Testing Reveals Games with Denuvo Launch Up to Four Times Slower

The DRM doesn't only reduce the frame rate but also influences games' boot time.

The YouTube channel YetTea has unveiled a new video showcasing the outcome of their recent experiment. Their objective was to investigate the impact of disabling Denuvo on game performance and loading speeds. To achieve this, they conducted comprehensive tests on various games which had intentionally or accidentally had their DRM protection removed by the developers.

The benchmarks were conducted using identical graphics settings on a high-performance PC equipped with an Intel Core i9-10850K processor, 32 GB of RAM, and a GeForce RTX 3080 Ti graphics card.

Testing has revealed a significant disparity in performance between Denuvo-protected games and those without DRM. Notably, in the case of Ghostwire Tokyo, the game's boot time to reach the main menu was a mere 54 seconds when DRM was absent, while with the DRM enabled, it took a whopping 200 seconds. This substantial gap persisted consistently during subsequent launches, indicating a persistent impact on performance.

As for the average frame rate, games without Denuvo exhibited a slightly higher performance, albeit still superior. Additionally, tests revealed more significant framerate drops in games with DRM protection, highlighting the impact it has on overall performance.

Boot Time

Borderlands 3

  • With Denuvo: 102.8 seconds
  • Without Denuvo: 61.8 seconds

Dying Light 2

  • With Denuvo: 165 seconds
  • Without Denuvo: 64 seconds

Ghostwire Tokyo

  • With Denuvo: 200 seconds
  • Without Denuvo: 54 seconds

Ghostwire Tokyo (second run)

  • With Denuvo: 114 seconds
  • Without Denuvo: 37 seconds

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

  • With Denuvo: 86 seconds
  • Without Denuvo: 29 seconds

Performance

Borderlands 3

  • With Denuvo: 103 FPS
  • Without Denuvo: 105 FPS

Dying Light 2

  • With Denuvo: 75.8 FPS
  • Without Denuvo: 75.8 FPS

Ace Combat 7

  • With Denuvo: 268.9 FPS
  • Without Denuvo: 292.9 FPS

Ghostwire Tokyo

  • With Denuvo: 102.7 FPS
  • Without Denuvo: 102.1 FPS

Ghostwire Tokyo (maximum FPS drops)

  • With Denuvo: up to 4.9 FPS
  • Without Denuvo: up to 38.6 FPS


Rise of the Tomb Raider (DirectX12)

  • With Denuvo: 174 FPS
  • Without Denuvo: 181 FPS

You can learn more by watching the video above or on the YetTea YouTube channel. Also, don't forget to join our 80 Level Talent platform and our Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram and Twitter, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.

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