by Jeff Kampman
9:31 AM on December 3, 2018
Our early performance testing for DirectX Raytracing effects in Battlefield V suggested that the tradeoff between frame rates and image quality with Nvidia’s GeForce RTX cards was quite dear. We didn’t write off the tech at the time, though, because a subsequent interview with DICE by Eurogamer suggested there were plenty of bugs to squash and plenty of low-hanging fruit to pick for RTX performance. We’re glad we didn’t, because today, Nvidia previewed just how much of an RTX speed-up gamers can expect from the first major update to Battlefield V.
The company promises “up to 50%” boosts to the game’s performance from the Tides of War Chapter 1: Overture update that’s slated to go out to gamers tomorrow, December 4. The company claims GeForce RTX 2080 Ti owners can expect to run the game at 2560×1440 with DXR settings at Ultra and frame rates above 60 FPS. RTX 2080 owners might be able to enjoy over 60 FPS from the game at 2560×1440 with the medium DXR preset, while RTX 2070 owners can use the medium DXR preset at 1920×1080.
Nvidia didn’t note whether it observed those performance improvements in multiplayer maps or in the game’s single-player campaign, but in any case, they would represent major boosts over the performance we observed in our first round of testing. We should note that we tested RTX effects on a map that was apparently particularly troublesome for the first release of DICE’s DXR implementation. Even so, the RTX 2070 barely held on to playability at 1920×1080 with the medium DXR preset, and the RTX 2080 couldn’t clear that line at 2560×1440. The RTX 2080 Ti could only deliver 37 FPS, on average, at 2560×1440 with the DXR Ultra preset.
Presuming Nvidia’s claims hold, gamers with GeForce RTX cards should be a lot happier after this update. For folks who want to see Battlefield V‘s ray-traced reflections for themselves, Nvidia points out that it’s still throwing a copy of the game in with eligible RTX 2080 Ti, RTX 2080, and RTX 2070 cards, as well as systems with Turing inside. We’ll see just how much a performance boost this update delivers for ourselves as soon as it’s available.
