Cyberpunk 2077 with patch 1.2 in the benchmark test : Test |CUP | Specs |Config

Cyberpunk 2077 gets a gigantic number of bug fixes with the 33 GB patch 1.2 and also ray tracing for Radeon RX graphics cards with RDNA 2. Benchmarks show that the performance of the game has increased. The LOD suffered again and the Radeon RX 6000 got completely under the wheels with activated ray tracing.

There have rarely been release notes as powerful as Cyberpunk 2077 patch 1.2, maybe even never before. The update is primarily intended to eliminate errors, but something has also happened on the technical side: the game should run faster and offers ray tracing with Radeon RX 6000. Reason enough for the editors to create new performance values ​​with current drivers.

Radeons with RDNA 2 learn ray tracing

It was disappointing that Cyberpunk 2077 only supported ray tracing on GeForce RTX graphics cards when it launched in December. Because ray tracing has shown itself to be a subtle but very effective effect in the technology test for the game. It was never officially revealed why AMD graphics cards based on the RDNA 2 architecture were left out, but the developers promised to later update the Radeon RX 6000 series to make it fit for the radiation technology. This is the case with Patch 1.2.

But that’s not the only technical change. The patch notes also mention that the stability and performance of the engine and the rendering engine have been improved and that memory management has also been optimized. This could also give a general performance increase in the game.

The test system and the benchmark scene

All benchmarks were run on an AMD Ryzen 9 5950X (test) running on default settings. The Asus ROG Strix B550-E Gaming (BIOS 1801) with the B550 chipset was installed as the mainboard, graphics cards can be controlled accordingly with PCIe 4.0. The CPU was cooled by a Noctua NH-D15S with a centrally installed 140mm fan. The processor has 32 GB of memory (4 × 8 GB, single rank, DDR4-3600, 16-16-16-32, optimized secondary timings for the GPU benchmarks, manufacturer’s recommendation for the CPU benchmarks). Windows 10 20H2 with all updates was installed on an NVMe M.2 SSD with PCIe 4.0, as was the game. Resizable BAR (AMD SAM) is used on supported graphics cards.

Adrenalin 21.3.2 or GeForce 461.92 were used as drivers.

The benchmark sequence and settings

The benchmark sequence used is a 25-second scene during the main mission “Play it Safe”, which takes place during the parade in the bazaar. There are numerous NPCs and particle effects in view, the frame rate is generally very low. It is one of the worst-case sequences, only in combat the FPS can be even lower. ComputerBase has been using this sequence in Cyberpunk 2077 in graphics card tests since this year. Another scene is used in the Cyberpunkt 2077 community benchmark test.

The maximum graphic details in Cyberpunk 2077 are used for the resolutions Full HD and WQHD, for Ultra HD the medium preset is switched back. This also applies to the ray tracing benchmarks. If the ray tracing presets are used, the DLSS, which is automatically activated on Nvidia graphics cards, is switched off again manually.

Benchmarks mit Patch 1.12 vs. Patch 1.2 In Full HD, WQHD und Ultra HD

Cyberpunk 2077 usually runs faster than before with the latest patch, regardless of the graphics card used. The GeForce RTX 3080 increases the average FPS by 9 percent and the percentile FPS by 10 percent with the new update in 1,920 × 1,080. In 2,560 × 1,440, the jump becomes smaller at 3 and 5 percent, but remains there. Only in 3,840 × 2,160 there is no more boost.

The Radeon RX 6800 XT seems to like patch 1.2 a little better, because the jumps in performance are consistently higher. In Full HD, the AMD hardware increases by 12 and 14 percent, in WQHD by 10 and 8 percent, and in Ultra HD the RDNA 2 card also increases by 4 and 2 percent compared to the older game version. Accordingly, the Radeon RX 6800 XT can set itself apart from the GeForce RTX 3080 a little better in low and medium resolutions and comes closer to it in high resolutions. Although AMD GPUs gain more than their Nvidia counterparts in percentile FPS, GeForce graphics cards still perform better than average FPS on this set of metrics.

Older graphics cards are also gaining ground with the 1.2 patch, which also applies to the Pascal generation at Nvidia and Polaris at AMD. The Radeon RX 580 works 10 and 7 percent faster after the update, the GeForce RTX 1060 5 and 7 percent.

The LOD works visibly more aggressively

The performance of Cyberpunk 2077 has improved with patch 1.2, but the question is whether this was actually (exclusively) done by optimizations in the code. Because during the tests, an extremely aggressive LOD was noticed, which visibly changes the level of detail, especially for NPCs. The more NPCs visible in a scene, the more pronounced the behavior. And that doesn’t just happen once, it feels like every few meters more details pop up in the game characters. This is something the game struggled with in its original form, but not nearly to this level. The effect is extremely noticeable, especially in the test sequence used, but the LOD levels also change clearly in other scenes from time to time.

Now the question arises whether this is not just a new bug, which would not be surprising given the other problems. Or else this is a reason why the game is now running faster than before. This will probably only be clarified with the next updates when the annoying LOD behavior changes again – or not. But since Cyberpunk 2077 lives through the many NPCs and the resulting atmosphere, the aggressive LOD is annoying because it negatively affects the very good graphics.

More graphics card benchmarks

Resizable BAR or AMD SAM still brings a big boost in performance in Cyberpunk 2077 with Patch 1.2. The Radeon RX 6800 XT is accelerated by 14 percent in Full HD, and 4 percent in Ultra HD. As a result, the RDNA 2 graphics card overtakes the GeForce RTX 3080 in Full HD and WQHD and is hot on the heels of the Ampere model in Ultra HD. The GeForce RTX 3000 series – apart from the GeForce RTX 3060 – does not officially support Resizable BAR, but that could change any hour.