HardwareStar Wars OutlawsStar Wars Outlaws performance analysis: Ray traced galaxies far, far away really, really demand upscaling and frame generationWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
HardwareStar Wars OutlawsStar Wars Outlaws performance analysis: Ray traced galaxies far, far away really, really demand upscaling and frame generationWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
Jump to:Urban performanceOpen-world performanceUpscaling performanceGraphics settings
Jump to:Urban performanceOpen-world performanceUpscaling performanceGraphics settings
It’s not likeAssassin’s Creed Valhalla, though, as the open and habited regions are more restricted in scope and scale, and more akin toAvatar: Frontiers of Pandora. That’s perhaps not a surprise when one realises Massive Entertainment also made that game, and both it and Star Wars Outlaws use the same Snowdrop engine.
When it comes to GPU tech, you get the full gamut of upscalers and frame generation systems (DLSS, FSR, and XeSS), along with ray tracing being permanently in use for lighting, shadows, and reflections. There are also more graphics options than I’ve seen in a game for a very long time—the settings you can configure outside of the standard presets—and that’s both a good thing and a bad thing, as I’ll explain later.
It’s important to note that all of the following is based on running a preview version of Star Wars Outlaws and the performance figures that you’ll see below might not be 100% indicative of the final release, when it’s launched August 30.
For example, enablingFSR 3 frame generationinduces all kinds of rendering issues and there’s a fairly substantial memory leak that kicks in after a long play time, resulting in the game sucking up all your VRAM, dropping the frame rate, and forcing textures to lower in resolution. Such things are normal in preview samples of games and the review notes clearly show that Ubisoft is aware of the issues so hopefully they will all be resolved in time for the launch.
Star Wars Outlaws performance: Urban
To examine the overall performance, I used a range of gaming PC hardware, though time constraints limited the scope. Star Wars Outlaws looks like the kind of game that could really suit a handheld gaming PC, so I tested it on anAsus ROG Ally X, along with anAcer Nitro V 15 RTX 4050 gaming laptop, plus some desktop configurations that are reasonable matches toUbisoft’s system requirements(for the graphics cards, at least).
Performance figures were taken in two locations, as there’s quite a difference in how well the game runs, depending on where you are and what you’re doing. The first set of results are from walking around on foot in Mirogana city and the second results are from zooming across the land on a speeder in the Mirogana valley, both on the Toshara planet.
The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals
The overall frame rates in Mirogana city aren’t super high but generally, they’re quite consistent. Using the ultra graphics setting hits most systems pretty hard so unless you’ve got a really high-end gaming PC, you’re better off just sticking to the high preset, if you don’t want to use upscaling.
It’s a shame the ROG Ally X is unable to run the game at 1080p with the low quality preset and hit 30 fps, as Star Wars Outlaws feels like the ideal game for such a platform. The RTX 4050 laptop and RX 5700 XT also struggle, although it is playable enough up to the high preset. All the desktop PCs deliver acceptable performance as per their target resolutions, though even theRTX 4080 Superis pushed hard with 4K and the Ultra preset.
Image1of4(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
Image1of4(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
Image1of4
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
If you’re looking at the screenshots above and wondering what’s with the black bars, the game defaults to a ‘cinematic 21:9’ look, which perhaps makes Star Wars Outlaws the first game to really giveultrawide monitorowners the best experience. Disabling this fills out the screen but squashes in the field of view. It’s worth leaving it on as you stop noticing the bars pretty quickly.
Star Wars Outlaws performance: Open-world
While the results below don’t look all that different to the city runs, the open-world performance is certainly more varied. Star Wars Outlaws on the ROG Ally X is just as bad as it is in the city and it’s a similar story for the RTX 4050 laptop. In the case of the latter, it’s possibly due to the 6 GB of VRAM forcing more asset streaming to take place.
Star Wars Outlaws will use as much VRAM as it can, although never more than the amount the graphics card has, even at higher quality settings. That said, more is certainly better, but at least the engine won’t jam it full and then crash into a ‘lack of memory’ issue—it makes for a pleasant change to play a modern game that seems to manage its assets well. Mind you, all of the test PCs sport afast PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSDand I should imagine one could experience some stutters with slower drives.
And on the subject of stutters, the open-world area does produce more pronounced traversal stutters than the city location but only when travelling across a large portion of the map. Sometimes it’s quite pronounced but the longer you spend whizzing about the world on your speeder, the smaller the impact becomes.
Image1of4(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
Image1of4(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
Image1of4
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
I’m not including any upscaling results for the open-world test, simply because you get the same kind of performance increases as seen in the city location. For mid-range and lower-end GPUs, upscaling doesn’t help out as much as you’d like and frame generation is the saving grace for such chips. The more powerful your GPU, the bigger the improvement you’ll see when using DLSS, FSR, or XeSS.
With regards to the CPU, the game engine for Star Wars Outlaws generates one primary thread and lots of ancillary ones, though not in a particularly heavy way, and if you have a CPU that supports 12 or more threads, then you’ll be fine. For example, theCore i7 14700KFruns the game with one P-core averaging 50% utilisation and the others around 37% in the city location. It was a similar situation with theRyzen 5 5600X, but slightly higher per-core utilisations.
In short, Star Wars Outlaws is primarily a GPU-limited game.
Star Wars Outlaws upscaling performance
Since all of the above results are without any upscaling or frame generation applied, things will naturally improve with those enabled, so if you’re planning on using ultra graphics settings at 1440p or 4K, then DLSS, FSR, or XeSS are an absolute must.
The first thing to note is that upscaling doesn’t help the ROG Ally X one bit and unfortunately, Star Wars Outlaws is unplayable on the handheld device, in this preview version at least. Using FSR 3 Performance and the buggy frame generation, it barely averages 27 fps in the city area and apart from the fact that it looks horrendous in this mode, the input lag is so bad it’s like booking a simple move two weeks in advance.
For the other systems, upscaling is worth using to raise the 1% lows to an acceptable level and even if the baseline performance is fine, it’s worth applying them anyway, as you can use a 100% render scale to get much nicer anti-aliasing than the default TAA (temporal anti-aliasing) method.
In the review copy notes, Ubisoft recommended that DLSS and FSR frame generation shouldn’t be used in the review build as neither implementation was working as intended but in the spirit of the game, I fired them up anyway. In terms of performance, they both work really well and add very little input latency, for most platforms, but AMD’s system induced awful rendering artefacts. Hopefully, both systems will work perfectly when the game publicly launches.Hopefully…
So that’s how the game runs in a busy city location but what about the wider world, where you can use your speeder to whizz about and explore other locations?
Graphics settings
As mentioned earlier, Star Wars Outlaws sports a comprehensive array of graphics options to tweak and mess about with. That means you should be able to find a configuration that ensures the game will work as best as possible on your gaming PC. However, the sheer number of options means you could spend longer messing about with these than actually playing the game.
Image1of5(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
Image1of5(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
Image1of5
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
One thing that’s not very clear is how ray tracing is managed on GPUs that only just meet the minimum system requirements. TheGeForce GTX 1660andRadeon RX 5600 XTaren’t capable of hardware ray tracing acceleration so the game must be using some kind of software/hybrid fallback in such cases.
In fact, it’s pretty unclear as to what ray tracing algorithms are being employed with each setting but generally speaking, when one looks at the visual differences between the four quality presets, the use of ray tracing seems to be quite subtle at low and medium, and really only kicks in at high and ultra.
Shadows look superb on ultra but the performance hit is quite large. In contrast, raising the visual fidelity of the lighting, geometry, and particle effects scales quite nicely. I’d recommend sticking to the high preset for the most part and lowering the shadows if you’re struggling to reach a target frame rate.
I’d suggest using the medium preset with low shadow settings for PCs sporting GPUs without hardware ray tracing, even at 1080p, as the RX 5700 XT struggled to get anywhere near 60 fps in Stars Wars Outlaws.
(Image credit: Ubisoft/Lucasfilms)
However, like frame generation, the implementation of it in the review version of Star Wars Outlaws wasn’t recommended to be used and given that it more than halves the frame rate (even on an RTX 4080 Super) and induces horrendous stuttering, it’s not hard to see why Ubisoft said this. If all of this is solved in time for the game’s release, it could be an option worth enabling if you want the best possible graphics, but I suspect that performance impact will leave it as a setting forRTX 4090owners only.
Overall, Star Wars Outlaws is a lovely-looking game, though notCyberpunk 2077orBlack Myth: Wukonglevel, but like so many of today’s big releases, upscaling and frame generation are mandatory for high frame rates. If you’re happy with 60 fps, then depending on the hardware in your gaming PC, you might not require either but DLSS, FSR, and XeSS are still worth using just to lift the 1% lows and improve the anti-aliasing.
More about hardwareIf you’re trying to convince me your ‘companionship’ robot is ‘lifelike’, maybe don’t rip her face off in the demo videoIs the new RTX 5070 really as fast as Nvidia’s previous flagship RTX 4090 GPU? Turns out the answer is yes. Kinda.LatestToday’s Wordle answer for Sunday, January 12See more latest►
More about hardwareIf you’re trying to convince me your ‘companionship’ robot is ‘lifelike’, maybe don’t rip her face off in the demo videoIs the new RTX 5070 really as fast as Nvidia’s previous flagship RTX 4090 GPU? Turns out the answer is yes. Kinda.LatestToday’s Wordle answer for Sunday, January 12See more latest►
More about hardwareIf you’re trying to convince me your ‘companionship’ robot is ‘lifelike’, maybe don’t rip her face off in the demo videoIs the new RTX 5070 really as fast as Nvidia’s previous flagship RTX 4090 GPU? Turns out the answer is yes. Kinda.
More about hardware
If you’re trying to convince me your ‘companionship’ robot is ‘lifelike’, maybe don’t rip her face off in the demo videoIs the new RTX 5070 really as fast as Nvidia’s previous flagship RTX 4090 GPU? Turns out the answer is yes. Kinda.
If you’re trying to convince me your ‘companionship’ robot is ‘lifelike’, maybe don’t rip her face off in the demo video
If you’re trying to convince me your ‘companionship’ robot is ‘lifelike’, maybe don’t rip her face off in the demo video
Is the new RTX 5070 really as fast as Nvidia’s previous flagship RTX 4090 GPU? Turns out the answer is yes. Kinda.
Is the new RTX 5070 really as fast as Nvidia’s previous flagship RTX 4090 GPU? Turns out the answer is yes. Kinda.
LatestToday’s Wordle answer for Sunday, January 12See more latest►
Latest
Today’s Wordle answer for Sunday, January 12
Today’s Wordle answer for Sunday, January 12
Today’s Wordle answer for Sunday, January 12
See more latest►
Most Popular
This bizarre roguelike has a new take on the Vampire Survivors formula: letting you build your own custom weapons out of brains, eyeballs, and chimpanzee spines
18 games the PC Gamer team can’t wait to play in 2025
The Witcher 3’s now 2-year-old bonus quest is our first taste of the ‘vibe’ CD Projekt is going for in The Witcher 4
2024 was the year updates for old games beat out all the new ones for me
Train like you game with this adventure-inspired workout
‘It’s simply impossible to make a difficulty level that’s just right for all players’: How Final Fantasy 14’s lead battle designer has been playing a precarious balancing game for Dawntrail’s dungeons and raids
Please join me in getting super excited for all the cool looking survival games coming in 2025 (and beyond)
Competitive shooters are at a crucial crossroads in 2025: ‘sweaty’ teamplay vs. casual fun
Call of Duty’s $28 Squid Game skins are the perfect crossover for our capitalist dystopia, and Activision knows exactly what it’s doing
These are the 14 biggest upcoming RPGs of 2025—get ready for another amazing year for the genre
HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review: An anarchic treasure trove of jokes and skits2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review—like juggling chainsaws on horseback3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review4Ikea Utespelare desk review5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review
HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review: An anarchic treasure trove of jokes and skits2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review—like juggling chainsaws on horseback3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review4Ikea Utespelare desk review5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review
HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review: An anarchic treasure trove of jokes and skits2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review—like juggling chainsaws on horseback3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review4Ikea Utespelare desk review5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review
HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review: An anarchic treasure trove of jokes and skits2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review—like juggling chainsaws on horseback3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review4Ikea Utespelare desk review5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review
HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS
1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads
1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads
1
Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads
2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop
2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop
2
Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop
3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most
3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most
3
Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most
4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands
4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands
4
Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands
5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested
5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested
5
Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested
1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review: An anarchic treasure trove of jokes and skits
1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review: An anarchic treasure trove of jokes and skits
1
Thank Goodness You’re Here! review: An anarchic treasure trove of jokes and skits
2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review—like juggling chainsaws on horseback
2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review—like juggling chainsaws on horseback
2
Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review—like juggling chainsaws on horseback
3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review
3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review
3
WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review
4Ikea Utespelare desk review
4Ikea Utespelare desk review
4
Ikea Utespelare desk review
5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review
5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review
5
Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review
