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The Callisto Protocol review: notebook and desktop benchmarks

Lacking technical refinement. The Callisto Protocol joins a long list of games in the last few years that released in an unfinished state. Despite the game's technical flaws, we took it upon ourselves to see how well the game runs on various notebook and desktop GPUs using the built-in benchmark.

Technical aspects

The Callisto Protocol is a spiritual successor to Dead Space, an excellent action horror game developed by Visceral Games and published by EA in 2008. Running on the Unreal Engine, this new take on the space survival genre is the very first title developed by Striking Distance Studio. To put it delicately, the company's debut isn't exactly great – at least from a technical standpoint. Similar to many other games released in the past few months, The Callisto Protocol launched in a very unfinished state.

The Callisto Protocol
The Callisto Protocol
The Callisto Protocol

The fiasco begins as soon as you boot up the game: the intro videos and main menu exhibit some very heavy stutters even on high-end systems (our review is based on the version dated 06 December 22, four days after the launch and the first patches). Between the intro videos and the main menu, after the initial start-up, the screen may sometimes go black for such a long period that you might think the game had crashed. What's more, the game did actually crash on us every now and then.

Another thing that is just as annoying: although The Callisto Protocol was created in collaboration with AMD, we noticed some extremely severe flickering when running the game on some AMD-based computers. And this is on top of the already choppy gaming experience with regular (minor) stutters. In a nutshell: the developer still needs to work on the game and improve its technical performance with more patches. We can only recommend that you stay away from the game in its current state.

The Callisto Protocol
The Callisto Protocol
The Callisto Protocol

The game's developer should also look into revising the graphics menu. The menu isn't very user-friendly because it has many sub-menus, most of which contain fairly few options. Whilst you can adjust V-Sync, framerate limit and DirectX mode in the general tab, the resolution, brightness, gamma (incl. HDR support) and a few other settings are found in the display tab. This is followed by a lighting menu that houses various quality and ray-tracing options. Finally, you'll also find an effects tab and an advanced graphics menu.

Note that the game automatically enables FSR upscaling (DLSS isn't supported) when you use one of the four handy presets. We manually disabled FSR for all our measurements. One nice feature is that the game doesn't require a restart every time you change any of the graphics options (except DirectX mode). On the other hand, the menu hardly provides any explanations about what each of the settings does, let alone comparison images.

The Callisto Protocol
The Callisto Protocol
The Callisto Protocol
The Callisto Protocol
The Callisto Protocol
The Callisto Protocol

Benchmark

We have to give the game credit for having a built-in benchmark tool that lets users measure frame rates quickly and effortlessly. The roughly 45-second sequence features a moving shot through monster-infested hallways. Unfortunately, no information is shown during the benchmark sequence. The result at the end is also very incomprehensive as it offers no relevant or interesting data other than the average fps (see video).

The benchmark as well as the game itself should run at 50 fps and above in order to offset the annoying stuttering that, as previously mentioned, happens pretty much regardless of what system or settings are used.

Results

We mainly used devices on loan from XMG (Schenker Technologies) for the benchmarks.

FHD (1,920 x 1,080)

Generally speaking, The Callisto Protocol feels choppy when running on iGPUs on the level of an Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7. Only the Radeon 680M managed to produce a somewhat playable 40 fps at 1080p and Low preset. You'll need a mid-range graphics card (e.g. GeForce RTX 3050 Ti) to enjoy the game at medium settings. Meanwhile, an upper mid-range or a high-end GPU (e.g. GeForce RTX 3060 and Radeon RX 6800M) is required to run The Callisto Protocol at High or Ultra presets.

The Callisto Protocol
    1920x1080 Low Preset (without FSR Upscaling)     1920x1080 Medium Preset (without FSR Upscaling)     1920x1080 High Preset (without FSR Upscaling)     1920x1080 Ultra Preset (without FSR Upscaling)
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, i9-12900K
Desktop-PC
178 fps ∼75%
126 fps ∼61%
125 fps ∼61%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, i9-12900K
Desktop-PC
151 fps ∼64%
101 fps ∼49%
100 fps ∼49%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Laptop GPU, i9-12900HX
MSI Titan GT77 12UHS
119 fps ∼50%
95.3 fps ∼47%
94.1 fps ∼46%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Neo 15 @165 W TGP
118 fps ∼50%
86.5 fps ∼42%
85.8 fps ∼42%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Neo 17 @140 W TGP
113 fps ∼48%
78.9 fps ∼39%
78.4 fps ∼38%
AMD Radeon RX 6800M, R9 5900HX
Asus ROG Strix G15
94.8 fps ∼40%
65.6 fps ∼32%
65.3 fps ∼32%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Core 15 @130 W TGP
89 fps ∼38%
58.7 fps ∼29%
58.2 fps ∼29%
AMD Radeon RX 6600M, R7 5800H
Lenovo Legion 5
82.4 fps ∼35%
54.9 fps ∼27%
54.4 fps ∼27%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Focus 17 @75 W TGP
91.2 fps ∼35%
63.5 fps ∼27%
37.2 fps ∼18%
36.1 fps ∼18%
AMD Radeon 680M, R9 6900HS
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14
40 fps ∼15%
27.3 fps ∼12%
17.5 fps ∼9%
17 fps ∼8%
Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs, i7-1165G7
Zotac ZBOX CI665 Nano
20.4 fps ∼8%
13.2 fps ∼6%
11.6 fps ∼6%
9.2 fps ∼5%

QHD (2,560 x 1,440)

 At 1440p and Ultra preset, the game calls for a truly high-end GPU along the lines of a GeForce RTX 3070 or RTX 3080.

The Callisto Protocol
    2560x1440 Ultra Preset (without FSR Upscaling)
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, i9-12900K
Desktop-PC
95.9 fps ∼52%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, i9-12900K
Desktop-PC
74 fps ∼40%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Laptop GPU, i9-12900HX
MSI Titan GT77 12UHS
73.2 fps ∼40%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Neo 15 @165 W TGP
62.3 fps ∼34%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Neo 17 @140 W TGP
56.4 fps ∼31%
AMD Radeon RX 6800M, R9 5900HX
Asus ROG Strix G15
49.1 fps ∼27%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Core 15 @130 W TGP
41.5 fps ∼22%
AMD Radeon RX 6600M, R7 5800H
Lenovo Legion 5
40 fps ∼22%

UHD (3,840 x 2,160)

The game becomes really demanding at 4K. Even the fastest Nvidia mobile GPU, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, reaches its limit at this resolution.

The Callisto Protocol
    3840x2160 Ultra Preset (without FSR Upscaling)
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, i9-12900K
Desktop-PC
58.6 fps ∼46%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Laptop GPU, i9-12900HX
MSI Titan GT77 12UHS
44.2 fps ∼35%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, i9-12900K
Desktop-PC
43.5 fps ∼34%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Neo 15 @165 W TGP
35.8 fps ∼28%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Neo 17 @140 W TGP
32.7 fps ∼26%
AMD Radeon RX 6800M, R9 5900HX
Asus ROG Strix G15
29.8 fps ∼23%
AMD Radeon RX 6600M, R7 5800H
Lenovo Legion 5
25.1 fps ∼20%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Core 15 @130 W TGP
18.4 fps ∼14%

Ray-tracing

As is often the case, the performance loss due to ray-tracing is disproportionate to the improvement in image quality. Frame rates can drop by roughly 30-50%, depending on the GPU. We recommend a GeForce RTX 3070 or higher if you want to run the game at 1080p with ray-tracing settings maxed out.

The Callisto Protocol
    1920x1080 Ultra Preset (without FSR Upscaling) + Full Ray-Tracing
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, i9-12900K
Desktop-PC
71.3 fps ∼73%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, i9-12900K
Desktop-PC
61.8 fps ∼63%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Neo 15 @165 W TGP
49.6 fps ∼51%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Neo 17 @140 W TGP
49.4 fps ∼50%
AMD Radeon RX 6800M, R9 5900HX
Asus ROG Strix G15
44.3 fps ∼45%
AMD Radeon RX 6600M, R7 5800H
Lenovo Legion 5
38.6 fps ∼39%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Core 15 @130 W TGP
32.7 fps ∼33%

Note

Because gaming tests are very time-consuming and are often constrained by installation or activation limits, we are only able to provide you with part of the benchmark results at the time of publishing this article. We will be adding more graphics cards over the coming days and weeks.

Overview

Show Restrictions
PosModel< PrevNext >The Callisto Protocol
 The Callisto Protocol (2022)
low
1920x1080
Low Preset (without FSR Upscaling)
med.
1920x1080
Medium Preset (without FSR Upscaling)
high
1920x1080
High Preset (without FSR Upscaling)
ultra
1920x1080
Ultra Preset (without FSR Upscaling)
QHD
2560x1440
Ultra Preset (without FSR Upscaling)
4K
3840x2160
Ultra Preset (without FSR Upscaling)
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090
231.9n2
223n2
203.45n2
202.4n2
183.9n2
125.95n2
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX
263
237
160
158
125
77
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080
231
213
172
171
138
85
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT
255
224
146
145
110
67
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti
214.6
196.3
155n3
155n3
117n3
68.34n3
AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT
257
215
138
137
105
66
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU
195
181
145
143.5n3
114n3
68n3
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090
207
185
133
132
101
62
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti
223
192
136
135
102
63
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU
177.8
159.8
119.9
120.4
93.1
55.3
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080
178
126
125
95.9
58.6
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU
78.86
59.07
32.96
AMD Radeon RX 6800
225
155
93
92
70
43
NVIDIA Titan RTX
193.3
153.9
101.5
101.2
74.7
45.7
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti
195
159
104
103
78
46.7
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Laptop GPU
119
95.3
94.1
73.2
44.2
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070
151
101
100
74
43.5
AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT
178
121
73
72
54
32
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU
118
86.5
85.8
62.3
35.8
PosModel< PrevNext >The Callisto Protocol
low med. high ultra QHD 4K
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti
143.75n2
115.25n2
79.2n2
79.05n2
59.4n2
35.9n2
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Laptop GPU
117
99.3
71
70.7
52.8
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU
68.9
48.6
27
AMD Radeon RX 6800M
94.8
65.6
65.3
49.1
29.8
AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT
171
113
68
68
49
28
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU
124.9
109.1n2
89.55n2
75.45n2
54.8n2
31.75n2
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal
130.3
91.2
59.1
58.6
43.8
26.4
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Super (Desktop)
158.3
109.8
69.8
69.6
51.3
30.4
Intel Arc A770M
122.5
90.6
64.1
64
47.5
28.1
AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT (Desktop)
149
103
67
66
48
27
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU
105.5
86.45n2
57.15n2
56.75n2
41.5
18.4
AMD Radeon RX 7600S
79.4
48.6
48.4
35.6
20.9
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Super (Desktop)
134.8
92.2
58.7
57.7
42.9
25.1
AMD Radeon RX 6600
134
90
56
55
39
22
AMD Radeon RX 5700 (Desktop)
132
91
59
58
42
24
AMD Radeon RX 6600M
122.5
85.85n2
55.6n2
55.2n2
39.7n2
23.55n2
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050
108.2
72.5
69
44.1
32.4
18.7
AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT (Desktop)
124
88
57
56
40.3
20.8
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Super (Desktop)
99.7
69.8
45.3
45.1
30.3
12.4
AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT
90.6
59.1
29.3
28.2
18.5
7.3
PosModel< PrevNext >The Callisto Protocol
low med. high ultra QHD 4K
AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT (Desktop)
83.6
57.5
36.1
35.9
25.8
15
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU
137
97
60
59
42
21
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU
91.2
63.5
37.2
36.1
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 (Desktop)
92.8
67.4
42.6
42.7
30.1
12.6
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Super (Desktop)
85.4
58.1
34.3
31.9
17.5
7.9
AMD Radeon RX 5500M
57.7
47.4
29.8
28.6
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2050 Mobile
46.25
34.95
Intel Arc A350M
42.1
28.3
12.3
13.9
8.3
3.1
AMD Radeon 680M
34.8n2
23.35n2
14.15n2
14.35n2
NVIDIA GeForce MX450
34.2
15
8
7.4
Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs
20.65n2
14.05n2
10.6n2
9.4n2
NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 (Desktop)
18.4
8
4.3
Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 80EUs
13.55n2
9.85n2
5.9n2
6.9
Intel UHD Graphics 770
11.9
8.2
AMD Radeon RX Vega 7
17.6
11.6
6.5
6.4
Intel UHD Graphics 620
5.2
AMD Radeon RX Vega 3
7.1
(-) * Smaller values are better. / n123 Number of benchmarks for this median value / * Approximate position

 

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

Test systems

XMG Neo 15 (RTX 3080) - Click on the image to open the configurator (bestware.com)
XMG Neo 15 (RTX 3080) - Click on the image to open the configurator (bestware.com)
XMG Neo 17 (RTX 3070) - Click on the image to open the configurator (bestware.com)
XMG Neo 17 (RTX 3070) - Click on the image to open the configurator (bestware.com)
XMG Core 15 (RTX 3060) - Click on the image to open the configurator (bestware.com)
XMG Core 15 (RTX 3060) - Click on the image to open the configurator (bestware.com)
XMG Focus 17 (RTX 3050 Ti) - Click on the image to open the configurator (bestware.com)
XMG Focus 17 (RTX 3050 Ti) - Click on the image to open the configurator (bestware.com)
Device Graphics card Processor RAM Operating system
Notebooks
MSI Titan GT77 12UHS Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti @175 W TGP (16 GB GDDR6) Intel Core i9-12900 2 x 16 GB DDR5 Windows 11
XMG Neo 15 Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 @165 W TGP (16 GB GDDR6) Intel Core i7-11800H 2 x 16 GB DDR4 Windows 11
XMG Neo 17 Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 @140 W TGP (8 GB GDDR6) Intel Core i7-11800H 2 x 16 GB DDR4 Windows 11
XMG Core 15 Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 @130 W TGP (6 GB GDDR6) Intel Core i7-11800H 2 x 16 GB DDR4 Windows 11
XMG Focus 17 Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti @75 W TGP (4 GB GDDR6) Intel Core i7-11800H 2 x 16 GB DDR4 Windows 11
Asus ROG Strix G15 AMD Radeon RX 6800M (12 GB GDDR6) AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX 2 x 8 GB DDR4 Windows 11
Lenovo Legion 5 AMD Radeon RX 6600M (8 GB GDDR6) AMD Ryzen 7 5800H 2 x 8 GB DDR4 Windows 11
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 AMD Radeon 680M AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS 2 x 16 GB DDR5 Windows 11
Zotac ZBOX CI665 Nano Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 (96 EUs) Intel Core i7-1165G7 2 x 8 GB DDR4 Windows 11
Tower PCs
Custom I MSI GeForce RTX 3080 (10 GB GDDR6X)
MSI GeForce RTX 3070 (8 GB GDDR6)
Intel Core i9-12900K 2 x 16 GB DDR4 Windows 11
Custom II Palit GeForce RTX 4090 GameRock OC (24 GB GDDR6X)
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 FE (24 GB GDDR6X)
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (8 GB GDDR6X)
Nvidia Titan RTX (24 GB GDDR6)
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super (8 GB GDDR6)
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super (8 GB GDDR6)
KFA2 GeForce GTX 1660 Super (6 GB GDDR6)
PNY GeForce GTX 1660 (6 GB GDDR5)
KFA2 GeForce GTX 1650 Super (4 GB GDDR6)
AMD Radeon RX 6800 (16 GB DDR6)
AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT (12 GB DDR6)
AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT (8 GB GDDR6)
AMD Radeon RX 6600 (8 GB GDDR6)
AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT (8 GB GDDR6)
AMD Radeon RX 5700 (8 GB GDDR6)
AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT (6 GB GDDR6)
AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT (8 GB GDDR6)
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X 2 x 16 GB DDR5 Windows 11
Custom III Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super FE Intel Core i9-11900K 2 x 8 GB DDR4 Windows 11
Mini-PCs
Morefine S500+ AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX 2 x 16 GB DDR4 Windows 11
Minisforum NUCXi7+ Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 @125 W TGP (8 GB GDDR6) Intel Core i7-11800H 2 x 8 GB DDR4 Windows 11
Minisforum HX90G+ AMD Radeon RX 6600M @100 W TGP (8 GB GDDR6) AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX 2 x 16 GB DDR4 Windows 11
4K Monitors Nvidia driver AMD driver
Asus PB287Q, Philips Brilliance 329P9H, Acer Predator XB321HK ForceWare 527.37 Adrenalin 22.12.2
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> Notebook / Laptop Reviews and News > Reviews > The Callisto Protocol review: notebook and desktop benchmarks
Florian Glaser, 2022-12-12 (Update: 2022-12-12)