# Elden Ring Benchmark Test & Performance Analysis



## W1zzard (Feb 25, 2022)

Elden Ring was released today. It's a long-awaited new entry in the Souls-like genre. The game's graphics have been upgraded, and the engine runs DirectX 12 exclusively. In our performance review, we're taking a closer look at image quality, differences between the setting presets, VRAM usage, and performance on a selection of modern graphics cards.

*Show full review*


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## the54thvoid (Feb 25, 2022)

Screenshots make it look exactly like the other 'souls' games. Same quirky looking NPC's. Same general 'atmosphere'; I can almost hear the background music. Buyer beware--this game is not for casual gamers. Patience required.


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## Solid State Soul ( SSS ) (Feb 25, 2022)

Vram usage is surprisingly low, considering its fromsoftware's first open world dark souls game, it's even lower than their prior liner game Sekiro


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## DuxCro (Feb 25, 2022)

I'm not sure what's happening, but From Software* failed with big* their DirectX 12 implementation.

Small typo on conclusion page.


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## W1zzard (Feb 25, 2022)

DuxCro said:


> I'm not sure what's happening, but From Software* failed with big* their DirectX 12 implementation.
> 
> Small typo on conclusion page.


Fixed


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## ShurikN (Feb 25, 2022)

From incompetent of making a well working PC port?
I am shocked. SHOCKED I SAY!!!


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## Solid State Soul ( SSS ) (Feb 25, 2022)

ShurikN said:


> From incompetent of making a well working PC port?
> I am shocked. SHOCKED I SAY!!!


I'v played almost all fromsoft souls games PC ports, they aren't bad, they only have a minor stuttering problem and are locked at 60fps, other than that it's perfectly playable.


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## Athlonite (Feb 25, 2022)

Locked to 60 FPS um yeah no thanks it smacks of skyrim like physics if that's the case and there are ways around that


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## GoldenX (Feb 25, 2022)

Can't wait to see the RT numbers of the 6500XT.


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## Cr4zy (Feb 25, 2022)

Flawlesswidescreen already has a fix implemented for FPS unlocking and capping upto 360fpsalong with a few other tweaks for ultrawidescreen support


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## phanbuey (Feb 25, 2022)

jeez a 60fps cap.... what year is this.


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## HM_Actua1 (Feb 25, 2022)

Shelfing the game until they unlock the FPS or allow for Vsync to be turned off in game. Constant screen tearing makes the game unplayable for me. The Lack of 21:9 support, limited KB/M bindings especially for menu keys really makes me not want to play until some real PC optimization are patched in.


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## GreiverBlade (Feb 25, 2022)

hum... clear definition of overhyped game... nice look for a "1995 delayed relase" joking ofc ... i actually kinda dig the old school graphics 

also a good definition of a "bad console port" (feels like it should be a console exclusive until done right on PC just as Cyberpunk 2077 should have stayed a PC exclusive until done right for console ...  )


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## heni87 (Feb 26, 2022)

Another typo in "For a fluid 1440p experience, you'll need a RTX 3080, RX 6600 XT or RTX 2070—pretty reasonable." I'm guessing you meant RTX 3060 @W1zzard


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## nguyen (Feb 26, 2022)

Me: complain about shutterings get me killed 
Dark souls schmucks:


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## MxPhenom 216 (Feb 26, 2022)

I got it, played it for an hour. When it started stuttering during fights causing me to die I was like yeah nope, got a refund, until it runs better. Its also got attrocious game direction after you get out of the early game stuff. Plop you on a map with no indication where to go what to do. Go to where you think your suppose to go from the map indicators and you arent even high enough level. I know its open world, but holy shit all other open world games ive played in the last decade are more new player inviting than this.

Whats worst, is console versions are butter fucking smooth. Come on FromSoftware


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## Nominalll (Feb 26, 2022)

I've been trying the game for about two hours and is actually smooth enough, everything max out and my hardware is a modest Radeon 5600XT and R5 5600X.


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## seth1911 (Feb 26, 2022)

make cpu bench please


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## Jeager (Feb 26, 2022)

After last BF we still have this kind of shit in 2022, release like this are even worst than trying to play a new windows game on linux 10 or 15 years ago
And peoples still precommand their game


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## aciDev (Feb 26, 2022)

phanbuey said:


> jeez a 60fps cap.... what year is this.


FromSoftware's year.
Thery are still in pigs feeding sceduling programming...


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## HisDivineOrder (Feb 26, 2022)

I think you should try your Alder Lake rig with this game. Most everyone complaining has AMD CPU's.


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## W1zzard (Feb 26, 2022)

Athlonite said:


> Locked to 60 FPS um yeah no thanks it smacks of skyrim like physics if that's the case and there are ways around that


Sigh .. I only had to patch two code locations, one to raise the frametime limit from 16 ms, and one to use "swap buffers immediately" instead "swap during vertical retrace" and the game runs perfectly fine above 60 fps, no changes needed in driver control panel or other settings. physics works perfectly too

Edit: because people from Reddit are coming here. I'm not claiming that this fixes the stutter completely, seems better though subjectively, or could be placebo. All I did was unlock the FPS. This is similar to uberhalit's unlock on Github, I just made an additional change so that FPS are unlocked in fullscreen without any V-Sync override in the driver


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## Selaya (Feb 26, 2022)

> For a fluid 1440p experience, you'll need an RTX 3080, RX 6600 XT or RTX 2070—pretty reasonable.


wait that doesn't look right


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## Frick (Feb 26, 2022)

MxPhenom 216 said:


> Its also got attrocious game direction after you get out of the early game stuff. Plop you on a map with no indication where to go what to do. Go to where you think your suppose to go from the map indicators and you arent even high enough level. I know its open world, but holy shit all other open world games ive played in the last decade are more new player inviting than this.



This honestly sounds nice.

Too bad I got to the end boss in I wanna be the guy so it feels like i've done the endlessly duying kind of game already.


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## W1zzard (Feb 26, 2022)

Selaya said:


> wait that doesn't look right


Fixed. I was typing it and thinking about 4K already


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## Athlonite (Feb 26, 2022)

W1zzard said:


> Sigh .. I only had to patch two code locations, one to raise the frametime limit from 16 ms, and one to use "swap buffers immediately" instead "swap during vertical retrace" and the game runs perfectly fine above 60 fps, no changes needed in driver control panel or other settings. physics works perfectly too


well that's nice for most of us on here but not everybody is a hex editing Wizard and will be stuck at 60fps if your on a consol then that's probably no real big deal but on PC that's really not what I'd expect for 2022 gaming atleast they could have given us a toggle in the settings along with a warning that turning it off may lead to wonkiness in game


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## 80-watt Hamster (Feb 26, 2022)

From the opening paragraph of the Conclusion:



> I still feel not including difficulty options is a missed opportunity to make the game interesting for a larger audience.



Weirdly, I don't find myself agreeing with this.  I've never touched any of these games or anything like them, because I know my own frustration threshold and down that road lies only anguish.  However, I'm equally convinced that if the Souls games had difficulty adjustment, they wouldn't have had _near_ the impact.


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## chrcoluk (Feb 26, 2022)

DX12 seems to have issues, FF7 Remake has issues with it as well but that at least lets you switch over to DX11.

Also whats the problem with playing a RPG at 60fps?


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## mama (Feb 26, 2022)

Critical acclaim but "unplayable".  Just WOW.  Think I'll wait for raytracing implementation and general improvement fixes before jumping in.  Another solid argument against pre purchase.


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## siluro818 (Feb 26, 2022)

Here's the thing and it's very simple really. From stick to their engine and development process. Whatever their exact practices are they allow them to produce games of absolutely excellent gameplay quality on a regular basis. They are literally the ONLY developer that delivered every single time over the last decade. As long as that is the case they can and should keep the 60 fps thing, obsolete limitation or not.
If you want them to switch to UE or some other bs just to get unlocked framerate you are a moron.

Apart of that the DX12 shader compilation issue is fixable and as such will be. I don't know why you are surprised they didn't resolve it from the start. It might sound absurd but I don't think people in From play anything on PC ever, but their own games during the QA. They probably thought this is how PC games work on DX12 and that's it lol
I mean these are the same people whose Dark Souls version arrived with a fixed resolution back in 2012...


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## BiggieShady (Feb 27, 2022)

Thanks @W1zzard for another great bench review - wow, such a disappointing dx12 engine implementation

btw, last page, third paragraph, there's a typo:


> as long as you don't *focusing *on understanding how the engine works.


focusing -> focus or don't -> aren't


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## W1zzard (Feb 27, 2022)

BiggieShady said:


> Thanks @W1zzard for another great bench review - wow, such a disappointing dx12 engine implementation
> 
> btw, last page, third paragraph, there's a typo:
> 
> focusing -> focus or don't -> aren't


Fixed


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## directx 10 (Feb 27, 2022)

W1zzard said:


> Sigh .. I only had to patch two code locations, one to raise the frametime limit from 16 ms, and one to use "swap buffers immediately" instead "swap during vertical retrace" and the game runs perfectly fine above 60 fps, no changes needed in driver control panel or other settings. physics works perfectly too


Wizard this is amazing, I mean, please give us the solution about how to fix that messy engine .... I don't think FS will do something in short time


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## DeathtoGnomes (Feb 27, 2022)

Not surprising the game stutters. Its been forever since a newly launched game has not needed a patch to 'fix' performance.  Reviewers should be less forgiving as they allow such games to get away with this by saying its a minor issue.  

This also speaks of the quality of the play-testers that gets paid to bring up such problems. I'm sure most developers employ only 1-2 testers so most systems are not fully explored.


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## Assimilator (Feb 27, 2022)

Yet another example of how preordering is ruining videogames. Thanks to AMD for showing us the future of console ports and PC being a second-class citizen.


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## MxPhenom 216 (Feb 27, 2022)

80-watt Hamster said:


> From the opening paragraph of the Conclusion:
> 
> 
> 
> Weirdly, I don't find myself agreeing with this.  I've never touched any of these games or anything like them, because I know my own frustration threshold and down that road lies only anguish.  However, I'm equally convinced that if the Souls games had difficulty adjustment, they wouldn't have had _near_ the impact.



I dont want difficulty options from a Fromsoftware game, but maybe an option with more information on where to go, what to do, etc. for really new players to a Fromsoftware title. and then the other option would just be "Authentic Fromsoftware Experience" so then it's just how the game currently is.

Just to be a bit more inviting for new players. I was immediately intimidated being entirely new to a Fromsoftware game having no fucking clue what to do.



Assimilator said:


> Yet another example of how preordering is ruining videogames. Thanks to AMD for showing us the future of console ports and PC being a second-class citizen.


I struggle with how people continue to use the term console ports in an era where PC and consoles use the same hardware architecture, instructions, APIs arent varying much anymore either, etc. But nevertheless, you have a point. Though Fromsoftware is not known to be very attentive to their PC releases. And this title is evident as much, as it seems to be a pretty lazy PC release with game design details that W1zz highlights here.


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## Vayra86 (Feb 27, 2022)

siluro818 said:


> Here's the thing and it's very simple really. From stick to their engine and development process. Whatever their exact practices are they allow them to produce games of absolutely excellent gameplay quality on a regular basis. They are literally the ONLY developer that delivered every single time over the last decade. As long as that is the case they can and should keep the 60 fps thing, obsolete limitation or not.
> If you want them to switch to UE or some other bs just to get unlocked framerate you are a moron.
> 
> Apart of that the DX12 shader compilation issue is fixable and as such will be. I don't know why you are surprised they didn't resolve it from the start. It might sound absurd but I don't think people in From play anything on PC ever, but their own games during the QA. They probably thought this is how PC games work on DX12 and that's it lol
> I mean these are the same people whose Dark Souls version arrived with a fixed resolution back in 2012...



You are correct, and their core dev process revolves around console gameplay and architecture, it shows on every title.

It would be nice though if you start porting you adapt your engine to suit that situation instead of half-assing it afterwards. Horizon Zero Dawn is much the same, really, and there is little excuse, except for the reality that engines are iterative processes too in many of these studios. They're never off the shelf stuff.



Assimilator said:


> Yet another example of how preordering is ruining videogames. Thanks to AMD for showing us the future of console ports and PC being a second-class citizen.


And yet the PC still has the largest library of games every single year for the last five to seven years. It gets more and more prior console 'exclusives' and it gets them faster. And vice versa the PC also seems to be offering more 'PC first' titles than consoles release combined.

Second class citizenship doesn't sound too bad to me. Did I mention the free games?


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## MichiW (Feb 27, 2022)

chrcoluk said:


> DX12 seems to have issues, FF7 Remake has issues with it as well but that at least lets you switch over to DX11.
> 
> Also whats the problem with playing a RPG at 60fps?


DX12 Problem in FF7 Remake was solved with the last nvidia driver. Most DX12 have stuttering problems and its definetly a driver problem.


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## nguyen (Feb 28, 2022)

MxPhenom 216 said:


> I dont want difficulty options from a Fromsoftware game, but maybe an option with more information on where to go, what to do, etc. for really new players to a Fromsoftware title. and then the other option would just be "Authentic Fromsoftware Experience" so then it's just how the game currently is.
> 
> Just to be a bit more inviting for new players. I was immediately intimidated being entirely new to a Fromsoftware game having no fucking clue what to do.
> 
> ...



FromSoftware PC gaming experience: I have no idea how to change to mouse&keyboard input from the shit gamepad default, also I bought the digital deluxe version to have the artwork + OST but there are no files, just and .exe that open the game?
Refunded the game before I even started playing


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## Space Lynx (Feb 28, 2022)

I plan to get a PS5 when Summer 2022 ends, I will probably just get this game on discount for PS5, history hasn't changed any, some games you should play on console and others on PC.


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## Agent_D (Feb 28, 2022)

Having around 50 hours in at this point on PC (6800XT, 5800X); the frame stutters can definitely be annoying, but are definitely not game breaking and rarely cause a death. My friends and I posited the same question about how it wasn't caught before release, but the fact is, it's not a game breaking issue; in the vast amount of exploring I've done thus far, it would be below 10% of the time and has only affected a boss fight once, which was still not an issue because the mechanics work the same when the stutter happens, so dodging the attack you know is coming still works fine.

It's weird to see people talking about not knowing where to go or about lack of story; the Souls games are literally full of story, both directly and indirectly. From games are the games that make a player actually think, actually remember, actually read item descriptions, actually exhaust and pay attention to dialog . They require more attention and care than the majority of games that release these days to get the full experience. I have a hard time remembering things, so I take notes as I go through dialog and meet new NPCs, I make big use of the map marker system as well; I find that there is an enormous satisfaction when you stumble upon something that was mentioned by a previous person/thing and you can connect those together to make the story instead of having it just told to you.

In a space where the majority of products try to overly simplify the experience, Souls games bring a much needed source of "experience" to anyone willing to see them through. A friend who is much bigger into the series than I am put it very well "Souls games are an exercise in patience, it's about harnessing what the games make you feel into constructive and critical thinking. They force you to confront and overcome what seem like insurmountable struggles, to confront your own anger and to control that anger and place it into constructive self assessment, to force you to think outside your own box, your own perceived limitations. Souls games are about teaching that anger as an emotion makes us less efficient; "Demon of Hatred" (one of the enemies) is an obvious metaphor for the philosophy of the Souls games, devoured by anger, one may become strong, but the toughest hatred will always fall to those who harness their anger and hatred into something more calculated, calm, and concise. These games are one of the few in the medium that make the experience of playing as a person the real character development of the story; they are about you, you are the main character, not the pixels you're controlling on the screen, and if you never finish, you go hollow (Souls reference if you haven't played)."

I think Fromsoft games would actually lose a lot of what make them important, impactful, and memorable if they had a difficulty adjustment, and while Elden Ring has had many QoL improvements over previous entries that make it much more accessible and friendly to the player, I also feel that it is actually the hardest of the Souls games to date.

Quick edit: The music in Elden Ring is absolutely fantastic, and despite the "dated" graphics (I wouldn't say that overall personally), it is gorgeous (there are definitely a few places with bad textures though). VRAM usage at 5120x2880 peaked at 7.7GB according to the latest GPU-Z.


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## DeathtoGnomes (Feb 28, 2022)

MxPhenom 216 said:


> struggle with how people continue to use the term console ports in an era where PC and consoles use the same hardware architecture, instructions, APIs arent varying much anymore either, etc. But nevertheless, you have a point. Though Fromsoftware is not known to be very attentive to their PC releases. And this title is evident as much, as it seems to be a pretty lazy PC release with game design details that W1zz highlights here.


console parts is not the big issue, there are different requirements, sure, and there are minor code adjustments to allow the games to run on a wider range of PC builds.  There are also some visual differences, some  minor, some not.  I see the real issues in the  controls/assignments during game play, obviously not the same, PC can allow for a larger number of bindings, while console UIs have to rely on a ring of commands, and sub ring, and another sub ring, and.. you get the point. That takes away from immersion (IMO).
To have a game do a PC port is usually appreciated more than a console port. Which way is easier to port, PC to console or Console to PC, is another discussion.


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## nguyen (Mar 1, 2022)

Agent_D said:


> Having around 50 hours in at this point on PC (6800XT, 5800X); the frame stutters can definitely be annoying, but are definitely not game breaking and rarely cause a death. My friends and I posited the same question about how it wasn't caught before release, but the fact is, it's not a game breaking issue; in the vast amount of exploring I've done thus far, it would be below 10% of the time and has only affected a boss fight once, which was still not an issue because the mechanics work the same when the stutter happens, so dodging the attack you know is coming still works fine.
> 
> It's weird to see people talking about not knowing where to go or about lack of story; the Souls games are literally full of story, both directly and indirectly. From games are the games that make a player actually think, actually remember, actually read item descriptions, actually exhaust and pay attention to dialog . They require more attention and care than the majority of games that release these days to get the full experience. I have a hard time remembering things, so I take notes as I go through dialog and meet new NPCs, I make big use of the map marker system as well; I find that there is an enormous satisfaction when you stumble upon something that was mentioned by a previous person/thing and you can connect those together to make the story instead of having it just told to you.
> 
> ...



Game came out Feb 25th and you had 50h by the 28th?


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## PLSG08 (Mar 1, 2022)

I'm around 20 hrs in and really so far I'm in love with the game. A lot of people do get intimidated that suddenly the game throws you in without any guidance, but that for me is one of its strongest points. A lot of open world games nowadays is simply just "talk to X NPC, go to map marker, kill someone" and rinse repeat that for god knows how many times. That for me feels very artificial and honestly kinda makes me not explore the world more because at some point that place is just gonna be another quest marker. Here they really want you to explore the world and without the quest pathing/marking, honestly makes the game all the more fun. It makes me feel like I'm actually exploring and finding dangerous places where either I need to level up or take another approach. Other games just  say "clear Camp, STEALTH OPTIONAL" FromSoft's map and level design stands out from the rest to really promote players from exploring the world they made and it kinda sucks for me that just because there are no map markers people instantly just throw the towel. It's so satisfying discovering a new place that you didn't think would be there because it didn't have a map marker. 

Performance wise, so far I'm running great with the only major stutters I've faced were around the area where you fight the tree sentinel, other than that I do get minor frame drops when loading into a new area. My only gripe is its locked to 60FPS. Would like to see unlocked FPS or have options like 75, 90, 120, etc.




Agent_D said:


> it's weird to see people talking about not knowing where to go or about lack of story; the Souls games are literally full of story, both directly and indirectly.



I definitely do agree with this point. FromSoft lore is on another level when it comes to lore and writing. Sure its not as flashy as cutscenes compared to other AAA games, but the world is just so rich when it comes to lore tidbits that it makes you want to find more instead of just spoonfeeding everything to the player.


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## Agent_D (Mar 3, 2022)

PLSG08 said:


> I'm around 20 hrs in and really so far I'm in love with the game. A lot of people do get intimidated that suddenly the game throws you in without any guidance, but that for me is one of its strongest points. A lot of open world games nowadays is simply just "talk to X NPC, go to map marker, kill someone" and rinse repeat that for god knows how many times. That for me feels very artificial and honestly kinda makes me not explore the world more because at some point that place is just gonna be another quest marker. Here they really want you to explore the world and without the quest pathing/marking, honestly makes the game all the more fun. It makes me feel like I'm actually exploring and finding dangerous places where either I need to level up or take another approach. Other games just  say "clear Camp, STEALTH OPTIONAL" FromSoft's map and level design stands out from the rest to really promote players from exploring the world they made and it kinda sucks for me that just because there are no map markers people instantly just throw the towel. It's so satisfying discovering a new place that you didn't think would be there because it didn't have a map marker.
> 
> Performance wise, so far I'm running great with the only major stutters I've faced were around the area where you fight the tree sentinel, other than that I do get minor frame drops when loading into a new area. My only gripe is its locked to 60FPS. Would like to see unlocked FPS or have options like 75, 90, 120, etc.
> 
> ...



Absolutely; I akin the way this game makes me feel to how I felt in the early days of NES and SNES. Getting thrown into a game with no direction gives the player so much freedom, it gives you so much to do and explore, it makes you think instead of just "go here and do this" over and over as you pointed out. The most difficult part for me so, has been staving off my temptation to go find out what to do online. I've forced myself to figure out everything I've done in the game so far, just as I would have when I was a kid. It's been an incredibly rewarding experience to get back to that "eureka" moment when you figured out the thing you're supposed to do next without getting input from somewhere else to figure it out.

I'm now 90 hours in, I feel like I'm about 80% of the way through just from how dialog is progressing, and I am more in love with it than I was at 50. It may be a bit premature, but, I think this game, for me, gets the "best game of all time" award. I'm not saying the game doesn't have some issues (both technical and in gameplay), but overall, it is a masterpiece; Fromsoft has outdone themselves with this entry.


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## directx 10 (Mar 4, 2022)

I agree with your opinions about the game, but I have to say that from a technicall point of view the graphic asset could sappear to be outdated or console related (especially for same low resolutions textures), but the artistic direction is so sublime that makes the game looks great in its aesthetics: enemies, weapons and armors, architectures, landescapes and so on. Considering it we have to say that is a great looking game!
Then the atmospherics light, the shadows soft touch, the 3D models (like the stormveil castle that it's full of polygons) had remind me of some UE5 videos, don't know exactly why, maybe this is about the graphic engine's realistic effect: everything in this game seems alive........ when you are not dead!
Looking forward to see RayTracing implementation and eventually a fix for 60 fps cap and ultrawide monitor support, this is a shame for such a great masterpiece.


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## Mescalamba (Mar 14, 2022)

Physical engine tied to FPS aint that strange, Skyrim has same, unsure what is engine for physics in Elden Ring, but if you unlock FPS in Skyrim without fixing physical engine you will have fun times. And even with fix, since its not perfect.

As for 60 FPS limit, dunno, on good monitor, 60 FPS if v-synced look really fluid. Nothing to complain.


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## arni-gx (Mar 15, 2022)

nice article.... so, are this elden rings = TES V skyrim + dark souls 3 ??

i have never play dark souls series on PC, except when iam playing dark souls 2 from pc steam...... but the keyboard control its very very very horrible ......... IMO......


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## harm9963 (Mar 24, 2022)

Have over 80 hours in , 4K max , 1080Ti runs well !


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## BiggieMac (Mar 28, 2022)

Isn't Vulkan a superior technology to use over DX12? It is cross platform and can be just as efficient, maybe better I'm not sure, than DX12 if I'm not mistaken. I'm curious why then didn't go that route from the get go instead.


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## amit_talkin (Mar 29, 2022)

harm9963 said:


> Have over 80 hours in , 4K max , 1080Ti runs well !


Yea good to see my 4 years old 1080Ti still in the "game"


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