Ray Tracing Performance
We are going to focus on Ray Tracing 1440p gameplay performance with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Founders Edition video card. We will include DLSS and FSR performance on the same graph in the games that are supported. We will use DLSS on NVIDIA GPUs and FSR on AMD GPUs. For video card comparisons we are using an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Founders Edition video card and an AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT video card.
Dying Light 2
Dying Light 2 was released in February 2022 on the PC and uses Techland’s C-Engine. The game supports Ray Tracing, DLSS and FSR. This game supports Ray Tracing environmental effects including Ray Traced Soft Shadows, Ray Traced Ambient Occlusion, Ray Traced Global Illumination, and Ray Traced Reflections. We utilize the built-in preset option to set “HIGH QUALITY RAYTRACING” which enables the games highest graphics settings plus the environmental effects explained above at the highest values. The game is run in DX12 Ultimate mode with ASYNC Compute turned on. For our benchmark, we are using a custom manual run-through at the end of the game hopping between rooftops, as well as free-roaming on the ground city level, as well as a forested area, in the daylight.
In Dying Light 2 we are running the game at 1440p and the highest possible in-game settings with the highest Ray Tracing quality setting. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Founders Edition is generally playable at near 55FPS average, there may be some places where performance drops into the lower 40s, and sometimes upper 30s in the most intense areas. This is pretty much the same performance as the RTX 3080 Ti as well. Compared to the Radeon RX 6900 XT, the GeForce RTX 3090 FE is 60% faster, and the 6900 XT is not playable. Turning on DLSS really makes the two NVIDIA GPUs much more playable with Ray Tracing, bringing performance up 56% and is very smooth at 84FPS. FSR helps performance on the 6900 XT, but not enough to be playable, you’ll have to lower Ray Tracing quality on the 6900 XT.
Far Cry 6
Far Cry 6 was released in October of 2021 and uses the Dunia Engine. We utilize the built-in benchmark for testing. We have the HD Texture pack installed and turned on. We utilize the “Ultra” graphics preset which sets all options to the highest game settings. This game supports Ray Tracing via two DXR settings, one for Reflections and the other for Shadows, we turn on both for testing. This game supports FSR upscaling.
In Far Cry 6 at 1440p with all DXR options enabled this game is very playable on all three video cards. In fact, at 1440p we are CPU bottlenecked in this game with these three high-end video cards, even with DXR enabled. This is why performance is the same between the video cards, and why FSR is not providing a big uplift at 1440p on these video cards. This game is actually playable at 4K with DXR enabled on these three video cards, so that’s what you will be able to play at.
Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberpunk 2077 was released in December of 2020 and uses the REDengine 4. We have the game patched to version 1.52 and perform a long manual run-through driving in the game’s open world. We test using the Graphics Preset option to set graphics settings. We use the Ray Tracing Graphics Preset of either: “Ray Tracing: Low”, or “Ray Tracing: Medium” or “Ray Tracing: Ultra” as indicated. This game supports DLSS and FSR.
Once again, Cyberpunk 2077 is very demanding, and with Ultra Ray Tracing at 1440p the game is pretty much unplayable unless you use DLSS and or FSR. On the GeForce RTX 3090 FE it’s average around 44.4FPS, just above the RTX 3080 Ti, but this isn’t really playable. However, once we turn on DLSS, then it is very playable, performance improves by 60% and performance is around 70FPS, which is very smooth. The Radeon RX 6900 XT is nowhere near playable, even with FSR. The RTX 3090 FE is 63% faster than the RX 6900 XT.
Watch Dogs Legion
Watch Dogs Legion was released on the PC in October of 2020 and uses the Disrupt game engine. We utilize the built-in benchmark for testing. We have the HD Texture pack installed and enabled for testing. We use the built-in graphics preset of “Ultra” for testing. We utilize the “Ultra” preset quality option for Ray Tracing. This game supports DLSS upscaling.
In Watch Dogs Legion we are running at 1440p with “Ultra” Ray Tracing and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 FE is playable at 60FPS. The RTX 3080 Ti is just a smidge faster due to clock speed. The RTX 3090 FE is 25% faster than the Radeon RX 6900 XT, which is not playable. With the RTX 3090 FE we can also utilize DLSS in this game bringing performance up 37% to 82FPS making this game very smooth with Ray Tracing.
Metro Exodus Enhanced
Metro Exodus Enhanced is being run with Shading Quality at “Extreme” and Ray Tracing at “Ultra.” This is a demanding game, that heavily focuses on Ray Tracing utilization, including Global Illumination. We are utilizing the built-in benchmark.
In Metro Exodus Enhanced we are running at 1440p with the highest game settings and highest Ray Tracing quality turned on. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 FE is playable above 60FPS, and sits just below the RTX 3080 Ti, due to clock speed, but both are pretty much the same. The RTX 3090 FE is 23% faster than the Radeon RX 6900 XT, which is not as playable. However, thanks to the new AMD driver, the performance of the Radeon RX 6900 XT isn’t too bad with Ray Tracing in this game now. The fact that it’s only 23% within the performance of the RTX 3090 with Ray Tracing is impressive. With DLSS the RTX 3090 FE improves performance by 34% to 82FPS which makes this game very smooth.