Gameplay Performance Ray Tracing
On this page, we are going to focus on the 1440p gameplay performance with Ray Tracing enabled. We are including the GeForce RTX 4070 FE to see the performance differences. We are including the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT since it is the closest competitor from AMD, though keep in mind the Radeon RX 7800 XT is cheaper, $499 MSRP, and there are add-in-partner cards, and factory overclocked cards, that close the gap in pricing. 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.
Alan Wake 2
Alan Wake 2 was launched on the PC in October of 2023 and is based on the Northlight Engine. The game supports detailed graphics and ray tracing with path tracing support. This game defaults to DLSS or FSR but does allow Native AA resolution settings with DLSS or FSR respectively. We can utilize Super Sampling upscaling, and for our graphs, we will just call that DLSS or FSR. We utilize the graphics presets to set High quality, as well as the Ray Tracing presets to set Low or High quality. We use a manual run-through in the Initiation 5: Room 665 chapter.
In the graph above we are running Alan Wake 2 on the “LOW” Ray Tracing preset option, this is because the “High” option kills AMD performance by using Path Tracing. On Low settings, Path Tracing is not used, and so we wanted to show this performance level before the High setting so we could see where the cards all land on the Low Ray Tracing Preset in Alan Wake 2.
The ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER Trinity Black Edition is not playable with Low Ray Tracing at 43FPS, but once you enable DLSS it very much is and allows 70FPS and smooth gameplay. The ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER Trinity Black Edition is 13% faster than the GeForce RTX 4070 and Radeon RX 7800 XT on Low Ray Tracing mode. When we overclock it, performance increases by 9%, and now it is arguably playable.
Now in this graph, we have enabled the “HIGH” Ray Tracing preset, which enables Path Tracing. The ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER Trinity Black Edition is still not playable, but once we enable DLSS it does become playable and smooth at 60FPS. It is 15% faster than the GeForce RTX 4070 and 95% faster than the Radeon RX 7800 XT. When we overclock it performance increases by 8% and that makes it more playable with DLSS.
Returnal
Returnal was launched on the PC in February of 2023 and is based on Unreal Engine 4. The game supports real-time ray tracing effects, particle systems, and volumetric rendering. We utilize the graphics preset to set EPIC graphics settings with an unlocked framerate, and everything is enabled. For ray tracing tests we have enabled Ray Traced Shadows and Reflections at EPIC settings. We use the built-in benchmark.
In Returnal, the ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER Trinity Black Edition is playable at maximum settings with maximum Ray Tracing at 1440p at 84FPS, and with DLSS well above 100FPS. It is 14% faster than the GeForce RTX 4070 and 25% faster than the Radeon RX 7800 XT. When we overclock it performance increases by 7% and now it is 22% faster than the GeForce RTX 4070 and 34% faster than the Radeon RX 7800 XT.
Forspoken
Forspoken was released on January 24th, 2023, on the PC and uses the Luminous Engine. The game supports all upscaling methods and Ray Tracing. We are going to customize the settings and enable the highest graphics settings, including Ultra High Texture Memory. We are going to enable both Ray Tracing options, Shadows, and Ambient Occlusion. We use the built-in benchmark.
In Forspoken with Ray Tracing ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER Trinity Black Edition is playable at 76FPS and will provide 100FPS with DLSS. It is 12% faster than the GeForce RTX 4070 and 13% faster than the Radeon RX 7800 XT. Overclocking it improves it by 8% and now it is 21% faster than the GeForce RTX 4070 and 22% faster than the Radeon RX 7800 XT.
Chernobylite Enhanced Edition
Chernobylite was released on the PC in 2021, but the free Enhanced Edition update for the game was released in April 2022. The Enhanced Edition provides a visual overhaul of the game with better textures, plus introduces tessellation and ray tracing features. It features raytraced reflections, raytraced translucency, raytraced caustics, and raytraced dynamic diffuse global illumination. The game is based on Unreal Engine 4. For our Ray Tracing test, we have enabled the Ultra Ray Tracing option.
Chernobylite Enhanced Edition uses Ray Traced Global Illumination and is very hard on GPUs. ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER Trinity Black Edition is the only card here that is playable at near 60FPS and with DLSS very playable at 92FPS. It is 17% faster than the GeForce RTX 4070 and 56% faster than the Radeon RX 7800 XT. When we overclock it performance improves by 10% and now is 28% faster than the GeForce RTX 4070 and 71% faster than the Radeon RX 7800 XT.
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. We use the built-in benchmark.
In Dying Light 2 the ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER Trinity Black Edition is very playable with maximum Ray Tracing at 67FPS and with DLSS over 100FPS. It is 18% faster than the GeForce RTX 4070 and 45% faster than the Radeon RX 7800 XT. When we overclock it performance increases by 7% and now it is 27% faster than the GeForce RTX 4070 and 56% faster than the Radeon RX 7800 XT.
Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberpunk 2077 was released in December 2020 and uses the REDengine 4. We have the game patched to version 2.0 and use the built-in benchmark. 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 FSR2.
In Cyberpunk 2077 the ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER Trinity Black Edition is not playable with Ultra Ray Tracing, until we enable DLSS and then it is at 76FPS. It is 11% faster than the GeForce RTX 4070 and 62% faster than the Radeon RX 7800 XT. When we overclock it performance increases by 9% and it is now 21% faster than the GeForce RTX 4070 and 76% faster than the Radeon RX 7800 XT.