NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti Founders Edition Video Card Review

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Ray Tracing Performance

We are going to focus on Ray Tracing 1440p gameplay performance with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti 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 3090 Founders Edition and 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.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti Founders Edition Video Card Dying Light 2 Ray Tracing Graph

In Dying Light 2 we are running the game at 1440p, but we have the highest quality setting of Ray Tracing enabled now. As you can see above, only the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti Founders Edition allows the game to be playable at 60FPS with full Ray Tracing and without having to use DLSS. However, if you do include DLSS that will improve performance by 53% and jumps to 90FPS performance.

At 61FPS the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti FE is 12% faster than the GeForce RTX 3090 FE and RTX 3080 Ti FE. The RTX 3090 Ti FE is 80% faster than the Radeon RX 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.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti Founders Edition Video Card Far Cry 6 Ray Tracing Graph

In Far Cry 6 we actually run into a CPU bottleneck in this game with these fast video cards. Even at 1440p with all the DXR options turned on the video cards bunch up close to each other and our Ryzen 7 5800X is actually the thing holding back performance now. The GeForce RTX 3090 Ti FE is very playable at 106FPS and doesn’t need FSR, but with it, we get a little bump. In fact, FSR is only providing a small bump at 1440p because again the CPU is holding it back. Remember, FSR renders at an even lower resolution, and upscales, so more CPU bottlenecking is occurring at a lower resolution when it’s doing that. Therefore, in this game, you are able to run at 4K with DXR Ray Tracing turned on and the game will be playable on every video card here even at 4K and Ray Tracing.

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.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti Founders Edition Video Card Cyberpunk 2077 Ray Tracing Graph

In Cyberpunk 2077 we are running the game at 1440p but with the highest quality Ray Tracing option turned on. This game once again needs DLSS or FSR to even be playable with Ray Tracing at 1440p. The GeForce RTX 3090 Ti FE is the fastest video card here, but without DLSS it still isn’t playable with full Ray Tracing quality at 1440p. However, enable DLSS and the game is very playable at 78FPS, an increase of 57%.

At 50FPS the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti FE is 12% faster than the GeForce RTX 3090 FE and RTX 3080 Ti. The RTX 3090 Ti FE is 83% faster than the Radeon 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.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti Founders Edition Video Card Watch Dogs Legion Ray Tracing Graph

In Watch Dogs Legion we are running the game at 1440p with the highest level of Ray Tracing. Now in this game the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti FE is very playable with full Ray Tracing at 1440p without the need for DLSS. So is the RTX 3090 and RTX 3080 Ti, but the RTX 3090 Ti FE has higher averages, which means higher minimums. With DLSS performance improves by 31% up to 88FPS.

At 67FPS the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti FE is 12% faster than the GeForce RTX 3090 FE. The RTX 3090 Ti FE is 40% faster than the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT, which is not playable.

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.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti Founders Edition Video Card Metro Exodus Enhanced Graph

In Metro Exodus Enhanced we are running the game at 1440p and with the highest level of Ray Tracing. In this game the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti FE is very playable at near 70FPS average, well over the other cards here. It also supports DLSS which can improve performance by 30% and brings it up to 90FPS.

At near 70FPS the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti FE is 13% faster than the GeForce RTX 3090 FE. It’s 38% faster than the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT.

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Brent Justicehttps://www.thefpsreview.com
Former managing editor of GPUs at HardOCP for 18 years, Brent Justice has been reviewing computer components since the late 90s, educated in the art and method of the computer hardware review, he brings experience, knowledge, and hands-on testing with a gamer-oriented and hardware enthusiast perspective. You can follow him on Twitter - @Brent_Justice You can sub to his YouTube channel - Justice Gaming https://www.youtube.com/c/JusticeGamingChannel You can check out his computer builds on KIT - @BrentJustice https://kit.co/BrentJustice

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