Ray Tracing Performance
We are going to focus on Ray Tracing 4K (and some 1440p) gameplay performance with the GeForce RTX 4090 FE 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 a GeForce RTX 3090 Ti FE video card and a GeForce RTX 3090 FE video card and a Radeon RX 6900 XT video card. Note that the percentage performance advantage offered by the GeForce RTX 4090 FE versus the other cards is shown in a table below each graph. This is a very long page, scroll down fully.
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.
| GeForce RTX 4090 Performance Uplift VS—> | GeForce RTX 3090 Ti | GeForce RTX 3090 | Radeon RX 6900 XT |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raster vs. Raster | 75% | 105% | 211% |
| Upscaling vs. Upscaling | 64% | 89% | 112% |
In F1 2022 we are running at 4K with the highest game settings and we have now turned on Ultra High Ray Tracing with all options turned on. Ray Tracing in this game is very demanding at 4K, and only the new GeForce RTX 4090 FE video card is able to provide a playable gameplay experience at 4K with Ultra High Ray Tracing turned on. Every other card on this graph is slow, with even the RTX 3090 Ti FE only reaching 48FPS. The new GeForce RTX 4090 FE is at a whopping 84FPS, the uplift in performance with the GeForce RTX 4090 FE is huge with Ray Tracing turned on versus the other cards. The GeForce RTX 4090 FE is 75% faster than the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti FE, 105% (more than double) that of the GeForce RTX 3090 FE, and 211% faster than the Radeon RX 6900 XT, wow.
This game also supports DLSS and FSR, and with DLSS enabled the GeForce RTX 4090 FE boosts framerates by a large 64% bringing performance up to 138FPS at 4K, with all Ray Tracing. Thankfully turning on DLSS on the other GPUs, and FSR on the Radeon RX 6900 XT do make the other cards playable, but the GeForce RTX 4090 FE is clearly taking a huge lead with Ray Tracing.
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 FSR2. 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 game’s 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.
| GeForce RTX 4090 Performance Uplift VS—> | GeForce RTX 3090 Ti | GeForce RTX 3090 | Radeon RX 6900 XT |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raster vs. Raster | 72% | 98% | 238% |
| Upscaling vs. Upscaling | 70% | 93% | 209% |
Dying Light 2 is very demanding running full Ray Tracing quality at 4K. Only the GeForce RTX 4090 FE is playable at 4K and full High-Quality Ray Tracing mode, and it is still just shy of 60FPS, which shows you how demanding the game is. The GeForce RTX 4090 FE is 72% faster than the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti FE and 98% faster than the GeForce RTX 3090 FE, which is almost doubled, and compared to the Radeon RX 6900 XT it is 238% faster.
DLSS helps the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti FE become playable at these settings, but the GeForce RTX 4090 FE really improves with it by increasing in performance by 72% up to near 98FPS average making the game super smooth. The Radeon RX 6900 XT is not playable with FSR2 at just 30FPS.
| GeForce RTX 4090 Performance Uplift VS—> | GeForce RTX 3090 Ti | GeForce RTX 3090 | Radeon RX 6900 XT |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raster vs. Raster | 69% | 92% | 221% |
| Upscaling vs. Upscaling | 44% | 61% | 145% |
Because this game is so demanding at 4K and Ultra High Ray Tracing we also decided to test 1440p and Ultra High Ray Tracing. At 1440p now the GeForce RTX 3090 and 3090 Ti FE video cards are playable and of course the new GeForce RTX 4090 FE allows over 100FPS without any upscaling at all. The GeForce RTX 4090 FE is 69% faster than the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti FE and 92% faster than the GeForce RTX 3090 FE and 221% faster than the Radeon RX 6900 XT.
Turning on DLSS improves performance on the GeForce RTX 4090 FE by 33% and brings it up to 144FPS. DLSS also helps the other cards be more playable, and FSR2 is necessary on the Radeon RX 6900 XT to be playable period at 1440p and Ray Tracing.
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.
| GeForce RTX 4090 Performance Uplift VS—> | GeForce RTX 3090 Ti | GeForce RTX 3090 | Radeon RX 6900 XT |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raster vs. Raster | 40% | 53% | 65% |
| Upscaling vs. Upscaling | 20% | 29% | 34% |
DXR Ray Tracing in Far Cry 6 is not as demanding as other games, and as such even the Radeon RX 6900 XT is playable with it at 4K. The GeForce RTX 4090 FE clearly has the advantage still and is 40% faster than the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti FE and 53% faster than the GeForce RTX 3090 FE and 65% faster than the Radeon RX 6900 XT. FSR doesn’t do as much as DLSS to improve performance but does bring it up by 12% on the GeForce RTX 4090 FE.
Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberpunk 2077 was released in December 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”, “Ray Tracing: Medium” or “Ray Tracing: Ultra” as indicated. This game supports DLSS and FSR.
| GeForce RTX 4090 Performance Uplift VS—> | GeForce RTX 3090 Ti | GeForce RTX 3090 | Radeon RX 6900 XT |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raster vs. Raster | 76% | 104% | 236% |
| Upscaling vs. Upscaling | 64% | 88% | 258% |
Cyberpunk 2077 is very demanding trying to run it with “Ultra” Ray Tracing at 4K, and that’s not even the highest Ray Tracing setting, there is a Psycho setting above Ultra. The GeForce RTX 4090 FE struggles to run this game at 4K with “Ultra” Ray Tracing, while it is of course the fastest GPU on this graph, it is still averaging about 44FPS. This is borderline playable? To be honest, we’d prefer higher FPS, and for that DLSS is the answer at 4K and “Ultra” Ray Tracing in this game. Without DLSS, the GeForce RTX 4090 FE is 76% faster than the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti FE and over double, 104%, faster than the GeForce RTX 3090 FE, and 236% faster than the Radeon RX 6900 XT.
Turning on DLSS is really the answer to making the GeForce RTX 4090 FE sing at 4K and “Ultra” and even “Psycho” Ray Tracing at 4K. None of the other cards are even playable with DLSS, only the RTX 4090 FE is. DLSS improves performance by 71% on the GeForce RTX 4090 FE which is very large and brings performance up to 75FPS average for an enjoyable gameplay experience.
| GeForce RTX 4090 Performance Uplift VS—> | GeForce RTX 3090 Ti | GeForce RTX 3090 | Radeon RX 6900 XT |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raster vs. Raster | 60% | 81% | 206% |
| Upscaling vs. Upscaling | 44% | 57% | 176% |
Because Cyberpunk 2077 is so demanding we brought it down to 1440p with “Ultra” Ray Tracing to see how it does. At 1440p and “Ultra” Ray Tracing really only the new GeForce RTX 4090 FE allows a playable gameplay experience at 85FPS. It is 60% faster than the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti FE and 81% faster than the GeForce RTX 3090 FE and 206% faster than the Radeon RX 6900 XT. Only the GeForce RTX 4090 FE is playable without upscaling at 1440p and “Ultra” or “Psycho” Ray Tracing at 1440p.
Enabling DLSS on the GeForce RTX 4090 FE improves performance by 36% bringing it up to over 100FPS with Ray Tracing. You can easily run the “Psycho” Ray Tracing mode at 1440p on the GeForce RTX 4090 FE and enjoy it in this game.
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.
| GeForce RTX 4090 Performance Uplift VS—> | GeForce RTX 3090 Ti | GeForce RTX 3090 | Radeon RX 6900 XT |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raster vs. Raster | 64% | 83% | 167% |
| Upscaling vs. Upscaling | 54% | 70% | N/A |
In Watch Dogs Legion only the new GeForce RTX 4090 FE allows a playable gameplay experience at 4K and “Ultra” Ray Tracing. It is allowing above 60FPS at 4K and “Ultra” Ray Tracing. This is 64% faster than the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti and 83% faster than the GeForce RTX 3090 FE and 167% faster than the Radeon RX 6900 XT. Enabling DLSS improves performance by 52% bringing it up to 97FPS on the GeForce RTX 4090 FE.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Shadow of the Tomb Raider was released in 2018 and uses the Crystal Dynamics Foundation Engine. We manually turn up the graphics settings in this game to the highest possible settings and with TAA. This game also supports NVIDIA DLSS, which is used, and thanks to a new patch now also supports Intel XeSS, which we use on the AMD GPUs. For our Ray Tracing test, we turn on the Ray Traced Shadows Quality to Ultra. We run the built-in benchmark.
| GeForce RTX 4090 Performance Uplift VS—> | GeForce RTX 3090 Ti | GeForce RTX 3090 | Radeon RX 6900 XT |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raster vs. Raster | 74% | 97% | 140% |
| Upscaling vs. Upscaling | 74% | 95% | 177% |
In Shadow of the Tomb Raider we can enable the Ray Traced Shadow Quality option to Ultra and the GeForce RTX 4090 FE is very playable well over 100FPS. This is 74% faster than the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti FE and 97% faster than the GeForce RTX 3090 FE and 140% faster than the Radeon RX 6900 XT. Enabling DLSS improves performance by 48% and brings it to 177FPS.
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.
| GeForce RTX 4090 Performance Uplift VS—> | GeForce RTX 3090 Ti | GeForce RTX 3090 | Radeon RX 6900 XT |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raster vs. Raster | 73% | 98% | 171% |
| Upscaling vs. Upscaling | 69% | 90% | N/A |
Metro Exodus Enhanced is demanding at Extreme settings and Ultra Ray Tracing at 4K. Only the new GeForce RTX 4090 FE allows a playable experience over 60FPS with these maximum game settings at 4K. This is 73% faster than the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti FE and 98% (almost doubled) the GeForce RTX 3090 FE and 171% faster than the Radeon RX 6900 XT. Turning on DLSS improves performance by 48% bringing performance up to over 100FPS at maximum Ray Tracing at 4K.