Lego 2K Drive- Performance Review on Dell Alienware X15 R2

Editor’s Note: 2K provided a review copy of Lego 2K Drive for PC and Dell India provided Dell Alienware X15 R2 for long-term performance testing to IGN India.

Lego 2K Drive is now available on for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, Xbox One and PC. Developed by Visual Concepts and published by 2K, the game launched worldwide on April 19. The game will take you, a racer, on an adventure in the Lego world of Bricklandia as you compete for different cups. On this journey, you can compete against other players, or simply enjoy the landscape in the story mode.

Ahead of the global release, IGN India received a review copy of Lego 2K Drive. We tested the game on the Dell Alienware X15 R2 to see how it performs at launch. For context, X15 R2 is equipped with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti GPU and Intel Core i7- 12700H CPU. Here’s more on our experience of playing the Lego 2K Drive on the Dell Alienware X15 R2.

System Specifications of the Dell Alienware X15 R2

Before we focus on the performance of the game, let’s revisit the complete specifications sheet of the X15 R2. This will give you some idea about what to expect from the game performance section. Here is the complete specifications list.

• Model: Alienware x15 R2
• Display: 15.6-inch FHD (1920×1080), 360Hz Refresh Rate
• Processor: 12th gen Intel Core i7-12700H (14 cores, 20 threads) 24MB cache, Up to 4.70 GHz Clock Speed during Turbo boost.
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti GPU with 8GB GDDR6
• Memory: 32GB LPDDR5 5200 MT/s
• OS: Windows 11 Home
• Storage: 1TB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD
• Webcam: 720p
• Ports: 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 port with PowerShare, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port with DisplayPort and Power Delivery, 1x Thunderbolt 4 port with DisplayPort and Power Delivery, 1x Universal Audio Jack, 1x HDMI 2.1 port, 1x MicroSD card slot
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6 (6E Pre-certified) AX1675 802.11ax 2×2 Wireless LAN and Bluetooth 5.2
• Dimensions: 14.16 × 10.91 × 0.626-inches (W x D x H)
• Weight: 2.35 kg

Suggested System Requirements for the game

Check out the system requirements for PC that 2K has suggested to run the game smoothly.

Minimum:

• Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
• OS: Windows 10 64-bit, Windows 11 64-bit
• Processor: Intel Core Intel i5 4690 / AMD Ryzen 5 1500X or better
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Graphics: Nvidia 960 2GB / AMD R9 380 or better
• DirectX: Version 12
• Network: Broadband Internet connection
• Storage: 12 GB available space
• Sound Card: DirectX 9.0x compatible sound card

Recommended:

• Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
• OS: Windows 10 64-bit
• Processor: Intel Core i7-4790 / AMD Ryzen 5 3500 or better
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce 1070 4GB / AMD RX Vega-56 or better
• DirectX: Version 12
• Network: Broadband Internet connection
• Storage: 12 GB available space
• Sound Card: DirectX 9.0x compatible sound card

The Dell Alienware X15 R2 fulfills both the minimum and recommended parameters of the game. Let’s see how Lego 2K Drive performs in the real world.

Testing Lego 2K Drive in different modes

Lego 2K Drive does not offer comprehensive customization options for the graphics aspect of the game. There are only few toggles available including different DirectX modes. We ran the game at 120 FPS which is the maximum refresh rate option available and conducted the tests in both DirectX modes.

During the first run, we focused played the game in DirectX 12 mode and the second, we tried the DirectX 11 mode. Here is how it performed in both these modes.

Understanding the tests

Let’s understand what “1% Low Average” and “0.1% Low Average” mean in the picture above. 1% Low is a metric that represents 1% of the frames of the entire duration of our gaming session, which recorded the lowest frame rates per second. 0.1% low refines things further, to give us the lowest 0.1% of the frames from the entirety of our gaming session, with the least framerates per second.

Performance of the game

​

When in DirectX 11, the game runs at a high average FPS of 80.8. Even the 1% Lows are at an average of 45 FPS and 0.1% Low average was 29.9 FPS. As these values highlight, there was hardly any stuttering or lag that I noticed. Playing the game on the Dell Alienware X15 R2, was a smooth experience.

However, in DirectX 12 mode, while the average FPS stayed similar, the 0.1 Low average and 1% Low average, dropped to 10.2 and 26.4 respectively. The game did noticeably stutter once or twice, but it didn’t matter much in the heat of the moment. Overall performance was satisfying for me. But, considering the less complex nature of the game, I expected better performance from the laptop and the game.

Thermals

The Dell Alienware X15 R2 consistently thermal throttles while gaming with temperatures peaking at 109-degree Celsius. It is worth noting that I placed the laptop in a sufficiently ventilated and cool space while gaming when these temperatures were recorded. Regardless, this might pose an issue to some players when playing racing games like Lego 2K Drive.

It is possible that you may also feel some portion of the heat while pressing down on certain keys during extended gaming sessions. We double checked with Dell to confirm that this operating temperature is normal for a thin package like the X15 R2.

Verdict

Summing up, playing Lego 2K Drive on the Alienware X15 R2 has been painless if I ignore the thermal situation. Even while taking the thermal performance into account, the visual and graphics quality, the smoothness and the audio performance, the overall experience was very satisfying and fulfilling. I do not remember registering a single performance related issue beyond some minor stutters throughout the duration of the game. However, we did hope for some higher tier of performance from the hardware this laptop features considering the level of this game.