Duke Nukem Forever: Performance Analysis

Features
By Don Woligroski
published

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.

Test System And Settings

We’re testing actual gameplay using Fraps frame rate-measurement software for the first section of the “Vegas In Ruin” level. This tends to demand more from the hardware than other areas we tested.

While some of the graphics cards in our armada come with a factory overclock, we set all of them to their reference speeds in order to provide a useful comparison.

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Test Hardware
ProcessorIntel Core i5-2500K (Sandy Bridge)Overclocked to 4 GHz, 6 MB L3 Cache, power-saving settings enabled, Turbo Boost disabled.
MotherboardMSI P67A-GD65, Intel P67 Chipset
MemoryOCZ DDR3-2000, 2 x 2 GB, at 1338 MT/s, CL 9-9-9-20-1T
Hard DriveWestern Digital Caviar Black 750 GB, 7200 RPM, 32 MB Cache, SATA 3Gb/s
Graphics CardsGeForce GT 430GeForce GT 240 GDDR5GeForce GTX 550 TiGeForce GTX 460 1 GB (Single and in SLI)GeForce GTX 560 TiRadeon HD 5570Radeon HD 6670Radeon HD 5770Radeon HD 6850 (Single and in CrossFire)Radeon HD 6950 1 GB
Power SupplyePower EP-1200E10-T2 1200 W, ATX12V, EPS12V
CPU CoolerCooler Master Hyper TX 2
System Software And Drivers
Operating SystemMicrosoft Windows 7 Ultimate x64
DirectXDirectX 11
Graphics DriverGeForce: 275.33 WHQL
Row 11 - Cell 0 AMD Catalyst 11.6 WHQL
Games
Duke Nukem ForeverUnreal Engine, "Vegas In Ruin" level, Fraps runs
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