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Cyberpunk 2077 official benchmarks show you will need a powerful rig for high-end PC gaming

DLSS is the way to play Cyberpunk 2077 at maximum details in 4K with ray tracing on, currently. (Image source: NVIDIA)
DLSS is the way to play Cyberpunk 2077 at maximum details in 4K with ray tracing on, currently. (Image source: NVIDIA)
Cyberpunk 2077 conquers all known GPUs in 4K, according to official benchmarks provided by NVIDIA. Even the RTX 3090 can barely manage 22 FPS at maximum settings, and enabling DLSS Performance Mode only boosts framerates to a meagre 57.8 FPS. 1080p gaming is a problem almost all modern NVIDIA GPUs without DLSS enabled, too.

Cyberpunk 2077 will finally be playable from tomorrow, ahead of which NVIDIA has published its system requirements for the triple-A game. At least a GTX 1060 or GTX 1660 SUPER is recommended to play the game at 1080p and high graphics settings, but the standard of GPUs shoots up for 1440p and beyond. An RTX 2060 is needed for 1440p and Ultra gaming, while you will need an RTX 2080 SUPER or an RTX 3070 for 4K at Ultra graphics settings.

System requirements are high for Cyberpunk 2077 on the PC. (Image source: NVIDIA)
System requirements are high for Cyberpunk 2077 on the PC. (Image source: NVIDIA)

Those requirements only apply if you have ray tracing disabled. Enabling DLSS pushes the game's GPU requirement up to an RTX 3070 at 1440p and an RTX 3080 at 4K. However, the table above does not tell the whole story. NVIDIA also published several official benchmarks for Cyberpunk 2077, which paint it in a particularly power-hungry light.

As the screenshots below demonstrate, Cyberpunk 2077 is currently unplayable at 4K on ultra settings with ray tracing enabled, unless one also uses DLSS. Even the RTX 3090 only manages 22 FPS with DLSS disabled, while the RTX 3080 averages an equally abysmal 15.5 FPS. It is not much better at 1080p either, where the RTX 3090 and RTX 3080 average 67.8 FPS and 59.5 FPS, respectively.

Ultimately, the only way to maintain 60 FPS on ultra graphics with ray tracing enabled is to enable DLSS, unless you are willing to game in 1080p with the RTX 3090. DLSS Quality mode makes Cyberpunk 2077 playable on the likes of the RTX 3060 Ti in 1080p and 1440p, albeit at 40 to 60 FPS.

It will be interesting to see how the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One handle Cyberpunk 2077 too, considering their inferior hardware. Presumably, the game will run at a much lower quality than it can on PC, potentially only at 30 FPS, too.

(Image source: NVIDIA)
(Image source: NVIDIA)
(Image source: NVIDIA)

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2020 12 > Cyberpunk 2077 official benchmarks show you will need a powerful rig for high-end PC gaming
Alex Alderson, 2020-12- 9 (Update: 2020-12- 9)