2K Games has just released the latest part in the Borderlands series on the PC. Borderlands 3 is a title that a lot of PC gamers have been looking forward to. The game uses Unreal Engine 4 so it’s time to benchmark it and see how it performs on the PC platform.
For this PC Performance Analysis, we used an Intel i9 9900K with 16GB of DDR4 at 3600Mhz, AMD’s Radeon RX580 and RX Vega 64, NVIDIA’s RTX 2080Ti, GTX980Ti and GTX690. We also used Windows 10 64-bit, the GeForce driver 436.30 and the Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.9.2 drivers. NVIDIA has not included any SLI profile for this title, meaning that our GTX690 performed similarly to a single GTX680.
Gearbox has added a respectable amount of graphics settings to tweak. PC gamers can adjust the quality of Anti-Aliasing, Texture Streaming, Anisotropic Filtering, Material Complexity, Shadows and Draw Distance. There are also options for Environmental Detail, Terrain, Foliage, Characters, Ambient Occlusion, Volumetric Fog and Screen Space Reflections. Players can also enable or disable FidelityFX Sharpening and Camera Motion Blur, and choose between DX11 and DX12. DirectX 12 is currently in beta phase and has long loading times, so we highly recommend using DirectX 11 for now.
In order to find out how the game scales on multiple CPU threads, we simulated a dual-core, a quad-core and a hexa-core CPU. Since the game comes with a built-in benchmark, you used that for our tests. This benchmark scene is representative of the in-game performance. Moreover, we reduced our resolution to 720p for our CPUs benchmarks so we could avoid any GPU bottleneck.
Borderlands 3 does not require a high-end CPU. Surprisingly enough, even our simulated dual-core system was able to provide a 60fps experience. However, we did experience major stutters on that particular system. These stutters were minimized when we moved to our quad-core and hexa-core systems. Furthermore, and even though Borderlands 3 could not stress our i9 9900K, we noticed major stuttering reduction when we enabled Hyper Threading. Without Hyper Threading, there were stutters when loading new areas in the benchmark scene (especially at the end of the test). When we enabled Hyper Threading, those stutters were almost gone. We experienced the exact same thing on our simulated hexa-core system. As such, we strongly suggest enabling Hyper Threading for this particular title.
Now while the game does not require a high-end CPU, we did notice some performance differences between our Intel i7 4930K and our i9 9900K. At 1080p, there were some drops below 50fps (mainly due to stutters). Ironically, these performance drops on older hardware could have been easily avoided. That’s of course if the game was working properly with DX12. Therefore, owners of older CPUs will have to either experience the long loading times of DX12, or have to face the limitations of DX11.
Despite its CPU/memory optimization issues due to DX11, Borderlands 3 is mainly a GPU-bound title. At 1080p/Ultra settings, only our AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 and our NVIDIA RTX2080Ti were able to offer a 60fps experience.
At 2560×1440, only our NVIDIA RTX2080Ti was able to offer a smooth gaming experience. As for 4K, NVIDIA’s most powerful graphics card was unable to offer a 60fps experience.
Thankfully, the game is scalable on older GPUs by lowering its graphics settings. For instance, we were able to play Borderlands 3 with High/1080p and 60fps on our AMD Radeon RX580. So yeah, if you have performance issues on Ultra, reduce some settings (like Volumetric Fog) to High. Lastly, there is another preset above Ultra, Badass, for high-end GPUs. Basically, this setting sets Volumetric Fog and Screen Space Reflections to Ultra. By enabling them, we lost 6fps on our RTX2080Ti. Since most gamers won’t be able to tell the difference between Ultra and Badass, we suggest using Ultra settings.
As said, Hyper Threading did wonders to our in-game experience. Thanks to it, we did not experience any stuttering issues and the game was really smooth on our G-Sync monitor. Furthermore, we did not experience any stutters while using ADS. Again, the combination of Hyper Threading and G-Sync appears to be crucial in this particular game.
Graphics wise, I wasn’t really impressed by what Borderlands 3 is offering. Don’t get me wrong; the game looks great. However, I don’t really see how a game like this is more demanding than Gears 5. Yes, they have a completely different art style, however, both of them are using the same engine. Again, you will be able to play it on older hardware by reducing some graphics settings. However, its Ultra settings do not justify their huge GPU requirements.
All in all, Borderlands 3 currently has some optimization issues on the PC. The game suffers from stuttering issues on systems with less than eight CPU cores, and under performs on older CPUs due to DX11. DirectX 12 is also in beta phase so we suggest avoiding it (at least for now). Thankfully, the game is scalable via its graphics settings, and does not require a high-end CPU for achieving a 60fps experience. We also did not notice any mouse acceleration or smoothing issues. Let’s hope that Gearbox will further optimize the game via post-launch patches.
Enjoy!
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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Works best on my One X . next .
Next? Next time pls STFU.. KIM….
It cant hold 60 at 1080p https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c274ce07504a822a18b5dac6096e59a193a34506b7921301d82f5b8381eb8541.png
Its not 4k https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3ae49e280231ec655c4f9712dfa785546fb44f2653688279bcb6e8497b85b2cc.png
And probably a mix of low-high settings with some stuff on “off” or even below pc ‘low’ settings
Yes anyone that believes that a console can run games @4K is an idiot. I don’t know how they get away with saying this rubbish. I mean i know how, but i guess i should be asking; how they get people to believe and repeat this garbage. because 4 k don’t mean a damn think if it’s on low As FUQ settings,with some checker board sorcery thrown in there.
Neither can a RTX 2080 Ti at Ultra 4K, 1800, 30 FPS Locked on X is pretty smooth, and my name is Noctuah, Kim and you can stay Blocked . And Ghosted, next .
That’s like saying a barely roadworthy pile of trash is the best because a Lamborghini can’t go mach 1.
This n**ga
You got owned so hard XD
u mad bro
Digital Foundry already showed that the game is a train wreck on both Xbone X and PS4 Pro. So bad that its performance mirrors Borderlands games on last-gen consoles!
How does a game that takes this long to develop launch in this poor of a state? What’s going on in Quality Assurance?
Something something tencent…..
Imagine if this was their first game!
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b7d7f91e8de58350a9facf56758a76b12ba1bcbd34997bef96400ba932ae6216.jpg
Noting to see here folks…
LOL
It’s okay, people who would still buy Randy’s game in the current year deserve this.
LOL, Dude just unplug your internet Borderlands 3 works in offline mode 🙂 . Not sure if you are trolling but if you bought the game and are worried just unplug your LAN or disable your network adapter then Boot up Epic launcher and the game. It’s pretty easy to do, that is how I play the game since I only play SP.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/34669e36c0e48494cfd79bd8c61f39c73d20562801d00bbcbfe15ed0f9146488.jpg
I dont have rhe game…so i have no idea how it can work offline…..
But i know that your image and mine is totaly different…..
Ah I see, well I own it and it runs extremely well and it is really simple to play in offline mode by the two ways I mentioned. So if your a fan of the series ignore the hate it’s totally fine.
There are a lot of people that dis like Randy and the fact that BL3 is not on Steam. Having said that I am sure there is a lot off other stuff posted to discredit the game which sucks cause it an awesome game and mega solid PC port ++.
Anyways you can play it 100% in offline mode like I showed in my screen shot(where I literally unplugged my wired LAN).
Sorry but i dont want chinise keyloger on my machine…..
I play offline when CPY unfuc* the game
Why don’t you keep your lan unplugged for 1 week and see if you feel the same way about what you have done. Or better, Just keep the game offline for a week, I want you to have your “extra carriculars” on the net.
What a f*king stupid argument, playing it in offline mode when one of the biggest draw of this series is it’s coop gameplay.
then how would you play co-op LUL
So already my 9700k lacks of hypertreading is coming to bite me in the ass…i wonder if the behaviour is similar on ryzen system
No no, poor optimization and terrible development is whats biting you in the azz.
Yo John.
How big is the BL3 exe file?
It’s 219KB. Not your usual 300-500MB,despite it using Denuvo. Also, we had no network issues with it (we had only one application sending data and those were a few KBs. Nothing like that 2Mbps screenshot).
I think you’re looking at the wrong executable, John.
Borderlands3OakGameBinariesWin64 contains a Borderlands3.exe that is > 600 Mb
Ah yes, my bad. That one is 596MB indeed.
Yep. I was looking for that one thx.
600MB….. Thonking face
Hmmm. Interesting.
Did you try playing with other players?
Or stream on twitch s bit? The game have some new features when you stream…
Interesting findings.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/076085a377bc74052d0e9f1330a8708fe54434d91e977440be3adeef58520de6.png
I would say the same if i would find a brain cell in your head……
Haha, I unblocked him just to Fuq with him. I truly believe this AI is aware and the first of his kind. I’ve never seen schitt like this before man. It is truly, “Interesting Findings”. ???
Looks and runs worse than shadow warrior 2.
i think game is optimized it have problems because of the new drm denuvo. I suggest to completely close the epic launcher once the game is launched. and to disable the network card in order not to make it communicate.
Now why THA FUQ should a paying customer do SCHITT like that. Now you have the paying customer moving shifty a fuq, like a pirate, n order to get a good experience. Man y’all cotton picking M**ha Fuqas I tell ya. How about this, JUST DON’T BUY IT!!!!! You are not going to die if you don’t play BL3. F.O.M.O is for weak men and women that cannot stand to do WITHOUT. Grow a pair and don’t go around infecting us all with your BULLSCHITT.
Cel Shaded graphics with not much improvment over the last decade runs like a*s and it’s on a s**t store and has an awful DRM. it screams BUY ME! BUY ME!
No problems with my 3700x and 1080ti , i run game with dx12 i have all ultra settings but i disable amd sharpening and volumetric fog. game is very smooth with 55-60fps all the time but i have gysnc monitor. the first hour part of the game is unstable in dx12 and game crash but after i have play 5 hours yestarday and game dont have any problems
Anyone gonna mention that one of the cracking scenes found evidence of a keylogger spyware that runs in the background even while the game isnt running?
Here’s the video title on youtube.
Borderlands 3 Reportedly USING A KEYLOGGER? – RANT – JokerProductions
Did they show anything at all? No? Just words on a Discord server.
https://youtu.be/KRwXN4-vFqA
Man what is up with the CPU load on Intel? John you should try and run the game in offline mode and re run your tests. Here is my CPU load on my 1950x TR (in offline mode) it is pretty much asleep and I can easily play it at 5760×1080 on a single 1080 Ti * I am in DX12 mode btw *. Maybe the game really is hard core optimized for Ryzen and TR?
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/20788c130971266fea4ad63be7e839ab43d8eb868bcdc6fdb60510ca0a28a15c.jpg
i9 2080Ti, works great, only 2 settings lowered from Ultra to high, resolution scale at 125% 1440p running like 80fps.
No Titan RTX, lame build.
wow…this game is HEAVY!!! and graphicwise isn’t nothing special…38 fps at 1080p Ultra on RX580 is so baaad! I’m curious to see how the consoles handle this game and how them compare vs pc.
Stop trying to play games on Ultra on a bad card.
The RX 580 is a card that should manage very well EVERY SINGLE GAME EXISTING at Ultra 1080p …. when it does not reach 60 fps on average it is a problem of the game, not of the card. I have an RTX 2080 by the way,so in theory this is not a problem of mine…
so, my i5 3570 + ddr3 16gb + gtx 1080 8gb will still playing this game with lots of stutter ? 🙁
Hey guys, so I have 4770k, 24gb ram and rtx 2060. Is there very high probability that I will have stuttering because of cpu?