Denuvo and FPS Loss: Truth and Myths
The debate over whether Denuvo hurts performance has been going on for almost a decade, and both sides cite real numbers. Some games gained a few frames after the protection was removed, others did not change at all, and in some benchmarks the minimum FPS even dropped after removal. There is no contradiction here once you understand how the protection is built into a game.
Below is what before-and-after comparisons show, why the results diverge so much, which common claims do not hold up, and what it all means when choosing hardware.
What Denuvo Is and Why It Can Affect Performance
Denuvo Anti-Tamper is protection against modification of a game's executable, developed by Irdeto. Its purpose is to make cracking harder during the first weeks after release, when a game sells best.
Technically, the protection adds checks to the game code: fragments that confirm the copy is genuine when they run. These checks are executed by the CPU. This is the key point: the performance impact depends not on the protection itself, but on where and how often the developer placed those checks.
- If the checks sit in rarely executed code — menus, level loading, scene transitions — the in-game FPS impact is close to zero.
- If the checks end up in frequently executed code that runs every frame, the CPU spends time on them constantly, and this shows up in frame rates.
That is why the question "Does Denuvo lower FPS?" has no general answer. The right question is how the protection is implemented in a specific game.
What Before-and-After Benchmarks Show
The most telling data comes from comparing the same game before and after the publisher removed the protection with a patch. The results of such benchmarks vary.
| Game | Result after Denuvo removal | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Mass Effect: Andromeda | Average FPS rose from about 57 to 64 | Before-and-after comparison of seven games |
| Mad Max | Average FPS rose from about 54 to 60 | Same comparison |
| Devil May Cry 5 | No noticeable difference found | TechPowerUp |
| One of the games in a 2026 GameGPU test | Average FPS unchanged, minimum FPS dropped | GameGPU |
Three conclusions follow from this data:
- The impact exists, but it is not universal. In some games the gain after removal was around 10 percent, in others it stayed within the margin of error.
- Minimum frame rates and loading suffer more than average FPS. CPU-executed checks show up more often in load spikes and during loading than in the average figure.
- A before-and-after test is not always clean. The patch that removes the protection often includes other changes, and drivers and the system are also updated between tests. So individual results, including a drop in minimum FPS after removal, point to a mix of factors rather than any "benefit" of the protection.
In January 2026, another analysis concluded that the protection lowers FPS, and the debate entered a new round.
Irdeto's Position
Irdeto consistently maintains that properly implemented protection does not affect performance. In 2023, the company announced plans to create a benchmarking system and give trusted media versions of games without protection to prove there is no impact, but later abandoned those plans.
The topic resurfaced in 2025–2026: hypervisor-based bypass methods appeared, and Irdeto announced work on updated versions of the protection. A company representative stated that the strengthened security measures would not affect performance for players. This can only be verified independently through comparative benchmarks of released games.
Myths That Do Not Hold Up
"Denuvo always costs 20–30 percent of FPS." Independent comparisons do not show such numbers on average. In games where the impact is noticeable, the typical range is a few percent, up to roughly 10 percent of average FPS. Some games show no difference at all.
"Removing Denuvo always raises FPS." No. There are games where average FPS did not change after removal, and benchmarks where minimum frame rates even dropped because of other changes in the same patch.
"It's a graphics card problem." The checks are executed by the CPU. If there is an impact, it shows up when the game is CPU-bound: at high FPS at low resolution, in scenes with many objects, and during loading. At 4K, when the GPU is the bottleneck, the difference is usually minimal.
"If a game with Denuvo stutters, the protection is to blame." Most often the cause is something else: shader compilation, insufficient VRAM, overheating, or background load. Before blaming the protection, rule out the usual causes.
Facts That Hold Up
- The impact depends on the implementation in a specific game. The same protection produces different results in different games.
- If there is an impact, it is on the CPU side. Minimum frame rates and loading times suffer the most.
- A powerful CPU makes the impact less noticeable. The more CPU performance headroom you have, the less the checks affect frame rates.
- Only comparisons of the same game under identical conditions give valid conclusions. Comparing different games, or versions with other changes, proves nothing.
What This Means for Choosing Hardware
The practical takeaway is simple: if the protection has any impact, it comes through the CPU. So games with Denuvo follow the same logic as any other CPU-heavy game.
- For high FPS in competitive games, CPU headroom matters more than the most powerful graphics card.
- When the GPU is the bottleneck, the protection's impact gets lost among other factors.
- If a game stutters, check the usual causes first: temperatures, drivers, and VRAM capacity. If there are signs of system instability, see our guide on why a PC restarts by itself.
You can choose a configuration with CPU headroom for your games and resolution in the gaming PC catalog or in the configurator.
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Frequently Asked Questions
- Does Denuvo lower FPS? In some games it does, in others it does not. The impact depends on where the developer placed the protection checks. In before-and-after comparisons, the gain reached about 10 percent of average FPS, for example in Mass Effect: Andromeda and Mad Max, while Devil May Cry 5 showed no noticeable difference.
- How much does Denuvo reduce performance? Independent benchmarks do not confirm the widely cited 20–30 percent figures. In games where the impact is noticeable, it amounts to a few percent, up to roughly 10 percent of average FPS. Minimum frame rates and loading times suffer more.
- Why does FPS sometimes not increase after Denuvo is removed? Because the protection's impact depends on the implementation: if the checks sit in rarely executed code, there is little to remove. In addition, the patch that removes the protection often contains other changes, so a before-and-after comparison is not always clean.
- Does Denuvo load the CPU or the graphics card? The CPU. The protection checks are executed by the CPU, so any impact shows up when the game is CPU-bound: at high FPS at low resolution, in scenes with many objects, and during loading. At 4K, when the GPU is the bottleneck, the difference is usually minimal.
- What does Irdeto itself say? Irdeto states that properly implemented protection does not affect performance. In 2023, the company planned to prove this with a benchmarking system but abandoned those plans. In 2025–2026, it stated that the updated versions of the protection against hypervisor-based bypasses would not affect performance.
- How can I check whether Denuvo affects my game? The only valid way is to compare the same game before and after the protection is removed, with identical drivers and settings. Comparing different games proves nothing. In practice, it is easier to rely on independent benchmarks of the specific game.
- If a game with Denuvo stutters, is the protection to blame? Most often, no. Typical causes are shader compilation, insufficient VRAM, overheating, background processes, and outdated drivers. Rule these out first, and only then consider the protection.
- Will a powerful CPU help with Denuvo games? Yes. CPU performance headroom makes the protection checks less noticeable, since they run on the CPU. This is especially important for high FPS in competitive games.
- Does Denuvo affect loading times? In a number of comparisons, loading times became shorter after the protection was removed. This is consistent with checks often being placed in level-loading and scene-transition code.
- Why do publishers sometimes remove Denuvo? The protection matters mostly in the first weeks after release, when a game sells best. Later, publishers often remove it with a patch, and these are exactly the cases that make it possible to compare performance before and after.