Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy PC Performance Review

Scaling to older hardware – GTX 960 VS R9 380

In our 1080p testing for our GTX 960 and R9 380 graphics cards, we wondered whether or not steady 60FPS framerates were possible on both of these ageing graphics cards.  

After looking at our 4K performance data with our RX 580 and GTX 1060 graphics cards, we know that Ultra quality shadows have a considerable performance impact on PC, making it a setting of choice when it comes to settings to sacrifice on the altar of higher framerates. In this case, we turned the game’s shadow quality down to medium, delivering respectable levels of shadow quality while also offering a much lower GPU workload. 

To add onto this, we also disabled the game’s depth of field settings, as this can help free up memory bandwidth, though this also adds some extra sharpness to distant details, a feature that may be preferred by some players. All other settings within the game remain untouched. 

Below you can see two 1080p screenshots comparing our custom graphical settings with Crash Bandicoot’s Ultra/Maximum settings, where the only quality difference is a lowering of shadow quality from Ultra to medium and a removal of Depth of Field. 

(Custom VS Ultra/Maximum Settings)

       

While the lowering of shadow quality from Ultra to medium is noticeable when looking at static screenshots, the difference is almost impossible to spot while the game is in motion. When you are running through a level, do you focus your attention on shadows? No, you focus on the challenges ahead, making the lowered graphical quality more than worth it for the sake of 60FPS framerates. 

In our demanding test case, we managed to achieve a 2x improvement in minimum framerates on out R9 380 graphic card, delivering a significant boost in overall playability. A portion of this boost is due to a decrease in VRAM requirements, as the game can max out the 2GB frame buffer on both of these graphics cards, making the game VRAM limited on 2GB graphics cards at Ultra settings.