Gameplay Performance 4K
On this page, we are going to focus on the 4K gameplay performance with the Overclocked 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. Ray Tracing performance will be shown on a separate page. In the comparison, we have a GeForce RTX 4080 Founders Edition and an AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX.
Horizon Forbidden West
Horizon Forbidden West was released to the PC on March 21st, 2024, and uses the Decima game engine. The game supports the full suite of Upscaling technologies, including DLSS, FSR, and XeSS. It also supports DLAA and DLSS 3 Frame Generation. For testing, we use the Preset of “Very High” and then manually enable the highest 16X Anisotropic filtering, this provides the highest possible graphics settings for testing. We use a manual run-through about two hours into the game, in the open world traveling from point to point, with machines along the way, through a desert scene, forest, and village.
In Horizon Forbidden West the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER starts out at 69FPS at 4K, and overclocking it improves performance by just 4% in this game. The game, thankfully, is already playable at 4K without needing upscaling and overclocking just smooths out some minimum FPS performance. Even overclocked, the Radeon RX 7900 XTX is still 11% faster than the Overclocked GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER. DLSS Upscaling performance compared to non-Overclocked is a 4% uplift as well.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora was released in December of 2023 and is based on an updated Snowdrop engine. This engine supports real-time ray tracing, and Avatar Frontiers of Pandora is unique in that it supports hardware ray tracing turned on by default, with no options to disable it. If a video card doesn’t support ray tracing, it falls back to a software ray tracing mode. With ray tracing baked in, all the results shown reflect the use of ray-traced global illumination, ray-traced reflections, and ray-traced shadows, these are always on. We utilize the graphics quality preset option of “Ultra.” We use the built-in benchmark.
In Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora we do see overclocking help the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER a bit more in this game. This game is pretty harsh on performance at 4K, so overclocking provides an 8% performance uplift making it more viable without upscaling. This puts the overclocked GeForce RTX 4080 now 8% over the RTX 4080 and 18% faster than the Radeon RX 7900 XTX. Still, DLSS Upscaling is best for 4K and that upscaling uplift compared to not overclocked is a 9% increase in performance.
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 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 Alan Wake 2, at 4K, this game is playable on each video card, but it is on the border of being playable. With the slower game pace, it is playable in the 50’s. This game is another example where the overclocking can help the gameplay performance and experience a lot. The overclocked GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER improves performance by 7% and almost hits 60FPS average at 4K. At this performance, it is 7% faster than the RTX 4080 and 9% faster than the Radeon RX 7900 XTX. Upscaling improves by 5%.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage
Assassin’s Creed Mirage was released in October of 2023 and is based on the Ubisoft Anvil game engine. We are using the “Ultra High” graphics quality preset, and all adaptive framerate measures are disabled. We use the built-in benchmark.
Assassins’s Creed Mirage very playable on all three video cards at 100FPS. Overclocking the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER improves performance by 5%. This puts it 5% faster than the RTX 4080 and 6% faster than the Radeon RX 7900 XTX. Upscaling improves by 6%.
Starfield
Starfield was released on the PC in September of 2023 and is based on the Creation Engine 2. We are using the highest Ultra settings in the game for all testing, and upscaling is disabled for standard testing, with no dynamic resolution. We use a manual run-through in the New Atlantis area encompassing all areas.
Starfield is a game where overclocking the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER also really improves the gameplay experience. The overclocked GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER improves performance by 6%, bringing it to 70FPS. With this, you don’t really need DLSS Upscaling, but of course, with it, performance is in the 90’s when overclocked. The Upscaling performance uplift is 6%. The overclocked RTX 4080 SUPER edges out the Radeon RX 7900 XTX now by 3%.
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 unlocked framerate, and everything is enabled except ray tracing, we have screen-space reflections on. We use the built-in benchmark.
In Returnal all three video cards are more than playable at 4K above 80FPS. Overclocking the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER improves performance by 5% bringing it to 90FPS without upscaling. The Radeon RX 7900 XTX is still faster, but narrows a bit, it’s faster by 7% now with the RTX 4080 SUPER overclocked. Upscaling greatly helps performance, and the upscaling performance uplift overclocked is 4%.
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 use the built-in benchmark.
In Forspoken, overclocking the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER improves performance by 5% and now it is able to edge out the Radeon RX 7900 XTX by 3%. It is also now 6% faster than the GeForce RTX 4080. Upscaling uplift is just 3% though compared to not overclocked.
Chernobylite Enhanced Edition
Chernobylite, based on Unreal Engine 4, was released on the PC in 2021, but the 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. It supports upscaling, and we use the highest quality. We use the built-in benchmark.
In Chernobylite Enhanced Edition performance was already more than playable, but overclocking the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER does improve performance by 5%. This puts it 7% ahead of the GeForce RTX 4080 and 17% ahead of the Radeon RX 7900 XTX. The upscaling uplift with overclocking is 5% compared to not overclocked.
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. We use the built-in preset to set “HIGH QUALITY” which sets the highest game graphics, without Ray Tracing. We manually enable DX12 and ASYNC Compute. We use the built-in benchmark.
In Dying Light 2 all three video cards offer a very playable experience and performance at 4K. Overclocking the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER improves performance by 5%. When overclocked, the RTX 4080 SUPER is 8% faster than the RTX 4080 and 17% faster than the Radeon RX 7900 XTX.
Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberpunk 2077 was released in December 2020 and uses the REDengine 4. We have the game patched to version 2.0 and utilize the built-in benchmark. We test using the Graphics Preset option to set graphics settings to “Ultra”. We utilize the highest quality upscaling.
Cyberpunk 2077 is a game that definitely benefits from overclocking at 4K, before overclock we are in the lower 50’s, and after now we are in the higher 50s at 4K without upscaling. Overclocking the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER has improved performance by 6%. When overclocked, it is 2% faster than the GeForce RTX 4080 and closes the gap with the Radeon RX 7900 XTX. The Radeon RX 7900 XTX is now 11% faster than the overclocked GeForce RTX 4080. Upscaling doesn’t increase much, though, when overclocked in the benchmark run.