Alan Wake 2 review: Laptop and desktop benchmarks
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Test laptops
Top 10 Laptops
Multimedia, Budget Multimedia, Gaming, Budget Gaming, Lightweight Gaming, Business, Budget Office, Workstation, Subnotebooks, Ultrabooks, Chromebooks
under 300 USD/Euros, under 500 USD/Euros, 1,000 USD/Euros, for University Students, Best Displays
Top 10 Smartphones
Smartphones, Phablets, ≤6-inch, Camera Smartphones
We currently run our gaming benchmarks using these laptops. Clicking on the photos will take you to the respective manufacturer's website. All other test systems (tower PCs, mini PCs, ...) are listed at the end of the article.
Tech
In the past, the Finnish developer studio Remedy Entertainment has always been able to guarantee good quality (with a few exceptions), which could stand out from the crowd with clever time and/or physics features (Max Payne, Quantum Break, Control, ...). Alan Wake, which got a remastered version in 2021, is primarily known for its light effects and light mechanics. The sequel also follows in the same footsteps, but it also sets new accents in terms of gameplay and narrative — in total, it has received (very) high ratings from both the press and users. Rightly so, in our opinion, because even the first few hours of gameplay are absolutely first-class when it comes to content and staging and they really make you want more.
Graphically, the game also has quite a lot to offer. The American landscape and cityscapes shine with long visibility, dense vegetation (forests) and an enormous level of detail (interiors), among other things. The textures, light and shadow rendering, reflections and colors are also very pleasing.
In addition, there are a variety of settings and modern features, as far as the graphics menu is concerned. However, there are only explanations and no comparison pictures, and the amount of options sometimes requires some scrolling. The visuals can be tuned quickly and comfortably with the help of three available presets. In turn, there are a few inconsistencies or points that we can't quite understand. For example, not all settings of the medium preset are set to the medium value, but partly to low or high. Moreover, an ultra preset is missing, since not all options are at their maximum when using the high preset.
Remedy's decision to activate DLSS or FSR by default is also a little questionable. Although the native pixel amount can still be selected via the render resolution (including DLAA in the case of DLSS), this approach seems strange to us. If required, 4000 gen Nvidia GPU users can also activate Frame Generation. Like various other games of the past years, Alan Wake 2 also supports ray tracing. In this case, with cutting-edge features like DLSS Ray Reconstruction. Especially nice is the fact that all changes are applied without having to restart the game.
Technically seen, Alan Wake 2 is also in good (but not perfect) condition. The fact that the loading times can sometimes be quite high (even on SSDs) is only a minor problem compared to the game's steep system hunger. With activated ray tracing, the game becomes an absolute performance guzzler — a bit extreme compared to the graphics the game actually offers. The developer should really do some work here and optimize the engine, especially since ray tracing sometimes leads to graphics errors. Systems with little VRAM (less than 12 GB) often struggle with incorrectly loaded textures at higher resolutions or settings.
Benchmark
Since Alan Wake 2 doesn't feature an integrated benchmark, we have used a specially selected sequence for our speed measurements. After you fight your way through a forest at the beginning of the game, the detective duo ends up in the city of Bright Falls shortly after, which evokes pleasant memories of the first part and shines with a chic waterfront. We used the tool CapFrameX to record the performance during the run to the famous diner for almost 30 seconds. We would call the third-person game playable from an average of 40 FPS.
Results
FHD (1,920 x 1,080)
Compared to other games, iGPUs are totally overwhelmed by Alan Wake 2. Even the relatively powerful Radeon 680M fails to run the game well in 1,280 x 720 pixels and with minimum settings (around 20 FPS). If you want to enjoy this game, then you'll need at least a mid-range component. With graphics cards like the GeForce RTX 4050 or the Radeon RX 6800S, you can achieve Full HD with medium to high settings.
Alan Wake 2 | |
1920x1080 Low Preset 1920x1080 Medium Preset 1920x1080 High Preset | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, i9-13900K | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX | |
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT, i9-13900K | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Laptop GPU, i9-12900H | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX | |
AMD Radeon RX 6800S, R9 6900HS | |
AMD Radeon 680M, R9 6900HS |
QHD (2,560 x 1,440)
As expected, QHD is even more demanding, so you'll at least need a GeForce RTX 4070 to ensure nice visuals.
Alan Wake 2 | |
2560x1440 High Preset | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, i9-13900K | |
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT, i9-13900K | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Laptop GPU, i9-12900H | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX |
UHD (3,840 x 2,160)
Almost all laptop chips currently fail at 3,840 x 2,160 pixels and with maximum detail settings. Only the GeForce RTX 4090 manages to hit the 40 FPS mark — as long as you don't use DLSS.
Alan Wake 2 | |
3840x2160 High Preset | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, i9-13900K | |
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT, i9-13900K | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Laptop GPU, i9-12900H | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX |
Ray tracing
Activated ray tracing also helps differentiate the good from the bad. Below a GeForce RTX 4080, you shouldn't even make an attempt in Full HD (at least not using the high ray tracing preset). This graphics card manages a combination of 4K, Quality DLSS (incl. Frame Generation) and Ray Tracing High.
Alan Wake 2 | |
1920x1080 High Preset + High Ray Tracing 3840x2160 High Preset + High Ray Tracing + Quality DLSS + FG | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, i9-13900K | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX | |
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT, i9-13900K | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Laptop GPU, i9-12900H | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX | |
AMD Radeon RX 6800S, R9 6900HS | |
AMD Radeon 680M, R9 6900HS |
Please note
Since gaming tests are very time-consuming and often restricted by installation or activation limits, we can only provide you with a part of the benchmarks upon publication of this article. Further graphics cards will be added later.
Overview
All test systems
Laptop | Graphics card | Processor | RAM |
---|---|---|---|
XMG Neo 17 E23 | Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 @175 W TGP (16 GB GDDR6X) | Intel Core i9-13900HX | 2 x 16 GB DDR5 |
Schenker Key 17 Pro E23 | Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 @175 W TGP (12 GB GDDR6X) | Intel Core i9-13900HX | 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 |
XMG Pro 15 E23 | Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 @140 W TGP (8 GB GDDR6) | Intel Core i9-13900HX | 2 x 16 GB DDR5 |
XMG Focus 15 E23 | Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 @140 W TGP (6 GB GDDR6) | Intel Core i9-13900HX | 2 x 16 GB DDR5 |
Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 | Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti @150 W TGP (16 GB GDDR6) | Intel Core i9-12900H | 2 x 16 GB DDR5 |
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 | AMD Radeon RX 6800S (8 GB GDDR6) & AMD Radeon 680M | AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS | 2 x 16 GB DDR5 |
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 |
Mini PC | Graphics card | Processor | RAM |
---|---|---|---|
Minisforum UM790 Pro | AMD Radeon 780M | AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS | 2 x 32 GB DDR5 |
Operating system | Nvidia driver | AMD driver |
---|---|---|
Windows 11 | ForceWare 545.92 | Adrenalin 23.10.2 |