Ray tracing and DLSS/FSR performance:
Let’s turn now to the seven games we’ve selected that support Ray Tracing as well as DLSS, and in some cases AMD’s FSR, as well as Intel’s new XeSS technology, 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 :
- Shadow 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 isn’t 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 DLSS3 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 activated in ultra, an average of 102 FPS is already achieved. The addition of DLSS 2.3 raises our average to 141 FPS, so there’s no difficulty in enjoying 1080p with Ray Tracing activated. In this first game, our ROG RTX 4060 Strix OC Edition leaves all its rivals behind.
As a side note, Shadow Of The Tomb Raider was equipped with XeSS, enabling AMD cards to benefit from this technology. You can still judge the difference in performance between the two technologies.
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.
The Ray Tracing in Watch Dogs Legion is starting to take its toll on the cards, but our sample of the day fares rather well, achieving an average of 63 FPS. Activating DLSS 2 will boost FPS to an average of 6 frames per second. Our RTX 4060 takes on the scalp of the RX 6700 XT.
Metro Exodus PC Enhanced Edition:
Third game to support DLSS 2.0. We’ve devoted a special report 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 greedy games and here, our ROG RTX 4060 Strix OC Edition allows itself to do as well as the RTX 3060 Ti.
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. This means that all our cards can benefit, regardless of manufacturer. Nothing really changes in the hierarchy, with the RTX 4060 still well ahead of the RX 7600.
Cyberpunk 2077:
A new game that we’ve added to our line-up, and which features DLSS and FSR activation 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 45.4 FPS is achieved. DLSS 3, which we mentioned at the start of this page, offers a very significant gain, as you can see from our graph. From 45.4 FPS to 120.3 FPS!
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.
Although we support DLSS 3, we were unable to judge a greater difference when using our RTX 4060 Ti, since the DLSS3 option remains grayed out, even though our game is perfectly up to date. Let’s find out why.
Forza Horizon 5:
The latest game to be added to our panel, this one now supports DLSS 3 technology. For our benchmarks, we opted for ” extreme ” graphics quality, ” extreme ” Ray Tracing and ” balanced ” DLSS/Xess/FSR.
This new game, which also supports DLSS 3, clearly demonstrates its potential. With Ray Tracing activated, our RTX 4060 is ahead of the RTX 3060 Ti, and with DLSS 3 active, the advantage is even more obvious.
So Ray Tracing with the RTX 4060:
On our seven games tested, our RTX 4060 had no problems whatsoever, and apart from Cyberpunk 2077, the average was always very close to or above 60 FPS. The good news is that when we use Ray Tracing, the RTX 4060 often performs as well as the RTX 3060 Ti. We were also able to judge the undeniable benefits of DLSS3. Once the hardware launches have calmed down a little, we’ll come back to DLSS3 in detail, with comparative videos and photos.
