Nvidia RTX 4090 is another beast killed in The Witcher 3 Next Gen update at 8K
Our 8K Test System
PC created by Stormforce Gaming (Opens in a new tab)
Motherboard: Asus PRIME Z-790P LGA 1700
Healer: Intel Core i9-13900K, 24 Cores / 32 Threads
CPU Cooler: Corsair iCUE H100i 240mm ELITE CAPELLIX Liquid CPU Cooler
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090
storage: 1.0TB Seagate FireCuda 530 M.2 NVMe SSD
Issue: Corsair iCue 5000X RGB
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 32GB DDR5 4800MHz
Monitor: LG 55NANO966PA
We’ve gotten tantalizingly close to the reality of playable 8K PC gaming thanks to powerful GPUs like the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 and RTX 3090 Ti (which got to play Marvel’s Spider-Man in native 8K, something I thought was impossible without huge graphical compromises).
Now that Nvidia has released its latest high-end GPU, the RTX 4090, which promises to be even more powerful – we’re getting closer than ever to 8K gaming.
Of course, I was keen to get one to see how good it could be when pumping the graphics at 7680 x 4320, nice folks at Stormforce Gaming (Opens in a new tab) Assemble the latest version of TechRadar’s ultra-powerful 8K gaming PC.
Its core is the core RTX 4090 GPU, which features 24GB of GDDR6X memory with a 384-bit interface and a memory speed of 21Gbps. While on paper, this matches the RTX 3090 Ti, it’s the jump from the last-generation Ampere architecture to Lovelace, plus higher clock speeds, that will make the RTX 4090 a more efficient card at 8K.
The fact that the RTX 4090 can also use DLSS 3, the latest version of Nvidia’s upgrade technology, is also exciting. It should make running games at 8K more achievable, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the new framerate feature works.
In the past, DLSS made a big difference when gaming at 8K Ultra resolution, allowing the RTX 3090 Ti, 3090, and Titan RTX before it, to reach playable frame rates.
With the RTX 4090 and DLSS 3, I’m really looking forward to seeing how well my new 8K device plays. If you’re in the UK, you can order the same high-end setup from Stormforce Gaming (Opens in a new tab).
Back to The Witcher 3
The arrival of our new 8K PC coincided nicely with the release of The Witcher 3 Next Gen Update.
This free update to what we consider to be one of the best PC games of all time includes a wealth of new and improved features and graphical effects. These include global ray tracing lighting and ray tracing reflections and shadows (which are exclusive to the PC version).
There are also improvements to character models, boosted plants, improved lighting and environmental effects, and a host of popular tweaks to make the game look and play better than ever.
A new Ultra+ graphical setting has been added to PC, and perhaps the most exciting of all, The Witcher 3 is now one of the first games to support DLSS 3.
So even though the base game is now a good few years old, I was excited to see how well it could run at 8K with the most powerful GPU money can buy right now and new graphics settings.
One thing to note is that when the new The Witcher 3 update launched, there were complaints about poor performance and bugs. I installed the update released by the game developers (CD Projekt Red) after launch, which they claim fixes these issues.
8K shattered dreams
Once I loaded The Witcher 3, I set the graphics to the highest preset – RT Ultra. This not only adds global ray tracing but also ray-traced reflections, shadows, and ambient occlusion as well.
As you might expect, this is quite a punishment, and with Anti-Aliasing turned to “Off”, disabling DLSS, the 8K machine running the RTX 4090 only managed 39 frames per second (fps). While this is still above the minimum 30fps I would consider playable, the game felt incredibly choppy.
I was roaming the countryside battling a swamp of different monsters, and while it looked great, the choppy gameplay meant I couldn’t fully enjoy the game.
DLSS playback and “auto” in fact Projection Frame rates average 29 fps. This may be due to the added stress of adding traditional Anti-Aliasing in addition to DLSS. It is interesting that both options are combined in The Witcher 3.
Testing the game with DLSS set to “Quality” dropped the frame rate to an average of 21.2fps, with a low of 17.7fps. This is understandable, as the Quality setting focuses on image quality over performance.
Switching to “Balanced” increased the frame rate again, but to just 26.2fps on average. Navigating to Performance brought us back 29.9 fps.
Finally, DLSS “Ultra Performance” boosted the average frame rate to 46fps. The visual effect wasn’t too bad, though there was noticeable noise around the shafts of light coming through the tree branches. However, the higher frame rate made for a more enjoyable experience.
However, The Witcher 3 was still far from 60fps at 8K. With all the DLSS options tried, am I out of luck? not exactly…
Creating a DLSS 3 framework to the rescue?
There’s a feature exclusive to DLSS 3 and RTX 4000 series GPUs, such as the RTX 4090, that I haven’t tried yet: frame generation.
This new tool uses artificial intelligence to create and open additional frames between the “real” frames from the game, the idea being to increase frame rates by increasing the number of frames displayed, again with minimal impact on the overall graphical fidelity.
I was keen to run the feature to see how well it worked. In fact it seems to make things up worst.
Frame rates dropped, and when I moved the camera the graphics got blurry. I could only stand for a few seconds before it turned off. I’m willing to put this into perspective for a glitch that will be ironed out later, but Frame Generation made the game unplayable.
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Sacrificing ray tracing
My only options now were to start lowering the graphical settings – not something you want to do with the most powerful gaming graphics card in the world.
First, I dropped the preset from RT Ultra to RT. This kept the global lighting effects turned on, but turned off the more intense shadows and reflections. I kept most of the other settings in either the new “Ultra” or “Ultra+” settings.
With DLSS still performing superior but frame generation turned off, I was able to get an average of 53.3fps. Very close to 60fps, although it drops to 47.4fps, it’s still very hard to enjoy. While I could live without the radiant shadows, the lack of water reflections hurt. In the swampy area, the water no longer reflects the gorgeous sunset as you killed many monsters during the evening.
Finally, I dropped the preset to “Ultra”. This would have been The Witcher 3’s highest setting when it first launched and meant no ray tracing at all.
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The effect on photos was immediately apparent, with shadows cast by trees and foliage now less realistic and water effects very basic. With ray tracing and water effects turned on on the Ultra+, when I was running in ankle-deep swampy water battling drownings, the water rippled with every movement, affecting the reflected sunlight. It was an amazing effect that made the game feel really immersive. With ray tracing turned off and water effects reverted to “Ultra” (as well as all the other Ultra+ settings), the game felt flatter — and it definitely reminded me I was playing a game that originally came out in 2015.
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However, frame rates finally hit an average of 59.8 — damn close to 60fps. But were the concessions I had to make worth it? No.
Stick to 4K
Losing ray tracing really hurt – especially with the more subtle effects. For that reason, and due to The Witcher 3 getting textures optimized up to 4K, 4K is clearly the way to go.
Once set to 4K, the RTX 4090 can easily handle the game with all the graphical bells and whistles turned to max, and that all-important ray tracing is present and correct.
The Witcher 3 Next Gen update on PC still seems to have some performance issues, especially with DLSS 3 Frame Generation, and hopefully a few more patches can run it better at 8K. Until then, I’ll spend my time with Geralt, Ciri, and the others in 4K instead.
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