Can a AMD Radeon RX 590 run Black Mesa?
The AMD Radeon RX 590 handles Black Mesa comfortably — roughly 1248 FPS at 1080p and 774 FPS at 1440p on high settings.
High preset, upscaling off, paired with a AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D-class processor.
How the AMD Radeon RX 590 measures up
| Requirement | AMD Radeon RX 590 | Minimum | Recommended | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GPU performance score | 18 | Recommended | ||
| Video memory | 8 GB | 2 GB | 4 GB | Recommended |
| Ray tracing | — Not supported | Game has no RT | N/A | |
| Upscaling | FSR | Not supported | N/A | |
Recommended settings
For 60 FPS at 1080p
Use the ultra preset. You already clear 60 FPS on high, so this leaves headroom for dips in busy scenes.
At 1440p
Comfortable — around 774 FPS on high.
At 4K
Around 449 FPS on high — genuinely viable.
How other cards handle Black Mesa
| Graphics card | Tier | 1080p FPS | vs AMD Radeon RX 590 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intel Arc A580 | C | 1394 | ▲ 146 FPS | Compare |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER | C | 1321 | ▲ 73 FPS | Compare |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop | C | 1321 | ▲ 73 FPS | Compare |
| AMD Radeon R9 Fury | C | 1321 | ▲ 73 FPS | Compare |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 8GB | D | 1175 | ▼ 73 FPS | Compare |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 | D | 1175 | ▼ 73 FPS | Compare |
Frequently asked questions
Can the AMD Radeon RX 590 run Black Mesa?
The AMD Radeon RX 590 handles Black Mesa comfortably — roughly 1248 FPS at 1080p and 774 FPS at 1440p on high settings.
What FPS will I get?
On high settings with upscaling off: roughly 1248 FPS at 1080p, 774 FPS at 1440p and 449 FPS at 4K. These are modelled estimates — see our methodology.
What settings should I use?
Start at the ultra preset at 1080p.
Will my processor hold this back?
These figures assume a processor fast enough not to limit the card. If yours is older, run the bottleneck calculator — this title leans on the GPU, so a modest CPU deficit costs less.