Glory for the Space Marines! Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector is releasing next week, but how well does it perform? The official PC system requirements are pretty low, so what kind of hardware is needed to play Warhammer 40K Battlesector at its best? We take a look at the PC performance benchmarks for Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector...
First of all, in this PC performance benchmark article for Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector, we benchmark a range of graphics cards going from the higher-end RTX 3070; as well as the RTX 2080 and RTX 2060; the mid-range GTX 1060; and to the lower-end R9 380.
Then we go through the FPS test results of each graphics card running at 1080p, 1440p and 4K screen resolutions. From there we can see the performance of the minimum and recommended system requirement graphics cards and consider how well optimized Warhammer 40,000 Battlesector really is.
W40K Battlesector unfortunately does not include an in-game benchmarking tool, so for these benchmark results below we started in one of the very first missions of the game, moved around the map for a bit and shot some Tyranids. Considering most of your time in the game will be spent doing the exact same thing, we found this run to be pretty representative of your typical gameplay experience in Warhammer 40K: Battlesector.
With that in mind, let's jump into the PC performance benchmarks for Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector...
Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector PC Graphics Settings
Check your PC can run Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector system requirements
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Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector minimum system requirements
- OS: Windows 10 64-bit
- CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 or [*AMD Ryzen 5 1400]
- RAM: 8GB
- GPU RAM: 1GB
- GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 750 or [*AMD Radeon HD 7790]
- DX: 11
- Storage: 20GB
*PC specs only listed Intel/Nvidia hardware, so we've picked out the closest matching AMD specs based on the hardware descriptions provided.
Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector recommended system requirements
- OS: Windows 10 64-bit
- CPU: Intel Core i5-6400 or [*AMD FX-8310]
- RAM: 4GB
- GPU RAM: 2GB
- GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 950 or [*AMD Radeon R9 270X]
- DX: 11
- Storage: 20GB
*PC specs only listed Intel/Nvidia hardware, so we've picked out the closest matching AMD specs based on the hardware descriptions provided.
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Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector RTX 3070 benchmarks and frames per second analysis performed on Nvidia Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3070 Aorus Master | Intel i7-5820K | 16GB
Average FPS for Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 in Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector @ 1080p
| Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector | Low | Medium | High | Ultra |
| Average FPS | 81.3 | 81.1 | 80.8 | 80.4 |
| Min FPS | 64.2 | 63.3 | 62.9 | 62.3 |
| Max FPS | 98.3 | 97.7 | 97.3 | 96.7 |
| 1% Low FPS | 47.6 | 47.6 | 49.5 | 46.6 |
| 0.1% Low FPS | 30 | 30.3 | 19.1 | 29 |
The FPS performance of the RTX 3070 at 1080p resolution in Warhammer 40K Battlesector is okay, though it seems like there must be some sort of bottleneck here considering the results below. Either way, the RTX 3070 is perfect for playing Warhammer 40K Battlesector at 1080p on Ultra graphics settings.
Average FPS for Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 in Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector @ 1440p
| Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector | Low | Medium | High | Ultra |
| Average FPS | 79.1 | 78.7 | 78.6 | 78.6 |
| Min FPS | 62.7 | 60.4 | 62.1 | 61.2 |
| Max FPS | 94.7 | 94.7 | 94.8 | 94.7 |
| 1% Low FPS | 51.9 | 49.1 | 50.8 | 44.8 |
| 0.1% Low FPS | 18.1 | 30.7 | 32.1 | 30.8 |
At 1440p, the FPS performance of the RTX 3070 in Warhammer 40K Battlesector is still pretty good, achieving more than 60fps even on the highest graphics settings. Overall, this card is perfect for playing Warhammer 40K Battlesector at 1440p on Ultra graphics settings.
Average FPS for Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 in Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector @ 4K
| Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector | Low | Medium | High | Ultra |
| Average FPS | 63.7 | 61.9 | 58.9 | 55.6 |
| Min FPS | 56.5 | 53.9 | 51.7 | 50.2 |
| Max FPS | 68.2 | 66.2 | 62.6 | 58.9 |
| 1% Low FPS | 43.2 | 43.2 | 41.9 | 40.5 |
| 0.1% Low FPS | 30.5 | 30.2 | 29.5 | 29.2 |
At 4K, the RTX 3070's FPS performance in Warhammer 40K Battlesector is once again pretty good, achieving more than 60fps on Low/Medium graphics settings and just under 60fps on High/Ultra settings. Thankfully, Warhammer 40K Battlesector does not need to be played at 60fps in order to be enjoyable, so the RTX 3070 is perfect for playing at 4K on Ultra graphics settings.
Looking at the results above, the RTX 3070 is perfectly suitable for playing Warhammer 40K Battlesector at 1080p, 1440p, and even 4K on Ultra graphics settings.
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Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector RTX 2080 benchmarks and frames per second analysis performed on Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 | Intel i9-9900K | 16GB
Average FPS for Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 in Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector @ 1080p
| Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector | Low | Medium | High | Ultra |
| Average FPS | 81 | 80.8 | 80.5 | 80.2 |
| Min FPS | 77.6 | 74 | 76.9 | 75.7 |
| Max FPS | 80 | 79.9 | 79.4 | 78.7 |
| 1% Low FPS | 70.4 | 66 | 70 | 69.9 |
| 0.1% Low FPS | 27.9 | 27.1 | 28.1 | 26.3 |
The FPS performance of the RTX 2080 in Warhammer 40K Battlesector at 1080p is pretty good, once again seeing some sort of bottleneck occurring here that prevents it going much higher than 80fps. However, this still makes the RTX 2080 perfect for playing Warhammer 40K Battlesector in 1080p on Ultra graphics settings.
Average FPS for Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 in Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector @ 1440p
| Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector | Low | Medium | High | Ultra |
| Average FPS | 79.1 | 78.2 | 77.8 | 75.5 |
| Min FPS | 57.3 | 56.1 | 55.4 | 55.1 |
| Max FPS | 85.7 | 82.3 | 82.8 | 80.8 |
| 1% Low FPS | 51.7 | 50.7 | 49.5 | 49.3 |
| 0.1% Low FPS | 21.3 | 34.9 | 20.5 | 45.4 |
The RTX 2080's FPS performance in Warhammer 40K Battlesector at 1440p resolution is still pretty good. Same as above it can't achieve more than 80fps, but is still perfect for playing Warhammer 40K Battlesector at 1440p on Ultra graphics settings.
Average FPS for Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 in Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector @ 4K
| Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector | Low | Medium | High | Ultra |
| Average FPS | 39.6 | 38.2 | 37.8 | 37.2 |
| Min FPS | 38.8 | 37.8 | 37.3 | 36.6 |
| Max FPS | 39.9 | 38.4 | 38 | 37.5 |
| 1% Low FPS | 34.6 | 35.3 | 34.6 | 34.1 |
| 0.1% Low FPS | 24.6 | 32.4 | 25.5 | 31.8 |
At 4K, the RTX 2080's FPS performance in Warhammer 40K Battlesector is not too great, though it does not need to be played at 60fps in order to feel comfortable. Even on Ultra graphics settings the game is still playable and enjoyable.
Overall, the RTX 2080 is perfectly suitable for playing Warhammer 40K Battlesector at 1080p and 1440p on Ultra graphics settings. At 4K it is still playable on Ultra graphics settings, though maybe not ideal for most, so that will be down to personal preference.
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Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector RTX 2060 benchmarks and frames per second analysis performed on Nvidia PNY GeForce RTX 2060 | Intel i7-5820K | 16GB
Average FPS for Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 in Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector @ 1080p
| Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector | Low | Medium | High | Ultra |
| Average FPS | 80.5 | 80.5 | 80.1 | 80 |
| Min FPS | 63.3 | 62.3 | 62.6 | 61.7 |
| Max FPS | 96.4 | 98.4 | 96.9 | 96.3 |
| 1% Low FPS | 48.1 | 47.7 | 46.8 | 47.1 |
| 0.1% Low FPS | 30.3 | 30.3 | 28.2 | 31.2 |
The FPS performance of the RTX 2060 in Warhammer 40K Battlesector at 1080p is pretty good, once again hitting some sort of bottleneck and unable to reach above 80fps, but still perfectly playable even on Ultra graphics settings.
Average FPS for Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 in Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector @ 1440p
| Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector | Low | Medium | High | Ultra |
| Average FPS | 65.8 | 65 | 63.1 | 60.7 |
| Min FPS | 59.5 | 59.7 | 58.3 | 54.6 |
| Max FPS | 71.2 | 70.3 | 67.5 | 64.5 |
| 1% Low FPS | 42 | 45.2 | 46 | 45.9 |
| 0.1% Low FPS | 28.4 | 28.6 | 30.2 | 30.7 |
Moving onto 1440p the RTX 2060's FPS performance is pretty good again, still achieving more than 60fps even on Ultra graphics settings. That means the RTX 2060 is perfect for playing Warhammer 40K Battlesector at 1440p on Ultra graphics settings.
Average FPS for Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 in Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector @ 4K
| Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector | Low | Medium | High | Ultra |
| Average FPS | 33.6 | 33.4 | 32.2 | 30.9 |
| Min FPS | 30.3 | 29.6 | 28.9 | 28.5 |
| Max FPS | 36 | 35.8 | 34.5 | 32.9 |
| 1% Low FPS | 29.1 | 29.1 | 28.5 | 27.7 |
| 0.1% Low FPS | 20.9 | 27.2 | 27 | 26.4 |
At 4K the FPS performance of the RTX 2060 is okay, though once again Warhammer 40K Battlesector does not need to be played at 60fps for the most enjoyable experience. On Ultra graphics settings you're probably cutting it a bit close to sub-30fps performance, but is still perfectly playable.
Overall the RTX 2060 is perfect for playing Warhammer 40K Battlesector at 1080p and 1440p resolutions on Ultra graphics settings, and once again is not preferable but certainly still playable at 4K on Ultra graphics settings.
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Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector GTX 1060 benchmarks and frames per second analysis performed on Nvidia MSI GeForce GTX 1060 | Intel i7-5820K | 16GB
Average FPS for Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 in Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector @ 1080p
| Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector | Low | Medium | High | Ultra |
| Average FPS | 58.2 | 57 | 54.9 | 54.4 |
| Min FPS | 53.4 | 50.9 | 50.7 | 48.7 |
| Max FPS | 62.7 | 60.9 | 57.8 | 58.8 |
| 1% Low FPS | 44.7 | 44.2 | 43.8 | 44.4 |
| 0.1% Low FPS | 29.4 | 29.4 | 19.3 | 27.3 |
The GTX 1060's FPS performance at 1080p in Warhammer 40K Battlesector is good, even though it achieves just below 60fps this is still acceptable and perfectly playable. Overall the GTX 1060 is perfect for playing Warhammer 40K Battlesector on Ultra graphics settings at 1080p resolution.
Average FPS for Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 in Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector @ 1440p
| Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector | Low | Medium | High | Ultra |
| Average FPS | 37.5 | 37 | 35.8 | 34.8 |
| Min FPS | 34.2 | 33.7 | 32.3 | 31.6 |
| Max FPS | 40.2 | 39.5 | 38.5 | 37.2 |
| 1% Low FPS | 33 | 32.4 | 31.3 | 30.8 |
| 0.1% Low FPS | 19.7 | 19.2 | 28.3 | 28.3 |
The GTX 1060's FPS performance in Warhammer 40K Battlesector at 1440p resolution is okay. Though it is still perfectly playable at this frame rate, just not ideal, but is down to personal preference. So in the end the GTX 1060 is perfect for playing Warhammer 40K Battlesector at 1440p on Ultra graphics settings depending on your preference.
Average FPS for Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 in Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector @ 4K
| Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector | Low | Medium | High | Ultra |
| Average FPS | 18.7 | 18.4 | 17.8 | 17.1 |
| Min FPS | 17.2 | 17 | 16.6 | 15.9 |
| Max FPS | 20 | 19.6 | 18.9 | 18.3 |
| 1% Low FPS | 16.9 | 16.7 | 16.4 | 15.6 |
| 0.1% Low FPS | 15.8 | 15.2 | 15.4 | 14.8 |
At 4K the FPS performance of the GTX 1060 is not great and at this point became pretty much unplayable due to frame rates dropping below 30fps. It is not recommended to play Warhammer 40K Battlesector at 4K with a GTX 1060.
Looking at the results above the GTX 1060 is perfectly suitable for playing Warhammer 40K Battlesector at 1080p resolution on Ultra graphics settings, as well as 1440p if you don't mind playing at 30fps, and is basically unplayable at 4K and so is not recommended.
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Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector R9 380 benchmarks and frames per second analysis performed on AMD MSI Radeon R9 380 | Intel i7-5820K | 16GB
Average FPS for AMD Radeon R9 380 in Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector @ 1080p
| Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector | Low | Medium | High | Ultra |
| Average FPS | 39.9 | 38.1 | 36.6 | 36 |
| Min FPS | 35.6 | 34.6 | 33.9 | 32.9 |
| Max FPS | 43.7 | 41.5 | 39.8 | 38.8 |
| 1% Low FPS | 34.7 | 33.9 | 33.3 | 32.3 |
| 0.1% Low FPS | 33.6 | 32.7 | 32.3 | 31.2 |
The R9 380's FPS performance in Warhammer 40K Battlesector at 1080p is okay, delivering just above 30fps and still perfectly playable at this frame rate. Overall, the R9 380 is good for playing Warhammer 40K Battlesector at 1080p on Ultra graphics settings.
Average FPS for AMD Radeon R9 380 in Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector @ 1440p
| Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector | Low | Medium | High | Ultra |
| Average FPS | 25.3 | 24.4 | 23.2 | 22.8 |
| Min FPS | 23.4 | 22.1 | 21.4 | 21 |
| Max FPS | 27.7 | 26.4 | 25.2 | 24.6 |
| 1% Low FPS | 23.1 | 21.8 | 21.2 | 20.8 |
| 0.1% Low FPS | 22.9 | 21.4 | 20.8 | 19 |
At 1440p the R9 380's FPS performance is not great, achieving just below 30fps even on Low graphics settings. Here the GPU struggles and so makes gameplay a little uncomfortable to play at this frame rate. So we do not suggest playing Warhammer 40K Battlesector at 1440p with an R9 380.
Overall the R9 380 is perfect for playing Warhammer 40K Battlesector at 1080p on Ultra graphics settings, albeit at just above 30fps performance. However, at 1440p this card begins to struggle and affects gameplay enjoyment, which is not recommended.
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Conclusion
Looking at all the results above, we can see that Warhammer 40K Battlesector is surprisingly demanding on modern hardware. Although the minimum required GPU is a GTX 750, an R9 380 begins to struggle at 1080p resolution, and even a pretty high-end card like the RTX 2080 struggles at 4K.
Mid-range hardware like the GTX 1060 shouldn't have a problem playing at 1080p on the Max graphics settings, however if you want to play at higher resolutions then you will need something at least as powerful as an RTX 2060 to get decent frame rates.
Interestingly however, performance seems to barely change between Low and Ultra graphics presets, which means if you can play on Low at decent frame rates then you should be fine on Ultra. On the flip side though, it doesn't leave much room to customize our performance.
Another interesting phenomenon was with the RTX 2080. Although this is a full-fat desktop graphics card, it is located inside an Alienware laptop, and with it experienced some very interesting results with dropped FPS.
Whilst playing through the benchmark run, the game would consistently hover around the frame rates outlined above (around 66-74fps) and then routinely drop to around 4-5x less frame rate (12-20fps).
It is unclear as to why this was happening here, especially on the one system that was different from the rest. However, it is possible this has something to do with an early driver during a pre-release build of the game. Hopefully this is fixed upon release, but it seems desktop users will be getting the best performance at the moment.
As always, we welcome any and all feedback from you guys as well with your experience of hardware configurations and FPS performance/quality settings. That way we can all better gauge how well our systems will be able to run Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector.
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