Focus Entertainment has just released Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 on PC. Powered by an updated version of the Swarm Engine, it’s time to benchmark it and examine its performance on the PC. So, let’s dive in.
For our benchmarks, we used an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D, 32GB of DDR5 at 6000Mhz, AMD’s Radeon RX580, RX Vega 64, RX 6900XT, RX 7900XTX, NVIDIA’s GTX980Ti, RTX 2080Ti, RTX 3080 and RTX 4090. We also used Windows 10 64-bit, the GeForce 560.94, and the Radeon Adrenalin Edition 24.8.1 drivers. Moreover, we’ve disabled the second CCD on our 7950X3D.
Space Marine 2 comes with a few graphics settings to tweak. PC gamers can adjust the quality of Textures Filtering, Textures, Shadows, Effects and more. The game also supports NVIDIA DLSS 2 and AMD FSR 2. And although there is no support for DLSS 3 and FSR 3.0, Saber plans to add them via a post-launch update.
Saber has not added any built-in benchmark tool in this game. As such, we used this scene for both our CPU and GPU benchmarks. This was one of the most demanding areas early in the game. Thus, it should give us a pretty good idea of how the rest of the game will run.
To see how the game runs with different types of CPUs, we simulated dual-core, quad-core, and hexa-core CPUs. And, from what we can see, Space Marine 2 benefits from the new architecture of the latest AMD Ryzen (and most likely Intel) CPUs.
Even with only two CPU cores (but with SMT, meaning that it supported four threads), the game ran with over 90fps at 1080p/Ultra. SMT/Hyper-Threading is a must for owners of such CPUs. Without it, we had MAJOR stuttering issues.
From the looks of it, the sweet CPU spot is at 6 cores. Moreover, the game will run slightly faster on high-end CPUs if you disable SMT/Hyper-Threading. This shouldn’t come as a surprise as the game mainly hammers three to four CPU threads.
At 1080p/Ultra, our top four GPUs had no trouble running the game with over 70fps. The NVIDIA RTX 2080Ti was also able to provide a smooth gaming experience.
At 1440p/Ultra, the AMD Radeon RX 6900XT, the RX 7900XTX and the NVIDIA RTX4090 were able to provide a smooth experience. Interestingly enough, although the RTX3080 is able to match the performance of the AMD RX 6900XT, at 1440p (and 4K) it’s noticeably slower.
Finally, for Native 4K/Ultra, you’ll need an NVIDIA RTX 4090. Provided you are not CPU bottlenecked, NVIDIA’s high-end GPU is able to run the game smoothly.
As I said, Space Marine 2 supports DLSS 2 and FSR 2. However, it appears that DLSS 2 has some visual issues right now. Below you can find a comparison between Native TAA, Native FSR 2 and DLAA. And, as you will see, DLAA looks blurrier than even TAA.
In my opinion, the best way to play the game right now (at least on high-end GPUs at 4K) is with Native FSR 2. For what it’s worth, we’ve already informed NVIDIA about this issue. So, hopefully, the team will work with Saber to improve the implementation of DLSS.
Graphics-wise, Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 looks great. This is mainly due to the game’s huge battles and amazing art style. Space Marine 2 is one of the few titles that can push hundreds of enemies on screen. Yes, the game does not have any Ray Tracing. And yes, you’ll definitely notice some low-res textures and some SSR artifacts. The skin shaders also feel a bit dated. Still, Space Marine 2 has style, and it’s pleasing to the eye. It’s one of the few cases where art does the heavy lifting.
Before closing, I should note that the game suffers from some stutters. Although it will pre-compile shaders when you first launch it, you’ll still get minor shader compilation stutters. The good news here is that these stutters are not as frequent as those we’ve seen in other games like Dead Space Remake or Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. So, most of you may not even notice them. Keyboard and mouse controls are also great here. There are no mouse acceleration or smoothing issues. I also didn’t experience any crashes.
All in all, Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 can run smoothly on a wide range of GPUs at 1080p. I’ve seen reports of issues on older CPUs. However, if you own a modern CPU, most of you won’t encounter any issues. And contrary to consoles, PC gamers can get over 60fps on various PC systems. Yes, there are some stutters here and there. However, they will not ruin your experience. I’ve played over 3 hours and I’ve barely noticed them. So, in general, this is a solid PC release. As I noted, it has some issues. So, let’s hope that Saber will do something about them.
Enjoy and stay tuned for more!
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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And I changed almost every key bind and hated the default in this game xD a matter of tastes.
"Radeon Adrenalin Edition 24.8.1 drivers"
John, smh, why are you using outdated drivers?
https://www.amd.com/en/resources/support-articles/release-notes/RN-RAD-WIN-24-10-37-10.html
Because they were the most stable. Also, the performance of the AMD GPUs appears to be already great (check the “3080 vs 6900XT” or the “GTX980Ti vs RX Vega 64” numbers). This isn’t a game in which the AMD GPUs underperform, in which a driver update is necessary. So, I’m almost certain that these “improvements” of that driver are not that big (similar to what we see in most of NVIDIA’s performance drivers).
Sounds like a silly motive. I don't see a reason you shouldn't be using the latest drivers anyway, especially ones that even have "official support" for the game.
Fixed Issues and Improvements;.
Perfromance improvements for Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2.
Intermittent driver timeout or application crash while playing Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2.
smh x2
3080 should match a 6800xt
i've watched the DF review of this game, and they said that this game has major CPU bottleneck, which hammers Ryzen 3600 during large battles pretty rough. maybe IPC of your CPU compensates for the lack of cores and threads while testing in 2cores/4threads mod idk. but those large enemy numbers seems CPU heavy to me. am i missing something ?
Yeap, that's why I said if you have a modern-day CPU you'll be fine. The Ryzen 3600 is by now consider a really old CPU.
That's because if the main thread is topping out at 100% and creating a bottleneck then it doesn't matter if you have 4 or 40 cores you still have a CPU bottleneck because of that one main thread maxed out at 100%
Because this is likely caused by the number of NPCs it also means that turning down the graphic fidelity will cause little to no effect since the CPU can only deliver a finite number of frames
rtx 4090
14900k
120 capped frame rate
my ssd temp sits at 50
gpu temp 62-64 (I've never seen this temp on my gpu)
cpu temp 75 (same as gpu)
no its not dumb@ss. 62-64 is not the same as 75. they arent the same numbers you f@kking idiot. what is that some kind of mongrel math?
as a Celsius i can confirm that 62 is on par with 75 in a mongloid world
62 sounds like the IQ of people who lack comprehension level of a rytarded white person (aka browns and blacks)
ow so cute playing race card, we love you no matter how dumb you are sweetie. and 62 is a bit too much for you but you'll get there
The moment you realized 62 is not 75 with that other black guy was the moment you made your parents proud.
Have you looked at the other comments since then sweetie? despite being special, you look like a rytarded n*gger right now.
I meant that I've never seen my CPU temp this high, just like how I've never seen my gpu temp go over 60.
You'd have hesitated and thought for a second if you weren't rytarded, but you chose to disply the full comprehension level and IQ of a black person instead.
There is no way you have a 4090/14900k combo unless you stole it.
I’m not black bro
Mongrel dont have a pc at all. he lives in his mommys tool shed in her back yard with no electricity. he walks to billy bobs gas station and uses there pc to get online. He has no money because no one will hire the greasy filth mongrel stink wad that doesnt have enough sense to take a damm shower once in awhile. he would have starved to death by now but he eats half rotted food from billy bobs dumpster because his mommy doesnt care enough to feed the filth mongrel. pitiful life
Frankly I'm less shocked to see he has a 4090/14900k combo than I am to find he actually plays video games made after 2014
Awesome work, as usual, Sir Johnny Perv!
The game is great, is what Gears of War should ever be (it was like this for the initial 3 games).
The real reason for this is because "Native" setting while using DLAA/FSRAA applies 80% resolution scaling. Yes, the developers are that braindead. Only TAA renders at full resolution so it looks better than all other options.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/124410fc003c4428a38cbaadba05006fc432f830a62b11a3298a3d18e3f5b7f6.png