I tested the gaming performance of the realme 8 smartphone by playing some of the most popular mobile games and measuring the average frame rate using GameBench Pro.
The games include Mobile Legends, Call of Duty Mobile, PUBG Mobile, and Genshin Impact. Let’s see how the realme 8’s gaming-centric MediaTek Helio G95 chipset, 8GB of RAM, and Android 11-based realme UI 2.0 software handle these games.
Graphics settings of Mobile Legends on the realme 8.
The realme 8 smartphone supports up to HIGH graphics quality on Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. It also has High Frame Rate mode or HFR enabled out of the box.
After a Ranked match, GameBench Pro reported an average frame rate of 56 FPS which is a little short of a perfect 60 FPS. The gaming experience is mostly smooth but with occasional lags whenever there’s a team fight.
Changing the graphics quality to MEDIUM improves the performance and results in a better frame rate of 58 FPS. It’s still not perfectly smooth but definitely better.
Graphics setting of Call of Duty Mobile on the realme 8.
In Call of Duty Mobile, the realme 8 supports up to an impressive graphics quality of VERY HIGH.
However, this results in a laggy gaming performance with an average frame rate of 47 FPS only. Reducing the graphics quality to HIGH improves the phone’s performance to 50 FPS.
The graphics quality needs to be reduced further to MEDIUM to achieve a near-perfect average frame rate of 58 FPS.
Graphics settings on PUBG Mobile on the realme 8.
Just like the two previous games, PUBG Mobile also supports high graphics quality or “HD” but the frame rate is automatically limited to 30 FPS only.
The realme 8 easily achieves this limit and GameBench Pro measured an average frame rate of exactly 30 FPS.
Changing the graphics quality to medium or “BALANCED” increases the frame rate limit and the device achieves an average frame rate of 40 FPS. It already feels smooth but not as fluid as 60 FPS and lags still occur during clashes.
Genshin Impact on the realme 8.
I usually reserve Genshin Impact for flagship-level smartphones but since the realme 8 has a gaming-centric chipset, I included this game in the FPS tests.
However, GameBench Pro reported a disappointing average frame rate of 14 FPS after playing the game in its default graphics quality.
Changing the graphics quality to LOW slightly improves the average frame rate to 22 FPS but still feels laggy.
Here are the average frame rates for each game as measured by GameBench Pro. It combines the results from tests in different graphics qualities.
realme 8 FPS test results.
These are the results of the individual realme 8 FPS tests I conducted:
| Game | Graphics Quality | Frame Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Mobile Legends | High | 56 FPS |
| Mobile Legends | Medium | 58 FPS |
| Call of Duty | Very High | 47 FPS |
| Call of Duty | Medium | 58 FPS |
| PUBG Mobile | HD | 30 FPS |
| PUBG Mobile | Balanced | 40 FPS |
| Genshin Impact | Default | 14 FPS |
| Genshin Impact | Low | 22 FPS |
The realme 8 is an excellent smartphone in terms of design, display, and photography but its gaming performance isn’t as impressive.
It uses the same MediaTek Helio G95 chipset as its predecessor but achieved slightly lower results in the FPS tests. I described the realme 7 as a “gaming powerhouse” in its price range but I can’t do the same for the realme 8.
Popular games like Mobile Legends and Call of Duty Mobile simply had several updates that made them slightly more resource-intensive. The games are still playable at high graphics quality. However, it’s necessary to reduce the graphics quality to medium for a smooth gaming experience.
