Correction: Sorry for the confusion, but the patch referred to in the article is in fact patch 1.03. Last week we ran some Dark Souls 3 benchmarks on Nvidia’s ageing graphics card, the GeForce GTX 750 Ti. Despite its lack of grunt the Nvidia GPU still managed some respectable DS3 frame rates, but now FromSoftware has come along and pushed out a 1.03 PC update for Dark Souls 3 ready for launch, updating the pre-release build and providing a solid performance boost over what was achieved previously.

The 750 Ti can be had for less than $100, so it’s a fantastic budget choice, and in these latest Dark Souls III 1.1 patch benchmarks it’s comfortably delivering frame per second above 30 FPS even at Ultra on 1080p. If you had any doubts your low-end graphics card could run Dark Souls 3 then it’s definitely worth checking out the performance gains FromSoftware has achieved with this day one update.

Our Dark Souls III benchmark rig remained the same as last time, so you're looking at a GeForce GTX 750 Ti, 8GB RAM and an AMD FX-4100 CPU.

Dark Souls 3 Ultra Preset Benchmarks 1.0 vs 1.03 Patch On A GTX 750 Ti

New Dark Souls 3 GTX 750 Ti Average Frame Rates AFTER Patch 1.03 Update

Resolution Low Medium High Ultra 720p 60 60 60 59 900p 59 52 49 44 1080p 53 41 38 33

Old Dark Souls 3 GTX 750 Ti BEFORE Patch 1.03 Average Frame Rates

Resolution Low Medium High Ultra 720p 51 47 45 42 900p 46 40 40 32 1080p 43 37 33 28

As you can see the differences are more pronounced at lower resolutions, where the GTX 750 ti isn't being bottlenecked after the first Dark Souls III by its limited 2GB VRAM. That said you're still looking at an 18% performance boost on 1080p Ultra, which is an impressive improvement by From. Overall performance gains on a low-end GPU in Dark Souls 3 ranges from 18% at 1080p all the way up to 40% while playing at 720p, and this figure is likely even higher were the frame rate cap not in place in Dark Souls 3.

Overall gameplay felt much smoother, and for those craving 60 FPS in Dark Souls 3 it is now possible on a low-end graphics card like the GTX 750 Ti. You will have to sacrifice both graphics settings and resolution, but ultimately the choice is there. If you're playing Dark Souls 3 on a TV then I'd even recommend Ultra / 720p, although this can look a little jarring if you're up close to a monitor.

It means the FPS Cost in our video Dark Souls 3 Complete Performance Breakdown have shifted a little, but the percentage changes still remain the same. Shadow Quality and effects Quality are the heaviest hitters, so if you're after an immediate performance boost these are your go-to options.

Video - Dark Souls III Low vs Ultra Graphics Comparison

Dark Souls 3 PC MSI GTX 950 Benchmark Analysis