Dragon Age The Veilguard performance review: How Nvidia 4070 Super GPU powers this aesthetic marvel

Picture this. You are in the middle of an intense boss fight. Arrows flying from all directions. Beastly creatures are after you and in the midst of it all you spot a large dragon who lands right in the middle of action. You quickly change your weapon choice and instruct your companions to fight the dragon with you. However, just before you could attack, you run into a system error and have to restart the game all over again. Trust me, we have all been there. But this wasn’t the case with the newly-launched Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

This is a game that pushes both graphical fidelity and hardware performance, delivering a breathtaking journey through a richly detailed fantasy world. With my PC armed with an AMD Ryzen 7 9800 X3D processor, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Super GPU, 32 GB DDR5 RAM, I was able to get a great experience with this game. Let us take a look at how the game performed with different settings.

The sweet spot

Starting with DLSS set to Balanced mode, I tested the game at a resolution of 2560x1440 with ultra graphics and selective ray tracing. Without frame generation, the gameplay clocked in at 90 FPS, offering smooth visuals. Enabling frame generation and turning off V-Sync cranked the frame rate up to 140 FPS, significantly enhancing responsiveness during combat and exploration.

Lowering the resolution to 1080p further pushed the performance to 180-190 FPS with frame generation, and 120-110 FPS without it, making the gameplay exceptionally fluid.

Prioritising visual fidelity

Switching to Nvidia DLSS Quality mode, which focuses on visual excellence over raw performance, I saw fantastic results. At 1080p resolution with ultra graphics and frame generation off, the game maintained an average of 118 FPS.

Returning to 2K resolution with Quality DLSS, Nvidia Reflex set to “On + Boost,” and frame generation enabled, the frame rates ranged between 130-150 FPS. The experience was smooth and visually stunning, with every texture rendered in incredible detail. In some scenarios, frame rates even spiked to 180-200 FPS, peaking at 220 FPS in less graphically intense areas. I spent hours exploring the vast world with this setting, marvelling at various scenes it had to offer. The environment artists have really done a fabulous job and the game looks breathtaking.

When I switched DLSS to Performance mode at 2K resolution, the game delivered around 160 FPS, offering a good balance of visuals and performance.

Prioritising performance

To test the game’s performance, I tweaked around the settings a bit and here is how it went.

At 1080p resolution, with Ultra Performance DLSS, frame rates soared to 230-250 FPS, with only a slight reduction in visual quality—barely noticeable unless scrutinised.

To explore maximum performance potential, I switched from ultra to high graphics settings with ray tracing off, DLSS set to Ultra Performance, and frame generation enabled. This unleashed astonishing frame rates of 300-350 FPS, showing that at lower graphical presets, the game resulted in almost unbelievable frame rates without a drop. The visual quality was noticeably reduced but the game wasn’t unplayable. You still will get to see some gorgeous scenarios, even with these graphic settings.

Reverting DLSS to Quality mode under these settings still delivered an average of 260 FPS, proving the rig’s capability to handle demanding titles like Dragon Age: The Veilguard with ease.

Ray Tracing: A visual feast

The pinnacle of visual fidelity in the game came with DLSS Quality mode with ultra graphics, ray-traced reflections, and ambient occlusion at 2K. With these settings enabled, I got an average of 110-120.

Even during intense battle sequences, frame rates rarely dipped below 100 FPS. The realistic reflections and intricate lighting effects made environments come alive, with highlights like walking through water puddles becoming a jaw-dropping experience.

Thus, Dragon Age: Veilguard delivered a stellar performance on my custom water-cooled system, thanks to NVIDIA's 4070 Super GPU and DLSS option. Whether you’re a player who prioritises ultra-smooth gameplay or one who revels in visual splendour, the game offers a wide range of configurations to suit your preferences.

With its flexibility in settings, Dragon Age: Veilguard proves to be a masterfully optimised title that caters to both performance enthusiasts and visual connoisseurs.

On my rig, the game performed brilliantly, making every battle, exploration, and story moment a seamless experience. Whether you’re walking through shimmering puddles or taking down foes in epic battles, this is a journey that will keep you hooked for hours.