Alan Wake 2 Graphics Settings Performance Tested and Compared

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DLSS 3.5 Ray Reconstruction Performance Compared

Since we have just looked at the game’s quality presets compared, and the Ray Tracing quality presets compared, let’s see how DLSS 3.5 Ray Reconstruction alone affects Ray Tracing performance. Remember, the goal of Ray Reconstruction is to provide better image quality than the game’s default denoiser for Ray Tracing, inherintely the technology is not meant to provide a performance increase. However, due to the complexity of denoisers, using machine learning the way NVIDIA is doing it can actually alleviate some performance bottlenecks, and also speed up the process, and make it look better.

Below, we are going to customize the Ray Tracing settings by turning off Ray Reconstruction and comparing it to the game’s denoiser performance. We are going to compare Ray Reconstruction to the “High” Quality setting of both the Direct Lighting Denoising Quality and Path Traced Indirect Lighting Denoising Quality.

4K – Native Rendering with DLAA

Alan Wake 2 4K DLSS 3.5 Ray Reconstruction Performance Compared Graph

In the above graph, we are running at 4K display resolution and 4K render resolution, with DLAA. We have the game set to the High-Quality Preset for graphics settings, and Ray Tracing is also set to the High Ray Tracing Preset. When DLSS 3.5 Ray Reconstruction is toggled off the Denoiser settings are at “High.”

Right off the bat, we see that Ray Reconstruction is actually improving Ray Tracing performance. With Ray Reconstruction turned on performance increases by 17% from 24 FPS to 28 FPS. Of course, without DLSS or Frame Generation, the game isn’t playable here, but hey, it shows Ray Reconstruction positively affecting the game in performance regardless.

4K – Quality DLSS (2560×1440 Rendering Resolution)

Alan Wake 2 4K DLSS 3.5 Ray Reconstruction Performance Compared with DLSS Graph

Now we have Quality DLSS Super Resolution upscaling enabled, and the game is more playable, but more so with Ray Reconstruction enabled. We see a 16% improvement in performance with Ray Reconstruction, wow.

4K – Quality DLSS (2560×1440 Rendering Resolution) + DLSS 3 Frame Generation

Alan Wake 2 4K DLSS 3.5 Ray Reconstruction Performance Compared with DLSS and Frame Generation Graph

With DLSS 3 Frame Generation enabled this game is very playable, but it is more playable with DLSS 3.5 Ray Reconstruction enabled with an 11% gain in performance. Any way you slice it, Ray Reconstruction is not only a visual benefit but also a performance benefit.

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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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