Gameplay Performance Continued
Watch Dogs Legion
In Watch Dogs Legion we use the graphics preset to select “Ultra” quality. We manually enable “Ultra” Ray Tracing when testing that, plus “Quality” DLSS when testing DLSS with Ray Tracing. We use the built-in benchmark for testing.
In this first graph, we do not have Ray Tracing enabled, we are using the highest in-game setting of “Ultra.” This game is very playable on all the video cards here, they all can stay above 60FPS, except for the RTX 3060 Ti FE. The XFX SPEEDSTER MERC 319 RX 6700 XT is about 10% faster than the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE. Overclocking it improves performance by 6%. This puts it on par with the GeForce RTX 3070 FE in performance.
In this graph we have now enabled Ray Tracing at the “Ultra” level which is the highest. This puts the hurt on all the video cards, and none are playable. The Radeon RX 6700 XT based GPUs are the slowest, and overclocking doesn’t help much. The RTX 3060 Ti is a bit faster than the overclocked XFX card, but the RTX 3070 FE is the fastest.
Because performance was miserable at “Ultra” Ray Tracing at 1440p we decided to lower it to “Medium” which is the lowest the Ray Tracing setting will go. This did help, but the game was still not playable. The RTX 3060 Ti FE is still faster than the overclocked XFX RX 6700 XT, and the RTX 3070 FE is the fastest.
Horizon Zero Dawn
In Horizon Zero Dawn we enable the “Ultimate Quality” graphics option. We utilize the built-in benchmark for testing.
Horizon Zero Dawn runs very fast on all the video cards at 1440p and the highest in-game settings. It is playable on all the video cards here. The GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is faster than the XFX SPEEDSTER MERC 319 RX 6700 XT, that is until we overclock it. Overclocking it improves performance by 8% and brings it over the RTX 3060 Ti FE. The RTX 3070 FE is still faster overall though.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020
For Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 we always used the most updated version and we enable the “Ultra” graphics preset and select resolution as needed. We do have live online terrain enabled; however, we do disable traffic. We do a flight landing exercise in Sydney and record a timed run-through with an external view.
In Flight Simulator 2020 overclocking the XFX SPEEDSTER MERC 319 RX 6700 XT has improved performance by 6%. The game is playable with or without overclocking on the video card, this game is tolerable at lower framerates, though it certainly feels better on the RTX 3070 FE, a lot better. Even the RTX 3060 Ti is beating the RX 6700 XT overclocked here. It seems the RX 6700 XT GPU is not the best for this particular game.
Red Dead Redemption 2
In Red Dead Redemption 2 we run the game in the Vulkan API. We set all the in-game options up to “Ultra” or the highest value, except for MSAA. We use the built-in benchmark for testing.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is a demanding game at the highest settings. It is nice to see that the Radeon RX 6700 XT can provide a playable game experience at 1440p with the highest settings. The XFX SPEEDSTER MERC 319 RX 6700 XT is 5% faster than the RTX 3060 Ti FE. Overclocking it improves performance by 7%. This puts it on par with the GeForce RTX 3070 FE for performance.
Wolfenstein Youngblood
In Wolfenstein Youngblood the game runs in the Vulkan API. We set the graphics option to “Mein Leben!” for the highest settings. We enable Ray Tracing and DLSS on Quality Mode as needed. When not using DLSS the NVIDIA Adaptive Shading option is on Quality. We leave the rest of the settings at default. We use the built-in benchmark of Riverside for testing.
Wolfenstein Youngblood is more than playable on each video card at 1440p with the highest in-game settings. The XFX SPEEDSTER MERC 319 BLACK RX 6700 XT is 3% faster than the reference card. Overclocking it though improves performance by 8%. This puts it over the RTX 3060 Ti FE in performance, but still shy of the RTX 3070 FE ultimately. Unfortunately, we cannot enable Ray Tracing in this game on the RX 6700 XT, which is something the RTX GPUs can do to improve image quality. They can also use DLSS to improve performance even more.