For that reason I will give my thoughts on the best laptops for Shadow Warrior 3 and then an overall summary of the games strengths and weaknesses. I did my research – best sellers, latest releases, reviews, benchmarks, user opinions and more. Let’s begin with requirements breakdown:
- Shadow Warrior 3 is an unbridled good time with great fights and even greater one-liners
- game has its flaws, but is a blast anyway
Requirements for a Shadow Warrior 3 laptop
Major Picking a good processor
Requirements
A game such as SHADOW WARRIOR 3 should run well on most laptops with an average CPU – provided it has a sufficient GPU. Still, some processors are better than others – particularly when it comes to rendering detail and shadows in the game. And this is where Intel Core i5/i7 and AMD Ryzen 5/Ryzen 7 come in handy.
If you’re really looking for a high FPS and are OK with tinkering with your laptop’s settings – Core i9/Ryzen 9 will also do the trick. But I would recommend these only in case you’re going to play other more demanding games.
Recommendations
There are three main types of processors that are suited for playing SHADOW WARRIOR 3:
- Ryzen 5 3500U – best for those who care about long battery life
- i5-10300H – a popular option for gamers who want a solid mix of performance and battery life
- i7-10870H – ideal for those who want a more substantial FPS increase (100+)
- Ryzen 5 3500U is best for those who care about long battery life
- i5-10300H is a popular option for gamers who want a solid mix of performance and battery life
- i7-10870H is ideal for those who want a more substantial FPS increase (100+)
Major Deciding on a graphics card
A modest GPU will do the trick. For SHADOW WARRIOR 3, an average graphics card should suffice. You might want to pay a little more if you want to play at higher settings or resolution. Here are my recommendations for playing SHADOW WARRIOR 3 on PC.
Minimum graphics (under $500)
Integrated graphics chips are not recommended for gaming. I’d recommend to start from GTX 1650 for low settings. If that’s not your cup of tea, then I’d recommend AMD Radeon RX 5600M for playable performance on medium settings. These cards will both set you back by about $250 and up to around $700.
Recommended graphics ($500 – $1000)
To play SHADOW WARRIOR 3 at its fullest potential, we’ll need to invest in something better than our minimum options above. This means going for Nvidia’s GTX 1660 Ti or AMD’s RX 5600M ($1000). Both of these cards will deliver 60 FPS on medium settings and the RTX 3050 offers slightly better performance with an extra $200 investment.
Best graphics ($1000 – $2000)
For a smooth 60 FPS experience on the highest settings, I recommend going for RTX 2070 and AMD’s RX 5700. These cards provide you with solid performance on most settings and the latter even brings you a little extra juice in VR.
Major Choosing the right memory for SHADOW WARRIOR 3
Minimum (8 GB)
First of all, I should mention that you could get away buying an 8GB RAM laptop. Though that’s acceptable in a single situation – you’re on an uncomfortably tight budget, and you could upgrade the 8GB laptop with an extra RAM stick.
But let’s be realistic here – even the minimum 8 GB is not enough for SHADOW WARRIOR 3. I recommend opting for at least 16 GB of RAM to make sure that your gameplay is buttery smooth, while your gaming sessions are never interrupted by lagging or stuttering frame rates. It’s worth the extra money!
Recommended (16 GB)
If you’re not in this situation – stick with 16 GB. That’s the sweet spot for gaming, work, and everything in-between. I might consider 32 GB to be more future-oriented than 16 GB, but if you don’t particularly care whether you’re ahead of the pack or not – 16 GB is still a considerable amount of memory for most. In my opinion, SHADOW WARRIOR 3 needs around 16GBs to deliver an optimal experience, which means any system below that won’t do justice to it.
- SHADOW WARRIOR 3 needs around 16GBs to deliver an optimal experience
- you should avoid any system below that (8GB) to get the best experience
Optional requirements for a Shadow Warrior 3 laptop
Optional Deciding on a storage
There are three things that you need to know about SSDs. The first is that they’re way faster than regular hard drives, the second is that they’re expensive and the third is that there’s no reason to get a laptop with anything less than 256 GB of storage space. If you want to save money and your budget is around $1000, get one with 512 GB of storage space. Anything less than 256 GB will only cause you grief in the future.
- SSDs are way faster than regular hard drives
- they’re expensive
- get one with at least 256 GB of storage space
- if you have a budget of $1000, get one with 512 GB of storage space
5 Best Laptops for Shadow Warrior 3
MSI GF63035
Pros and cons
- Up to the mark processor (i5-10200H)
- Solid graphics card (RTX 3050)
- So-so memory amount (8GB)
Dell XPS 9710
Pros and cons
- Awesome processor (Ryzen 7 5800H)
- Fair graphics card (RTX 3050 Ti)
- No IPS Panel (worse viewing angles)
Dell XPS 9710
Pros and cons
- Superb processor (Ryzen 7 5800H)
- Superb memory amount (128GB)
- Bulky (5.4 lbs)
- No IPS Panel (inferior color reproduction)
Acer Predator Helios 300
Pros and cons
- Splendid processor (i7-11800H)
- Up to the mark graphics card (RTX 3060)
- Heavy (5.1 lbs)
Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen
Pros and cons
- Terrific processor (i9-11950H)
- Awesome graphics card (RTX 3080)
Table of Best Laptops for Shadow Warrior 3
| Laptop | Price (approx) |
|---|---|
| MSI GF63035 | $650 |
| Dell XPS 9710 | $1140 |
| Dell XPS 9710 | $1410 |
| Acer Predator Helios 300 | $1840 |
| Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen | $3650 |
It’s somewhat unfortunate. Shadow Warrior (2013) was fantastic, very underrated, and has constantly been eclipsed by Doom 2016 as the game to rekindle the ‘old-fashioned’ high-paced fps, never really gaining a proper level of recognition. Mind you, Doom 2016 was incredible and an excellent step in (and up) the right direction. Now the Shadow Warrior legacy feels to have gotten even more muddled with this new installment.