NVIDIA RTX Spark Teased Running Alan Wake 2 With DLSS 4.5 Ray Reconstruction, But Key Performance Details Are Still Missing
Alan Wake 2 remains one of the most demanding PC games available today, largely because of Remedy’s Northlight engine combined with NVIDIA’s advanced ray tracing and path tracing features. Even high-end desktop graphics cards can struggle when the game is pushed to its visual limits, especially without help from upscaling and Frame Generation.
That is why NVIDIA’s latest RTX Spark teaser is getting attention. The new chipset, designed for the Windows on ARM platform, has been shown running Alan Wake 2 with DLSS 4.5 Ray Reconstruction enabled. On paper, that sounds impressive, particularly for an ARM-based laptop platform. However, the showcase also leaves several important questions unanswered.
The biggest missing detail is performance. NVIDIA has not shown frame rate numbers, resolution settings, or full graphics presets for the RTX Spark demo. That makes it difficult to judge how well the chip is actually handling Alan Wake 2, especially with such demanding visual features enabled.
RTX Spark is said to feature a Blackwell GPU with the same number of CUDA cores as a desktop RTX 5070. That sounds promising, but CUDA core count alone does not guarantee desktop-class gaming performance. Power limits, memory bandwidth, cooling, and system design all play a major role in how a laptop chip performs in real games.
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang previously demonstrated RTX Spark-powered systems running 007 First Light and Forza Horizon 6 on battery power. While that helped build excitement around the platform, frame rates were not shown during those demonstrations either. Now, another teaser image has appeared showing Alan Wake 2 running on an RTX Spark laptop with DLSS 4.5 Ray Reconstruction enabled, but once again, the most important performance data is absent.
Alan Wake 2 is not an easy game to run. Turning on path tracing, high-resolution textures, and Multi-Frame Generation can consume a large amount of memory. In that area, RTX Spark may have an advantage, as systems using the chip can reportedly be configured with up to 128GB of LPDDR5X unified memory.
However, memory capacity is only one part of the equation. Path tracing is extremely demanding on the GPU itself. Even if a system has plenty of available memory, the graphics processor still needs enough raw performance to maintain smooth frame rates. In many cases, the GPU will hit its performance limits long before it runs out of VRAM.
Running Alan Wake 2 natively with maximum visual settings is already a challenge for some of the most powerful graphics cards on the market. That is why technologies such as DLSS, Ray Reconstruction, and Frame Generation are so important. They can dramatically improve playability, but they also make it harder to understand the true native performance of the hardware.
NVIDIA has promoted RTX Spark laptops as being capable of 1440p gaming at up to 100FPS. That is an ambitious claim, but the Alan Wake 2 teaser does not confirm whether the game was running at 1440p, what DLSS mode was used, or whether Frame Generation and Multi-Frame Generation were active. Without that information, it is impossible to know how close the system is to NVIDIA’s broader performance claims.
The teaser is still notable because Alan Wake 2 is a serious test for any GPU. Showing the game running with DLSS 4.5 Ray Reconstruction on an ARM-based Windows laptop suggests NVIDIA has confidence in the platform. At the same time, the lack of benchmarks means buyers should remain cautious until independent testing becomes available.
For now, RTX Spark looks like one of the most interesting upcoming laptop platforms, especially for users interested in AI features, gaming, and efficient Windows on ARM devices. If NVIDIA can deliver strong performance while keeping power consumption under control, it could become a major step forward for portable gaming laptops.
Still, the real test will come when commercial RTX Spark laptops arrive and reviewers can measure actual frame rates, power draw, thermals, and image quality. Until then, the Alan Wake 2 demo is best viewed as a promising preview rather than proof of final gaming performance.
RTX Spark-powered laptops are expected to launch in the fall, and all eyes will be on how they handle demanding titles like Alan Wake 2 once real-world benchmarks are available.
