Returnal: PC Performance Benchmarks for Graphics Cards and Processors
BASIC INFORMATION ON THE GAME |
Video card and processor tests in Returnal were carried out in order to determine the performance of the computer when running this game on various graphics settings. This helps gamers determine the optimal graphics settings to achieve the best performance and visual quality on their systems. In addition, the test results can be useful for choosing a graphics card and processor when upgrading a computer to ensure that it can run games at high performance.
NEW PROVIDED FOR TESTING BY GIGABYTE |
In our review, we bring you the GIGABYTE Z790 GAMING X AX motherboards . These motherboards are used by us as stands for testing new generations of Intel processors .
In our test this time, the top-end video card from AORUS Radeon RX 7900 XTX ELITE 24G is participating. This video card is based on the RDNA 3 architecture, operates at a frequency of 3000 MHz and has 24 gigabytes of video memory.
NEW PRODUCTS FROM MSI FOR TESTING |
The MSI GEFORCE RTX 4090 GAMING X TRIO 24 GB is now participating in our test .This video card is based on the Ada Lovelace architecture, operates at a frequency of 2750 MHz, has 16384 stream processors and 24 gigabytes of video memory.
In our test this time, the top-end video card from MSI GEFORCE RTX 4070 Ti GAMING TRIO 12 GB is participating . The GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is based on the AD104 GPU and features 7680 CUDA cores and 12GB of GDDR6X memory.
In our review, we bring you the MSI MPG X670E Carbon WIFI motherboard . MSI MPG X670E Carbon WIFI is equipped with a highly reliable power supply system, 16 power modules of which are designed to work with powerful multi-threaded AMD Ryzen 7000 series processors. You can directly check the testing of this motherboard on our website.
NEW PRODUCTS FROM ASUS FOR TESTING |
In our test this time, the new ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4080 OC video card is participating . This video card is based on the RDNA 3 architecture, operates at a frequency of 3000 MHz and has 24 gigabytes of video memory.
In our review, we bring you the ASUS ROG Strix B650-A Gaming WiFi Motherboard . ROG Strix B650-A Gaming WiFi includes 4 DIMM DDR5 modules with a maximum capacity of up to 64 GB and a frequency of up to 6400 MHz. For the file subsystem, the motherboard supports 3x M.2 PCIe 5.0/4.0 x4 slots and 4x SATA 6Gb/s ports. You can get acquainted directly with the testing of this motherboard on our website.
NEW PRODUCTS PROVIDED FOR TESTS BY KINGSTON |
In our review, we used RAM: 32 GB DDR4 3600 CL16 Kingston FURY Renegade , 32 GB DDR4 4000 CL18 Kingston FURY Renegade , 32 GB DDR5 6000 Kingston FURY Renegade .
THE GRAFICAL PART |
In this subsection of our review, the main graphical aspects of this game are revealed. Particular attention is paid to the version of the graphics engine used, the version of the API used, graphics settings and the quality of the development of the main visual aspects.
SUPPORTED OC AND GRAPHICS API |
Returnal is supported by Windows 10/11. The priority and primary graphics API for Returnal is DX 12 .
GAME ENGINE |
Returnal is based on the Unreal Engine 4 game engine developed and maintained by Epic Games.
Thanks to his work, each playthrough of the game is unique and inimitable, which increases the replayability of the game. The first game created on the engine - Unreal - appeared in 1998. Since then, various versions of this game engine have been used in over a hundred games, including Deus Ex, Dishonored, Lineage II, Thief: Deadly Shadows, Postal 2, the Brothers in Arms series, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six, as well as in the well-known game series Unreal and Unreal Tournament from Epic Games themselves. Being adapted primarily for first-person shooters, the engine was also used to create games of other genres.
Written in the high-level C++ language, Unreal Engine 4 allows you to create games for most operating systems and platforms: Microsoft Windows, Linux, Mac OS and Mac OS X, Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3, Wii, Dreamcast and Nintendo GameCube. In December, Mark Rein demonstrated Unreal Engine 3 on the iPod Touch and iPhone 3GS. In March 2010, the engine was demonstrated on the Palm Pre communicator based on the webOS mobile platform.
To simplify porting, the engine uses a modular system of dependent components: supports various rendering systems (Direct3D, OpenGL, Pixomatic; previously supported Glide API, S3 Metal, PowerVR SGL), sound playback (EAX, OpenAL, DirectSound3D; previously supported A3D), voice playback tools text, speech recognition (only for Xbox360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii and Microsoft Windows, also planned for Linux and Mac), modules for networking and support for various input devices.
For online play, Windows Live, Xbox Live, and GameSpy technologies are supported, including up to 64 players (clients) at the same time. Despite the fact that the development tools do not officially include support for a large number of clients on a single server, the engine has been used to create MMORPG games. One of the most famous representatives of the genre, Lineage II, uses the Unreal Engine.
GRAPHICS SETTINGS |
Returnal has a fairly wide range of graphic settings.
The graphics settings menu in Returnal includes the following options:
Screen Resolution - allows you to select a screen resolution that suits your monitor or display.
Screen Mode - allows you to select a display mode such as full screen, windowed, or borderless.
Brightness - allows you to adjust the brightness of the image.
Gamma - allows you to adjust the gamma level to improve image quality.
Frame Mode - Allows you to select a frame mode such as 30 FPS or 60 FPS.
Image Quality - allows you to adjust image quality such as textures, shadow resolution, and reflection quality.
Ray Tracing - allows you to enable or disable RT effects such as realistic lighting, shadows, reflections and refractions of light on various surfaces.
Anti-aliasing - allows you to enable or disable anti-aliasing of the edges of images to improve the quality of graphics.
Dynamic graphics - allows you to enable or disable the dynamic change of graphics in the game.
V-Sync - allows you to turn V-Sync on or off to reduce screen tearing.
The game supports HDR, but there is no option in the graphics settings menu to enable or disable this feature. Instead, the game will automatically detect if your display supports HDR and enable it if possible.
RT ON/OFF |
Enabling RT effects in the game Returnal results in improved graphics quality due to realistic lighting, shadows, reflections and refraction of light on various surfaces such as glass, metal, water, etc. However, enabling RT effects also increases the load on the graphics card and results in a drop in frames per second (FPS).
Comparison of images with RT enabled and disabled shows a noticeable improvement in graphics quality with ray tracing enabled. For example, the surfaces of walls, floors, and other objects look more realistic and have more accurate lighting. In addition, enabling RT effects also improves the quality of reflections in water and other surfaces.
However, as mentioned, enabling RT effects also results in lower FPS, so users have to make a choice between higher graphics quality and higher game performance.
GENERAL VISUAL DESIGN AND GAME PHYSICS |
The graphics in the game are not bad, and visually appealing. Returnal uses ray tracing and realistic lighting technologies to create stunning lighting, shadows and reflections.
Textures and details on objects such as walls, doors, weapons and environments are very detailed and realistic.
Returnal has an impressive atmosphere and level design that makes for an amazing game experience. In addition, the game supports HDR, which further improves the quality of graphics.
Even though the game looks amazing, the game is quite demanding on the hardware, and to achieve the best graphics quality, you need to have powerful hardware.
TEST PART |
Test configuration | |
test stands |
ROG Strix X570-E Gaming Z490 AORUS PRO AX GIGABYTE Z590 VISION GIGABYTE Z690 AERO G GIGABYTE Z790 GAMING XAX MSI MPG X670E Carbon WIFI ASUS ROG Strix B650-A Gaming WiFi |
Sponsored Video Cards |
AORUS Radeon RX 7900 XTX ELITE 24G MSI GEFORCE RTX 4090 GAMING X TRIO 24 GB MSI GEFORCE RTX 4070 Ti GAMING TRIO 12 GB MSI GEFORCE RTX 3080 SUPRIM X 12 GB MSI GEFORCE RTX 3070 Ti GAMING TRIO 8 GB ASUS Radeon RX 7900 XTX ASUS TUF Gaming GEFORCE RTX 4080OC |
multimedia equipment |
Monitor Philips 326M6VJRMB/00 Power Supply Seasonic PRIME TX-1000 32 GB DDR4 3600 CL16 Kingston FURY Renegade 32 GB DDR4 4000 CL18 Kingston FURY Renegade 32 GB DDR5 5600 CL40 KingstonFURY Beast 32 GB DDR5 6000@6400 CL30 KingstonFURY Renegade Kingston FURY Renegade PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD Case MPG CORELIQUID K240 |
Software configuration |
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operating system | Windows 10 21H2/ Windows 11(Alder Lake) |
Graphics driver |
Nvidia GeForce/ION Driver Release 528.24 WHQL AMD Radeon Adrenalin Edition 23.2.1 |
Monitoring programs |
MSI Afterburner |
Our video cards were tested at 1920x1080, 2560x1440 and 3840x2160 resolutions at epic graphics quality settings with and without tracing.
GPU TEST |
In the test of video cards, the default resolution is 1920x1080, other resolutions are added and removed manually. You can also remove and add any positions of video cards. You can also select any of our test processors from the list in the drop-down menu, comparing its performance with the given video card tests (by default, the most productive solution is selected). The test is carried out on the most productive CPU in this game and is scaled to other processors, taking into account their testing on NVIDIA and AMD video cards.
You can choose and buy a video card model or one close to it by clicking on the link from any position of our modular charts from our partner Telemart .
At a resolution of 1920x1080, an average FPS of 25 frames was shown by video cards of the Radeon RX 6600 or GeForce RTX 2060 level . A minimum FPS of at least 25 frames can be provided by video cards of the level Radeon RX 6600 or GeForce RTX 2060 . A comfortable average FPS of 60 frames can be provided by Radeon RX 6600 or GeForce RTX 2060 solutions .
At a resolution of 2560x1440, an average FPS of 25 frames was shown by video cards of the Radeon RX 6600 or GeForce RTX 2060 level . A minimum FPS of at least 25 frames can be provided by video cards of the level Radeon RX 6600 or GeForce RTX 2060 . A comfortable average FPS of 60 frames can be provided by Radeon RX 6700 or GeForce RTX 2080 solutions .
At a resolution of 3840x2160, an average FPS of 25 frames was shown by video cards of the level Radeon RX 6600 XT or GeForce RTX 3060 . A minimum FPS of at least 25 frames can be provided by video cards of the level Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 2080 . A comfortable average FPS of 60 frames can be provided by Radeon RX 6900 XT or GeForce RTX 3080 solutions .
RT
At a resolution of 1920x1080, an average FPS of 25 frames was shown by video cards of the Radeon RX 6600 or GeForce RTX 2060 level . A minimum FPS of at least 25 frames can be provided by video cards of the level Radeon RX 6600 or GeForce RTX 2060 . A comfortable average FPS of 60 frames can be provided by Radeon RX 6750 XT or GeForce RTX 2080 solutions .
At a resolution of 2560x1440, an average FPS of 25 frames was shown by video cards of the Radeon RX 6700 or GeForce RTX 2060 level . A minimum FPS of at least 25 frames can be provided by video cards of the Radeon RX 6700 or GeForce RTX 2060 level . A comfortable average FPS of 60 frames can be provided by Radeon RX 6800 XT or GeForce RTX 3070 Ti solutions .
At a resolution of 3840x2160, an average FPS of 25 frames was shown by video cards of the Radeon RX 6800 or GeForce RTX 2080 level . A minimum FPS of at least 25 frames can be provided by video cards of the level Radeon RX 6800 XT or GeForce RTX 2080 Ti . A comfortable average FPS of 60 frames can be provided by GeForce RTX 4080 solutions .
VIDEO MEMORY CONSUMPTION |
Testing of the video memory consumed by the game was carried out by the MSI Afterburner program. The results on video cards from AMD and NVIDIA at resolutions of 1920x1080, 2560x1440 and 3840x2160 with various anti-aliasing settings were taken as the indicator. By default, the graph displays the most up-to-date solutions. Other graphics cards are added and removed from the chart at the reader's request.
GameGPU
At a resolution of 1920x1080 , video memory consumption for video cards with 8 gigabytes is 6 gigabytes , with 12 gigabytes 6 gigabytes , with 16 gigabytes 7 gigabytes , with 24 gigabytes 7 gigabytes .
At a resolution of 2560x1440 , the consumption of video memory for video cards with 8 gigabytes is 7 gigabytes, with 12 gigabytes 7 gigabytes , with 16 gigabytes 7 gigabytes with 24 gigabytes 8 gigabytes .
At a resolution of 3840x2160 , video memory consumption for video cards with 8 gigabytes is 8 gigabytes, with 12 gigabytes 8 gigabytes , with 16 gigabytes 9 gigabytes with 24 gigabytes 9 gigabytes .
RT
At a resolution of 1920x1080 , the consumption of video memory for video cards with 8 gigabytes is 7 gigabytes , with 12 gigabytes 7 gigabytes , with 16 gigabytes 8 gigabytes with 24 gigabytes 8 gigabytes .
At a resolution of 2560x1440 , video memory consumption for video cards with 8 gigabytes is 7 gigabytes, with 12 gigabytes 8 gigabytes , with 16 gigabytes 9 gigabytes , with 24 gigabytes 9 gigabytes .
At a resolution of 3840x2160 , video memory consumption for video cards with 8 gigabytes is 8 gigabytes, with 12 gigabytes 10 gigabytes , with 16 gigabytes 10 gigabytes with 24 gigabytes 11 gigabytes .
CPU TEST |
Testing was carried out at a resolution of 1920x1080. In the processor test, you can remove and add any positions of the processors. You can also select any tested video card from the list in the drop-down menu, comparing its performance with the results of processor tests (by default, the most productive solution from NVIDIA is selected). Testing takes place on the most productive NVIDIA and AMD video cards and scales up to lower models.
You can choose and buy a processor model or one close to it by clicking on the link from any position of our modular charts from our partner Telemart .
When using NVIDIA video cards, Ryzen 3 3100 or Core i 3 10100 processors showed an acceptable rate of at least 25 frames per second , and Ryzen 3 3100 or Core i 3 10100 solutions can provide an FPS rate of at least 60 frames per second .
When using AM D video cards, Ryzen 3 3100 or Core i 3 10100 processors showed an acceptable rate of at least 25 frames per second , and Ryzen 3 3100 or Core i 3 10100 solutions can provide an FPS rate of at least 60 frames per second .
RT
When using NVIDIA video cards, Ryzen 3 3100 or Core i 3 10100 processors showed an acceptable rate of at least 25 frames per second , and Ryzen 3 3100 or Core i 3 10100 solutions can provide an FPS rate of at least 60 frames per second .
When using AM D video cards, Ryzen 3 3100 or Core i 3 10100 processors showed an acceptable rate of at least 25 frames per second , and Ryzen 3 3100 or Core i 3 10100 solutions can provide an FPS rate of at least 60 frames per second .
GameGPU
The game can download up to 12 threads. The game uses 8 threads as efficiently as possible.
RAM TEST |
The test was conducted on the base configuration Core i 9 13900K with 32 GB DDR5 6400 MHz pre-installed memory. All used RAM was taken as an indicator. The RAM test on the entire system was carried out on various video cards without running extraneous applications (browsers, etc.). In the graphics, you can add and remove any resolutions and video cards as desired.
GameGPU
At a resolution of 1920x1080 , the consumption of RAM for video cards with 8 gigabytes is 11 gigabytes , with 12 gigabytes 10 gigabytes , with 16 gigabytes 10 gigabytes, with 24 gigabytes 10 gigabytes .
At a resolution of 2560x1440 , the consumption of RAM for video cards with 8 gigabytes is 11 gigabytes , with 12 gigabytes 10 gigabytes , with 16 gigabytes 10 gigabytes with 24 gigabytes 10 gigabytes .
At a resolution of 3840x2160 , the consumption of RAM for video cards with 8 gigabytes is 12 gigabytes , with 12 gigabytes 10 gigabytes , with 16 gigabytes 10 gigabytes with 24 gigabytes 10 gigabytes .
RT
At a resolution of 1920x1080 , the consumption of RAM for video cards with 8 gigabytes is 12 gigabytes , with 12 gigabytes 10 gigabytes , with 16 gigabytes 10 gigabytes, with 24 gigabytes 10 gigabytes .
At a resolution of 2560x1440 , the consumption of RAM for video cards with 8 gigabytes is 13 gigabytes , with 12 gigabytes 10 gigabytes , with 16 gigabytes 10 gigabytes with 24 gigabytes 10 gigabytes .
At a resolution of 3840x2160 , the consumption of RAM for video cards with 8 gigabytes is 14 gigabytes , with 12 gigabytes 11 gigabytes , with 16 gigabytes 10 gigabytes with 24 gigabytes 10 gigabytes .
CONCLUSION |
The following conclusions can be drawn from the test results:
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Returnal has quite high hardware requirements, especially when using ray tracing (RT) technology.
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When using the highest graphics settings and 4K resolution, a powerful graphics card in the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti or Radeon RX 6800 XT class is required.
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At lower graphics settings and 1440p resolution, a graphics card in the GeForce RTX 3070 or Radeon RX 6700 XT class is sufficient.
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The graphics setting "High" at 1080p results in good graphics quality and reasonably high performance on most graphics cards.
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The processor has a limited impact on the performance of the game, but it is still recommended to use a powerful processor for maximum performance.
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Ray tracing technology greatly improves the quality of graphics, but requires a powerful computer to ensure a smooth game.
Overall, Returnal is a fairly demanding game, but with the right graphics settings and the right computer hardware, it delivers high quality graphics and an enjoyable gaming experience.
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