼51%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX XMG Pro 15 E23	37.1 (12^min, 22.7^P0.1, 29.3^P1) fps ∼44%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU, R9 7940HS Razer Blade 14 Mid 23	28 (21.4^min, 21.4^P0.1, 22.7^P1) fps ∼33%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU, i7-13700H Medion Erazer Scout E20	23.4 (12.6^min, 14^P0.1, 18^P1) fps ∼28%

UHD (3,840 x 2,160)

Even the most powerful notebook GPUs, such as Nvidia's top model, the GeForce RTX 4090, are currently overloaded at 3,840 x 2,160 pixels with the Ultra preset. A tower PC with a desktop RTX 4080 or higher would be needed for optimal performance. However, enabling upscaling technologies like DLSS or FSR makes these settings playable with a mobile RTX 4080.

Star Wars Outlaws
3840x2160 cinem. ultra 3840x2160 cinem. ultra DLSS 3840x2160 cinem. ultra FSR
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, i9-13900K Desktop-PC Asus ROG Strix Z790-F	49.2 (39.3^min, 40^P0.1, 43.1^P1) fps ∼100% 77.4 (27.5^min, 55.5^P0.1, 63.4^P1) fps ∼100%
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT, i9-13900K Desktop-PC Asus ROG Strix Z790-F	37.7 (24.5^min, 30.5^P0.1, 32.2^P1) fps ∼77% 59.2 (21.2^min, 38.3^P0.1, 47.5^P1) fps ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX XMG Neo 16 E23	32.6 (26.1^min, 26.6^P0.1, 27.6^P1) fps ∼66% 53.6 (19.3^min, 37.8^P0.1, 44.8^P1) fps ∼69%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU, i9-13950HX Razer Blade 16 Mid 23	27.9 (13.7^min, 14.4^P0.1, 22.8^P1) fps ∼57% 40.4 (17.7^min, 23.4^P0.1, 28.7^P1) fps ∼52%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX XMG Pro 15 E23	18.1 (8.63^min, 10.7^P0.1, 12.8^P1) fps ∼37% 32.6 (12.2^min, 19.4^P0.1, 26.7^P1) fps ∼42%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU, R9 7940HS Razer Blade 14 Mid 23	15.1 (9.63^min, 10.1^P0.1, 13.1^P1) fps ∼31% 25.3 (10.2^min, 15.9^P0.1, 21.5^P1) fps ∼33%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU, i7-13700H Medion Erazer Scout E20	9 (3^min) fps ∼18% 21.4 (8.65^min, 11.8^P0.1, 18^P1) fps ∼28%

Overview

Test system details

Laptop	Graphics card	Processor	RAM
XMG Neo 16 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
Lenovo Yoga Pro 7 14	Intel Arc 8	Intel Core Ultra 7 155H	2 x 16 GB LPDDR5-7467
Asus ROG Ally Z1 Extreme	AMD Radeon 780M	AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme	16 GB LPDDR5-6400

Tower PC	Graphics card	Processor	RAM
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	Intel driver
Philips Evnia 329M1RV	Windows 11	560.94	24.8.1	101.5972

Loading Comments

Comment on this article

Editor of the original article: Florian Glaser - Managing Editor Gaming Laptops - 624 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: Carmen Pol - Translator - 195 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2023

Having spent the greater part of my early years in Germany facilitated my upbringing as a bilingual kid. In 2007, I found myself having to reinstall my Windows weekly ... So, one day I bought a MacBook Black. It was during this period that I developed a profound appreciation for technology, which significantly improved my life.

Please share our article, every link counts!

> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > Reviews > Star Wars Outlaws review: Laptop and desktop benchmarks

Florian Glaser, 2024-09- 3 (Update: 2024-09- 3)

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.

Pos	Model	< Prev Next > Star Wars Outlaws (2024)
Pos	Model	low 1920x1080 cinem. low	med. 1920x1080 cinem. medium	high 1920x1080 cinem. high	ultra 1920x1080 cinem. ultra	QHD DLSS 2560x1440 cinem. ultra DLSS	QHD FSR 2560x1440 cinem. ultra FSR	QHD 2560x1440 cinem. ultra	4K DLSS 3840x2160 cinem. ultra DLSS	4K FSR 3840x2160 cinem. ultra FSR	4K 3840x2160 cinem. ultra
4	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080	141	137.5	129.2	115.5			84.9	77.4		49.2
7	AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT	85.4	82.9	78.2	70.7			66		59.2	37.7
11	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU	90.5	88.7	83	76.2			60.6	53.6		32.6
21	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU	77.6ⁿ²	72.45ⁿ²	67.55ⁿ²	61.05ⁿ²		59.1	45.5ⁿ²	38.1ⁿ²		24.2ⁿ²
37	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU	73.7	69.9	60	52.8			37.1	32.6		18.1
44	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU	53.1	51.7	47.5	49.5	44.8		31.1
53	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU	63.2	57.6	50.7	41.35ⁿ²	53.5		27.45ⁿ²	25.3		15.1
59	AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT			40.5	33.2			22.7
89	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU	29.8	27.8	23.7	19.2	25.2		17.8
99*	Intel Arc A770M	42.8	40.9	35.1	29.5
146	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU	52.8	49.5	43.3	35.1			23.4	21.4		9
229*	Intel Arc 8-Core iGPU	16.5	15.9	13	10.8
247*	AMD Radeon 880M	14.7	13.2	11.5	8.52
249*	AMD Radeon 780M	14	12.1	9.09	7.59