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.

Benchmark Results: CPU Performance

Now that we know how graphics cards handle the Duke, let’s consider the CPU side of the equation:

This game clearly works fastest on the Intel Core-i5 2500K, but even at 2.0 GHz the Phenom II X4 produces smooth-enough frame rates. Now we’ll reduce the number of execution cores:

The triple-core Phenom II X3 achieves almost the same result as the quad-core implementation, but the frame rate is severely reduced with only two cores active. Having said that, a dual-core chip should be enough (paired to a decent graphics card) to generate decent frame rates. We couldn’t get a Phenom II with three cores disabled to run the game, unfortunately.

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