Quick test: Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Forza Horizon 4 Demo on Geforce RTX 2000

Earlier this week, we published our review of Nvidia’s new graphics cards Geforce RTX 2080 Ti and Geforce RTX 2080 – two raw fast and also expensive models in the upper performance layer. In the same vein, we launched an updated game suite with eleven different titles to be used as a basis in this autumn’s graphics card tests.

As the set of games had to be nailed down in late summer to begin reference tests of older graphics cards, this meant that some interesting titles launched in September had to be ironed out. Among these were Shadow of the Tomb Raider and the demo version of Forza Horizon 4 – two titles that SweClocker members wanted to see performance tests on.

For this reason, we thought we would take the opportunity to offer a quick test of the two games with a focus on the newly launched graphics cards and a selected number of references in the upper performance class!

Components of the test systems

As a platform, SweClocker’s new test system for graphics cards is used with the latest available drivers from Nvidia and AMD installed. The performance measurements are made using the tool OCAT, where the average value of the frame rate and the lowest value according to the 99th percentile’s rendering time are presented.

Forza Horizon 4 Demo

The fourth incarnation of the Playground Games car game series Forza Horizon will not be released until October 2, but there is already a demo version to download from Microsoft’s store in Windows 10. Practically enough, the demo also includes a built-in performance test and really good options for various graphics settings for PC .

We use here the preset detail level “Ultra” and the resolutions 1,920 × 1,080, 2,560 × 1,440 and 3,840 × 2,160 pixels. The frame rate is measured during a 60-second sequence from the beginning of the race where the load is at its highest.

At the lowest 1080p resolution, it is Nvidia’s flagship Geforce RTX 2080 Ti FE that takes the lead and outperforms its predecessor, the Geforce GTX 1080 Ti, with a 26 percent higher frame rate. The Geforce RTX 2080 FE also ranks here by a good margin above the GTX 1080 Ti, with about 11 percent better performance.

Two very interesting upstarts, however, are AMD’s two Vega cards, where these completely fly forward in this resolution. For the Radeon RX Vega 64, the results are enough to defeat the Geforce GTX 1080 Ti by a relatively good margin, while the Vega 56 is at about the same level as the latter.

When we turn up the amount of pixels, we are again met by the Geforce RTX 2080 Ti FE at the top, where this outperforms the GTX 1080 Ti with 26 percent better performance. This is then followed by little brother Geforce RTX 2080 FE which pulls away from GTX 1080 Ti further and presents a frame rate that is almost 15 percent higher than the latter.

AMD’s Vega cards lose something in this resolution but are still relatively strong. For example, the Radeon RX Vega 64 can still outperform the Geforce GTX 1080 Ti while the Vega 56 maintains a modest distance from the Geforce GTX 1080.

At 4K UHD, the graphics cards are maximized, but it is no match for the Geforce RTX 2080 Ti FE to keep a frame rate well above 60 fps. The model performs here about 27 percent better than the Geforce GTX 1080 Ti, while little brother RTX 2080 FE takes a position in second place with just over 11 percent higher frame rate than the GTX 1080 Ti.

AMD’s Vega cards are losing ground again when the resolution is increased, and they can no longer compete with the Geforce GTX 1080 Ti. However, no bad numbers are shown, where for example the Radeon RX Vega 64 maintains an average above 60 frames per second and outperforms the Geforce GTX 1080 with almost 14 percent better numbers.

The Forza Horizon 4 feels extremely well-polished and silky smooth during our test session, and this is also reflected in the rendering times of the two RTX cards. Exemplarily smooth and fine graphs for both models.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

The third and final part of the restart of Lara Croft’s origin story was released simultaneously to the console and PC, where the latter porting is done by the renowned developer Nixxes. Shadow of the Tomb Raider offers good setting options, a built-in performance test and the ability to run in both DirectX 11 and 12.

We use the third scene in the built-in performance test to measure the frame rate. The resolutions tested are in the usual order 1,920 × 1,080, 2,560 × 1,440 and 3,840 × 2,160 pixels while the “Highest” detail mode is used.

At the lowest resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels, the Geforce models end up at exactly the same level. The editors have tried to find the reason, but neither the graphics card nor the processor is fully charged in the scenario. For the red team, it is about the same phenomenon but at a lower level.

The same performance-slowing phenomenon also occurs with the resolution twisted one step, where the Geforce GTX 1080 can not really keep up with the top cards. This also applies to the Radeon RX Vega 56, which is now losing ground to the RX Vega 64, which in this scenario can be considered a good thing.

With the resolution in the ceiling, the diagram looks as it should, with the Geforce RTX 2080 Ti FE at the top with just over 24 percent in performance difference compared to the little brother RTX 2080 FE. There will be a smoother battle further down between the Geforce GTX 1080 and the Radeon RX Vega 64 with a few single frames in between, where the gaming experience approaches slide shows.

With the game set to the DirectX 12 interface, it suddenly becomes significantly better numbers, where the graphics cards can spin fully instead. The flagship Geforce RTX 2080 Ti FE collects 131 FPS, about 87 percent higher than the equivalent DirectX 11.

Higher resolution of course puts more pressure on the graphics cards, but all models can still stretch the legs with DirectX 12 under the hood. Radeon RX Vega 64 and Geforce GTX 1080 are still fighting for position, while the newcomer RTX 2080 FE continues to hold GTX 1080 Ti behind.

When the resolution is set to 4K UHD, only the Geforce RTX 2080 Ti FE can stay above 60 FPS on average, with a 37 percent better result than the Geforce GTX 1080 Ti. The rest have to fight hard to collect frames and would need a lower level of detail to get a sensible gaming experience in the resolution.

With the rendering times in hand, there are really scattered showers for the Geforce RTX 2080 Ti FE and RTX 2080 FE in DirectX 11, where the former is most affected with many spikes and uneven flow. Just as we noted together with the performance graphs, there is something that is not quite right with the DX11 mode in Shadow of the Tomb Raider.

With the game set in DirectX 12, it will be a completely different story where both cards are significantly smoother and lower rendering time. Unlike DirectX 11, there are hardly any nails for any of the cards in the modern interface.

Summary thoughts about the games

With the tests in port, we can shovel both Forza Horizon 4 and Shadow of the Tomb Raider into the compartment for good PC versions that also roll fine with the graphics interface DirectX 12. The former title has been further optimized from its predecessor and performs really well even in the sky resolutions with eye candy activated on graphics hardware in high school.

Regarding the recent RTX cards, the flagship in the series picks out about 27 percent higher performance than the Geforce GTX 1080 Ti in Forza Horizon 4 – figures that are fully in line with those we have seen as an average from our standard test suite. Geforce RTX 2080 can stretch the legs a little more than usual and performs around 14 percent better than the GTX 1080 Ti with the resolution screwed up in the ceiling.

An interesting footnote from Forza Horizon 4 is AMD’s Radeon RX Vega card, where both models perform really exceptionally well. Most impressive is the flagship Radeon RX Vega 64, which in most resolutions manages to defeat the Geforce GTX 1080 Ti by a relatively good margin.

As observed in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, there is something really wrong with the game’s DirectX 11 mode. The title can go from pumping out a really high frame rate to suddenly halving this while the graphics load is idling. We did not notice any peaks in processor usage on these occasions, but somewhere there must be an abnormal bottleneck.

Fortunately, everything is resolved when we move to the title’s DirectX 12 mode, in which all graphics cards can fully through the test experience with significantly higher frame rate and flow as a result. However, Shadow of the Tomb Raider is more heavy-duty than Forza Horizon 4, and those who want to play in 4K UHD without compromising on detail and frame rate may need to crawl to the cross and open their wallet.

To give feedback to the RTX cards, it was precisely the worst in both price tag and performance, the Geforce RTX 2080 Ti, which alone manages to push around the title in the highest resolution with an average above 60 frames per second. At that resolution, the model performs about 37 percent better than the Geforce GTX 1080 Ti, while the Geforce RTX 2080 has to settle for a 7 percent performance advantage over the GTX 1080 Ti.

More quick tests of games during the autumn

We are approaching the big game autumn (release horse?) And therefore there will be a lot of interesting titles to take a closer look at from a performance point of view. This is especially true after Microsoft releases DirectX Raytracing next month and game developers can implement beam tracking sharply in their games – something that feels highly interesting for the newly launched Geforce RTX 2000 cards.