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League Of Legends Performance, Benchmarked

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Following up our Dota 2 performance analysis, we benchmark the most-played PC game in the world, League Of Legends, and find out just how much graphics and CPU performance it requires for high-resolution, high-detail play, even across three screens.

Test System And Graphics Hardware

The benchmarks make it clear that LoL isn't a demanding title, so multiple graphics cards in SLI or CrossFire aren't necessary. As a result, the most powerful graphics cards we're testing are the Radeon HD 7950 Boost and GeForce GTX 660 Ti, both of which are far more powerful than what you actually need, even in Eyefinity or Surround.

Speaking of three screens, LoL support this, so we're including benchmarks at 5760x1080. The game does suffer some anomalies on the two surrounding monitors, with units floating rather than displaying movement animation. This doesn't affect game play, though.

We also have multiple CPUs to test, including a mobile AMD A10-4600M (with integrated Radeon HD 7660G) and Intel Core i5-3210M (with integrated HD Graphics 4000).

Test System
CPUIntel Core i5-3550 (Ivy Bridge) 3.3 GHz Base, 3.7 GHz Turbo Boost
MotherboardGigabyte Z77X-UP7, LGA 1155, Chipset: Intel Z77 Express
NetworkingOn-Board Gigabit LAN controller
MemoryCorsair Vengeance LP PC3-16000, 4 x 4 GB, 1600 MT/s, CL 8-8-8-24-2T
Hard DriveWestern Digital Caviar Black 1 TB, 7,200 RPM, 32 MB Cache, SATA 3Gb/s
PowerePower EP-1200E10-T2 1,200 W, ATX12V, EPS12V
Software and Drivers
Operating SystemMicrosoft Windows 8
DirectXDirectX 11.1
Graphics DriversAMD Catalyst 13.3 Beta 3Nvidia GeForce 314.22Intel Graphics Driver 9.18.10.3071
Benchmarks
League Of LegendsCustom THG Benchmark, 60-second Fraps runPractice With Bots, Difficulty: Beginner, Start Bench At 2:00 on Timer,Switch View To Other Teammates Every Five Seconds.
72 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Zero_
    Looks like everyone is jobless these days...

    Also, no love for Heroes of Newerth?
    Reply
  • Martell1977
    No surprises here, LoL is a very resource light game. I can run it on all medium settings on my old Pentium 4 3.2ghz with a AGP Radeon 3850 @ 1440x900 resolution with more than playable frame rates. The only issue is initial stutter at at the very start of a match that and long loading times. (however, I only use that machine when I have 3 or more players at my house)

    LoL may not be the prettiest game out there, but it is a lot of fun.
    Reply
  • amuffin
    Ezreal 2 good.
    Reply
  • Novuake
    Interesting side note : When I was trying this on my HD4000 instead of my HD7950, when the drops under 50FPS become a HUGE hindrance in teamfights, to the point of extreme frustration.

    This is one of those games when the smallest stutter can grind your bones to dust.

    So you REALLY want a near-constant 60FPS for this one.

    Anypony disagree???
    Reply
  • JJ1217
    Yeah.. no one cares. Everyone knows you can basically run it on any rig.
    Reply
  • griptwister
    I ran it on Ultra settings at 1080P with a Phenom II x4 840 and a GTS 450 512mb with a stable 60FPS. lol, it's not that hard to run at all.
    Reply
  • aggroboy
    When working in out-of-town projects, the few games my ultralight can play are indies, emulators and LoL.
    Reply
  • rdc85
    "...though the GeForce 210 does exceed 15 ms in our subsequent frame latency variance chart..."

    U got the chart wrong? is the 210 and 6450 swiched ?

    Reply
  • anxiousinfusion
    JJ1217Yeah.. no one cares. Everyone knows you can basically run it on any rig.
    It would have been more interesting to see it tested on the oldest possible computers.
    Reply
  • jdwii
    Why wait this long to review this game? At least half the people at my college play this game,
    Reply