The Witcher 3 Next-Gen Update PC - Ryzen 5 3600 & RTX 3060 Ti - FPS Test and Settings
Greetings, everyone.
Today we’re testing the Next-Gen Update for The Witcher 3, on my usual Ryzen 5 3600 and RTX 3060 Ti.
My current specs:
-CPU: Ryzen 5 3600 (stock settings) with Coolermaster Hyper 212 Black RGB (w/2 fans, push-pull).
-Mobo: MSI B450 Gaming Pro Carbon AC.
-GPU: Gigabyte RTX 3060 Ti Gaming OC and WHQL driver 527.56.
-RAM: Crucial Ballistix Sport LT (2x8GB) CL16 DDR4@3200 Mhz.
-Storage: PNY XLR8 CS3030 1TB NVMe (O.S.), Samsung 750 EVO 500 GB.
-Case: Fractal Design Meshify S2 (Intake: 2x140 Front, 1x120 Lower Front - Exhaust: 1x140 Rear, 1x120 Top/VRM Area).
-PSU: Corsair RMx 650W 80+ Gold.
-O.S: Windows 10 Pro 64bit (v.22H2).
-Monitor: AOC AGON AG251FG 1080p-240Hz.
-ReBAR and HAGS OFF
-DSR uses 33% Smoothing
Update 4.01 is out, check my testing here: • The Witcher 3 Next-Gen PC Patch 4.01 ...
Some timestamps:
00:00 - Intro and brief overview of changes
02:12 - [1080p]Ultra Settings, DX11, Hairworks, Vanilla vs Next-Gen comparison (Intro cutscenes etc.)
06:50 - [1080p]Ultra, Hairworks, DX11 vs DX12, Vanilla vs Next-Gen side by side
09:33 - Anti Aliasing image quality comparisons (TAAU vs FSR2 vs DLSS)
13:11 - [1080p]Ultra vs Ultra Plus Settings, DX12 (RT OFF)
16:56 - [1080p]Ray Tracing, Ultra Settings, Quality DLSS
18:58 - IMPORTANT: Reflex fixes STUTTERING with RT
20:39 - [1440p DLDSR]Ultra+ Settings, Balanced DLSS, 30 FPS RTSS cap
22:22 - Ray Tracing Screenshot Comparisons (Kaer Morhen and Crookback Bog areas)
25:57 - [1440p DLDSR]Ultra+, Quality DLSS, Vanilla vs Next-Gen (RT OFF)
27:34 - [1620p DLDSR]Ultra+, Quality DLSS, 60 FPS cap via RTSS
29:12 - [1620p DLDSR]Ultra+, Quality DLSS, Vanilla vs Next-Gen, Novigrad (RT OFF)
30:41 - [1080p]Ultra+, Quality DLSS, Ray Tracing ON, Novigrad
32:24 - [1080p]Ultra+, Quality DLSS, Max Hairworks, Crookback Bog area gameplay (RT OFF)
33:36 - [4K DSR]Ultra+, Performance DLSS, Hairworks, Crookback Bog (RT OFF)
35:03 - [1620p DLDSR]Ultra+, Quality DLSS, Hairworks, Crookback Bog (preferred settings)
With this update, The Witcher 3 has become CDPR’s most intensive and demanding game, surpassing even Cyberpunk 2077, when it comes to Ray Tracing, that is.
The current RT implementation is so intensive that it even seems unintended, clearly with the game being almost 8 years old, some problems were expected but…it is actually quite insane how demanding it is.
That said, the Ray Tracing does look amazing in this game, quite transformative, particularly the Global Illumination and Ambient Occlusion, with nice Reflections and Shadows, which are kind of like the weakest of the four settings, but not terrible.
Without Ray Tracing, well we can also see that running the game on DX12 seems to have some CPU utilization issues in some of the most CPU demanding areas like Novigrad, but with DX12 we gain the option to use DLSS, so that’s quite a bonus.
Overall, the game looks great even without Ray Tracing thanks to all the tweaks and mods that enhance the experience so, even without RT, I think it’s quite worth the time and a good replay.
Hopefully, the issues can be mitigated via some patches and, as usual, I hope this can be useful to any of you, and I’ll see you in the next one : )
#TheWitcher3NextGen #RTX3060Ti #Ryzen3600