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.
Discussion (15 replies)
Join Discussion →I recently gave in to getting a Zotac Amp Aero Extreme OC version of this. Loving it so far and have mostly had identical experiences with it but so far only had a few hours of playtime and testing this past Sunday. I was lucky enough to find one on Amazon for $1150 plus tax and free shipping. I'm also impressed with its power efficiency. I totally agree, the 4080 done right.
While I think its a great card, its still overpriced IMO.
It's only overpriced if they can keep it in stock...
Well, the one I got is already out of stock and the other sellers start at least $100 higher.
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oh, and I messed up on what I paid. It was $1099.
The super cards have been over msrp since they came out unless you were lucky enough to get one pretty early on. I've been pretty happy with my MSI 4080 non super which I paid under $1,000 for at the time. Got it before things got crazy again with the GPU market again.
There've been some ups and downs with them. I've been checking somewhat regularly since the 4070 Ti Super launched because I knew I wanted to upgrade that rig. The one that I've never seen at MSRP is what Brent reviewed, the Founders Edition, but only having one or two official sources for that makes it incredibly difficult to get.
I forget who, but someone mentioned in another thread that B&H has had some AIB cards at MSRP, PNY I think, and I almost ordered one from them. Newegg has some but you usually have to get them in a PSU combo and there are some decent combos (saw a MSI Suprim X 4080 Super and 1300W ATX 3.0 for ~$1300) but I really don't need a new PSU right now but I almost pulled the trigger on that one. I ultimately reminded myself how this was really a splurge and to stick to a budget that started in the 900-1000 range.
It's a shame though, yeah, anyone wanting to get one at MSRP still has to put in the time to look around. They can be found and some days are easier than others but persistence is key for those who want to save money. The only reason I didn't go with the 4070 Ti Super, and I've absolutely found some at $799, is that it would be a wash with the 3090 Ti I replaced while the 4080 Super is ~10% improvement, and more when factoring in DLSS 3 options. That combined with significantly less power usage and better cooling vs the 3090 Ti was enough to convince me for this card and I'm definitely happy.
Just did a quick search at NVIDIA and yep, no sign of the founders edition but there are two other models at MSRP.
Just to add that I've been pleasantly surprised with the 4090 FE card I have. This is my first FE card and so far it has run the coolest out of the three 4090's I have owned.
I almost grabbed the MSI Expert version of the 4080 Super because it's more-or-less a clone of the FE and accessible but I wanted to try the strategy of an even bigger heatsink for more passive cooling. Having heard of the energy efficiency of the 4080 Super I was curious about that strategy but as your experience and Brent's review shows, the FEs are usually awesome. I'm pretty happy with the Zotac though, it boosts to 2685 MHz at stock and I can't hear it above the AIO/case fans which are all pretty quiet most of the time.
I don't think Zotac gets enough appreciation in the hardware community. I have used them off and on going back to I believe was a 9800GT card that lasted for years.
They're just not as focused on NA as the standard gamut of GPU vendors. Believe they're bigger in EU.
I've had folks telling me for about a decade that they make good cards at great prices but the name is what held me back. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings but its just not one that makes me think, yeah I need a Zotac to get the job done. However, I'm somewhat converted now, at least on the affordable side of things for OC model.
I only had one Zotac card as they are hard to come by here, it was a Geforce 4 Ti 4200, it OCed past my brothers Ti 4600, really good performance at the time.
I didn't know, or at least remember, they'd been around that long. They didn't get on my radar until around the 700 or 900 series.
They're part of the Olde Garde.
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