Gameplay Performance
We are going to focus on 4K gameplay performance with the Overclocked 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. Ray Tracing performance will be shown on a separate page. For video card comparisons we are using an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Founders Edition video card and 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. We use the built-in preset to set “HIGH QUALITY” which sets the highest game graphics, without Ray Tracing. We manually enable DX12 and ASYNC Compute. 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 at 4K with the highest in-game settings, minus Ray Tracing, overclocking the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti Founders Edition does provide higher performance. Performance increases by 7% and the game is very playable at a higher level of performance at 65FPS average with everything maxed out except Ray Tracing. Compared to the GeForce RTX 3090 Founders Edition the overclocked GeForce RTX 3090 Ti Founders Edition is 18% faster, which is a very significant performance advantage in this game at 4K. In addition, DLSS performance gets a boost too, at 95FPS with DLSS this is a 7% boost from default performance and 18% faster than the RTX 3090 FE DLSS performance. Compared to the Radeon RX 6900 XT the overclocked GeForce RTX 3090 Ti FE is 24% faster.
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction was released on PC in January of 2022. This game uses the Ubisoft Anvil gaming engine and supports DLSS and multiple TAA options as well as a high-definition Texture Pack. We are running the game at the highest graphics settings, at a fixed 100% resolution. We will test with TAA, TAA 2X, and DLSS where supported. We are using the built-in benchmark.
In Rainbow Six Extraction at 4K and the highest in-game settings overclocking the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti FE improves performance by 6% bringing it up to near 140FPS at 4K. This is 19% faster than the GeForce RTX 3090 FE. With DLSS performance is almost at 200FPS, which is just amazing. The overclocked RTX 3090 Ti FE is 46% faster than the Radeon RX 6900 XT.
Utilizing a more intense TAA-2X setting the overclocked GeForce RTX 3090 Ti FE is still playable at near 80FPS. Overclocking has improved performance by 7%. Compared to the RTX 3090 FE the overclocked RTX 3090 Ti FE is 20% faster. Compared to the Radeon RX 6900 XT it is 61% faster.
Forza Horizon 5
Forza Horizon 5 was released on PC in November of 2021 and it uses the ForzaTech game engine. For our evaluation, we raise the in-game graphic settings beyond the “Extreme” preset to the maximum game settings. In addition to the “Extreme” preset we raise SSAO Quality to Ultra, Reflection Quality to Extreme, SSR Quality to Ultra. We also disable MSAA and use FXAA. We test AMD FidelityFX Contrast Adaptive Sharpening (CAS) performance from the Resolution Scaling option. We utilize the built-in benchmark for testing.
In Forza Horizon 5 at maximum game settings, the game is very playable on the overclocked GeForce RTX 3090 Ti FE at 4K. Overclocking the video card has increased performance by 4%, so not a huge amount in this game, but it’s enough to put it over Radeon RX 6900 XT performance. Compared to the GeForce RTX 3090 FE the overclocked RTX 3090 Ti FE is 12% faster.
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 FSR upscaling.
In Far cry 6 at 4K with the highest game settings enabled the overclocked GeForce RTX 3090 Ti FE improves performance by 4%, which is quite small, but this game is a bit CPU bottlenecked. Compared to the RTX 3090 FE the overclocked RTX 3090 Ti FE is 13% and the overclock brings the game to over 90FPS at 4K. FSR also improves performance, at 119FPS FSR improves performance by 27%.
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, mainly “Ultra”. This game supports DLSS and FSR.
In Cyberpunk 2077 at 4K and “Ultra” setting this game is not playable, even with the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti Founders Edition overclocked. That is, until, we enable DLSS. Without DLSS though even overclocked the RTX 3090 Ti is not fast enough to allow the game to be playable at 4K. Overclocking the video card has improved performance by 5%. Compared to the RTX 3090 FE which is 20% faster, which is quite a bit. Compared to the Radeon RX 6900 XT it is 36% faster. Enabling DLSS makes the overclocked GeForce RTX 3090 Ti FE very playable in this game, near 60FPS now at 4K. DLSS improves performance by 48%.
Microsoft Flight Sim 2020 Game of the Year Edition
MS Flight Sim 2020 was released in August of 2020 but received a big update in November 2021 called the Game of the Year Edition update. This brought with it support for the DX12 API which we have enabled for testing. We are utilizing the game’s “Ultra” preset for graphics settings and live terrain is enabled. We perform a manual run-through of an activity landing in New York with an outside view camera.
In MS Flight Sim 2020 overclocking the RTX 3090 Ti FE doesn’t improve performance very much, even at 4K. This game is rather CPU limited with these fast video cards. There is a slight performance increase, but it is not noticeable over the default performance. The performance compared to the Radeon RX 6900 XT is noticeable though, the difference is 14% between the overclocked RTX 3090 Ti FE and 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. This game supports DLSS upscaling.
Overclocking the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti Founders Edition has improved performance by just 4% at 4K in this game. That allows over 70FPS gameplay at 4K with “Ultra” settings. Compared to the RTX 3090 FE and Radeon RX 6900 XT which is 16% faster. DLSS also provides a big gain in performance, bringing performance to nearly 100FPS on the overclocked GeForce RTX 3090 Ti FE at 4K.
Discussion (10 replies)
Join Discussion →Thanks, @Brent_Justice for another great review.
I tried overclocking my EVGA FTW3 Ultra 3090 Ti but with much more modest settings that did not net as impressive results as your tests. However, I plan to use, as I've done many times over the years, your review as a guideline just to see what it can do. I had tinkered with increasing the mem speed but with detrimental performance. I actually saw lower max frames in Metro and CB 2077. Not by a whole lot, perhaps 2-5 FPS but the averages were close to the same. I'll tinker a bit more with the mem but will focus more on the boost.
Precision X1 will let me raise the power limit to 107% for that card. I previously did that but only added a meager 25-40 MHz to the boost clock which saw it top around 2010-2040 MHz and I had set the fans to 100% which kept it in the mid-high 60s. I am now curious to see what could happen with ~140 added there. I'm only going to do it just to see what the ceiling really is for the card as at stock it's already doing most of what I need and with the fans on the stock settings, the card fairly quiet, about the same volume as the rest of the fans in the case, and never lets the card above 72c.
Really there is no longer point to overclocking. You get meager results vs power/heat increase. The days of even 20% OC are long gone. You are lucky if you get anywhere near 10%OC
You are better off doing UNDERCLOCKING. You loose very little performance but save quite a bit of power and heat. Might want to check that out.
Too true. These 3090 Ti s are a prime example of that. My previous OC attempts gained more heat, noise, and TDP than performance but it's still nice to see where the ceiling is.
Wait, I read that as 'undervolting' @Stoly, sorry!
But undervolting and overclocking at the same time would be the goal, if there's any allowance left for tuning efficiency.
Well, Thanks @Brent_Justice!
Those settings worked. We all know there's always an element of luck in the bin and I've had more than my share of cards where I was not able to reproduce what I've seen in other reviews using the same settings but these worked. I mostly got the same results. I saw the boost peak at 2140 MHz but it mostly held between 2115 and 2130 MHz with 11,502 on the memory. I get the feeling I might be able to squeeze a little more but I'm not going to worry about it right now. I attached some screenshots. I only tested in Metro Exodus.
The bench results are stock and then the overclock settings. The game screenshots look washed out because I had HDR on and even though it looks fantastic on the C2, afterburner cannot properly capture it. I like Precision X1 for its better tuning options for the card but prefer AB for its OSD.
A few more. Just whipping these out before bed but all are, including the ones above, at 3840x2160/HDR/120 Hz/G-Sync. These are all with the OC settings Brent used for the review. Beyond that it's a lot less scientific as graphical settings are mostly all textures maxed, RT is either maxed or close to it and DLSS is always Quality (except CB 2077-performance). HZ Zero Dawn doesn't have RT but does have DLSS plus it's one of the few games besides Crysis Remastered that can give the CPU a little workout even at 4K. I always turn off any blur, chromatic, lens flare, DOF, type settings. Bottom line is that I was able to replicate the GPU overclock flawlessly with his settings. I saw sustained peaks of 2145 MHz while it only dipped to 2115-2130 MHz during various moments. Again I do apologize for them looking washed out but it's because AB cannot properly capture HDR images.
Off topic... I notice you have a comparison between the RTX 3070 vs 3080 and 3080 vs 3080Ti.
Could you do RTX 3070Ti vs RTX 3080? I'd like to know if its worth the extra dough.
It's on the list! Going in order of the projected popularity based on search volumes.
Gr8 tnx. I'm thinking at this point I should maybe wait for the 4000 series, but I don't think I could get one anyway.