S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl was released to PC in November 2024 and is based on Unreal Engine 5. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl features UE5’s Lumen and Nanite. Lumen is used for direct and indirect global illumination, realistic reflections and a detailed environment. Nanite is used for complex geometry and detailed terrain with high-quality props. High-poly models are also used, along with physically based materials. There are post-processing effects, including volumetric smoke and fog. The game supports NVIDIA DLSS, AMD FSR 3, and Intel XeSS as well as TAA. We will be using the game’s built-in graphics preset options and adjust Upscaling where needed. We perform a manual run-through in the open world of the Lesser Zone, in an outdoor environment in the daytime in a GPU-oriented run-through.
Stalker 2 is a demanding game at the highest quality setting, but here we are running at 1080p on the “Epic” quality setting with a native resolution, and the XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 8GB just barely is near 60FPS. This, like Mafia, is better played with FSR Upscaling enabled on the XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 8GB at 1080p Epic quality settings. Alternatively, lowering the in-game settings at 1080p will be preferred for native resolution gameplay. The XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 8GB is 18% slower than the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8GB, which has a big leg up on performance. Overclocking the XFX Swift Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition 8GB improves performance by 6%.
Discussion (4 replies)
Join Discussion →In 2026, 8GB video cards will become more and more common as a need.
blox fruits
I wonder if we are entering a time of monitors going for better pictures but lower resolution and refresh rates for mass consumers.
I've been keeping an eye on 1440p stuff and from 2025 through 2026 there are quite a few examples of them getting more image quality related features. Basically catching up to what's been what's been happening with the 4K OLED stuff along with some other new features to boot. Sad part is that while 8 GB will suffice for many games at this resolution but there are certainly some AAA titles which will happily use 12 or 16 GB if the card has it to offer. However, there are some very cool 3rd and 4th gen 21:9 models out and on the way.
1080p panels has seen some improvements as well but I have noticed more effort has been put into to getting panels with insanely fast refresh rates which means as long as the system is overall fast, 8GB is perfect for those panels. It seems like the refresh rate angle is the larger focus for display manufacturers with the non-stop swath of 27" 1080p monitors.
The entire sentence could be deleted, and not be missed.