Aliens Dark Descent: PC Performance Benchmarks for Graphics Cards and Processors

BASIC INFORMATION ON THE GAME

We tested the new game Aliens Dark Descent at the highest graphics settings, on video cards from the GEFORCE RTX and RADEON RX series. Also, in the course of our tests, we evaluated the performance and quality of the graphic display of the game itself.

NEW PRODUCTS FROM ASUS FOR TESTING

In our review, we bring you the ROG MAXIMUS Z790 APEX motherboards . We use this motherboard as a stand for testing new generations of Intel processors .

 

In our test this time, the new ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4080 OC video card is participating . ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4080 OC Edition is built on the AD103 GPU with 9728 CUDA cores. Test of this video card on our website.

In our review, we bring you the ASUS ROG Strix B650-A Gaming WiFi Motherboard . ROG Strix B650-A Gaming WiFi includes 4 DIMM DDR5 modules with a maximum capacity of up to 64 GB and a frequency of up to 6400 MHz. For the file subsystem, the motherboard supports 3x M.2 PCIe 5.0/4.0 x4 slots and 4x SATA 6Gb/s ports. You can get acquainted directly with the testing of this motherboard on our website.

    

This time, the top-end graphics card from ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4070 Ti OC participates in our test . The GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is based on the AD104 GPU and features 7680 CUDA cores and 12GB of GDDR6X memory. Test of this video card on our website.

 

This time, the top-end video card from ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7900 XT OC Edition 20GB, kindly provided to us by ASUS , participates in our test . . This video card is based on the RDNA 3 architecture, operates at a frequency of 2500 MHz and has 20 gigabytes of video memory. Test of this video card on our website.

This time, the top-end video card from ASUS GeForce RTX 4070 DUAL OC is participating in our test .  Test of this video card on our website.

  

This time, the top-end video card from ASUS GeForce RTX 4060 Ti DUAL OC participates in our test .

NEWS PROVIDED FOR TESTING BY DEEPCOOL

   

In our test this time, DeepCool's CH510 WH case is a sleek and minimalist mid-tower case with excellent component compatibility and wide cooling power support for a truly versatile build.

 

Also in our test this time, the premium CBO DeepCool LS720 WH for processors participates. DeepCool LS720 WH provides maximum cooling performance and low noise levels, as well as a sophisticated design.

NEW PRODUCTS FROM MSI FOR TESTING

 

The MSI GEFORCE RTX 4090 GAMING X TRIO 24 GB is now participating in our test .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

NEW PROVIDED FOR TESTING BY GIGABYTE

In our review, we bring you the GIGABYTE Z790 GAMING X AX motherboards . These motherboards are used by us as stands for testing new generations of Intel processors .

In our test this time, the top-end video card from AORUS Radeon RX 7900 XTX ELITE 24G is participating. This video card is based on the RDNA 3 architecture, operates at a frequency of 3000 MHz and has 24 gigabytes of video memory. Its testing on our site.

NEW PRODUCTS PROVIDED FOR TESTS BY KINGSTON

 

  

The RAM we used in our review was 32 GB DDR4 3600 CL16 Kingston FURY Renegade , 32 GB DDR4 4000 CL18 Kingston FURY Renegade , 32 GB DDR5 6000 Kingston FURY Renegade and 3 2 GB DDR5 7200 Kingston FURY Renegade . And for gaming tests, we use an external Kingston XS2000 Portable SSD 1 TB ..

THE GRAPHICAL PART

In this subsection of our review, the main graphical aspects of this game are revealed. Particular attention is paid to the version of the graphics engine used, the version of the API used, graphics settings and the quality of the development of the main visual aspects.

SUPPORTED OC AND GRAPHICS API

Aliens Dark Descent is supported by Windows 10/11.

 

The priority and primary graphics API for Aliens Dark Descent is DX 12 .

GAME ENGINE

Unreal Engine 4 (UE4) is the fourth iteration of the Unreal Engine developed by Epic Games. Development of UE4 began with the experience of using previous versions of the engine (Unreal Engine 1, 2 and 3) and a number of new technologies, such as the PhysX physics engine and the APEX animation system.

The engine was announced in May 2012 and released in September 2014. The main design goal of UE4 was to provide developers with more powerful tools and options for creating games with a high level of detail and graphics quality.

One of the key changes in UE4 was a completely redesigned rendering system that provided realistic lighting and shadows. This was possible thanks to the introduction of Global Illumination technology, which takes into account the reflection of light from one object to another, creating a more believable environment.

In addition, UE4 introduced an improved character animation system based on APEX technology. This made it possible to create more realistic and smooth character movements, and also made it possible to use dynamic interaction with the environment, for example, the deformation of soft bodies.

Another important feature of UE4 is the flexible scripting system based on the Blueprints visual programming language. This allowed developers without programming experience to create complex game mechanics by simply connecting blocks of logic in the engine editor.

Over time, UE4 has continued to evolve, adding support for various platforms, including mobile devices and virtual reality. Also, the engine began to be used not only in game development, but also in other areas, such as architectural visualization, training and production.

In May 2020, Epic Games announced Unreal Engine 5, which is supposed to be an even more powerful and advanced engine. However, until now, UE4 continues to be one of the most popular and widely used game engines on the market. Developers are constantly receiving updates and improvements, such as performance optimizations, improved development tools, and support for new technologies.

Since its release, UE4 has been the basis for many successful games such as Fortnite, PUBG, Street Fighter V, and many more. These games demonstrate the power and flexibility of the engine, which is suitable for creating a variety of projects, from indie development to large triple-A projects.

 

Thanks to Epic Games' licensing and availability policy, UE4 has been made available to a wide range of developers. In 2015, the company eliminated the monthly fee for using the engine, making it available for free and then introducing only a small percentage of the profits made from sales of games based on it.

This has attracted a lot of indie developers and studios who can experiment with different ideas and concepts without fear of restrictions and high licensing costs.

SETTINGS

The game has a sufficient range of graphic settings. Both basic and advanced settings are available to us.

 

Below we have provided screenshots of the game at various graphics settings, where our readers can see the difference between the minimum and maximum graphics quality settings.

DIFFERENT QUALITY MODES

TEST PART

test configuration
test stands	ROG Strix X570-E Gaming Z490 AORUS PRO AX        GIGABYTE Z590 VISION    GIGABYTE Z690 AERO G   GIGABYTE Z790 GAMING XAX MSI MPG Z790 Edge WiFi ASUS ROG Strix B650-A Gaming WiFi
Sponsored Video Cards	Radeon RX 7900 XTX 24G MSI GEFORCE RTX 3080 SUPRIM X 12 GB     ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4090OC ASUS TUF Gaming GEFORCE RTX 4080OC ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4070 Ti OC ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7900 XTX 24G
multimedia equipment	Monitor Philips 326M6VJRMB/00 Power Supply Seasonic PRIME TX-1000 32 GB DDR4 3600 CL16 Kingston FURY Renegade              32 GB DDR4 4000 CL18 Kingston FURY Renegade              32 GB DDR5 5600 CL40 KingstonFURY Beast                       32 GB DDR5 6000@6400 CL30 KingstonFURY Renegade 32 GB DDR5 7200@7600 CL36 KingstonFURY Renegade Kingston FURY Renegade PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD            Case MPG CORELIQUID K240  Housing DeepCool CH510 WH  CBO DeepCool LS720WH
software configuration
operating system	Windows 10 21H2/ Windows 11(Alder Lake)
graphics driver	Nvidia GeForce/ION Driver Release 536.23 WHQL AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 23.5.1
monitoring programs	MSI Afterburner

All video cards were tested at maximum graphics quality by 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 the test segment:

Our video cards were tested at resolutions of 1920x1080 , 2560x1440 and 3840x2160 at maximum graphics quality settings.

GPU TEST

 

In the test of video cards, 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 productive CPU in this game and is scaled to other processors, taking into account their testing on NVIDIA and AMD video cards.

At a resolution of 1920x1080, an average FPS of 25 frames was shown by video cards of the Radeon RX 6600 or GeForce RTX 2060 level . A 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 Radeon RX 6600 or GeForce RTX 2060 solutions .

At a resolution  of 2560x1440,  an average FPS of 25 frames was shown by video cards of the Radeon RX 6600 or GeForce RTX 2060 level . A 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 Radeon RX 6650 XT or GeForce RTX 2080 solutions .

At a resolution  of 3840x2160,  an average FPS of 25 frames was shown by video cards of the Radeon RX 6600 or GeForce RTX 2060 level . A minimum FPS of at least 25 frames can be provided by video cards of the level Radeon RX 6600 XT or GeForce RTX 2070 . A comfortable average FPS of 60 frames can be provided by Radeon RX 6800 or GeForce RTX 4070 solutions .

VIDEO MEMORY CONSUMPTION

Testing of the video memory consumed by the game was carried out by the  MSI Afterburner program. The results on video cards from AMD and NVIDIA at resolutions of  1920x1080, 2560x1440 and 3840x2160 with various anti-aliasing settings were taken as the indicator. By default, the graph displays the most up-to-date solutions. Other graphics cards are added and removed from the chart at the reader's request.

At a resolution of  1920x1080 ,  video memory consumption for video cards with 8 gigabytes is 4 gigabytes , with 12 gigabytes 4 gigabytes , with 16 gigabytes 4 gigabytes with 24 gigabytes 4 gigabytes .

At a resolution of 2560x1440 , video memory consumption for video cards with 8 gigabytes is 4 gigabytes, with 12 gigabytes 4 gigabytes , with 16 gigabytes 4 gigabytes , with 24 gigabytes 5 gigabytes .

At a resolution of 3840x2160 , video memory consumption for video cards with 8 gigabytes is 5 gigabytes, with 12 gigabytes 5 gigabytes , with 16 gigabytes 5 gigabytes with 24 gigabytes 6 gigabytes .

CPU TEST

 

Testing was carried out at a resolution of 1920x1080. In the processor test, you can remove and add any positions of the processors. You can also select any tested video card from the list in the drop-down menu, comparing its performance with the results of processor tests  (by default, the most productive solution from NVIDIA is selected). Testing takes place on the most productive NVIDIA and AMD video cards and scales up to lower models.

When using NVIDIA video cards, Ryzen 3 3100 or Core i 3 10100 processors showed an acceptable rate of at least 25 frames per second  , and Ryzen 3 3100 or Core i 3 10100 solutions can provide an FPS rate of at least 60 frames per second .

When using AM D video cards, Ryzen 3 3100 or Core i 3 10100 processors showed an acceptable rate of at least 25 frames per second  , and Ryzen 3 3100 or Core i 3 10100 solutions can provide an FPS rate of at least 60 frames per second . 

With trace aitivation, the game can already load up to 12 threads. Uses 8 threads as efficiently as possible.

RAM TEST

The test was conducted on the base configuration 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 running extraneous applications (browsers, etc.). In the graphics, you can add and remove any resolutions and video cards as desired.

At a resolution of  1920x1080 ,  the consumption of RAM for video cards with 8 gigabytes is 7 gigabytes , with 12 gigabytes 7 gigabytes , with 16 gigabytes 6 gigabytes, with 24 gigabytes 7 gigabytes .

At a resolution of  2560x1440  , the consumption of RAM for video cards with 8 gigabytes is 7 gigabytes , with 12 gigabytes 7 gigabytes , with 16 gigabytes 6 gigabytes with 24 gigabytes 7 gigabytes .

At a resolution of  3840x2160  , the consumption of RAM for video cards with 8 gigabytes is 7 gigabytes , with 12 gigabytes 7 gigabytes , with 16 gigabytes 6 gigabytes with 24 gigabytes 7 gigabytes .

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