Dead Island 2: Laptop and desktop benchmarks

Zombie invasion in a pretty setting. Dead Island 2 might not be the best game of the year, but the mixture of splatter action and dignified Hollywood atmosphere definitely has its appeal. You can find the hardware requirements in our benchmark check.

We are currently running our gaming benchmarks with these laptops. Clicking on the photos will take you to the respective manufacturer’s homepage. All other test systems (tower PCs, mini PCs, …) are listed at the end of the article.

Thanks to the easy-going entry and the intuitive controls, Dead Island 2 manages to captivate players quickly.

The first-person title also has a lot to offer graphically. The American (hilly) landscapes, in which Dead Island 2 is set, shine among other things with a high level of foresight, fancy buildings, and many details – be it inside or outside. The character models and the effects (smoke, sparks, etc.) are also impressive. Minor graphics and clipping errors, which we encountered in the course of the test, are not a big problem overall.

The graphics menu also hardly needs to be criticized either. Changes are applied without a restart and there are short explanations for the individual settings. While the resolution, picture mode, VSync, maximum frame rate, the field of view, motion blur, and brightness (SDR or HDR) can be adjusted in the display tab, over 10 detail options are waiting in the extended menu, which can be globally adjusted via preset. Either FXAA or TAA is responsible for edge smoothing. The AMD technologies FSR 2 and Variable Shading are on board. Special Nvidia features like DLSS are missing.

Technically, Dead Island 2 makes quite a mature impression in relation to many other recently released games if you disregard the occasional jerkiness, which can occur regardless of the hardware performance and the selected settings in our experience. The fact that the shaders have to be optimized at every game start is not noticeable due to the rather short duration (no comparison to The Last of Us) especially since the intro videos can be skipped and the loading times are pleasantly short (at least on SSDs).

Since Dead Island 2 does not contain an integrated benchmark, we use a specially defined sequence. After the tutorial, the main character reaches the mansion of a well-known Hollywood star and is allowed to move around free of zombies for a while, which benefits reproducible measurements and results.

As you can see in the following video, we run with the character for a good 20 seconds through the stylish mansion, where there are also a few other characters. The frame rate is recorded with the CapFrameX tool. Since this is a fast-paced title from the first-person perspective, the average framerate should be at least at a level of 40 or even better 60 FPS.

We would describe the graphics requirements of Dead Island 2 as moderate. With an iGPU on the level of the Intel Iris Graphics G7, you have to limit yourself to 1,280 x 720 pixels and minimum settings (just over 50 FPS), but with stronger iGPUs like the Radeon 680M, on the other hand, usable frame rates are also possible in 1,920 x 1,080 (approx. 60 FPS @Low, approx. 40 FPS @High). Only starting from the Ultra preset and onwards a dedicated mid-range GPU is absolutely necessary.

1920×1080 Low Preset AA:Low T 1920×1080 Medium Preset AA:High T 1920×1080 High Preset AA:High T 1920×1080 Ultra Preset AA:High T
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX, i9-12900K Desktop-PC	299 (132.4^min, 152.1^P0.1, 206^P1) fps ∼62% 265 (109.5^min, 132.8^P0.1, 174.1^P1) fps ∼64% 250 (20.3^min, 22.6^P0.1, 159.1^P1) fps ∼63%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, i9-12900K Desktop-PC	265 (58.5^min, 147.4^P0.1, 183.5^P1) fps ∼55% 230 (86.1^min, 140.7^P0.1, 164.1^P1) fps ∼55% 229 (117.4^min, 125.2^P0.1, 152.6^P1) fps ∼58%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX XMG Neo 17 E23	225 (100.6^min, 124.6^P0.1, 146.9^P1) fps ∼47% 207 (106.9^min, 116.6^P0.1, 144.4^P1) fps ∼50% 206 (98^min, 108.9^P0.1, 138.3^P1) fps ∼52%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX Schenker Key 17 Pro E23	219 (70.7^min, 116.9^P0.1, 145^P1) fps ∼46% 206 (76.8^min, 104.9^P0.1, 140.5^P1) fps ∼50% 201 (103.5^min, 108.6^P0.1, 119.9^P1) fps ∼51%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX XMG Pro 15 E23	209 (66.6^min, 112.1^P0.1, 149.5^P1) fps ∼44% 170.3 (85.4^min, 95^P0.1, 124.6^P1) fps ∼41% 158.8 (20.9^min, 22^P0.1, 116.7^P1) fps ∼40%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX XMG Focus 15 E23	192.8 (107.9^min, 122.1^P0.1, 140.1^P1) fps ∼40% 142.3 (9.31^min, 34.4^P0.1, 105.5^P1) fps ∼34% 133.5 (20.9^min, 22.8^P0.1, 101.6^P1) fps ∼34%
AMD Radeon RX 6800S, R9 6900HS Asus ROG Zephyrus G14	177.4 (82.1^min, 88.4^P0.1, 125.4^P1) fps ∼68% 162.5 (11.9^min, 80.2^P0.1, 103.4^P1) fps ∼34% 134.3 (57.8^min, 74.3^P0.1, 99.4^P1) fps ∼32% 122.9 (12.2^min, 12.4^P0.1, 86.5^P1) fps ∼31%
AMD Radeon 680M, R9 6900HS Asus ROG Zephyrus G14	62.4 (32^min, 32.5^P0.1, 34.3^P1) fps ∼24% 51.6 (12^min, 14.2^P0.1, 26.2^P1) fps ∼11% 39.5 (14.9^min, 17.4^P0.1, 20.9^P1) fps ∼9% 32.4 (7.38^min, 7.91^P0.1, 13.5^P1) fps ∼8%
Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs, i7-1165G7 Zotac ZBOX CI665 Nano	29 (5^min, 7.46^P0.1, 17.3^P1) fps ∼11% 23.3 (3.18^min, 3.29^P0.1, 4.69^P1) fps ∼5% 17.9 (9.35^min, 9.4^P0.1, 10.3^P1) fps ∼4% 15.9 (6.97^min, 7.08^P0.1, 8.73^P1) fps ∼4%

2,560 x 1,440 pixels demand a bit more from the graphics card, although a reasonably up-to-date mid-range GPU is sufficient here as well (we determined more than 70 FPS with the RTX 4050 at maximum settings).

2560×1440 Ultra Preset AA:High T
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX, i9-12900K Desktop-PC	231 (107.5^min, 124.2^P0.1, 166.5^P1) fps ∼61%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, i9-12900K Desktop-PC	227 (88.9^min, 97.8^P0.1, 136^P1) fps ∼60%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX XMG Neo 17 E23	198.2 (65.9^min, 119.5^P0.1, 135.3^P1) fps ∼52%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX Schenker Key 17 Pro E23	172.1 (94.8^min, 114^P0.1, 132.1^P1) fps ∼45%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX XMG Pro 15 E23	101.9 (47.8^min, 58.8^P0.1, 67.3^P1) fps ∼27%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX XMG Focus 15 E23	76.5 (5.62^min, 6.51^P0.1, 24.3^P1) fps ∼20%

The hardware requirements in the 4K sector are also not overly high. Even a GeForce RTX 4050 (with a high TGP) cracks the 40 FPS mark at maximum details.

3840×2160 Ultra Preset AA:High T
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX, i9-12900K Desktop-PC	129.3 (71.9^min, 74^P0.1, 85.7^P1) fps ∼40%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, i9-12900K Desktop-PC	123.7 (73.2^min, 74.7^P0.1, 84.7^P1) fps ∼38%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX XMG Neo 17 E23	101.2 (39.3^min, 44.9^P0.1, 66.6^P1) fps ∼31%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX Schenker Key 17 Pro E23	82.1 (36.4^min, 42.2^P0.1, 50.7^P1) fps ∼25%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX XMG Pro 15 E23	47.4 (23^min, 24.4^P0.1, 26.8^P1) fps ∼15%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX XMG Focus 15 E23	40.8 (14.6^min, 16.7^P0.1, 21.5^P1) fps ∼13%

Since gaming tests are very time-consuming and often restricted by installation or activation limits, we can only provide you with a part of the benchmarks at the time of publication. We will be adding more graphics cards in the coming days and weeks.

^(-) * Smaller values are better. / ⁿ¹²³ Number of benchmarks for this median value / * Approximate position

Legend
5	Stutters – This game is very likely to stutter and have poor frame rates. Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, average frame rates are expected to fall below 25fps
	May Stutter – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game. Based on interpolated information from surrounding graphics cards of similar performance levels, stutters and poor frame rates are expected.
30	Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 25fps
40	Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 35fps
60	Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 58fps
	May Run Fluently – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game. Based on interpolated information from surrounding graphics cards of similar performance levels, fluent frame rates are expected.
?	Uncertain – This graphics card experienced unexpected performance issues during testing for this game. A slower card may be able to achieve better and more consistent frame rates than this particular GPU running the same benchmark scene.
	Uncertain – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game and no reliable interpolation can be made based on the performances of surrounding cards of the same class or family.
The value in the fields displays the average frame rate of all values in the database. Move your cursor over the value to see individual results.

Cns

4K Monitors	Operating System	Nvidia Driver	AMD Driver
Philips Brilliance 329P9H, Gigabyte M32U	Windows 11	ForceWare 531.79	Adrenalin 23.4.3

Editor of the original article: Florian Glaser – Managing Editor Gaming Laptops – 568 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2009

I discovered my interest in computers in my childhood, growing up with MS-DOS and Windows 3.1 in the early 1990s. I was especially fascinated with computer games, even from an early age. From Monkey Island through Lands of Lore to Doom, I tried every game I could get my hands on. I have been working for Notebookcheck since 2009 with my focus mostly being on high-performance gaming laptops.

Translator: Ninh Ngoc Duy – Editorial Assistant – 304918 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2008

My main responsibility as an editorial assistant is maintaining the Library section, which aggregates reviews from other publications and channels. In addition, my daily breakfast is Notebookcheck’s long list of new content, which I comb through to select the most interesting topics for translation from English to French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch.”

Florian Glaser, 2023-05- 8 (Update: 2023-05- 8)