Crimson Desert Falls To Nearly 30FPS In Performance Mode on PS5 Pro

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PS5 Pro Held Back By Zen 2 CPU!

Story Highlight
  • Crimson Desert has been tested on the PS5 Pro.
  • The game achieves 60FPS in Performance mode, but it can fall well below 40FPS when pushed to its limits.
  • These instances occur due to the Zen 2 CPU’s limitations, with the 30FPS and 40FPS modes running much more stably.

Crimson Desert’s building anticipation has reached its peak recently, with the title hitting over 3 million wishlists on Steam. Elsewhere, the optimized system requirements have made more tech-oriented fans happy as well.

Although much of Crimson Desert’s marketing so far has been focused on the PC side of things, a new video has finally revealed details regarding the console experience. Things are mostly solid on the PS5 Pro, but the game can dip close to 30FPS in the most intense sequences.

Why it matters: Crimson Desert’s specification sheet for consoles suggested the game was highly optimized. The latest analysis puts these claims to the test on the PS5 Pro.

As reported by Digital Foundry’s PS5 Pro coverage of the title, Crimson Desert runs at 4K, 1440p, or 1080p internally, depending on the mode selected.

The performance mode is perhaps the most interesting since it uses PSSR 2 for 4K gameplay, upscaled from an internal 1080p resolution. However, this testing was done with the original PSSR since PSSR 2 will be added to the game in time for its release.

This means that image quality in the tested build isn’t the best. As for performance, the 60FPS mode does hold up decently well, but it struggles when the game has large crowds on screen.

Digital Foundry’s coverage shows frame-rate dropping well below the 40FPS mark during a certain outpost attack. This was because of the large number of enemies in the areas, which led to the PS5 Pro’s CPU struggling to keep up.

For context, the PS5 Pro features an 8-core/ 16-thread Zen 2 CPU, and it seems the CPU bottleneck shows itself quite prominently in Crimson Desert’s most intensive encounters.

Interestingly, performance stays relatively stable in the same scenario when using the 30FPS and 40FPS modes, further confirming the CPU bottleneck in Performance mode. Similar frame-rate drops in the 60FPS mode can also be emulated in other areas with a lot of enemies.

Crimson Desert PS5 Pro
Crimson Desert PS5 Pro Frame-Rate via Digital Foundry

These intense areas aside, Crimson Desert does run well overall. The game isn’t perfect, but it does offer a well-optimized experience, especially considering the scope of the entire world.

What do you think about these performance drops below 40FPS? Share in the comments and on the Tech4Gamers Forums.

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