Duke Nukem Forever: Performance Analysis

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It took more than a decade to complete, but the long-awaited sequel to Duke Nukem 3D has finally arrived. We take a look at the performance of Duke Nukem Forever to see how much horsepower it takes to get this iconic character back in action on your PC.

Benchmark Results: Medium Quality

As mentioned, our medium quality setting includes Texture and Shadow detail cranked to High, with shadows applied to the world and characters. We turn film grain on, but motion blur and post process special effects are turned off.

The results demonstrate that Duke Nukem Forever favors Nvidia's GeForce graphics cards at this detail setting, which is not a surprise considering the game's inclusion in the company's “The Way it’s Meant to be Played” program.

Not that it makes much of a difference, though. Both the Radeon HD 5570 and GeForce GT 240 are able to handle about 30 FPS minimum at 1920x1080. That's a solid result for both cards, despite the fact that the GeForce has a better average frame rate. Of the cards we're testing, only the GeForce GT 430 is realistically limited to 1280x1024.

Don Woligroski
56 Comments Comment from the forums
  • kcorp2003
    I have yet to purchase this game. waiting on a nice sale to pick it up. I waited for this game for so long and i will play it! but not on my #1 priority list of games to buy right now.
    Reply
  • wiinippongamer
    I never played the first title, yet I played only the first 2 hours or so then uninstalled it for good, the game is a turd.
    Reply
  • megamanx00
    Got it on sale at Target for like $20 ($40 but half price if I bought another game at the same time ^_^) so yeah I was happy with what I paid for it. I'd say for $40 it's not bad since it's funny, crude, and the graphics are all right. It's a shame that some of the effects that probably tool alot of time to develop (like the rain in the first level) were used only once and sparingly. I thought the monster truck stuff towards the end was cool, but the RC driving in the beginning was a little odd.
    Reply
  • lmlim
    yawn...
    Reply
  • RazberyBandit
    Your benchmarks show some rather obvious CrossFire and SLI issues, yet you chose not to even mention it. Why?
    Reply
  • cleeve
    RazberyBanditYour benchmarks show some rather obvious CrossFire and SLI issues, yet you chose not to even mention it. Why?
    From the benches it seems kind of self explanatory that SLI and CrossFire aren't working. This is the case with a number of other titles, so it's not really a huge surprise. SLI and CrossFire are inconsistent at the best of times.
    Reply
  • JMcEntegart
    Don ... causing Duke to hand money to a topless dancer and say “Shake it, baby!”
    This was literally my favourite part of Duke 3D. Oh, to be eleven again.

    As far as Forever is concerned, I'm waiting for an irresistible sale.
    Reply
  • haplo602
    do we still get the fying eyes from killed enemies ? like when you hit an alien with an RPG, you got quite identifiable fying eyes :)
    Reply
  • tomc100
    Is this a joke? Might as well do a benchmark test on the Sims.
    Reply
  • youssef 2010
    Like the gamespot review put it

    "If Duke Nukem Forever weren't called DNFE, nobody would be paying a bit of attention to it; it's boring and ugly and........"

    This reviewer really hates the game. but after watching the review, I can't help but agree with him.

    I mean, If a game ever took 10 years to mature, then it should be something like Crysis, Far Cry, COD, Medal of Honor.

    I enjoyed Manhattan Project but this sequel looks just.....too boring to play.

    Disappointed
    Reply