The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered - PC performance graphics benchmarks of Graphics Cards and Processors
We have tested The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered on maximum graphics settings with GeForce RTX and Radeon RX series video cards. We also evaluated the performance and quality of the game's graphics during our tests.
| THE GRAFICAL PART |
This subsection of our review highlights the main graphical aspects of this game. Particular attention is paid to the version of the graphics engine used, the version of the API used, graphic settings and the quality of development of the main visual aspects.
| Supported OS and Graphics API |
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remaster brings the classic Cyrodiil to a modern engine, with reworked textures, lighting, and DirectX 12 support. The project is designed for 64-bit Windows-systems and scales to a wide range of configurations, from robust mid-range PCs to high-end gaming builds.
System Requirements
The minimum
• OS: Windows 10 64‑bit
• Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 2600X / Intel Core i7‑6800K
• RAM: 16 GB
• Video card: AMD Radeon RX 5700 / NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti
• DirectX: 12
• Storage: 125 GB
Recommended
• OS: Windows 10 64‑bit
• Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 3600X / Intel Core i5‑10600K
• RAM: 32 GB
• Video card: AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT / NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080
• DirectX: 12
• Storage: 125 GB
| DEVELOPMENT HISTORY |
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is a complete reimagining of Bethesda's classic 2006 RPG, developed by Virtuos in collaboration with Arkane Austin and overseen by Bethesda Game Studios. The remaster began development in 2021 under strict confidentiality and is one of the largest internal remasters in the company's history. The Virtuos team was given access to all of the original game's original assets, including audio and animation libraries, models, quest structures, dialogue maps, and AI behavior scripts.
The main goal was to completely restore and update the gaming experience without losing the unique atmosphere of Oblivion. The team aimed to preserve the recognizable style - light fantasy aesthetics, smooth combat mechanics, a level system with auto-balancing and a huge number of side quests - while adapting the game to the requirements of the audience of 2025. Unlike previous HD re-releases, this remaster was developed on a new engine - Unreal Engine 5, which allowed for a complete rebuild of the visuals, physics, lighting, animations and AI. Much of the original game code was rewritten from scratch.
The development process was divided into three stages: transferring mechanics, updating the world, and visualization. At the first stage, a modular database was created based on TES Construction Set scripts, and the system of skills, inventory, and combat abilities was converted. The second stage concerned the geometry of the world - each province of Cyrodiil was manually adapted to Nanite geometry, observing the scale, relief, and logic of object placement. At the final stage, visual effects, dialogues, cutscenes, and music were updated.
Particular attention was paid to optimizing the NPC behavior system. The legendary Radiant AI was retained, but its logic was improved: NPCs now monitor the schedule, react to weather changes, interact with each other and remember the player. In addition, new quests, plot twists and additional dialogues were added, including for secondary characters, previously almost not revealed.
The updated Oblivion includes all official add-ons, including Shivering Isles, Knights of the Nine, Mehrunes Razor and Fighter's Stronghold. The remaster also features a new starting mission, in which the player travels through the dungeons of the Imperial City before the start of the main story. The game is adapted for modern controllers, supports achievements on Xbox and Steam, and has full localization in 12 languages. The release took place on April 22, 2025.
| GRAPHICS |
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered's graphics are the result of many years of work based on Unreal Engine 5. Unlike the original 2006 version, which was built on Gamebryo, the new version uses Nanite to reproduce the geometry of objects with almost cinematic accuracy. Thanks to this technology, houses, trees, cliffs, fortresses and dungeons now have unique surfaces, varied structure and realistic erosion. This is especially noticeable in mountainous regions, on the coasts and in the ruins of the Ayleids, where every crack, moss and drop of water is rendered in micro-detail.
Lumen provides dynamic global illumination in real time. Light from torches, sun rays through the forest canopy, reflections from metal armor and glass artifacts look natural and change depending on the time of day. The atmosphere of Cyrodiil landscapes, previously saturated with soft post-effects and fogs, now has depth and volume thanks to volumetric lighting, scattering effects and soft shadows from clouds.
Forests are now filled with fauna and flora: grass sways in the wind, flowers react to movement, and insects and birds behave according to the biome. Niagara and Chaos Physics bring realistic particle behavior to the game – snow, rain, fog, smoke, magical flashes, and blood splashes.
The characters have been completely reworked: the models are completely updated, support facial capture and animation of facial expressions. Updated animation sets include smooth transitions, procedural motion mechanics and fabric physics. Clothes and armor react to movement, wind and collisions with the environment. The characters' gaze has become alive: support for eye contact is implemented, tracking the movements of the player or interlocutor.
The game interface has been redrawn in high resolution, adapted for 4K and ultra-wide screens. HDR and dynamic exposure are supported. Special attention is paid to water: rivers and lakes now reflect the sky, react to objects, currents and weather conditions. Scenes in Oblivion now have a different color scheme - dark, scarlet and fiery tones, and the Daedra models have acquired a full range of bioluminescent effects.
The updated graphics allowed players to take a fresh look at the already familiar world. Each region - from the Blackwood swamps to the hills of Bruma - acquired its own style, richness and atmosphere. This visual transformation made the remaster a fully-fledged modern game, capable of competing with current RPGs of 2025.
| GAME ENGINE |
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is running on Unreal Engine 5 — one of the most advanced engines of its generation. Its use allowed to implement a number of solutions impossible on the outdated Gamebryo. The project architecture is completely modular: each area of the world is loaded on the fly thanks to World Partition, which eliminates loading screens when moving between regions. This allowed to integrate air travel, unlimited horse riding and free movement even within large cities, previously divided into zones.
The LOD (level of detail) system is controlled by Nanite, which allows objects to be rendered tens of kilometers ahead without any loss of performance. Gravity, collisions, destruction, wind physics — everything is implemented based on Chaos Physics. Horses, monsters, and NPCs have procedural movement animations that take into account weight, tilt, and obstacles. The combat system has been reworked: it now uses event physics and a collision system instead of scripted timers. Attacks, blocks, and dodges happen in real time and can be interrupted, reflected, or upset the balance.
AI is implemented through a hybrid model: the classic Radiant AI is supplemented with behavior-based and decision tree components. NPCs form schedules, change priorities, form groups, and adapt to the player's actions. Some characters may change their attitude towards the player not only for plot reasons, but also depending on actions in side quests or in the context of rumors spreading across the region.
The magic system works through modular chains of visual effects and custom scripts. Each magical effect has visual, physical, and gameplay components. Spells can be combined, strengthened, and customized in the spell panel interface. Physical spells can knock back objects, set grass on fire, destroy statues, and break walls. The combat system includes melee and ranged weapons, with interchangeable stance, attack angle, and parry mechanics.
The project supports Steam Workshop and an internal modding system. Custom quests, items, interfaces and animations are supported. A photo mode, a built-in replay server and an NPC behavior editor are also available. The game runs on DirectX 12 and supports ray tracing (optional), DLSS 3.5, XeSS and FSR 3.1. Thanks to competent optimization, stable playback in 1440p at 60 FPS is possible on mid-range systems. On high configurations - up to 4K HDR with RT Global Illumination.
Thus, the engine not only transformed the graphics, but also became the basis for a modern open world, adapted to new gameplay paradigms, while preserving the spirit of the original Oblivion.
| QUALITY |
The first Oblivion was captivating in its scale in 2006, but the world of Cyrodiil seems washed out today: low (for today) 512 textures, harsh shadow "blocks" and flat HDR lighting make the marble of the Imperial City matte, and the twilight in Cheydinhal almost lifeless. Water reflects only the sky, distant hills are replaced by gray fog, and NPC faces consist of a handful of polygons with stiff lip animation. All this is held together by the decrepit Gamebryo, which at one time miraculously pulled off an open world, but has long since shown no sign of hiding its age.
In the remaster, Bethesda and Virtuos transfer the game to Unreal Engine 5 and immediately reveal a “different” picture. Houses flare with soft reflections of Lumen lighting, torches fill the dungeons with warm diffused light, and reflections on the Leyawiin canals show the sky, towers, and passing NPCs - all in real time. Surfaces are no longer “stone wallpaper”: metal shines, skin fades gently, and fabrics react to the shadows of clouds. The forest on the road to Bruma breathes with details - thick grass, drooping moss, hundreds of small pebbles that no longer disappear when approaching. The models are remade from scratch: armor sparkles with scratches, and the guard talking about “chops & crime” flashes realistic facial wrinkles. Even the interface got rid of bulky 4:3 squares, replacing it with a transparent menu in the style of the latest TES. As a result, the visual distance between the versions feels like a choice between an old watercolor postcard and a living panoramic window: the remaster doesn't change the heart of Oblivion, but it makes its world shine as if it had just emerged from the forge of a new generation.
| TEST PART |
Below you will find a table of equipment that was kindly provided by our sponsors: GIGABYTE, ASUS, Kingston и Deep Cool. It reflects the list of motherboards, video cards, memory modules and cooling systems used in the tests, and also indicates the current configuration of the operating system and drivers.
| Test configuration | |
| GIGABYTE | |
| motherboards | |
| ASUS | |
| motherboards | |
| Video Cards |
Asus GeForce RTX 5070 TUF Gaming OC ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4070 Ti OC |
| KINGSTON | |
| RAM |
16 GB DDR4 4600 CL19 Kingston FURY Renegade 32 GB DDR4 3600 CL16 Kingston FURY Renegade 32 GB DDR4 4000 CL18 Kingston FURY Renegade 32 GB DDR5 5600 CL40 Kingston Fury Beast 32 GB DDR5 6000 CL30 Kingston FURY Renegade 32 GB DDR5 7200 CL36 Kingston FURY Renegade |
| Storage devices |
Kingston FURY Renegade PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD |
| Deep Cool | |
|
Cases and cooling |
|
| Software configuration |
|
| Operating system | Windows 11 24H2 |
| Graphics driver |
Nvidia GeForce/ION Driver Release 576.15 WHQL AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 25.3.2 |
| Monitoring programs | MSI Afterburner 4.6.6 Beta 5 Build 16555 |
All video cards were tested at maximum graphics quality using MSI Afterburner. The purpose of the test is to determine how video cards from different manufacturers behave under the same conditions. Below is a video of a test segment from the game:
Our video cards were tested at different screen sizes 1920x1080, 2560x1440 и 3840x2160 with maximum graphics quality settings without upscales.
| TEST GPU |
In the video card test, 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 powerful CPU in this game and is scaled to other processors, taking into account their testing on NVIDIA and AMD video cards.
- Ultra
When resolved 1920x1080:
- Average FPS (25 frames): Reached on video cards of the level of Radeon RX 6800 XT or GeForce RTX 2080 Ti.
- Minimum FPS (25 frames): Provided by video cards of the Radeon RX 7700 XT or GeForce RTX 4060 Ti level.
- Comfortable average FPS (60 frames): Possible with video cards of the GeForce RTX 5080 level.
When resolved 2560x1440:
- Average FPS (25 frames): Reached on video cards of the level of Radeon RX 7800 XT or GeForce RTX 3080.
- Minimum FPS (25 frames): Provided by video cards of the Radeon RX 7900 XT or GeForce RTX 5070 level.
- Comfortable average FPS (60 frames): Possible with video cards of the GeForce RTX 5090 level.
When resolved 3840x2160:
- Average FPS (25 frames): Reached GeForce RTX 5080 level on video cards.
- Minimum FPS (25 frames): Provided by GeForce-level video cards RTX 4090.
| VIDEO MEMORY CONSUMPTION |
Testing of video memory consumed by the game was carried out by the program MSI Afterburner. The indicator was based on the results on video cards from AMD and NVIDIA with separate screen sizes 1920x1080, 2560x1440 and 3840x2160 with various anti-aliasing settings. By default, the graph displays the most current solutions. Other video cards are added and removed from the chart at the request of the reader.
- Ultra
GameGPU
Resolution 1920x1080:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 8 GB
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 8 GB
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 8 GB
- Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 8 GB
Resolution 2560x1440:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 8 GB
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 9 GB
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 9 GB
- Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 9 GB
Resolution 3840x2160:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 10 GB
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 10 GB
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 10 GB
- Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 11 GB
| CPU TEST |
Testing was carried out at a resolution of 1920x1080. In the processor test, you can remove or add any processor positions. You can also select any tested video card from the list in the drop-down menu, comparing its performance with the given processor test results (by default, the most productive solution from NVIDIA is selected). Testing takes place on the most powerful NVIDIA and AMD video cards and scales to low-end models.
- Ultra
When using NVIDIA video cards:
- Processors for acceptable FPS (not lower than 25 frames per second):
- AMD Ryzen 3 3100
- Intel Core i3-10100
- Processors for comfortable FPS (at least 60 frames per second):
- AMD Ryzen 5 5600
- Intel Core i5-10600
When using AMD video cards:
- Processors for acceptable FPS (not lower than 25 frames per second):
- AMD Ryzen 3 3100
- Intel Core i3-10100
- Ultra
Loading and using streams:
- Maximum load: The game can load up to 16 streams.
- Optimal loading: Uses up to 12 threads as efficiently as possible.
| RAM TEST |
The test was carried out on the basic configuration of 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 launching third-party applications (browsers, etc.). In the graphics, you can add and remove any resolutions and video cards as desired.
- Ultra
GameGPU
Resolution 1920x1080:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 17 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 16 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 16 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 16 GB of RAM
Resolution 2560x1440:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 17 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 17 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 17 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 17 GB of RAM
Resolution 3840x2160:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 17 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 17 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 17 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 17 GB of RAM
| SPONSORS TESTS |
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