Ray Tracing Performance
We are going to focus on Ray Tracing 1440p gameplay performance with the MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Ti VENTUS 3X 12G OC 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 AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT video card.
F1 2022
F1 2022 was released on June 28th, 2022 on the PC and uses Codemasters Ego engine. The game supports Ray Tracing, DLSS, AMD FidelityFX, and FSR. We are going to run the game with the highest quality settings of “Ultra High” and TAA+FidelityFX. We will enable all Ray Tracing options in the game to “On.” We will enable DLSS and FSR as needed at the Quality setting for both. We will utilize the built-in benchmark in the Imola track, in dry conditions with a far chasing cam.
In F1 2022 we have downgraded the resolution to 1440p so that we can enable Ultra High Ray Tracing, we have all the Ray Tracing options turned on at the Ultra High setting at 1440p. Even at these intense settings, the game is very playable on the MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Ti VENTUS 3X 12G OC video card nearing 80FPS. This beats the Radeon RX 6900 XT by 28% in performance. Overclocking the MSI video card improves performance by another 6%. We can also use DLSS and FSR in this game, which evens out all the video cards around 122FPS. However, DLSS does look better than FSR.
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.
Dying Light 2 is much more graphically intense with Ray Tracing. We have also downgraded this game to 1440p and enabled the High Quality Ray Tracing option which enables all the Ray Tracing at the highest quality setting. The MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Ti VENTUS is 57% faster than the Radeon RX 6900 XT, but even so, it struggles to actually provide a smooth gameplay experience with Ray Tracing at 1440p. Overclocking helps a small bit, 6%. However, the best bet is to enable DLSS at these settings, which boosts performance by 55% taking the game to 83FPS. At these levels, it is very smooth.
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.
Far Cry 6 handles its DXR a lot better, and therefore we can actually keep this game at 4K. The MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Ti VENTUS is playable at 4K and with both DXR options enabled in this game and is around 70FPS. This is smooth and enjoyable. The AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT is neck-and-neck with the MSI RTX 3080 Ti VENTUS with Ray Tracing in this game at 4K. Overclocking the MSI VENTUS improves performance by 6%. FSR can also be used to further performance up into the 90s, but it isn’t needed as performance is already playable.
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.
We knew Cyberpunk 2077 would be graphically intense with Ray Tracing, so we not only lowered the resolution to 1440p but also lowered the Ray Tracing quality to “Medium.” We are running at Ray Tracing: Medium above, at 1440p. Even at just “Medium” Ray Tracing the MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Ti VENTUS is not playable, though it is 29% faster than the Radeon RX 6900 XT. Overclocking it also does not really make it playable, even though it increases the performance by 7%. It takes DLSS to make the game playable, which improves performance by 55% and the game is now playable at 68FPS average on the MSI RTX 3080 Ti VENTUS.
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 also downgraded the resolution to 1440p to enable Ray Tracing: “Ultra” quality. In this game, the MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Ti VENTUS is playable with Ultra Ray Tracing at 1440p, providing close to 60FPS average. Overclocking improves performance by 7% and takes it over 60FPS. The MSI RTX 3080 Ti VENTUS is 23% faster than the Radeon RX 6900 XT which is not playable. The MSI RTX 3080 Ti VENTUS can also enable DLSS, improving performance into the 80s.