I’ve been playing Halo: Campaign Evolved on the rather beefy Asus ROG Xbox Ally X without upscaling and things aren’t looking pretty. Well, they are looking quite pretty, but they certainly aren’t running pretty. You’ll definitely want some upscaling to do that, and in my testing, FSR Medium is the best way to go.
Strangely, there isn’t an option to disable upscaling altogether in Halo Campaign Evolved as of the time of writing. There are instead ‘native’ modes with TSR, FSR or DLSS. This essentially acts like anti-aliasing, without any of the performance benefits of upscaling.
With TSR set to native, I saw an average fps of 20 and 1% lows of 14.3 fps.
With FSR set to native, I saw a similar 22 average fps and lows of 19 fps. I would have assumed these would be identical, but they are similar enough to be within some degree of variance. Either way, FSR might be a better shout if it’s taxing the silicon a little less.
I’ve been testing with the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X in performance mode, whilst plugged in, running at around 17 W. This is arguably the best mode for the handheld, being decently performant without being too loud. The ROG Xbox Ally X is no slouch in specs, kitted out with the Zen 5 AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme and 24 GB of LPDDR5X memory. It’s on the higher end of the gaming handheld market right now.
There are some handheld-specific settings for Halo: Campaign Evolved. For instance, it has a very low graphical mode, which I couldn’t access outside of the plucky ROG Xbox Ally X. This tones down the graphics quality but gives you better performance in return.
My money would be on TSR between the three available upscalers. Over three separate gaming tests, I saw an average fps of 31 and lows of 25.6 fps on TSR Ultra, which is a bit higher than native. Personally, I’d like lows in the 30s for smoother gameplay, and FSR can get you that… at a cost.
Halo: Campaign Evolved | Very LowHalo: Campaign Evolved | LowHalo: Campaign Evolved | Medium
Avg FPS
1% Low FPS
FSR Low
49
39
FSR Medium
43
34
FSR Ultra
33
27
FSR Native
22
19
TSR Low
33
30
TSR Medium
32
28
TSR Ultra
31
26
TSR Native
20
14
015304560
Halo: Campaign Evolved | Very Low Data
Product
Value
FSR Low
49 Avg FPS, 39 1% Low FPS
FSR Medium
43 Avg FPS, 34 1% Low FPS
FSR Ultra
33 Avg FPS, 27 1% Low FPS
FSR Native
22 Avg FPS, 19 1% Low FPS
TSR Low
33 Avg FPS, 30 1% Low FPS
TSR Medium
32 Avg FPS, 28 1% Low FPS
TSR Ultra
31 Avg FPS, 26 1% Low FPS
TSR Native
20 Avg FPS, 14 1% Low FPS
Avg FPS
1% Low FPS
FSR Low
32
27
FSR Medium
26
22
FSR Ultra
23
27
FSR Native
16
14
TSR Low
29
23
TSR Medium
29
25
TSR Ultra
29
25
TSR Native
16
14
010203040
Halo: Campaign Evolved | Low Data
Product
Value
FSR Low
32 Avg FPS, 27 1% Low FPS
FSR Medium
26 Avg FPS, 22 1% Low FPS
FSR Ultra
23 Avg FPS, 27 1% Low FPS
FSR Native
16 Avg FPS, 14 1% Low FPS
TSR Low
29 Avg FPS, 23 1% Low FPS
TSR Medium
29 Avg FPS, 25 1% Low FPS
TSR Ultra
29 Avg FPS, 25 1% Low FPS
TSR Native
16 Avg FPS, 14 1% Low FPS
Avg FPS
1% Low FPS
FSR Low
28
24
FSR Medium
24
23
FSR Ultra
21
18
FSR Native
14
12
TSR Low
29
24
TSR Medium
28
25
TSR Ultra
27
24
TSR Native
15
14
07.51522.530
Halo: Campaign Evolved | Medium Data
Product
Value
FSR Low
28 Avg FPS, 24 1% Low FPS
FSR Medium
24 Avg FPS, 23 1% Low FPS
FSR Ultra
21 Avg FPS, 18 1% Low FPS
FSR Native
14 Avg FPS, 12 1% Low FPS
TSR Low
29 Avg FPS, 24 1% Low FPS
TSR Medium
28 Avg FPS, 25 1% Low FPS
TSR Ultra
27 Avg FPS, 24 1% Low FPS
TSR Native
15 Avg FPS, 14 1% Low FPS
With FSR set to low, and using the Very Low graphical setting, I saw an average of 48.6 fps and lows of 38.6 fps. I’d call this ‘perfectly playable’ on the little 7-inch 1080p display. FSR Medium gave me an average fps of 42.6 with lows of 34 fps.
From my time so far, I reckon FSR Medium with very low graphics is the absolute sweet spot. That’s what I stuck with as I have continued playing the game after I got all my testing stats.
Medium settings on Asus ROG Xbox Ally XFuture
Very low settings on Asus ROG Xbox Ally XFuture
FSR Low offers better performance, but it gives up too much clarity for me. FSR is genuinely really tough to justify on a bigger screen, so I wouldn’t bother on my main gaming PC, but FSR Medium with very low textures looks perfectly fine on the ROG Xbox Ally X.
And, most importantly, the difference between Low and Ultra graphics settings is surprisingly subtle here. It’s still more or less the same game: it’s just a little less pretty, and, with upscaling, has a slight bit more of a sheen to it in motion. Make sure to turn off motion blur, too. It’s awful.
