With the sudden release of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, now available on PC via places like Steam or Game Pass, gamers have been scrambling to check it out. Oblivion is one of the most beloved entries to The Elder Scrolls franchise, and the overhauled visuals certainly provide a “tremendous visual update,” as Bethesda put it in its reveal stream. There are also some gameplay changes, such as reworked UI/UX and the addition of sprinting, though the game very much sticks to its classic feel.

When we saw the Oblivion remaster system requirements yesterday, we were happy to see that the developers (Bethesda and Virtuos) kept them fairly achievable, importantly not requiring RTX or newer cards as a minimum, like we’ve seen in other games such as the upcoming Doom: The Dark Ages. However, benchmarks of the game so far reveal that performance isn’t exactly silky smooth.

Oblivion Remastered can struggle on high-end hardware

With the game now in players’ hands, we’ve seen a range of performance benchmarks showing up online. And despite the recommended specs featuring cards like the RTX 2080, which released over 6 years ago, performance on the latest generation of graphics cards can still be a struggle. We’ve seen many people complaining about stuttering, though some have come to accept that this is part of the Unreal Engine 5 experience.

Benchmark tests performed by YouTuber Compusemble show that the game can be demanding even on the RTX 5090 paired with a Ryzen 7 9800X3D and 64GB of RAM (one of the best gaming hardware combos right now), averaging around 60 FPS in outdoor areas at native 4K and using hardware Lumen, UE5’s global illumination and reflections system. Luckily, you can switch to the software Lumen option, and this will “gain a lot of performance,” says Compusemble. At 1440p and 1080p maxed out, the flagship card averaged 85 FPS and 107 FPS, respectively.

The values above may seem a little low for a card like the RTX 5090, but keep in mind these are max settings at native resolutions. Regardless, they point towards the growing trend of DLSS and frame generation reliance. The Oblivion remaster supports Nvidia’s latest DLSS 4 and AMD’s latest FSR 4 at launch, meaning you have plenty of settings to tinker with to optimize performance. Although the stuttering seems inevitable right now, you can still achieve higher framerates by utilizing these AI-powered tools.

About the Author

Jack Goodall

At PC Guide, Jack is mostly responsible for reporting on hardware deals. He also specializes in monitors, TVs, and headsets and can be found putting his findings together in a review or best-of guide.