This year’s surprise mega-hit, Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2, is getting a patch that should improve performance on every level of PC. The game’s developer has confirmed that Patch 5.0 will not only add support for frame generation on Nvidia GeForce GPUs, but also AMD Radeon graphics cards.
Frame generation tech works by inserting extra frames between the frames rendered by your GPU, smoothing out the frame rate. In this case, the Xenos-smashing epic will get frame generation from both Nvidia and AMD. Nvidia DLSS will only work on the company’s graphics cards, but AMD’s FSR tech will work on practically any current GPU. As such, you can also expect to see some of the best gaming handhelds getting a big boost in Space Marine 2 performance.
Space Marine 2’s PC performance was mostly fine out of the gate. Its massive sprawling battles and glorious violence in the name of the Emperor were rarely impeded, unlike some other recently released titles, thanks to the relatively undemanding minimum Space Marine 2 system requirements. However, the game’s performance on handheld PCs and lower-end machines was wanting. On Steam Deck, the game is currently listed as “unplayable”, solely due to it not playing well with the low-end hardware.
With AMD’s frame-generation tools now working on Valve’s Linux handheld, we could see some major gains in performance. Titles such as God of War: Ragnarok now plays quite well on the Steam Deck, hitting highs of 80fps in uncrowded areas, and 30fps in more complex battles.
FSR frame generation has also offered a lifeline for those wanting to play Cyberpunk 2077 on the go, or more demanding games on alternate hardware, such as Ayaneo’s devices.
On the Nvidia side of the equation, we should see huge performance changes on lower-end machines. RTX 4050 and 4060 laptop GPUs should be able to truly hit their stride with the correct tweaks in the settings. Use an RTX 4070 and up, or even one of the new RTX 5000 GPUs, and you’ll be able to play the game at even higher resolutions.
Saber Interactive made the announcement to coincide with the game selling 5 million units, alongside news that new enemies would be appearing in the game. If you haven’t played this latest 40K title yet, make sure you check out our Space Marine 2 review to see what you can expect.
Meanwhile, you can check out our best graphics card guide for our latest recommendations, so you can squish some Tyranids beneath your mighty Space Marine boot with the fanciest visuals possible.