Raytracing & DLSS Testing
At launch, the 20 series GPUs boasted the ability to do real-time raytracing and use a new feature called DLSS or Deep Learning Super Sampling, however, at that time there were no games out that supported either of those features. Without being able to test those features, I think the 20 series got off to a rocky start. Fast forward to Novemberish 2018; Windows 10 1803 update was finally released that enabled the ray tracing libraries in DX12. With that, Nvidia released a new set of drivers and EA/Dice released the 1st patch for BattleField V however, the patch wasn’t without issues and performance was at least halved as compared to non-DXR tests. EA/Dice have now released a new patch that performs quite a bit better. However, there is still a performance penalty for enabling DXR in Battlefield V.
For the DXR testing in Battlefield V, I chose to use 1440p as the resolution and the base graphics settings to Ultra. DXR was set to Low, Medium, and Ultra. I also included the results with DXR off as well.
The different levels of ray tracing start to change the level of detail in the reflections. I didn’t see much difference on the RTX 2080 Duke between ultra and high and again between low and medium during the benchmark run. The mirror in the image below shows a clear reflection at all levels of DXR, however, the details reflecting in the puddles change quite a bit.
The only game to support DLSS at the moment is Final Fantasy XV. DLSS leverages Nvidia’s Tensor cores on the RTX 20 series cards. It works by basically rendering at a lower target resolution then, sends the frame to the Tensor Cores and the Deep Learning network to get upscaled and the “AI” fills in the information for the anti-aliasing. DLSS is only available in 4K. For this test, I chose to run the beginning missions around Hammerhead and occasionally heading back to the gas station.
During gameplay, I didn’t notice too much of a difference. There were some softer parts to the image once DLSS was enabled. As I continue to go through the game, more images will be captured. The Ultra preset settings were used, however, in order to enable or disable DLSS you have to use the custom option.
