Cyberpunk 2077 on the PC: 18 graphics cards tested – news

News hardware Cyberpunk 2077 on the PC: 18 graphics cards tested

Expected to be the new tech benchmark for PC gamers, Cyberpunk 2077 is a challenging game that you will surely have to make some concessions to really enjoy. We tested it on nearly 20 different GPUs and told you everything.

You probably know: The launch of Cyberpunk 2077 was… complicated. Between the many bugs and the dramatic level of performance on older generation consoles, it cannot be said that CD Projekt RED has managed to keep all of its promises. Fortunately, the technical results are more convincing on the PC, especially since the latest updates have brought better stability. Still, it’s a very greedy game, a title that will make you want to update your PC with a new graphics card or processor. Cyberpunk 2077 is also the new ambassador for ray tracing and DLSS that Nvidia cares about. More efficient global lighting, softer shadows, and ultra-realistic reflections are possible when your PC is running a GeForce RTX graphics card. The visual contribution is undeniable – we invite you to read our article on the subject – but the impact on performance is very real.

In addition, the official recommendations of the Polish studio are final: The RTX 2060 is just enough to run the game in Full HD with minimal ray tracing (RT). and with DLSS activated. The latter is also important as soon as we switch to RT and regardless of the definition chosen. The game also seems to be very dependent on the CPU’s performance and will feel much more comfortable on a processor with 6 or ideally 8 cores.

Many graphics options available

We ran the game on a PC equipped with an AMD Ryzen 7 3800X processor (8 physical cores / 16 virtual cores. Operating frequency up to 4.5 GHz) and 16 GB DDR4 RAM. The game was also installed on a Crucial 2.5-inch Sata SSD. Based on this setup, we then drove the same series (walking through the Asian neighborhood and driving a car) on 18 graphics card models ranging from the GeForce GTX 1050 Ti to the Radeon RX 6900XT.

We have also taken care to match the settings to the graphics card for a satisfactory gaming experience. In fact, it doesn’t make sense to compare the performance of a GTX 1060 with that of an RTX 3070 with the same settings. We’re talking about different levels of presets here: “low”, “medium”, “high”, “ultra” and “Raytracing + DLSS”. The presets offered in the game are also very effective and will suit most people. However, the title has many options that can help you get some FPS. Also note that it is possible to set the crowd density in the “Game” section of the options. A feature that can obviously break the charm of the universe but has a serious impact on performance. Use this option if your PC is really having trouble running the game properly. We left it by default – at most – for the purposes of our testing.

GeForce GTX 1060 and 1660: the minimum for playback in Full HD

For GPU models with a price of less than 300 dollars and at least 6 GB of video memory, you have to be satisfied with a Full HD definition (1920 x 1080 pixels), but the title is definitely playable. Even with the aging GTX 1060, we achieved an average of 38 FPS with the default setting “Medium”. The GTX 1660 does better because you can go “high” and get an average of 45 FPS. On the AMD side, the Radeon RTX 5500XT (8 Gb) and 5600XT (6 Gb) are quite comfortable with 37 and 47 FPS in Full HD and “High” presets.

The only card that really had problems in our tests in Full HD is the GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (4 GB), which stays below 30 FPS and whose graphics preset is “low”. In this model it will therefore be necessary to reduce the density of the crowdFor example, to shoot at more than 30 FPS.

GeForce GTX 1080/1080 Ti, Radeon RX 5700 / 5700XT: 1440p games are possible

The “mid-range” of our Cyberpunk 2077 tests enables overall playback at 1440p (2560 x 1440 pixels) with the preset “Ultra” level. In this definition, the GTX 1080 Ti even approaches the average of 60 FPS. The Radeon RX 5700 and 5700 XT lag a little behind, but you can still expect an average of 40 FPS at 1440p.

GeForce RTX: Without DLSS, no rescue with ray tracing

The GeForce RTX range comes with many models as it now covers two generations of GPUs. First of all there is the “2000” series (2060, 2070, 2080 and 2080 Ti), This allows the game to run smoothly in general with the “medium” ray tracing effects”In Full HD definition (for 2060) or in 1440p (2070, 2080 and 2080 Ti). In all cases, DLSS must be set to Auto or Performance for upscaling to be as efficient as possible. If you turn off ray tracing, the number of FPS increases and you can play at more than 60 FPS in Full HD and 1440p.

Unsurprisingly, the new GeForce RTX 3000 (3060 Ti, 3070 and 3080) are the performance queens of Cyberpunk 2077. and you can improve the ray tracing and keep the game completely playable. On the other hand, even with an RTX 3080, it is difficult to see 60 FPS in Ultra HD with ray tracing in “Ultra” (the 3090 must undoubtedly achieve this, but we were unable to test this model). At 1440p, the 3070 approaches 50 FPS with ray tracing on “Ultra” and DLSS on “Auto”. The same applies to the 3060 Ti, but with ray tracing on “Medium”. If you lower or even deactivate the RT and leave the DLSS on “Auto”, you will therefore largely achieve 60 FPS in 1440p or even in Ultra HD.

So on the PC, Cyberpunk 2077 is a challenging game, it is undeniable, but it has a wide variety of graphics options that allow a wide variety of configurations to run it correctly. If we say “right”, we are at least talking about a stable 30 FPS. Ray tracing brings real visual and artistic gain, but is only possible with activated DLSS. Keep in mind that these two options are still reserved for GeForce RTX 2000 and 3000 graphics cards. On the AMD side, the Radeon 6000s are said to support ray tracing, but the option is currently not available. And these cards currently have no DLSS equivalent. From now on, it remains to be seen how the future updates, which will not be missed in the coming weeks, will improve the level of performance of the game. Also note that due to changes to the files of some have already found a list configuration to improve the flow of the title.