Bethesda’s highly anticipated game, Starfield, is set to launch this week, promising players access to over 1,000 planets and unlimited exploration. With gameplay that stretches well beyond 100 hours, there’s no shortage of content to keep players engaged. However, many are curious about how well the game runs on modern PCs.
Over the past week, I’ve been testing Starfield on multiple GPUs, and I’ve discovered that the game is quite CPU intensive, requiring both a powerful CPU and GPU to achieve high frame rates. From the loading points to combat and physics-driven elements of exploration, Starfield demands a modern CPU for optimal performance.
During my testing, I used AMD’s latest 7800X3D CPU and also played the game on the Xbox Series S and X consoles. While the console versions target 30fps, the PC version can reach higher frame rates depending on the capabilities of your rig.
For testing purposes, I focused on two areas that I believe represent the typical gameplay experience in Starfield. One area is the city of Neon, which is predominantly indoors and filled with NPCs, smoky alleyways, and vibrant neon lights. The other area is the planet of Masada III, where I conducted tests in open outdoor spaces in foggy conditions, passing by large buildings.
All of my testing was done at 1440p and 4K resolutions, with settings set to the highest or ultra, dynamic resolution disabled, 100 percent render resolution, and FSR 2 disabled. Enabling just FSR 2 without lowering the render resolution actually resulted in lower frame rates most of the time on the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D system.
Starfield also activates dynamic resolution when FSR 2 is enabled, as this combination is designed to maintain a stable 30fps or 60fps in demanding parts of the game. The built-in presets of the game automatically reduce the render resolution to 75 percent for ultra settings and 50 percent for high settings, which are noticeable at 1440p and 4K resolutions but result in improved overall performance. Lowering the render resolution and enabling dynamic resolution proves beneficial during combat and other demanding scenes in Starfield.
At 1440p resolution, Starfield runs at around 80fps average on high-end GPUs like the Radeon RX 7900 XT and GeForce RTX 4090 in outdoor areas with dynamic resolution and FSR 2 disabled. Moments when the game engine is pushed by the dynamic nature of the planets inside Starfield can lower the frame rates to around 60fps in the 1 percent lows.
Notably, there are instances where the frame rates drop below 60fps at 1440p ultra settings, particularly during intense combat in the later stages of the main mission on Masada III.
On the other end of the GPU spectrum, the RTX 4060 Ti (8GB) achieves around 38fps on average at 1440p in outdoor planet areas, with the 1 percent lows dropping to 30fps. While this frame rate is still playable, if you’re aiming for closer to 60fps with this level of GPU, you’ll need to enable dynamic resolution, FSR 2, and adjust settings accordingly.
Enabling dynamic resolution, FSR 2, and the high preset, I achieved around 50fps average in the outdoor areas of Masada III at 1440p with the RTX 4060 Ti. Lowering the settings to medium consistently yielded frame rates above 70fps, but image quality and resolution suffered as rendering effectively occurred at 720p with the medium preset.
Starfield performs better in indoor areas or cities where the vastness of the planet is not exposed. At 1440p, I saw averages of 116fps with the RTX 4090 and around 100fps with the RX 7900 XT in indoor areas. On the RTX 4060 Ti (8GB) side, the average frame rate came slightly below 60fps. Again, adjusting settings or enabling dynamic resolution is necessary for this type of GPU.
At 4K resolution, the differences between the RTX 4090 and RX 7900 XT become more noticeable. Inside Neon, the RTX 4090 achieved an average frame rate of 80fps, while the RX 7900 XT hovered above 70fps. Outdoors on Masada III, averages were around 61fps on the RTX 4090, with 1 percent lows at 45fps, resulting in frequent dips below the desired 60fps range. The RX 7900 XT averaged 55fps with 42fps 1 percent lows.
Even with the best GPUs and a modern CPU, enabling dynamic resolution becomes necessary at 4K to maintain fluidity during demanding parts of the game. The frame rate drops below 60fps outdoors prompted me to lower settings and enable dynamic resolution to achieve a fluid experience of 60fps or higher.
Overall, Starfield is a demanding game on PC, particularly if you’re aiming for 60fps or above at 1440p and 4K resolutions. As of now, 1440p offers higher frame rates in the most demanding PC games for 2023 and beyond, given a modern CPU and GPU.
To fully optimize Starfield, a modern CPU is crucial, as seen in the 1080p CPU benchmarks performed by Gamers Nexus. I highly recommend watching their comprehensive video for a thorough understanding of the game’s performance on older CPUs.
For those unwilling to upgrade their PC, the Xbox version of Starfield is a viable alternative. It targets 30fps and incorporates dynamic resolution scaling to maintain performance. However, PC users can enjoy higher frame rates, and Starfield loads faster on PC compared to consoles.
Nvidia’s DLSS support is notably missing on the PC side of Starfield. AMD, as Starfield’s exclusive PC partner, has worked closely with Bethesda to optimize the game for Xbox, PC, Ryzen 7000 processors, and Radeon 7000 series graphics cards. While AMD has confirmed that Bethesda has the option to add DLSS support, the game developer has yet to comment on whether it will officially implement it. The modding community has already achieved early examples of DLSS working, including a DLSS 3 version. It would be ideal to see native DLSS support from Bethesda.
Improvements in performance can be expected through driver updates and game patches. Installing the latest AMD or Nvidia graphics drivers is essential to avoid frequent crashes. Additionally, Intel is working on enhancing its Arc drivers for Starfield.
Starfield launches on PC and Xbox on September 6th, but early access is available now for those with the premium edition of the game. You can read The Verge’s review of Starfield for more information.
