Gameplay Performance 4K
On this page, we are going to focus on the 4K gameplay performance with the MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT 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 the comparison card, we have a made-by-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 MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT performs great at 4K, providing a playable gameplay experience at 71FPS average. When we apply DLSS upscaling at Quality performance increases by 38% and is now in the upper 90’s for very smooth framerates. Overclocking increases performance by just 4%, but with DLSS that is now near 100FPS average. The MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT is about 10% slower than the Radeon RX 7900 XTX in this game, except for when upscaling is enabled, then they perform similarly.
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 the MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT has a performance lead over the Radeon RX 7900 XTX by 7% at 4K. The MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT isn’t exactly playable at 4K though, until we turn on DLSS upscaling, then there is a 71% performance boost and the game is very playable at an average of 82FPS at 4K. Overclocking the MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT increases performance by 8%, but still needs DLSS upscaling at 4K to be playable due to this game always using Ray Tracing.
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 the MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT is playable in this game at 53FPS, but if you do want more performance than DLSS upscaling at 4K offers a 60% performance improvement at 85FPS. Overclocking improves performance by 8% and with DLSS it’s at 90FPS. The MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT and Radeon RX 7900 XTX are on par in performance, and with upscaling the overclocked MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT matches the 7900 XTX.
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 the MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT at 100FPS and is on par with the Radeon RX 7900 XTX performance. DLSS upscaling improves performance by 33% and overclocking improves performance by 5% and exceeds the 7900 XTX in raster and upscaling.
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, but the MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT allows a very playable experience at 67FPS for smooth gameplay. It’s just 3% shy of the Radeon RX 7900 XTX. DLSS upscaling improves performance by 34% increasing it to 90FPS. Overclocking the MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT improves performance by 7%.
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 the MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT is very playable at 85FPS and DLSS upscaling improves performance by 35%. The MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT is 11% behind the 7900 XTX in this game. Overclocking the MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT improves performance by 6% and brings it to 90FPS.
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, but the MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT does very well at 4K with its 16GB of VRAM allowing a smooth 77FPS. It’s only 4% behind the 7900 XTX. DLSS upscaling improves performance by 40% bringing performance to 108FPS. Overclocking improves performance by 6% and brings performance over the 7900 XTX.
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 the MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT is very playable at 109FPS and beats the 7900 XTX by 5%. DLSS upscaling improves performance by 39% up to 152FPS. Overclocking improves performance by 4%.
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 the MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT is very playable and allows a playable experience at 92FPS. DLSS Upscaling improves performance by 44% and brings that to 133FPS at 4K. The MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT is behind the 7900 XTX by 7%. Overclocking the MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT improves performance by 5%.
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 at 4K, but the MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT allows 53FPS at 4K without upscaling. You’ll probably want to enable upscaling however, with DLSS upscaling enabled performance increases by 29% and is now in the upper 60’s at 4K. The MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT is 17% behind the 7900 XTX in this game. Overclocking the MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT improves performance by 6%.