Gameplay Performance 1080p
On this page, we are going to focus on the 1080p gameplay performance with the SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 7600 XT 16GB 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, as well as 1440p performance. As the comparison card, we have an ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 4060 OC Edition video card which retails for $309 currently online and is a factory overclocked video card, giving the 7600 XT a good comparison.
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 we are testing at 1080p with the highest possible graphics settings. The SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 7600 XT performs very well, giving us above 60FPS performance at 1080p with smooth gameplay. There was no hitching, or pausing in performance. Overclocking the SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 7600 XT improved performance by 7%.
When compared to the GeForce RTX 4060 OC video card the SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 7600 XT is 8% faster. What matters the most, however, is that the SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 7600 XT ran smoother, with no hitching, while the GeForce RTX 4060 OC did experience some slowdowns that appeared to be VRAM capacity related with just 8GB of VRAM. The 16GB of VRAM on the 7600 XT seemed to allow it to run smoother in this game with no slowdowns or odd hitching. FSR added about 18% more performance, bringing it up into the 70’s of FPS at 1080p.
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 no video card is playable without Upscaling enabled. This game has always on Ray Tracing, and we can see the toll it takes on these video cards even at 1080p. The GeForce RTX 4060 OC edges out performance slightly, but even it is not playable without upscaling. With FSR upscaling, the SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 7600 XT gains 47% more performance it is playable above 60FPS. Overclocking the SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 7600 XT improves performance by 7%. The GeForce RTX 4060 OC is about on par with the overclocked SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 7600 XT 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 1080p all the video cards are playable here, but the SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 7600 XT by far has the best performance and experience. The SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 7600 XT ends up being 11% faster than the GeForce RTX 4060 OC video card. Overclocking it improves performance by 5%. When you enable FSR performance increases by 47%. While the RTX 4060 OC is playable in this game, the SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 7600 XT averages 60FPS at 1080p without upscaling.
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 runs extremely well on all three of these video cards, only minor performance differences differentiate them. Technically the GeForce RTX 4060 OC video card outperforms the SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 7600 XT by 4%. When we overclock the SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 7600 XT however, it gains 5% in performance and overtakes the RTX 4060 OC. FSR boosts performance up to 120FPS.
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.
In Starfield performance can be demanding in this area, and we can see that the GeForce RTX 4060 OC struggles quite a bit to even surpass 50FPS. The SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 7600 XT definitely comes out on top at 13% faster than the GeForce RTX 4060 OC, but it is still not ideal performance until you turn on FSR upscaling. Turning on FSR upscaling improves performance by 11% using the quality mode. Overclocking the SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 7600 XT also helps quite a bit here with a 7% performance uplift.
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 have playable performance above 80FPS. The SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 7600 XT is on par with the GeForce RTX 4060 OC in performance. Overclocking the SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 7600 XT improves performance by 6%. Using FSR upscaling improves performance by 29%.
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.
Forspoken is very sensitive to VRAM capacities, and we see that play out here even at 1080p. The GeForce RTX 4060 OC is falling quite behind due to its 8GB of VRAM compared to the 7600 XT’s 16GB. This puts the SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 7600 XT at a 20% performance advantage and makes the SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 7600 XT have a playable framerate at 71FPS. Further tuning on FSR improves performance by 27%. Overclocking the SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 7600 XT improves performance by 6%.
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 all three video cards offer a very playable experience with great framerates. The GeForce RTX 4060 OC offers more performance at 21% compared to the SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 7600 XT. Overclocking the SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 7600 XT improves performance by 5%. Turning on FSR upscaling improves performance by 24%.
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 are more than playable at 1080p above 100FPS. The GeForce RTX 4060 OC gets a 2% edge over the SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 7600 XT. However, once we overclock the SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 7600 XT performance increases by 6%. FSR upscaling improves performance by 26%.
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 of course very demanding, but at 1080p all three video cards can play it very smoothly at high framerates without needing upscaling. The SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 7600 XT is much faster at 12% advantage. Overclocking it improves performance by 7%. FSR upscaling improves performance by 26%.