Apex Legends PC Performance Review

1080p Performance - GPU Benchmark Results  

When we test games, we always try to ensure that our results are representative of actual gameplay. This means that we have played a lot of Apex Legends over the past week, over time finding a way to benchmark the game that is reliable enough to gain accurate average framerates and minimum framerates that are representative of the game's trickiest battles. 

This means that there is a lot of environmental traversal, some taxing Thermite grenades are thrown, and our results showcase some of the worst framerates the game can offer as well as an average that remains true for most of Apex Legend's colossal map. All graphics cards are also tested with appropriate video memory settings. 

When we say our minimums are amongst the worst the game offers we mean it, with Nvidia's Geforce GTX 1060 and AMD Radeon RX 580 staying over 60FPS in most situation. That said, in demanding scenes framerates will dip below 60, and in trickier situations, things can even move into the mid-high 40s. We can say for sure that Apex Legends is above 60FPS in most situations on these graphics cards, but when the going gets tough, framerates drop. 

On consoles, Apex Legends relies on a dynamic resolution scaling option to deliver a stable 60FPS render target. The dips that are seen on the RX 580 and GTX 1060 Strix graphics cards showcase exactly why the PC game offers the same dynamic resolution scaling option. This option is worth turning on if you have any chance of dropping your framerate below 60, a momentary resolution dip will be worth avoiding major framerate spikes. 

If you want steady 60+ FPS framerates at Max settings in Apex Legends without using the resolution scaler/framerate target option, you will need to invest in a stronger graphics card. With the GTX 1060 and RX 580, you will either need to lower settings, Ambient Occlusion being an easy candidate, or enable the game's resolution scaling option. This will mitigate the few dips below 60 FPS that you will experience.

Further information about playing Apex Legends at high framerates on an R9 380 or GTX 960 is available on Page 9.