The Last of Us Part 1 Early PC Performance Review
CPU Performance
While AMD’s Ryzen 5 5600X processor is not a high-end processor by today’s standards, it is the processor that Naughty Dog recommends for 1440p 60 FPS using the game’s high preset. As such, users of this processor should expect a stable 60+ FPS framerate when using the processor.
Below, we have charted the 5th percentile, average and 95th percentile framerates of an early section of The Last of Us. This section had Joel carry his daughter Sarah during the initial stages of the game’s fungal outbreak. This is a demanding area of the game, and highly repeatable for testing purposes. The results below were taken after The Last of Us Part 1’s shaders are compiled, which means that there are no unnecessary background tasks taking up our CPU’s resources. Had we charted 1st percentile framerates, we would see results in the 30s.Â
Below we can see how much framerates can wary within the span of a 60 second benchmark. One moment framerates are above 100 FPS, and typically they move above and below 65 FPS at all settings. Lowering The Last of Us’ graphical presets does little to boost the game’s CPU performance, giving gamers no option to lower the game’s CPU loading by any significant amount.
As mentioned before, 1st percentile framerates can dip into the 30s, and at their highest framerates can be over 100 FPS. The Last of Us Part 1’s CPU loads on PC can vary to an insane degree, and in some sections of the game we were comfortably playing at over 130 FPS, while at others we sit in the 60s or lower. Since this game’s PS4 version has a 60 FPS mode, it is strange to see vastly more powerful PC CPUs struggle running this game. Yes, this PC game is based on the vastly more demanding PC remake of The Last of Us, but it is difficult to comprehend how CPU loads have increased this much. Surely there is room for CPU optimisation here?Â
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