Shadow of the Tomb Raider PC Performance Review

1080p Performance – Benchmark Results

When using the game’s Highest Preset, the only graphics cards that are capable of a steady 60+ framerate experience are the GTX 1080 and RX Vega 56, though it is worth noting that the GTX 1070 only just missed this performance target. 

You will notice that out R9 380 and GTX 960 are missing from this table, a factor that is due to VRAM limitations. The game will crash when using both graphics cards under Shadow of the Tomb Raider’s Highest preset. Performance data for both graphics card is available on page 12. 

At High settings, Shadow of the Tomb Raider is also playable at 60+ FPS on our RX 580 and GTX1060 in several areas within the game, but PC players can expect to see a few performance dips in specific areas. Shadow of the Tomb Raider is a demanding game. 

Moving up to Nvidia’s latest graphics cards, the RTX 2080 and RTX 2080 Ti, we can see that both GPUs deliver the same minimum framerates on our Intel i5 6850K-based system, revealing a clear CPU bottleneck. CPU limitations will be present in complex areas of the game where there is a high NPC count, with hub areas like Kuwaq Yaku and the “hidden city”, with dips being larger than what we see in our GPU test area.