Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve is one of the best-looking games we’ve run on the Steam Machine so far, but it’s also one of the most demanding. We tested it at 1080p, 1440p and 4K, and also tried 1440p with frame generation, which ended up being our favourite way to play.
1080p: the closest you’ll get to 60 FPS
At 1080p, we set the graphics to Low with FSR on Performance. Even with those settings, the game doesn’t hold 60 FPS. It sits around 50 FPS and sometimes dips below that. Still, if you want the closest thing to 60 FPS without frame generation, this is the way to go. The catch is that you’re giving up a lot of visual quality to get there.
1440p: a stable 30 FPS that looks gorgeous
Since 60 FPS is out of reach, the next option is to target 30 FPS. At 1440p, we left everything on the Medium preset with FSR set to Balanced, and the game stays close to a stable 30 FPS. It looks great here too, with the water reflections and overall graphics really standing out. If you don’t mind playing at 30 FPS, 1440p is the sweet spot, and it keeps the visuals this game is built around.
4K: not recommended
At 4K, the Steam Machine struggles, hitting around 20 to 25 FPS at most. You can run it this way if you really want to, but we’d only suggest it with frame generation added on top. You can also add frame generation at 1080p to get somewhere around 40 to 50 FPS, but we don’t see much point when 1440p looks just as good.
Our recommended settings: 1440p with frame generation
Our recommended setup is 1440p with the Medium graphics preset, FSR set to Balanced, and MAKO Frame Generation. This gives you 1440p visual quality with a noticeably smoother frame rate. Ace Combat 8 doesn’t include frame generation of its own, so you’ll need a third-party option like Lossless Scaling or MAKO Frame Generation to make this work.
Final thoughts
Ace Combat 8 is a lot of fun and looks stunning on the Steam Machine, but it pushes the hardware hard. Go with 1080p Low if you want the highest frame rate, 1440p Medium if you’re happy at 30 FPS, and add frame generation at 1440p for the best overall experience. Are you playing it on your Steam Machine? Let us know what settings you’re using.
