Grinding Gear Games has released Path of Exile 2 in Early Access. After a pretty rocky launch, the game can finally be played by all PC and console gamers. So, time to find out how the game runs on the PC. Can a high-end PC system push over 100FPS at Native 4K?
For these initial benchmarks, we used an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D with 32GB of DDR5 at 6000Mhz, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090. We also used Windows 10 64-bit, and the GeForce 566.14 driver. Moreover, we’ve disabled the second CCD on our 7950X3D.
Grinding Gear Games has included a respectable amount of graphics settings. PC gamers can adjust the quality of Textures, Shadows, Lighting, Water and more. The game also supports Intel XeSS, NVIDIA DLSS, AMD FSR, though we could not find any setting for Frame Generation.
At Native 4K/Max Settings with DLAA, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 was able to push over 100FPS at all times. Usually, the game runs with 120-140FPS. In the first big town, however, the framerate dropped to 100-110FPS.
When you first enter Clearfell, the game hammers all CPU cores to 100% for a couple of minutes. As a result of that, the framerate drops to 80-90FPS. My guess is that POE2 compiles the shaders of the next areas once you enter the town. After a while, CPU usage drops to more acceptable values, with framerates going up to 100-120FPS.
It’s important to note that when you re-visit the town, you won’t encounter the above CPU issues. CPU usage will remain normal. This is why I believe this is an asynchronous shader compilation process.
Overall, even in its current Early Access phase, Path of Exile 2 runs extremely well on PC. Even during some chaotic battles, the game never dropped below 100FPS. And that’s at Native 4K.
From what I could see, there is no support for Ray Tracing. Now although there is no RT, POE2 has a real-time GI. Thanks to its advanced lighting system, every glowing thing lights the scene and can cast shadows.
Graphics-wise, Path of Exile 2 looks great. Since I’ve played Diablo 4, I can say that it looks better than it. The game’s environments are incredibly detailed and atmospheric. All enemies and characters are greatly designed. Seriously, there is nothing to complain about here. This is one of the best-looking “isometric” action RPGs.
So there you have it. Path of Exile 2 performs incredibly well on PC. I also did not experience any stutters in my first two hours. The game runs silky smooth. Oh, and it also has support for both Vulkan and DX12. Now that’s a pleasant surprise.
Enjoy and stay tuned for more!
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
Contact: Email