Starfield PC - Digital Foundry Tech Review - Best Settings, Xbox Series X Comparisons + More

Starfield on PC delivers the best way to play the game, assuming your hardware is capable enough - but it's clear that there's a lot of issues that Bethesda needs to address. In this PC tech review, Alex delivers optimised settings and console-equivalent settings, and also takes a look at the DLSS mod quality vs AMD's bespoke FSR 2 integration. Graphics and CPU optimisation is also under the microscope, where it's clear there's still a lot of work to be done.
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00:00:00 Introduction
00:00:27 User Experience, Settings and DLSS Mods
00:08:59 Xbox Series X Comparisons and Optimised Settings
00:18:25 Is this game optimised on the GPU?
00:24:35 Is this game optimised well on CPUs?
00:29:29 Concluding Remarks

[@danielowentech]

Amazingly detailed analysis as always! And thanks for the shoutout!

[@NfactorReloaded]

Your GPU analysis videos are a great time saver Dan, you do good work.

[@trappeddarkhd1707]

Love your videos

[@Koffiato]

Thank you man, I love that I can send your videos to people who want to know a bit more. Perfectly explained every time.

[@DigitalFoundry]

Thank you for the great work! 😃

[@lesserlogic9977]

Great videos Dan, I found you a few weeks ago and I'm very glad I did.

[@ConnorEllisMusic]

Optimised Settings TDLR Shadow Quality - Medium Indirect Lighting - Medium-Ultra Reflections - Medium Particle Quality - Medium-High Volumetric Lighting - Medium Crowd Density - Low Motion Blur - Low GTAO Quality - Medium Grass Quality - Medium Contact Shadows - Medium VRS - On

[@toppojaiwant]

Will this work on my RTX 2060 super 8GB?

[@KneppaH]

@@toppojaiwant yes but don't expect 60fps everywhere.

[@wtfronsson]

@@toppojaiwantI'll say the game looks quite good with _all low_, as long as you don't crank too much FSR. Find and FSR % where you like how it runs, then see if you can squeeze in maybe medium indirect lighting. You definitely want low shadows and low reflections with that card, that much is for sure.

[@Aurummorituri]

@@wtfronsson No no no. No FSR in this game. EVER. DLSS only. Mod it in and enjoy. FSR looks SO BAD in motion. Grassy planets are atrocious with all the blur and fizzling.

[@romankozlovskiy7899]

@@KneppaHoptimal settings for your potato pc

[@aquaman5464]

Hope Bethesda watches this , they really should get an update out to address things that are missing in the graphical settings , accessibility , hdr etc

[@randomguy-]

To be fair; where would they even start? There's just so many things lackluster with this game.

[@Chopper153]

AMD has paid Bethesda to optimise the game for Radeon GPUs only, I don't think Bethesda won't do anything.

[@ParvulaUniversum]

This your first BGS game? They aren't gonna update shit. They release unfinished crap and leave it up to modders to fix and finish their games.

[@krzysztof6591]

Yeah. Like they ever goin to do that. Just like in previous games.

[@withmygoodeyeclosed]

@@Chopper153 I think it's like Bethesda engineers are incapable, so they partnered with AMD to optimize, probably since the consoles also use AMD hardware so they didn't want to spend man hours on optimizing this frankenstein engine for another vendor. I think you're right in that Bethesda will do nothing but who knows they might surprise us this time around.

[@ArkanoidMcZombietron]

From my point of view, you giving us a glimpse at just how much work is required to create a video like this is enlightening. I was always appreciative of your optimised settings videos (and knew they must have taken a lot of work), but knowing what you actually have to go through to get there really makes me appreciate it even more.

[@Afterthought_]

Hey Alex, quick tip: if you force 16x AF via the control panel, you need to delete the shader cache in app data/local/starfield. After this the game will recompile with the 16x af in mind and fix the bugs.

[@sven957]

any idea why this has to be forced via console??

[@simonrockstream]

wow. imagine if they just INCLUDED AN OPTION IN THE GAME.

[@marcelosoares7148]

@@sven957 There's no texture options in game whatsoever

[@parasolo89]

@Afterthought_ You dropped this 👑

[@adamashworth6293]

@@sven957 It isn't forced via the console it's via the Nvidia control panel or the AMD equivalent.

[@ashemedai]

Thank you Alex for calling out the "but you can mod it!" excuses. As you said, for a studio like this, some of these features should just be present in 2023.

[@hanannyg]

Bethesda really just need to release the Beta and wait the mod community finish the product...

[@MrNelahem]

But that is what they did 🤣@@hanannyg

[@justenbenally522]

They were things that should've been present in Bethesda games all the way back in 2002

[@herrpez]

Won't make any difference. I've been saying it for years and years, and none of the people I've said it to have cared even slightly. People I have personal relationships with, which on the whole makes it more likely that they will listen. The fact that Bethesda is incapable of releasing a finished product seems to be entirely unimportant, and I just cannot wrap my head around that.

[@blobs819901]

​@@herrpezI'm guilty being one of them lmao, the thing is I would trade finished product for freedom to mod every time, specially bethesda games have something that no other game have like the game is designed to be modded idk what it is but modding their game is so fun.

[@Jraffles]

Thanks for Featuring Gaming Techs channel. His HDR work has been super helpful. HDR is in such a sorry state atm we need more coverage on it. I'd love to see more videos from your channel helping inform more people what to expect from HDR.

[@twistedtxb]

Such a shame to have piss poor HDR implementation in a AAA game in 2023. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever

[@GuyFromJupiter]

​@@twistedtxbseriously! Proper HDR makes a bigger improvement to graphics than anything else a game could offer, and for minimal to no performance impact, so it really bugs me that it's still so poorly supported these days.

[@Poet_from_ice]

​@@twistedtxbespecially from Microsoft with their partnership with Dolby Vision

[@JoPeTuYaTroJoueY]

Daniel Owen and GamingTech, endorsed by DF ! that's great ! :)

[@audiogarden21]

Appreciate all the time and effort put into testing, good sir. 16:36. Optimized Settings.

[@smthsmth]

Only optimised settings for this game is everything on High or Ultra + download new 4K textures on top of it. It looks dated unless maxed out.

[@audiogarden21]

@@smthsmth "It looks dated unless maxed out." When hasn't that been the case in 'any' Bethesda game?

[@guillermojperea6355]

Thanks, this should have been timestamped, it's the key point of the video.

[@mmirza23]

Love that you included Daniel Owen, he's quickly becoming a YT favorite for PC analysis.

[@CaioMav]

Guy is pretty good at what he does.

[@Akkbar21]

Rip off you mean?

[@user-kw5gt4fj9r]

The output of a ferret mating with a Jack Russel

[@ericimi]

What part of this video has Daniel Owen in it .

[@FireBreatherMP1]

​@@ericimiabout 20 minutes in

[@e2rqey]

The most heavily awaited Starfield video has arrived!!!!!!!

[@gabrielkardos4342]

😂😂😂

[@g_geezer3277]

That’s what Microsoft paid for! The delay! But we already know it runs shit

[@thebham95]

heavy? is there something wrong with the earths gravitational pull in the future?

[@gabrielkardos4342]

@@thebham95 wtf🤣🤣🤣

[@CarlosCamposvc92]

Yessssss

[@D33STRUCTIV3]

I can’t thank y’all enough for your hard work. These are the facts put plainly and that’s something I’ll always appreciate.

[@Wildasd]

The microstutter was really killing me. Changing shadows from ultra to high really made it waaaaaaaay more fluid! Thanks for the in depth review as always!

[@troy1993]

@@RJMStraya Yes there is, when you have an Nvidia card and use ultra shadows it causes stutter. look at 20:56

[@fugitive6549]

it's stupid to use ultra shadows anyway@@troy1993

[@SkriLLexV1]

microstutter are still on some builds even on 2010 games...... with 10x power in 2023.....@@RJMStraya

[@Dark__Thoughts]

Are you saying you needed this video to figure that out? Do people not optimize their settings anymore?

[@jeji5860]

@@RJMStraya doesn't mean you didn't experience the stutters other people also doesn't

[@SLanKshoT]

"And most players do not have any idea in what settings to change to get a good experience." Well, according to Todd Howard you should just upgrade your PC.

[@manhhahlu]

"I used to be a talented dev until I took an arrow to my brain so now I am saying braindead shits" - Todd Howard 2023 -

[@Lynellf]

Alex is a treasure. Good on calling out user settings and highlighting accessibility.

[@julealgon]

Nobody cares about accessibility options.

[@Thepietro5000pp]

​​@@julealgonyour mom does

[@julealgon]

@@Thepietro5000pp Not really, but your attempt at using a possible disability as an offense is extremely funny and ironic :D

[@RobbieB2606]

First thing I tried to do in game was adjust the brightness…nope! God knows what they are thinking at Bethesda

[@crust5909]

@@Thepietro5000pp hahahaha

[@TIEVR]

Great deep analysis as always. Makes me feel good about the Patreon support :) glad a channel like DF exists.

[@sorappoli5137]

That CPU analysis was super interesting! Game definitely needs a lot of optimizing...

[@murattyngo]

16:35 optimized settings

[@alexs.3492]

So much work was put into this review. Thanks for all you do, Alex. @digitalfoundry give this man a raise!

[@cdfox85]

More work went into this video than went into the optimization of the game.

[@Mugnum_]

Excellent video! Really raising the bar with visualization of all the nuanced differences. also the C&C music

[@TwinOpinion]

Great work as always! The community salutes you!

[@GamingTech-YouTube]

Thanks for including me in this video 😀The creators intent in Starfield is really not my taste. The fact that the PC Version is missing native HDR and the Xbox not raises some serious questions.

[@FEWGEE1]

The HDR in Starfield is the worst I've ever seen, so you aren't missing anything

[@MintyLime703]

It has HDR on Xbox? Sure doesn't look like it on my TV. It's washed out as hell.

[@GamingTech-YouTube]

@@MintyLime703 Yes native (terrible) HDR on Xbox

[@GreggyAck]

Reminds me of RDR2. They’ve gone for a stylised haze/gradient over popping contrast.

[@GamingTech-YouTube]

@@GreggyAck At least RDR2 has two different HDR styles in the game and you can choose.

[@rufus5208]

Shoutout to Gaming Tech. He's done a lot for the HDR PC gamers.

[@leanlifter1]

HDR is one of the greatest new things as it's not a closed sourced piece of locked down shit gimmick and it actually drastically improves IQ at no performance cost and or additional input lag.

[@Shadowninja1200]

@@leanlifter1 Yep. Got the Alienware Ultrawide oled panel and I just have a hard time going back to sdr when games can support a proper hdr. I almost think sdr look washed out compared to a properly configured hdr image That being said, I think autohdr needs some work because It can make some u.i elements in game eye searing bright. I stop enabling it when I ran into that problem.

[@leanlifter1]

@@Shadowninja1200 I pick HDR over raytracing everytime. HDR is the best

[@skeletino420]

the amount of effort put into this project truly shows in the video, the information presented is extremely valuable and relatively easy to understand. Alex has really outdone himself here, BIIIIG kudos are deserved.

[@apollodorus.]

thank you alex for making these optimized settings videos. i know they take a lot of time and work and it does not go unappreciated!

[@dwade3kingbosh]

Awesome Daniel Owen got the shout-out. He's a great creator. Good on you DF!

[@EhEhEhEINSTEIN]

No fov slider in a modern fps is... wow

[@thequinlanshow3326]

Over half of modern fps games don't ship with an fov slider, and on consoles it's 1/100. Get over it

[@CharlesGarwood]

@@thequinlanshow3326 Please name these modern fps that dont have a fov slider on pc?

[@hanannyg]

​@@thequinlanshow3326No clown, only the garbage games does it

[@TheN9nth]

​@@CharlesGarwood​Depends how recent you want to go. Some examples. Atomic Heart still doesn't have an FOV slider on PC last I checked. Destiny 2 did not have an FOV slider at launch on PC, but it was later added to the game as part of updates. Borderlands 3 initially did not have an FOV slider on PC, but it was added in a subsequent patch. Metro Exodus did not include an FOV slider when it was first released on PC, but an update later added this feature. Wolfenstein: Youngblood did not have an FOV slider on PC. However, it was later added in a patch. The Outer Worlds did not have an FOV slider on PC at launch. It was added in a patch. Rage 2 did not include an FOV slider on PC at launch. Hell Let Loose did not have an FOV slider on PC at launch, dunno if they ever added one. Granted these are a few years old now, but plenty of FPS games had an FoV slider even back then. Just happens from time to time. Defs not a good practice but more common than it should be.

[@Bunster]

@@Hughjundys maybe 10 years ago it "massively" dropped fps

[@redpepperdave]

Thank you Alex! You're insight is always appreciated and key in educating us who want to understand the mechanics behind the PC madness sir 🍻

[@boufenarafetooh]

I don't understand what's happening with games this generation , more demanding , less optimized and graphically look like last gen.

[@voxelemur]

It's an obsession with 4k that ruins games these days. Uncompressed textures bloat install sizes and games are designed with half the content, drip fed through season passes and microtransactions.

[@markopecurica4463]

That's why we have ps5

[@boufenarafetooh]

​@@voxelemurseason passes and MTX existed for a while now but the problem we have with current games now that even old titles like rdr 2 for example run way better , way less demanding and even looks better , I think DLSS/FSR are the main reason Devs are getting lazy

[@theanimerapper6351]

@@boufenarafetooh "lazy dev" is just a myth. You think that most developers are just sitting at their desk saying "I could be optimizing this game, but ima eat chips and watch Netflix instead"?

[@Trikipum]

@@theanimerapper6351 yeah, the problem has more to do with incompetence than "laziness"... they simply cant fix the mess of an engine that is that bloated creation engine they use...

[@mayen67]

I always appreciate Alex's music choices in these videos. Feels like I'm in some 80s bar, great stuff.

[@Stef3m]

C&C soundtrack

[@notsure4648]

The blue oyster

[@ZomgZomg007]

Command and Conquer music.

[@edwin260]

AF isn't the only problem causing blurriness. There's no mipmap bias when you use FSR/DLSS like it's supposed have. You can use this ini tweak [Display] fMipBiasOffset=-0.5 (probably between -0.25 and -2.0 depending on the resolution scaling)

[@Coldmud]

preach

[@HorribleNimbo]

Bump

[@JudgeZetsumei]

At 1440p 67% Res scale what should I set fMipBiasOffset to?

[@HypX2]

@@JudgeZetsumei -0.6 is the number that should give you the equivalent texture detail, to 0 with no upscaling. But with any TAA it should always be possible to have some negative bias even without upscaling.

[@ZomgZomg007]

Grab the addon now, its dynamic, best option over console command.

[@nik12937]

An interesting tip I was made aware of recently, forcing Resizeable Bar on for Starfield using Nvidia Profile Inspector made a measurable improvement to both my FPS and frame pacing. I went from mid 40's-50's with choppy frame times in New Atlantis, to mid 50's-70's with MUCH smoother frame pacing. I suspect that the game was designed with Resizeable Bar in mind since AMD defaults to it on in most games, where as Nvidia selectively enables it on a per-game basis.

[@filipealves6602]

Ssshhhh! They might have written "Best Settings" in the title, but you're not allowed to go against the narrative of bashing Bethesda and AMD, so no pointing out that Nvidia has done no work in optimising Starfield, as leaked by Moore's Law is Dead! They've "all" been pulled from the gaming division to go work on AI, so simple things like having the drivers decide whether to use Resizeable bar per game at the drivers level is still waiting to be done! 🤫

[@Shadowninja1200]

@@filipealves6602 One problem with your comment is that intel is running into similar problems on their gpus soooo that shoots some holes in your claims already. An rx 5700 shouldn't be doing better than a a770 or a 2070 super. People really will simp for bethesda no matter what happens. Seems like no one but amd had early access to the game so they could bring out driver updates early. That's on bethesda for letting that happen.

[@Senortribulation]

Can you teach me how to use it? Please?

[@MrGamelover23]

Is there a reason why Nvidia does that?

[@thalesfm]

@@filipealves6602 I'm all in favor of bashing on Nvidia, don't get me wrong, but it shouldn't be the responsibility of the GPU vendor to "fix" a badly optimized game; so I don't blame Nvidia for not cleaning the mess that Bethesda did with Starfield.

[@talaris-uk]

That Cyberpunk 2077 is running at a higher frame-rate, subjectively (who are we kidding) better visuals AND with ray-traced shadows enabled, when compared to Starfield, is shocking to say the least. Creation Engine needed much more of an overhaul rather than just the iteration of 2.0 .

[@AzSureno]

It’s a different engine , with less graphical complexity, this engine is new and there’s many things

[@YeetusMingus]

The engine has been outdated since at least Fallout 4. At this point, it's holding them back more than it's helping them

[@AzSureno]

As a matter of fact the game isn’t even utilizing the full engine , as for cyberpunk it does. If we were to use the full engine nobody would be able to run this game

[@Bruzewane]

cyberpunk is running with a fraction of the interactivity and physics than starfield lol, that's why it's able to look better

[@Csal92]

The previous creation engine was never about graphics in previous generations and the same thing applies here. By this logic of pushing graphics/frames everyone should be using ID Tech 7 or UE5. CD Projekt Red mentioned they're moving to Unreal engine too so that should tell you how convenient Cyberpunk's engine really was. The creation engine just fits Bethesda's creative preferences.

[@MicDubTV]

Had people (including Todd Howard) tell me that "it's time to upgrade your PC" due to the performance issues I've been having with the game (fixed mostly by mods, thankfully). This video, along with a few others, has reinforced my argument that an RTC 2060 Super, i9-9900K, and 32 GB of DDR4 RAM should be more than enough to run this game above 60 FPS. If only Bethesda has optimized their fattened calf properly... With that being said, I'm still having a great time with the game! Just wish this wasn't yet another case of AAA titles coming out with absolutely subpar optimization. It's getting so old.

[@dazecm]

This is why I think GameSpots review score of 7 is fair. Without all the BS of no DLSS, no Anistropic filter settings, no FOV setting, poor scaling on more powerful hardware and somewhat sub-par performance given the visual fidelity on offer, this should get no more than an 8 out of 10 as a good Bethesda game. It's not as groundbreaking as previous titles.

[@Enzo575]

​@@dazecm7 is too nice. 8 is delusional

[@SamuraiMerrick]

Those specs are lower than a series X, you’ll get 60 FPS in some areas but drop below 45 in cities even if you had AMD equivalents. With DLSS you could probably hit 60.

[@lycanlube7484]

I'd say 7/10 at most. I think the best thing about starfield is it's modding potential.

[@jonny-b4954]

I'd give it a 6/10. I'm enjoying it despite its flaws, quite a bit. Though there is a lot of boring running back and forth, boring fetch quests, fast travel and load screen galore. Fast traveling is fine after 20-40 hours in, but the amount of load screens is ridiculous. It's not a true open world game really. But those side quests I keep encountering every hour or two are making it worth it. @@Enzo575

[@lingling4891]

Oh man thank you so much for doing this. I always use your optimized settings for my games and I can't thank you enough for how well optimized they are!!

[@hunterjg777]

Nobody goes in to professional detail like you do, Alex.

[@eruannster]

Goddamn, I love Digital Foundry for all of this stuff. The deep dives, the fair critique, all of it is such good, useful information. Absolutely adore the work you guys do across all games and platforms.

[@kittenburger_prime]

I can’t get through any of their vids without being dumbfounded by at least one horrible trash take from them. They have a bias for switch, they personally suck at elden ring and trash it based on their personal dislike while they suck nintendo’s toes over horrible messes like mh:rise. Last video they proclaimed “30 fps is enough really.” I suspect they use small screens and have poor vision, but they should try to relate to people who are not like that.

[@lattjeful]

@@kittenburger_prime "30 fps is enough really" ...for a game like Starfield. You're getting rid of the very necessary context and nuance from that discussion. No, 30 FPS is not enough for a fast paced competitive game, but for a slower game like Starfield, that also has huge scope? Yes, a stable 30 is enough. You also don't need to be good at Elden Ring to spot the technical issues, nor do you have to like the game. And if somebody doesn't like the game, who cares? If you like it that's all that matters. As for DF being "bias for Switch," that's a new one lol. Guess DF has been biased for all of the big three now. MH Rise is not a stunner by any stretch, but it looks and runs well for the hardware it's on. The target hardware's capabilities has to be considered when you're looking at how a game looks. Also, Monster Hunter isn't made by Nintendo...

[@eruannster]

@@kittenburger_prime I think it's past your bedtime, buddy. You're getting cranky.

[@RiasatSalminSami]

@@kittenburger_prime They trash elden ring because that game launched in garbage state. The criticism is well deserved. Also you take things out of context. 30 FPS is enough if the hardware running the game is not capable enough of 60 fps. Getting 30 fps on an average looking game on a 4090 would be considered bad. Getting 30 fps on an decent looking game on a console would be considered good enough. And they even said that Starfield despite being 30 fps on series x could have at least gotten 40 fps mode or uncapped framerate mode with VRR. They said the 30 fps cap was good enough but BGS could have done better.

[@NotCharAznable]

Comments like these come off as so bot like even though they likely aren’t.

[@fr78672]

An amazing and informative breakdown once again, Alex never dissapoints.

[@iBlendrYaBollocks]

Spit yo shit Alex 🗣️ 🔥

[@sadjesse]

Great video Alex! And all the other DF members, I see all the videos you guys release and it must be 'fun' crunch time for you guys. Love the content! I bought Starfield after your review

[@ecp1453]

Nothing but the highest quality from Alex. I have heard the game benefits from ReBar being enabled as well, haven’t tested it yet personally though

[@kwizatzart]

“It’s running great. It is a next-gen PC game, we really do push the technology, so you may need to upgrade your PC for this game" Todd Howard

[@erain75]

So Todd lied. Again!

[@qwertyrewtywyterty]

@@erain75 It really runs great tho, you just need the latest hardware

[@HunterTracks]

Todd Howard tries to not make everything he has a hand in worse by association and fails? How unexpected!

[@unknownguy38]

it's crazy how we are now using Cyberpunk as the benchmark of great optimization vs. 2 years ago where the game could barely run

[@talaris-uk]

Hopefully Bethesda will make similar improvements, and in a shorter time-frame.

[@xtr.7662]

Cyberpunk is much better than on launch day and it is the most optimized game in the last 3 years except for maybe dead island 2

[@sidrolf]

Cheers Alex for all your efforts. Every time Todd says they optimised the PC port I’ll send them this video.

[@justinthejerkoff]

Man I've been waiting so long for Alex's video.

[@kirage8495]

My RTX 2070 seems to be drawing much less power and running much cooler(64-68C vs 70-72C normally) in Starfield even tho it's at 98/99% utilization. Definitely some kind of an issue where a lot of the GPU power is kinda not used or wasted, and that's with a 7800X3D so no way it's CPU limited.

[@GeneralKnife]

I also see this with the 2070S. Something weird is going on.

[@katho714]

Yea my rtx 3090 have surprisingly low temperatures too with 97-99% usage shown.. it's really weird as for example in GTA:V it goes by a 15°C hotter than in this 2023 game

[@HunterTracks]

Same with my laptop 3050 (yes, this game runs on a 4GB laptop 3050, don't ask me how, I have no clue). Despite the VRAM being (obviously) fully loaded and utilisation being at 99%, it runs a full 10-15W (which, in this case, is 12-15% of the card's TDP) below max load, even at the max fan performance preset.

[@unbrain8301]

Same for me. 2070 runs about 5 degrees cooler than when i play modded skyrim or cyberpunk for example. And looks way worse as well

[@UNATCOHanka]

My laptop 3070Ti is always at 85% - 95% or higher but never reaches temps too high or draws more than 120W which is weird. Cyberpunk would make the fans spin out of control.

[@9r4ss_]

The pc community needs more vids like this when games launches this is amazing

[@TheBigBallsOfFury]

Thanks for the shoutout to my man Daniel Owen. Great review as always.

[@ONESIXTHCAVE]

You guys do gods work. Thanks it was very informative and the work put in was astounding. Well done all round!

[@Zia_Ali.]

Amazingly detailed and a simple to follow breakdown!! Love you guys and the effort you put in your videos ♥

[@dazecm]

Many of the flaws Alex mentions leaves me with the impression this was a console-first approach and its many PC shortcomings were a result of minimum-viable-effort to tailor things to the PC platform.

[@paul1979uk2000]

Very few games are not first to console approach, the majority of games are made first with console in mind and ported to PC, some do a better job with the port to PC with more effort than others, some don't care and have a badly optimised job with little flexibility and options, but regardless, consoles are the main focus of most games, mainly because they are more accessible and a fixed platform.

[@Extreme96PL]

So almost all PC ports released this year.

[@bobmcbobbington9220]

Gee. You think so?

[@dazecm]

Does anyone see very laggy pointer movement during conversation response selection? Also, if you ALT-TAB out to Windows it does not detect it's now running in the background and brings Windows responsiveness to its knees. It's all a bit of a minimum-viable-effort PC experience and performance.

[@hueypautonoman]

Isn't it funny that a Microsoft studio doesn't seem to care much about PC gamers? I'm biased for sure, but Valve has lept so far ahead of Microsoft in the PC space.

[@chazz3167]

Thank you, this video was super helpful in explain what exactly each setting does

[@cpbgaming7983]

I'm new to PC gaming and Starfield is my first AAA pc gaming experience coming from 35 years of console gaming. I've spent more time trying to figure out how to optimize this game than I have playing. Why I'm watching yet another video. 😅

[@altaafsheik5725]

Remember Todd said this game is optimized for the next gen not the current gen so... Maybe a rtx 5090

[@johnkeane320]

I'm thinking the same, next gen CPUs and GPUs are going to help a lot

[@JudahMusicArchive]

so, optimized for no one

[@SpnCosti]

Digital foundry has sold out to bethesda for sure, they had like 10 videos praising this game altough in their own video it shows a 3080 getting 30 fps! And they dont even mention it!

[@Trikipum]

@@SpnCosti Yeah, it is amazing. Even the "nice reviews", the ones with 10/10 throw tons of crap on the game.. but then score 10/10.. how comes?... IF you read them, you would expect a 7 or something.. but no.. 10s while shitting on the game .. dont get it.

[@stevendavis6157]

​@@SpnCostiI've stated this on the third DF video that was praising star trash. If they drop another SF video, I'm never watch their content ever again.

[@TheFawz]

There's even more issues than what was mentioned in this video like UI have low locked frame rate, or sprinting stuttering at high FPS. All things users have already fixed with mods, so hopefully a patch addresses them soon.

[@e2rqey]

Yeah that Spaceship UI being capped at 30FPS is such a bizarre decision. It makes piloting the ships feel so bad. I'm glad there's a mod for it, but its just further evidence of the lack of attention for the PC version. Not even sure what they were trying to achieve with that in the first place.

[@Piotrek7654321]

This is Bethesda we're talking about. You shouldn't expect patches to fix any outstanding issues.

[@lesserlogic9977]

Everyone's Starfield videos at DF, have been great and applicable to our experience

[@Loudn4ss]

I was checking everyday for this analysis by DF. Thank you so much Alex!

[@RudeGerbil]

Absolutely incredible work Alex! The wait was well worth it!

[@varshoee]

You are wrong about optimization issues in Starfield because Todd howard himself told us Starfield is optimized to it's max potential we just need to upgrade our PCs to RTX 5090 or even RTX 6090 so we get truly next gen experience. you must understand next gen experience is not cheap.

[@Roundhead75]

16x the bullsh1t

[@oldsk00l]

This takes me back to the days when we had tweaking guides, and Alex did it masterfully. Very well done.

[@peterbradshaw5272]

Awesome work Alex. Really appreciate the time and effort you put into these for us :)

[@Timbelman]

Thank you for the work done here. As an nvidia/intel pc owner, it's nice to have this information.

[@icybillythekids6670]

The fact that it took Alex 9 days to produce this video already indicates this game has big trouble

[@sladeviper]

Good work Alex. Seems like the old wait a year and for a sale is the right move for me!

[@RiksRandomRetro]

Great video as always, but was that music that came on from the C&C Covert Ops expansion pack? Immediately struck a memory, hah!

[@Reverend_Rob]

Excellent analysis. Fair and balanced, and I appreciate the optimized settings portion of the video.

[@Amber57499]

Don't think I've ever seen a game without texture quality settings

[@TABSF1]

Can you imagine that a DLSS mod by the community is vasty superior to a native FSR implement by AMD and they paid 😂

[@MekanikKommandoh88]

DLSS is almost always going to be superior to FSR. Not surprised at all LOL.

[@marcelosoares7148]

I mean, DLSS uses dedicated hardware to produce the results. If it wasn't better, it would be a borderline scam.

[@Bunster]

frame gen gives me like 60fps more, its stupid that they didnt add dlss when the game runs badly to begin with

[@ukmaxi]

It's because FSR 2 doesn't have frame generation. Not sure if they will even implement FSR 3 though.

[@bartoszgotlib2658]

In the game where almost every technical aspect is shitty upscaling implementation is also shitty. Who would guess 😂

[@jonnysmith850]

As usual, great work! Thanks for the countless hours spent comparing footage.

[@TigerSHe]

This video is a life-saver, great job as always Alex.

[@chilldude30]

Just an FYI re Crowd Density: The crowd density settings do actually make a substantial difference, but it it requires loading into a new area with the new setting for it to actually reflect the change as it generates new NPCs with the updated setting. If you just reload a saw it will retain the NPCs from that save regardless of setting until you move to a new area. It actually makes a large difference for a surprisingly low performance (even CPU) cost, so try high rather than low as per Alex's recommendation.

[@gaurd3]

After the DLSS patch starUI is a must!

[@unihaale]

Yes, default inventory is so bad. It's Skyrim all over again.

[@squirrelsinjacket1804]

I'm also using starUI, it improves it a lot

[@anggasurbakti8269]

Wtf, the game just released and there is a mod already. Why don't you guys tell Bethesda to make it better?

[@TerraWare]

Yeah I have StarUI/LUTS/FOV/DLSS and Frame Gen mods running at the minute

[@igorthelight]

@@anggasurbakti8269 They don't care - too busy counting all of those pre-order money ;-)

[@spladam3845]

Fantastic work Alex, I was really looking forward to this video. Nice shout-out to Daniel Owen, he's doing great work for a hobby channel.

[@yudodis3961]

you dropped this king 👑 awesome work alex, so much effort and time was put in, really appreciate the video!

[@BenyaminLorit]

These optimized settings had me running at 70-80fps on Neon at 1080p (at 79& res scale) with an RX6600. Crazy uplift from what I was using before. Cheers. Great work as usual, Alex.

[@japhetaguirre4880]

Thanks. Same GPU as me with 5600G CPU.

[@TheRedRaven_]

Now go to the bar area on the spaceport “Key” and tell me what your fps is. Areas like that which load in exterior assets along with interior assets are the true stress tests, along with some planets with tons of foliage and rain effects.

[@zenvultra]

@@rickyrat42069 Don’t hate the playa, hate the game

[@AJ-xv7oh]

@@rickyrat42069 And he sounds happy about it. This is why gaming will never improve optimization.

[@FlameOfRoyeca]

Does that mean it's close to 720p

[@jeremyf1901]

At least Star Wars: Survivor is finally ready to play now. Maybe once I playthrough it, Starfield will be ready with native DLSS support.

[@forestR1]

great job Alex. I think we all appreciate the effort.

[@B.B.-vb2mv]

Was waiting for this awesome vid.

[@PickeringSamuel]

More excited for this video than I was the game. Love you Alex!!!

[@SpnCosti]

It would ve been nice to mention in what world getting 30 fps on 3080 is normal? 22:00

[@mechanicalmonk2020]

The 30fps isn't coming from your 3080.

[@thequinlanshow3326]

3080ti is shit now

[@e2rqey]

You shouldn't be getting 30fps on a 3080

[@Mesjach]

in Toddville, the imaginary world Todd lives in, where the game if performing really well and you should upgrade your PC

[@joeykeilholz925]

You guys don't have 6090s?

[@ChristianHedman]

You are so good at this Alex. This is a very satisfying video. Thank you.

[@isttret]

The wait was VERY WORTH Thanks guys this was AWESOME!

[@Zastrutzki]

Good stuff Alex. I'll be sitting this game out for now, with my 12700K and 3080.

[@ZeJuank]

It's a plain game with dated graphics that didn't know how to exploit what space lovers enjoy, it's not bad, but it's definitely not good, in my opinion it's 6/10.

[@intellectic9155]

Yes, I agree. But you better not tell most people that. They'll have a melt down and call you a bigot/racist.

[@walker2006au]

Great video. You should create a ranking system based on that list of must haves for pc games and rank games based on it e.g. This would be a D or something (if not D or F!)

[@creese16]

Love the quick shoutout to GamingTech in the intro talking about the poor HDR. His channel is great!

[@Ryan-hv3kn]

Definitely more going on with the Crowd setting, I started my game with it on medium and while in the club on Neon I flipped it to high and watched the new NPCs just appear in the room. Could you guys talk about the Nvidia issue where some cards have less power consumption with this game? Some people the game is using 100w less consumption and still running poorly.

[@kiburi2903]

The game is simply gimping nvidia gpus so bad.

[@GameCookerUSRocks]

If the GPU is using much less wattage then that means the video card is not being utilized to its fullest. Or you having a hardware problem. But I would suspect the gpus not really being used the way it should.

[@WigneyR]

3:35 while we’re at it can we also mention the unfathomable decision to not provide a brightness or gamma slider, I haven’t been able to see shit since release 😂

[@A_Noid]

My TV settings are all out of whack for any other pc content now lol.

[@mindstouchworlds808]

The Crowd Density setting definitely has an effect, It may be that area of New Atlantis that you are in, but you will immediately see the difference in places like, Neon, The Well, and the Mars colony, Cyndonia.

[@rajackar]

Thanks for the in depth analysis, as always. Any chance that in the future you might include the latest cpus like 7800x3d? I think a lot of people, like me, are eyeballing that one and your type of deep analysis would really be good to further a buying decision. Thanks.

[@pascalg.-berardi9242]

But Todd "16 times the details 1000 fully explorable planets" said that it was optimised for PC and that you may just need to buy newer parts 🙃 Thank you for your work Alex, it's always a big help.

[@MrH-GB]

Been looking forward to this one, and it confirms what I've been seeing myself on a 13700k/3080.

[@matthewjuarbe5826]

im on a complete AMD System 5800x and RX 6800 OC and even i say this really sucks. everyone should have a good experience not just the ones that bought a specific hardware vender. the only reason im playing it is because its on Gamepass ultimate which i have on my PC. im really not a fan of favoritism

[@Agell]

yeah the shadow setting gap specifically is just unacceptable

[@matthewjuarbe5826]

@@Agell alot about this game is unacceptable and i shouldnt be basic PC settings and optimization should be a standard by now. Like seriously how is it that modders have to add in FOV slider and upscalers. Like seriously we have 3 GPU venders intel NVIDIA and AMD all their uoscalers should be in every game.

[@Ano_tv]

13900K/4070Ti and it’s all over the place performance wise.

[@bradhaines3142]

@@matthewjuarbe5826 its a bethesda game that JUST came out. the fact it works at all is a miracle. i was expecting 2077 level of launch problems. i do hope they fix it though

[@kapt980]

Massive work alex, thank you for your time and dedication for us.

[@juanmvallejo]

Love the shoutout to Daniel Owen, such a great channel

[@eunaoseibrother467]

excelent video as always alex, great job.

[@kylerclarke2689]

Thank you, as always, for your unceasing hard work Alex!

[@hando87]

Thanks for the in deep dive. Best give it some time to let drivers and updates to settle in. I almost lost it when you played "Drill" ... thanks for sending me back as well, to a much simpler time, to where a new 120mhz computer brought on a new dawn filled with Tiberium.

[@slopezjur]

Good job Alex, super useful!!

[@dreammfyre]

Wow, I knew something was up with the Nvidia performance. The game just doesn’t look good enough for how bad it runs

[@magnuskane246]

It's not only nvidia performance. My 6700xt runs the game like trash compared to how well I can run other games. I should be able to run it on high/ultra easily and maintain 60fps everywhere. Instead I have to use a tweaked performance mod from nexus in order for it to run stable. FSR also does nothing it seems. I see maybe a 4-5 fps difference with it on/off. When in other games I get a 30-40% increase when FSR is on. My point is people keep saying that the game favors AMD cards when it clearly is an issue for everyone.

[@TomBoss123]

Brutally honest like always. Great analysis.

[@primovisuals]

This is such a great optimized settings video, as always. Thanks

[@HankBaxter]

Thank you for your hard work!