Witcher 3 Next-Gen Update Performance Is… Questionable
In this video we'll be testing the latest update to The Witcher 3, aptly named Next-Gen update, and we test the performance impact. The new update brings with it DirectX12 support, lots of graphical improvements, as well as Ray Tracing.
Many people might not agree with me on this, but I think Ray Tracing in it's current state is a bit of a waste. Sure, it looks nice in some games, but is the performance hit really worth it? In Witcher 3 I find 60 frames per second enjoyable, but we need to disable many options to be able to get almost 60 FPS when ray tracing is enabled. I would personally much rather play the game at higher settings and disable ray tracing. And that goes for most games that support ray tracing, not just The Witcher 3. Also, changing from DLSS Quality to DLSS Performance gave zero performance improvements as we were CPU bound most of the time, even at Ultra+ at 1440p.
SPECIAL NOTE:
I was recording on the PC I was playing on. Without recording, the average FPS increased by a full 3%, so from 57 FPS average to 59 FPS average. Also, the stuttering and crashing were observed during normal gameplay, and only after the 11th crash did I decide to record the issues.
Our test system:
CPU: Intel 12700K @ Stock
GPU: Asus TUF RTX 3080 10GB
RAM: TeamGroup DDR4 3600Mhz CL18
MB: Asus TUF Gaming Z690 D4
PSU: Corsair RM850