Gameplay Performance – Ray Tracing
On this page, we will be testing Ray Tracing game performance on the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 FE video card. We will test a mix of 4K native resolution, and 1440p native resolution because many of these games are very demanding at 4K with Ray Tracing. We also need to show some 1440p performance so that the GPUs will not be as bottlenecked, so we can see performance differences. We will also include DLSS Upscaling performance using the “Quality” DLSS preset on NVIDIA GPUs. For comparison, we will be comparing the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 FE, and AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX, which will utilize FSR Upscaling. Games are organized alphabetically, and all games are run with the highest quality settings, Ray Tracing is enabled, and Frame Generation will be tested on separate pages.
Alan Wake 2
*Important Note* – We are utilizing a beta developer build of Alan Wake 2 which NVIDIA provided us access with, which supports DLSS 4 Transformer Model, as well as Multi-Framegen. In addition, the Ray Tracing settings have changed in this new beta build, there is now an “Ultra” Ray Tracing option, where the previous version of the game only had an up to “High” Ray Tracing option. This more intense “Ultra” Ray Tracing option is very demanding, and we have enabled this new “Ultra” Ray Tracing option on both the GeForce RTX 4090 FE and GeForce RTX 5090 FE video cards above. We also have Ray-Reconstruction enabled for Ray Tracing on both video cards as well. However, the Radeon RX 7900 XTX is using the previous game version’s “High” Ray Tracing option, and the video card does not support Ray-Reconstruction.
In Alan Wake 2 at 4K, we have the new “Ultra” Ray Tracing quality preset enabled, and it is extremely demanding, the GeForce RTX 5090 FE is not playable at native resolution. This game does require DLSS Upscaling to be enabled to allow the GeForce RTX 5090 FE to be playable around 70FPS average. Even wit the GeForce RTX 4090 FE, that video card is not very playable even with DLSS Upscaling, you would need to enable a more aggressive DLSS Upscaling setting, such as Balanced, for the RTX 4090 to be playable at this new “Ultra” RT setting.
The new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 FE ends up providing a 32% performance uplift over the previous generation GeForce RTX 4090 FE with Ray Tracing in this game at 4K. With DLSS Upscaling enabled, we see a 75% performance uplift, and the game is playable on the RTX 5090 at 4K. Compared to the Radeon RX 7900 XTX, the new GeForce RTX 5090 is 219% faster.
Since Alan Wake 2 was so demanding at 4K with “Ultra” Ray Tracing, we dropped the game down to 1440p to see if it would be more playable. Indeed, the new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 FE is actually playable in Alan Wake 2 at 1440p and “Ultra” Ray Tracing at native resolution without the need for Upscaling. The GeForce RTX 4090 is as well, but just barely, just at that 60FPS mark. The GeForce RTX 5090 FE is 31% faster than the GeForce RTX 4090 FE, and 203% faster than the Radeon RX 7900 XTX. When we enable DLSS Upscaling performance increases by 58% and we can achieve that 120FPS mark for high-refresh rate displays.
Black Myth: Wukong
In Black Myth: Wukong, at 4K we have enabled the “Cinematic” quality settings as well as turning on Ray Tracing to the “Very High” level. This game was already demanding without Ray Tracing, and it is doubly so with Ray Tracing. This game is simply unplayable on each video card, even the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 FE, without Upscaling. Technically speaking, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 FE is a larger 41% faster than the GeForce RTX 4090, showing remarkable improvement with RT performance. When we enable Upscaling performance jumps up pretty high, 84% which brings it up to almost 60FPS, still kind of below what you’d want for this game, but better. Overall, you’ll probably need to lower the RT setting here to really enjoy the game even on the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 FE with Upscaling. The Radeon RX 7900 XTX is well, rediculous here.
Since 4K was so demanding with Very High Ray Tracing, we dropped the game to 1440p to see if it would be better. Well, it actually is, for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 FE. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 FE now actually provides a somewhat playable performance near 60FPS without Upscaling, but honestly, I think you’d still want Upscaling to really enjoy it performance-wise for such a fast-moving action game. The GeForce RTX 4090 requires Upscaling in this scenario to be playable. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 FE is 34% faster than the GeForce RTX 4090 at this resolution with RT performance. Upscaling improves performance by 59%. The Radeon RX 7900 XTX, again, is a no-go.
Cyberpunk 2077
In our first Cyberpunk 2077 graph, we are running at 4K with the “Ultra” Ray Tracing preset, which is just the regular Ray Tracing in this game. Performance is rough, but the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 FE just makes the 60FPS mark, almost, barely, the minimums are still going to be below that. Honestly, even with Ray Tracing enabled it looks like you’d still want to enable Upscaling on the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 FE to really enjoy the game with regular Ray Tracing enabled. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 FE is 33% faster than the GeForce RTX 4090 with RT. The RTX 4090 is definitely not playable without Upscaling. The Radeon RX 7900 XTX struggles, and even with Upscaling it is not playable, you would need very aggressive Upscaling on it to be playable. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 FE is 180% faster than the Radeon RX 7900 XTX.
We would be remiss if we did not try out the Ray Tracing “Overdrive” option with Path Tracing enabled in this game. Therefore, we first tried it at 4K with RT Overdrive enabled, which enables the tough Path Tracing mode, naturally the Radeon RX 7900 XTX was out of the equation here. With RT Overdrive enabled, neither card is playable at 4K, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 FE is only barely playable with Upscaling enabled, but it is at least averaging over 60FPS now, which is an improvement. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 FE ends up being 38% faster than the GeForce RTX 4090 with RT Overdrive. With Upscaling enabled, performance improves by a very large 95%.
Since 4K was so demanding with RT Overdrive, we also dropped to 1440p, and lo and behold, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 FE is actually playable with RT Overdrive at 1440p at native resolution. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 FE is 33% faster than the GeForce RTX 4090 with RT Overdrive. Enabling Upscaling improves performance by 64% and brings it over 100FPS at 1440p with RT Overdrive. Just for giggles, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 FE is 259% faster than the Radeon RX 7900 XTX with RT Overdrive, heh.
Dying Light 2
In Dying Light 2, we are running the game at 4K with the highest Ray Tracing option. Both the GeForce RTX 4090 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 FE are playable, but the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 FE is much faster at 90FPS. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 FE is 37% faster than the GeForce RTX 4090 with RT, and 159% faster than the Radeon RX 7900 XTX. Enabling Upscaling brings up performance by 60%.
F1 24
In F1 24, the GeForce RTX 4090 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 FE are very playable with the highest quality Ray Tracing over 100FPS without Upscaling. The Radeon RX 7900 XTX is over 60, but you might want a bit more in this fast game. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 FE is 29% faster than the GeForce RTX 4090, and 116% faster than the Radeon RX 7900 XTX. Enabling Upscaling improves performance by 44% and now it’s over 200FPS at 4K with RT.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
In Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, this game supports a Full RT mode that enables Path Tracing. We pushed this game to its visual quality limits with the Supreme quality setting and Full RT Path Tracing quality to the highest level at 4K. This is not available on the Radeon RX 7900 XTX. We do find that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 FE is playable at 60FPS without Upscaling, and for this game, that is acceptable, and it beats the GeForce RTX 4090 by 30% in performance. Enabling Upscaling improves performance by 36% and is even more playable, the RTX 4090 requires Upscaling to be playable with Full RT in this game.