Halo: Reach on PC easily manages 8K at 60 fps
We did play it on an amazing rig, though
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Halo: Reach is out now on PC, and in the run up to the release, we were promised that itcould run at 4K resolution at 60 frames per second (FPS) on an old graphics card.
But what happens when you run Halo: Reach on the most powerful consumer graphics card in the world, theNvidiaRTX Titan? We did just that, and found that Halo: Reach managed8Kresolutions (7,680 × 4,320) at a rock-solid 60 fps.
PC built byChillbast
Motherboard:Asus ROG STRIX Z390-E GAMINGCPU Cooler:Noctua NH-U14SCase fans:Noctua NF-A14 PWM Chromax 140mmProcessor:Intel Core i9-9900K, 8 Cores / 16 ThreadsGPU:Nvidia GeForce Titan RTXStorage:500GB Samsung 970 EVO Plus M.2 PCIeSecondary Storage:2TB Samsung 860 QVOPower:Corsair RM850x 80 PLUS Gold 850W PSUCase:Fractal Design Vector RS Tempered GlassRAM:G.Skill Trident Z RGB 32GB DDR4 3200MHzMonitor:Dell UltraSharp UP3218K
That’s pretty darn impressive, though we are playing with a GPU that costs $2,499 (around £2,000, AU$3,600), and Halo: Reach originally launched on the Xbox 360 way back in 2010.
We played the game using a very powerful gaming PC provided byChillbast, along withDell’sUltraSharp UP3218Kmonitor.
We used the ‘Enhanced’ graphical settings, which updates the textures and adds effects that weren’t included in the original. Even so, during our playthrough at 8K resolution, our framerate counter never dropped beneath 60 fps.
Combat evolved
We’ve seen a number of recent games,such as Gears 5, unable to run at 8K with playable framerates, even on some of the most powerful hardware in the world.
We also recently tried playingRed Dead Redemption 2 at 8K, and while the best of a PC Chillblast built for us put up a decent fight, 8K resolution still seems to be too intensive for modern games, even on extremely powerful hardware.
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However, with Halo: Reach performing so well at 8K, perhaps that’s where the (immediate) future of 8K gaming really lies: in older games with updated graphics.
While Halo: Reach is nearly 10 years old,Microsofthas done a great job of porting it and updating it for modern PCs, and at 8K resolution it really looks stunning.
The performance is so good, that it’s unlikely you’ll need quite as powerful a rig to run it at 8K. And for the vast majority of people who don’t have an 8K monitor (Dell’s is currently the only one on the market), then the good news is that the game runs even better at4K.
In a way it’s quite funny. We’ve just glimpsed the future of PC gaming courtesy of an old console game. Mainstream 8K gaming is still a long way off, but once it gets here, 8K at 60 fps is going to really drop some jaws.
We’ve also testedhow Halo: Reach runs on more modest hardware, and the results are very impressive, with even budget cards offering high resolutions and frame rates.
Matt is TechRadar’s Managing Editor for Core Tech, looking after computing and mobile technology. Having written for a number of publications such as PC Plus, PC Format, T3 and Linux Format, there’s no aspect of technology that Matt isn’t passionate about, especially computing and PC gaming. He’s personally reviewed and used most of the laptops in our best laptops guide - and since joining TechRadar in 2014, he’s reviewed over 250 laptops and computing accessories personally.
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