Monster Hunter Wilds PC performance: From Nvidia’s latest, past AMD’s greatest, to Intel’s failing silicon, this is what the game does to PCG’s own rigs

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A fearless publisher confidently shares a benchmarking tool for its upcoming game weeks before release, allowing PC users to gauge their system’s compatibility with the game before making a purchase. This is the purpose behind our performance analysis articles, and why Nick invests so much time, including late nights and weekends, diving into preview and review codes to provide insights on how new games may perform on your personal computer.

Nice of Capcom to do the hard yards for us and release the Monster Hunter Wilds Benchmark Tool on Steam. So now everyone can see what a pig the game might be on their system.

Although it seems like I may be sparing Nick from further trouble, I’m not quite done yet. I’ll still need him to identify which graphics settings, among many, significantly influence performance while sacrificing minimal visual quality. This way, he can provide useful advice on the optimal settings and tips for boosting frame rates.

Instead of analyzing Monster Hunter Wilds (MHW) performance in the usual way, we’ll approach it differently this time. We’re going to gather insights from our community, specifically examining how the game performs on the PC Gamer hardware team members’ personal gaming computers. We’ll focus on the techniques they’ve used to optimize the game for a playing experience they find satisfactory.

Spoiler: not all of us managed that feat at all.

In simpler terms, the artwork in Monster Hunter Wilds appears somewhat gritty and noisy, and I’m not a big fan of how it works with AMD’s AI-powered upscaling feature.

To kick off my portion, let’s make it clear I’m starting with a noticeable breath. Being the member of our squad who relies on AMD graphics cards, I opted to adjust FSR (FidelityFX Super Resolution) to Quality at the 1440p High preset, as the game defaults to Balanced. I find that FSR often introduces excessive noise when set below Quality at 1440p, so I prefer to tailor my settings to my own specifications rather than using presets. Furthermore, ray tracing is not a strong suit of this RX 780Xt, so I chose to forego it entirely in my setup.

In simpler terms, the test performance is good overall, averaging 85 frames per second. However, when the game scene changes from a stormy landscape to a desert and you descend into the valley, I observed a decrease in frame rate. My frame rate dropped to around 50 before improving as the player moved towards a dune. This was surprising because my high-performance graphics card, usually capable of 1440p resolution, seemed to struggle under these conditions.

Even though a slight drop to 55 frames per second (fps) is tolerable for me, if the benchmark results lead to frequent stuttering in actual gameplay, I might resort to enabling frame rate generation as a quick fix. Ignoring latency issues for now.

You might anticipate that this leads to a significant increase in the number of frames, averaging around 113 frames per second (fps), which provides a delightfully smooth experience. However, what lacks the smoothness is the image quality, unfortunately, due to FSR. Monster Hunter Wilds has a grainy, noisy aesthetic that seems to clash with AMD’s compute-based upscaler in ways I find less than appealing.

As I ascend the towering dune, a pack of shaggy creatures crosses my path, making the FPS (Frames Per Second) struggle a bit due to their furry nature causing some trouble for the game’s rendering. Turning off upscaling completely seems to increase these not-so-smooth drops in frame rate, leaving me once again stuck between a frame rate dilemma and the desire for high-quality visuals.

Certainly, I can adjust the graphics settings further once I’ve properly installed the game to maintain smooth frames without relying on the upscaling feature. However, since the frame rate toggle is readily available, I might as well consider it a quick solution to my problem and avoid unnecessary complications.

It seems that Monster Hunter Worlds looks rather ordinary, even without the upscaling feature, compared to other games like Horizon Zero Dawn, doesn’t it? While Monster Hunter isn’t visually unappealing, after testing Horizon Zero Dawn for a separate article, the difference in graphics is quite noticeable. Interestingly, Horizon Zero Dawn and its sequel run smoothly on my system, without needing upscaling or frame rate generation to maintain frames above 60 fps. I’m just pointing this out, that’s all.

4K | Native | RT High

4K | DLSS Quality | RT High

4K | DLSS Quality | RT High | Frame Gen

4K | DLSS Quality | High (no RT) | Frame Gen

I hold lofty standards for smoothness in frame rates and graphical quality. My gaming rig, equipped with an Intel Core i9 14900K processor and an RTX 4080 Super graphics card, is known for its high power consumption, heat generation, and loud operation. Despite these characteristics, I’m content with it as long as it guarantees a smooth experience, even at 4K resolution. In fact, it usually does, the majority of the time.

Monster Hunter Wilds seems challenging to play, and I started testing it by looking for a reliable benchmark – specifically, the typical frame rate at 4K resolution, maximum settings, ray tracing set to high, and no upscaling. This test gave me a ‘Good’ performance rating according to the MH benchmark results, averaging at 48.75 frames per second (fps). However, this figure might be misleading because the benchmark run includes both rendered cutscenes and actual gameplay, with the cutscenes running faster than the in-game areas on average, potentially inflating the final frame rate. Consequently, I anticipate my in-game experience will have a lower average frame rate than 48 fps.

It’s time for adjustments. I don’t think so highly of myself that I wouldn’t need to activate DLSS for higher frames per second when at 4K resolution. That’s where I begin, setting DLSS to Quality mode. This gives me an average boost to 63.47 fps, and a ‘Excellent’ rating, which makes me quite happy. Yay!

The part of the test that requires the most effort is surprisingly the one with minimal activity – the actual desert. Despite barely anything visible other than a large mound of sand, I frequently drop below a consistent 60 frames per second. To address this issue, I’ll need to utilize the technology that everyone is talking about at the moment.

I’ve activated Frame Generation. With the help of a new RTX 40-series graphics card, it generates additional frames to boost my original ones, aiming for a smooth 60 frames per second. However, the improvement is minimal, averaging only about 4 extra frames, which isn’t a big jump compared to other times I’ve enabled this feature. Despite the higher frame rate, it only earned a ‘Playable’ rating, which seems like a step back for an upgrade. Thanks anyway.

To wrap up, here’s a trick: I’ll boost my frame rate by about 29% using just a few mouse clicks. The secret? Turning off ray tracing. No adjustments or reductions, just turning it off completely. Why? I’ve noticed significant performance gains – from 68.25 frames per second (fps) to 88.23 fps! This significantly decreases the likelihood of dropping below 60 fps. I don’t feel its absence. The lack of realistic reflections in the single pond displayed in the benchmark is more than compensated by the smooth gameplay on my 144 Hz monitor. In the full game, I might miss those reflections, being a bit of a showy PC gamer, but not at this moment.

It seems unusual that despite my PC performing exceptionally well in games, I receive a ‘Good’ rating. It appears that Frame Generation may interfere with the game’s capacity for giving out flattering comments. It’s not a big deal, though.

In summary, I found a reliable setup by following what was anticipated: activating DLSS and deactivating ray tracing. This is a classic tale – at least since the year 2018!

I went as low as I’d be willing to go with a game I’d spent a good chunk of money on.

I regret running those performance tests, as they revealed some truths I can’t ignore – my setup is clearly lacking compared to 2025 standards, especially when it comes to playing Monster Hunter Wilds.

Initially, I thought my system, with the RTX 3060 Ti, would deliver a satisfactory gaming experience. However, I don’t usually play the latest AAA games extensively, so my assumption might not have been fully justified. Unfortunately, it appears that my setup, comprising the Core i5 12600KF and RTX 3060 Ti, struggles to run Monster Hunter World (MHW) smoothly, even when I reduce the settings significantly more than I’d prefer.

In my gaming routine, I typically crank up the graphics settings to High resolution at 1440p, apply DLSS at Quality level, and dive in. If I find it hard to maintain the desired frame rate, I gradually adjust heavy GPU and VRAM-consuming options until I surpass 60 fps. Regrettably, I fell short of that mark with Monster Hunter World (MHW).

In high settings (HDR disabled, Reflex enabled, Ray Tracing off) with DLSS set to Quality, I managed a score of 17,343 and an average of approximately 50 frames per second. However, during the open-world segment of the benchmark, the frame rates plummeted to a dismal 30 frames per second. Not for me, thanks.

For a considerable time, I adjusted various settings sporadically without much improvement. Eventually, I reduced the settings to levels I was comfortable with for a game that cost me a substantial amount of money. This translates to having sky/cloud quality set to medium, shadow quality on low, distant shadow quality also on low, ambient light quality on low, ambient occlusion turned off, screen space reflection off, and volumetric fog set to low. Additionally, I opted for the Performance setting in DLSS instead of Quality.

The video clearly shows a score of 18,900 and an average frame rate of 55.31. Yes, in the open world section, I achieved approximately 40 frames per second instead of the 30 fps at High Preset, but that’s not enough to make me want to buy the game. Unfortunately, it looks like Monster Hunter Wilds won’t be on my list this time around, and I’m starting to question if the RTX 3060 Ti is still up to par for me.

In my performance test, I opted for a 4K resolution and activated the Ultra graphics setting, which sets DLSS to Quality mode. I turned off Frame generation and ray tracing because the former has issues during benchmarks and the latter significantly lowers the 1% lows. Typically, I use DLSS Balanced or even Performance settings based on the game, but in this case, I achieved a relatively consistent frame rate with Quality mode.

In Monster Hunter Wilds, you’ll find an abundance of graphic settings similar to the benchmark, allowing for numerous adjustments to achieve a more fluid gameplay or improved frame rate. However, it’s highly likely that you’ll need to apply upscaling in every situation.

After making a new, fairly powerful setup with an AMD Ryzen 7 78000X3D and an RTX 4070 Super, I’m eager to check out Monster Hunter Wilds. In high settings at 1440p resolution, without ray tracing or frame generation, the game delivers a smooth average of over 90 frames per second in benchmarking mode.

To me, this frame rate seems satisfactory (despite the benchmarking tool labeling it as ‘excellent’). However, the average was impacted by consistent scores in the 70s and 80s during gameplay on the benchmarking tool. As the storm subsides and the scene unveils, it occasionally dipped into the 60s. This drop is noticeable, but I didn’t experience any stuttering that I believe would significantly impact the gaming experience. To confirm this, I need to play the complete game.

As a gamer, I found myself quite satisfied with my current setup, but then a nagging thought crossed my mind: “Why settle for what I have when I can push it harder?” Absolutely, that was me! I decided to kick things up a notch and crank the settings to Ultra. Although the average frames per second dipped almost 20 points below High, the performance disparity narrowed significantly. The testing felt much more consistent, even if it dipped into the 50s during the open desert scenes. The benchmarking tool gave my Ultra setup a ‘excellent’ rating, validating my rig’s capabilities, all thanks to Capcom!

As a contemporary PC gamer, there’s one aspect I haven’t discussed before: ray tracing. To ensure that water puddles and armor gleams looked their best, I gave it a shot with several test runs while ray tracing was enabled. Running the game at ultra settings with high ray tracing felt a bit challenging, but my system still managed an average of 69 frames per second (fps). With high settings and medium ray tracing, I saw around 10 fps more. It’s reassuring to know that I could potentially run Monster Hunter Wilds on Ultra with High ray tracing, but for now, high settings seems like the perfect balance. Please make sure the frame rate doesn’t dip below 60 fps during actual gameplay.

There isn’t a potato mode potato-y enough to get Monster Hunter Wilds running on my PC.

As a gamer, I’ve got to admit, even my office gaming rig can’t handle Monster Hunter Wilds smoothly enough with the potato settings. It’s not a monster PC, it’s a compact powerhouse, but saddled with an older generation GPU, and that seems to be causing its performance issues.

One reason I opted to try this PC was its capability to handle intense graphics loads. To put it through its paces, I installed the RTX 5090 in my personal setup, curious if it might overheat. However, I’m confident that it will smoothly run Monster Hunter World (MHW) until it does overheat. For clarity, I’m achieving an average of 128 frames per second with the RTX 5090 at max settings in 4K resolution, but with DLSS Quality and Frame Generation turned on.

However, it’s fair to say that Intel’s initial generation Alchemist GPUs have had their highs and lows. I’m currently using the latest driver for my Arc A770, released this month specifically for Pirate Yakuza, but I won’t be tackling any monsters with this setup until Intel rolls out a MHW-optimized driver that promises smoother performance.

I approached humbly, keeping my hopes in check – given that I’m using a 3440 x 1440 ultrawide monitor. Right off the bat, I opted for Medium settings, turning on FSR 3 and its frame generation feature.

I heeded Nick’s advice, and boy was he spot on! Those peculiar artifacts that come with frame generation are a sight to behold, and I suspect they’d disrupt my gaming experience, even though they initially boosted my FPS average to a solid 41. To add to my concerns, it doesn’t provide any clue about the input latency, which is crucial for smooth gameplay. And based on the native input frame rate, I can only foresee it being quite high, potentially impacting my gaming experience.

I attempted to adjust the settings multiple times, but eventually grew frustrated and settled for the lowest performance setting due to minimal FPS improvements. However, even after this change, the benchmark advised that further adjustments were suggested, as my average FPS remained below 28.

Adjusting each dial gently to its lowest setting, I switched to the ‘Ultra Performance’ mode for XeSS and managed to achieve a performance level in the Monster Hunter Wilds benchmark that is considered “playable.” This was done with a fair amount of caution.

I, however, do not agree.

The scene appears quite disturbing, perhaps it’s not something I would appreciate given my past experiences with poor image quality while playing games. In the past, I had to endure subpar visuals just to play a game I was eagerly waiting for (like running Oblivion on a small fraction of my CRT screen to manage a playable frame rate). Under such conditions, I wouldn’t opt for running Monster Hunter Wild.

Averaging just slightly below 32 frames per second (fps) doesn’t seem to adequately explain the poor quality of the visuals. The models appear flat and often lack both texture and structure, causing multiple creatures engaged in combat to blur together into a confused mass of colorful, yet indistinguishable pixels when they clash.

I’d rather not delve into the issue of poor water effects, but there’s definitely a Minecraft feel to the frog-like creature in the pond during the benchmark.

Basically: Urgh, do not play if you’re rocking an Intel card.

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2025-02-13 19:34