Ray tracing and DLSS/FSR 1440p performance:
Let’s take a look at the seven games we’ve selected that support Ray Tracing and DLSS, as well as AMD’s FSR in some cases, and Intel’s new XeSS technology, which is supported by Shadow Tomb Raider and Hitman 3. As we’ve already reminded you, while DLSS remains the property of NVIDIA, FSR and XeSS can be used with all cards from AMD, Intel and even NVIDIA.
The seven DirectX 12 games we’ll be testing with ray tracing and DLSS, FSR or XeSS are :
- ups of the Tomb Raider (DLSS)
- Watch Dogs: Legion (DLSS)
- Metro Exodus PC Enhanced Edition (DLSS)
- Far Cry 6 (DLSS – FSR)
- Cyberpunk 2077 (DLSS 3 – FSR)
- Hitman 3 (DLSS 3 – XeSS)
- Forza Horizon 5 (DLSS 3)
No change for this new series of games, as we’re sticking with 1080p definition. Depending on the card, we’ll be using DLSS for NVIDIA and either FSR or XeSS for AMD models. If FSR is not available in a game, then we’ll give our AMD card the benefit of XeSS technology.
DLSS 3: watch out for our results!
As you know, NVIDIA unveiled DLSS 3 with the arrival of the RTX 4000 graphics cards, and in particular with the launch of the RTX 4090 version. So why the warning? Because NVIDIA now offers DLSS 3 support on many games, but this is only supported by RTX 4000s. To put it simply, if we test a game that benefits from DLSS 3, our RTX 4060 Ti will take advantage of it, but an RTX 30xx will make do with DLSS 2, resulting in even greater discrepancies.
We currently have three games that support DLSS 3, and we’ll be increasing this number over the coming weeks. Updating all our graphics to 1080p and 1440p has taken us a long time. You can find the list of compatible games here.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider:
The first game we’ve added to this comparison supports Ray Tracing and DLSS 2.0. The game features three Ray Tracing levels (medium – high – ultra) and four DLSS levels (performance – quality – balanced – ultra performance).
For our benchmarks, we opted for ” very high ” graphics quality, ” ultra ” Ray Tracing and ” balanced ” DLSS.
With Ray Tracing set to ultra, an average of 108 FPS is achieved. Ray tracing performance is identical with the RTX 4070, but DLSS 2.0 proves far more interesting than FSR 1 in this game. The graphics speak for themselves.
Watch Dogs Legion:
The second game, Watch Dogs Legion supports Ray Tracing and DLSS 2.0. It proves to be one of the most demanding games of the moment. The game features three Ray Tracing levels (medium – high – ultra) and four DLSS levels (performance – quality – balanced – ultra performance).
For our benchmarks, we opted for very high graphics quality, ” high ” Ray Tracing and ” balanced ” DLSS.
Our PowerColor Red Devil RX 7800 XT is starting to suffer slightly, although the 60 FPS barrier is still reached. In this game, there’s no FSR or XeSS to benefit AMD cards. It’s DLSS alone that enables the RTX 4070 to go from 69 to 101 FPS.
Metro Exodus PC Enhanced Edition:
Third game to support DLSS 2.0. We’ve devoted an article to it. The game offers three levels of Ray Tracing and four levels of DLSS (performance – quality – balanced – ultra performance).
For our benchmarks, we opted for ultra graphics quality, ” ultra ” Ray Tracing and DLSS in ” balanced ” mode.
We continue with the greedy games and here a score of 61.9 FPS for our PowerColor Red Devil RX 7800 XT. Cards with factory overclocking manage to exceed 60 FPS. As with the previous game, without upscaling technology to increase FPS for AMD cards, it’s all good for the RTX 4070.
Far Cry 6:
Far Cry 6 supports DXR as well as AMD’s FSR, but not DLSS.
For our benchmarks, we opted for Ultra graphics quality, activated both DRX options and FSR in ” balanced ” mode.
In Far Cry 6, FSR is the only choice available to boost FPS after enabling Ray Tracing. So all our cards can benefit, regardless of manufacturer. So our RX 7800 XTs manage to stay the course and take the lead again.
Cyberpunk 2077:
A new game we’ve added, with DLSS and FSR enabled in its settings. Note that this is the first game to enable DLSS3 for RTX 40xx graphics cards.
For our benchmarks, we opted for “high” graphics quality, “medium” Ray Tracing and ” balanced ” DLSS/FSR.
This is the most demanding game, where our cards have great difficulty keeping up. Here, an average of 40.2 FPS is achieved. FSR 2.1 works perfectly here, as we almost reach 70.8 FPS when activated. The RTX 4070 fares better in ray tracing, but with the new DLSS 3, FPS figures soar. It’s about time AMD rolled out its FSR 3.0.
Hitman 3:
Hitman 3 is now compatible with DLSS, FSR and XeSS technology. Depending on the model of card tested, we opt for one of these three technologies.
For our benchmarks, we opted for “high” graphics quality, ” enabled ” Ray Tracing and ” balanced ” DLSS/Xess.
We find ourselves back in the familiar situation of our AMD RX 7800 XTs dropping below 60 FPS with ray tracing enabled, but gaining a not inconsiderable number of additional FPS thanks to FSR. Even so, the RTX 4070 is still the best performer.
Forza Horizon 5:
The latest game to be added to our panel, as it is now compatible with DLSS 3 technology. For our benchmarks, we opted for ” extreme ” graphics quality, ” extreme ” Ray Tracing and ” balanced ” DLSS/Xess.
This new game, which also supports DLSS 3 as well as XeSS and FSR 2.2. This is the game that will enable our PowerColor Red Devil RX 7800 XT to go from 127 FPS to 135 FPS when activated. Strangely, the gain is non-existent when the game is up to date. On the NVIDIA side, DLSS 3 still shows its potential.
So raytracing with the PowerColor Red Devil RX 7800 XT:
Out of our seven games tested, our PowerColor Red Devil RX 7800 XT almost always manages to hang on to the 60 FPS average, and if it doesn’t, FSR or XeSS are there to ensure it. Overall, we can see that in this type of test, the RTX 4070 is more at ease, especially with DLSS, which is uncompromising when it comes to version 3.0.
