| BASIC GAME INFORMATION |
Returnal’s graphics card and processor tests were conducted to determine computer performance when running this game at various graphics settings. This helps players determine the optimal graphics settings to achieve the best performance and image quality on their systems. In addition, the test results can be useful for choosing video cards and processor when upgrading your computer to ensure that it can run games at high performance.
| NEW PRODUCTS PROVIDED FOR TESTS BY GIGABYTE |
In our review we present you with motherboards GIGABYTE Z790 GAMING XAX. We use these motherboards as test benches for testing new generations of processors Intel.
This time the company’s top video card is participating in our test. AORUS Radeon RX 7900 XTX ELITE 24G. 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 PROVIDED FOR TESTS BY MSI |
Now participating in our test MSI GEFORCE RTX 4090 GAMING X TRIO 24 GB. 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.
This time the company’s top video card is participating in our test. MSI GEFORCE RTX 4070 Ti GAMING TRIO 12 GB. 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 present you with the motherboard MSI MPG X670E Carbon WIFI. MSI MPG X670E Carbon WIFI is equipped with a highly reliable power system, with 16 power modules designed to work with powerful multi-threaded AMD Ryzen 7000 series processors. You can directly view the testing of this motherboard on our website.
| NEW PRODUCTS PROVIDED FOR TESTS BY ASUS |
This time the company’s new video card is participating in our test. ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4080 OC. 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 present you with the motherboard ASUS ROG Strix B650-A Gaming Wi-Fi. ROG Strix B650-A Gaming WiFi includes 4 DDR5 DIMM modules with a maximum capacity of up to 64 gigabytes and a frequency of up to 6400 MHz. For the file subsystem, the motherboard supports 3 M.2 PCIe 5.0/4.0 x4 slots and 4 SATA 6 Gb/s ports. You can directly view 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 |
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 |
Returnal supported Windows 10/11.The priority and main graphics API for Returnal is DX 12.
| GAME ENGINE |
Returnal is based on the Unreal Engine 4 game engine, developed and supported by Epic Games.
Thanks to his work, each playthrough of the game is unique and inimitable, which increases the replay value 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 more than 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 famous game series Unreal and Unreal Tournament from Epic Games themselves. Being primarily adapted for first-person shooters, the engine was also used to create games of other genres.
Written in the high-level language C++, the Unreal Engine 4 allows you to create games for most operating systems and platforms: Microsoft Windows, Linux, Mac OS and Mac OS X, Xbox consoles, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3, Wii, Dreamcast and Nintendo GameCube. In December, Mark Rein demonstrated the work of the 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), audio 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 working with the network and support for various input devices.
Windows Live, Xbox Live, and GameSpy technologies are supported for online play, including up to 64 players (clients) simultaneously. Despite the fact that the development tools do not officially include support for a large number of clients on one 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 the 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 turn on or off 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 image edges to improve graphics quality.
Dynamic graphics – allows you to enable or disable dynamic graphics changes in the game.
Vertical Sync – Allows you to turn vertical sync on or off to reduce screen tearing.
The game supports HDR, but there is no option in the graphics settings menu to turn the feature on or off. Instead, the game automatically detects whether your display supports HDR and enables it if possible.
| RT ON/OFF |
Enabling RT effects in 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 video card and leads to lower frames per second (FPS).
A 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. Additionally, turning on 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 must make a choice between higher graphics quality and better game performance.
| GENERAL VISUALS AND GAME PHYSICS |
The graphics in the game are quite good and visually attractive. 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 the environment are highly detailed and realistic.
Returnal has an impressive atmosphere and level design that creates an amazing gaming experience. In addition, the game supports HDR, which further improves the quality of graphics.
Although the game looks amazing, the game is quite demanding on the hardware and to achieve maximum graphics quality you need to have powerful hardware.
| TEST PART |
| Test configuration | |
| test stands |
ROG Strix X570-E Gaming Z490 AORUS PROAX GIGABYTE Z590 VISION GIGABYTE Z690 AERO G GIGABYTE Z790 GAMING XAX MSI MPG X670E Carbon WIFI ASUS ROG Strix B650-A Gaming Wi-Fi |
| Sponsorship 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 4080 OC |
| Multimedia equipment |
Monitor Philips 326M6VJRMB/00 Seasonic PRIME TX-1000 power supply 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@6400 CL30 Kingston FURY Renegade Kingston FURY Renegade PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD MPG CORELIQUID K240 housing |
| Software configuration |
|
| 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 different screen sizes of 1920×1080, 2560×1440 and 3840×2160epicgraphics quality settings with and without tracing.
| GPU TEST |
In the video card test, the default resolution is 1920×1080; 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.
You can select and buy a video cards model or one close to it by following the link from any position of our modular charts from our partner Telemart.
- Epic
- Epic+RT
When resolved 1920×1080 average FPS of 25 frames showed level video cards Radeon RX 6600 or GeForce RTX 2060. 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 solutionsRadeon RX 6600 or GeForce RTX 2060.
When resolved 2560×1440 average FPS of 25 frames showed level video cards Radeon RX 6600 or GeForce RTX 2060. 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 solutions Radeon RX 6700 or GeForce RTX 2080.
When resolved 3840×2160 average FPS of 25 frames showed level video cards Radeon RX 6600 XT or GeForce RTX 3060. 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 solutions Radeon RX 6900 XT or GeForce RTX 3080.
RT
When resolved 1920×1080 average FPS of 25 frames showed level video cards Radeon RX 6600 or GeForce RTX 2060. 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 solutionsRadeon RX 6750 XT or GeForce RTX 2080.
When resolved 2560×1440 average FPS of 25 frames showed level video cards Radeon RX 6700 or GeForce RTX 2060. Minimum FPS of at least 25 frames can be provided by video cards of the level Radeon RX 6700 or GeForce RTX 2060. A comfortable average FPS of 60 frames can be provided by solutions Radeon RX 6800 XT or GeForce RTX 3070 Ti.
When resolved 3840×2160 average FPS of 25 frames showed level video cards Radeon RX 6800 or GeForce RTX 2080. 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 solutions GeForce RTX 4080.
| 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 1920×1080, 2560×1440 and 3840×2160 with various anti-aliasing settings. By default, the graph displays the most current solutions. Other video cards are added and removed from the schedule at the request of the reader.
- Epic
- Epic+RT
GameGPU
When resolved 1920×1080 video memory consumption of video cards from 8 gigabytes to 6 gigabytes, with 12 gigabytes 6 gigabyte, with 16 gigabytes 7 gigabyte with 24 gigabytes 7 gigabyte .
When resolved 2560×1440 video memory consumption of video cards from 8 gigabytes to 7 gigabytes, with 12 gigabytes 7 gigabyte, with 16 gigabytes 7 gigabyte with 24 gigabytes 8 gigabyte .
When resolved 3840×2160 video memory consumption of video cards from 8 gigabytes to 8 gigabytes, with 12 gigabytes 8 gigabyte, with 16 gigabytes 9 gigabyte with 24 gigabytes 9 gigabyte .
RT
When resolved 1920×1080 video memory consumption of video cards from 8 gigabytes to 7 gigabytes, with 12 gigabytes 7gigabyte, with 16 gigabytes 8 gigabyte with 24 gigabytes 8 gigabyte .
When resolved 2560×1440 video memory consumption of video cards from 8 gigabytes to 7 gigabytes, with 12 gigabytes 8 gigabyte, with 16 gigabytes 9 gigabyte with 24 gigabytes 9 gigabyte .
When resolved 3840×2160 video memory consumption of video cards from 8 gigabytes to 8 gigabytes, with 12 gigabytes 10 gigabyte, with 16 gigabytes 10 gigabyte with 24 gigabytes 11 gigabyte .
| CPU TEST |
Testing was carried out at a resolution of 1920×1080. 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.
You can select and buy a processor model or one close to it by following the link from any position of our modular charts from our partner Telemart.
- Epic
- Epic+RT
When using video cards NVIDIA processors showed an acceptable indicator of at least 25 frames per second Ryzen 3 3100 or Core i 3 10100, and an FPS of at least 60 frames per second will be able to provide solutions at the level Ryzen 3 3100 or Core i 3 10100.
When using video cards AMDprocessors showed an acceptable indicator of at least 25 frames per second Ryzen 3 3100 or Core i 3 10100, and an FPS of at least 60 frames per second will be able to provide solutions at the level Ryzen 3 3100 or Core i 3 10100.
RT
When using video cards NVIDIA processors showed an acceptable indicator of at least 25 frames per second Ryzen 3 3100 or Core i 3 10100, and an FPS of at least 60 frames per second will be able to provide solutions at the level Ryzen 3 3100 or Core i 3 10100.
When using video cards AMDprocessors showed an acceptable indicator of at least 25 frames per second Ryzen 3 3100 or Core i 3 10100, and an FPS of at least 60 frames per second will be able to provide solutions at the level Ryzen 3 3100 or Core i 3 10100.
- Epic+RT
GameGPU
The game can load up to 12 streams. The game uses 8 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.
- Epic
- Epic+RT
GameGPU
When resolved 1920×1080 RAM consumption for video cards from 8 gigabytes to 11 gigabytes, with 12 gigabytes 10 ggigabyte, with 16 gigabytes 10 gigabyte, with 24 gigabytes 10 gigabyte.
When resolved 2560×1440 RAM consumption for video cards from 8 gigabytes to 11 gigabytes, with 12 gigabytes 10 gigabyte, with 16 gigabytes 10 gigabyte with 24 gigabytes 10 gigabyte.
When resolved 3840×2160 RAM consumption for video cards from 8 gigabytes to 12 gigabytes, with 12 gigabytes 10 gigabyte, with 16 gigabytes 10 gigabyte with 24 gigabytes 10 gigabyte.
RT
When resolved 1920×1080 RAM consumption for video cards from 8 gigabytes to 12 gigabytes, with 12 gigabytes 10 ggigabyte, with 16 gigabytes 10 gigabyte, with 24 gigabytes 10 gigabyte.
When resolved 2560×1440 RAM consumption for video cards from 8 gigabytes to 13 gigabytes, with 12 gigabytes 10 gigabyte, with 16 gigabytes 10 gigabyte with 24 gigabytes 10 gigabyte.
When resolved 3840×2160 RAM consumption for video cards from 8 gigabytes to 14 gigabytes, with 12 gigabytes 11 gigabyte, with 16 gigabytes 10 gigabyte with 24 gigabytes 10 gigabyte.
| CONCLUSION |
From the test results the following conclusions can be drawn:
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Returnal has fairly 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 video card in the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti or Radeon RX 6800 XT class is required.
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At lower graphics settings and a resolution of 1440p, video cards in the GeForce RTX 3070 or Radeon RX 6700 XT class are sufficient.
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Setting the graphics to “High” at 1080p resolution allows you to get good graphics quality and fairly high performance on most video cards.
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The processor has a limited impact on game performance, but for maximum performance it is recommended to use a powerful processor.
-
Ray tracing technology significantly improves graphics quality, but requires a powerful computer to ensure smooth gaming.
Overall, Returnal is a fairly demanding game, but with the right graphics settings and the right computer hardware, it can provide high quality graphics and an enjoyable gaming experience.
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| Тeating 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Rating 78% |
Graphics 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Rating 68% |
Optimization 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Rating 58% |