The PC version of Cyberpunk 2077 has received its eagerly awaited path-tracing RT Overdrive update, though benchmark results reveal rather shocking yet expected performance on Nvidia RTX 40 series graphics cards.
Benchmark results for the Cyberpunk 2077 RT Overdrive update, which implements path-tracing in the PC version, indicate rather disappointing yet expected performance on Nvidia RTX 40 series graphics cards. The RTX 4090, the top-of-the-line Nvidia GPU today, is able to run the game at an average frame rate of 20 fps at native 4K with DLSS disabled and path-tracing enabled.
Things improve when the native resolution is dropped to 1440p, where it runs at an average frame rate of 41 fps. Dropping further to 1080p brings things in the preferable frame rate territory, with the game running at an average frame rate of 65 fps. That said, even here, there are rare dips in performance that see the frame rate drop into the high 40s.
On the RTX 4090, with DLSS set to Quality and both path-tracing and Frame Generation enabled, Cyberpunk 2077 delivers an average frame rate of 66 fps at 4K. Setting DLSS to Performance, enabling path-tracing and disabling Frame Generation yields a frame rate of 62 fps, though image quality takes a hit. Setting DLSS to Ultra Performance at the same settings yields higher performance at the cost of a further decline in image quality. The game delivers an average frame rate of 93 fps in this case.
As a result, DLSS 3 Frame Generation is currently the only way to get consistently high performance and reasonably good image quality with path-tracing enabled on the RTX 4090, the RTX 4080, and the RTX 4070 Ti. Given how the latter two cards fare worse than the RTX 4090, it’s best to stick to Frame Generation if enabling path-tracing is a priority. On the RTX 3090, RTX 3080 Ti, and RTX 3080, however, where Frame Generation is not an option, setting DLSS to Ultra Performance should yield relatively decent performance at 4K.
