Gameplay Performance Ray Tracing
On this page, we are going to focus on the 4K gameplay performance with Ray Tracing enabled on the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER Founders Edition video card. We will include DLSS and FSR performance on the same graph in the games that are supported shown in the Upscaling Bar, DLSS for NVIDIA and FSR for AMD. In the comparison, we have a GeForce RTX 4080 Founders Edition and an AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX.
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.
Pushing Alan Wake 2 up to 4K with the “High” Ray Tracing preset kills performance on every video card since it uses Path Tracing, and the game is not playable. In fact, it is questionably playable on Quality DLSS as well, you will probably want to drop it down to Balanced mode DLSS to be playable at 4K with HIGH Ray Tracing. From this, we can see that the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is 3.4% faster than the GeForce RTX 4080 and 88% faster than the Radeon RX 7900 XTX. Enabling Quality DLSS improves performance by 67% and now we are just at 50FPS in the game, but still way ahead of the Radeon RX 7900 XTX which is not playable at all with Path Tracing at 4K.
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 GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER and GeForce RTX 4080 provide the exact same performance and gameplay experience with Ray Tracing at 4K, which is playable. They are both much faster than the Radeon RX 7900 XTX, by 12%. When Upscaling is used, the RTX 4080 cards are very fast, but the Radeon RX 7900 XTX catches up with FSR at 4K.
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 RT enabled at 4K, it is very demanding, and performance is just at 60FPS average. The GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER and GeForce RTX 4080 provide the same performance and gameplay experience at 4K, even with Upscaling. They are just 1.6% faster than the Radeon RX 7900 XTX, and the RX 7900 XTX with FSR matches the performance of the RTX 4080 cards.
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.
In Chernobylite Enhanced Edition turning on “Ultra” Ray Tracing creates a very demanding burden as it uses Ray Traced global illumination. None of the video cards are playable without Upscaling, and the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is 36% faster than the Radeon RX 7900 XTX. The GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER and GeForce RTX 4080 have the same performance themselves, as well as with Upscaling. Using DLSS Upscaling the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is playable now at 70FPS.
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.
Dying Light 2 is also demanding with full Ray Tracing quality at 4K, and this game is unplayable without Upscaling on any card here. The GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is 2% faster than the GeForce RTX 4080 and 35% faster than the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX. When DLSS Upscaling is used, performance is very playable and smooth at 80FPS.
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, not surprisingly, no video card is playable at 4K with Ultra Ray Tracing. The GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is 3% faster than the GeForce RTX 4080 and 43% faster than the Radeon RX 7900 XTX. Enabling DLSS Upscaling provides a playable experience, but not up to 60FPS unless you use Balanced DLSS quality.