The Witcher 3 v4.00: Notebook and desktop benchmarks

Now with Ray Tracing. Although the flagship role-playing game has been around for several years now, the developers did not miss the opportunity to add various new (graphical) features in the course of the patches. We tested several desktop and notebook GPUs with the current version - including RT benchmarks.

Florian Glaser, 👁 Florian Glaser, ✓ Anton Avdyushkin (translated by DeepL / Ninh Duy), Published 01/20/2023 🇩🇪 🇸🇪 ...

Technology

The Witcher 3 has not only been one of the standard benchmarks in our notebook tests for a few years but is also used to check long-term 3D performance. However, since the developer CD Project - as mentioned at the beginning - has incorporated many technical innovations over time, we thought it would be appropriate to switch to a current version.

Compared to the original version the graphics menus have been significantly revised. There is no longer a post-processing tab (the options are now in the "normal" graphics menu). Instead, the screen options (resolution, etc.) have been moved to a separate menu.

In addition, there are now numerous fresh settings, especially for ray tracing, to which the developer has dedicated two presets. While the normal RT preset only activates the ray tracing illumination, the RT Ultra preset (used for the ray tracing benchmarks) also includes corresponding reflections, shadows, and ambient occlusion. In addition, there is support for DLSS and FSR 2.

On the other hand, it is a bit of a shame that you once again have to do without explanations for the individual settings, some options are not influenced by the presets and there is a lot of scrolling due to the sheer mass of features. On the other hand, changes are applied without a restart. The game size has increased from just under 30 GB to around 40 GB since our reference version, which is still within limits.

Benchmark

For better comparability, the same sequence as back then is used as a benchmark. Shortly after the tutorial, the main character Geralt is released into the open game world and is allowed to explore the countryside with his horse. As you can see in the following video, we ride after the witcher colleague on a set route for about a minute until a video sequence starts near a bridge. The frame rate is recorded with the CapeFrameX tool. For decent gameplay, we recommend at least 40 FPS as an average value in the benchmark.

Results

For the benchmarks, we mainly use rental devices from XMG (Schenker Technologies).

FHD (1,920 x 1,080)

At moderate resolutions and settings, The Witcher 3 is not particularly demanding. While iGPUs from Intel (e.g. the Iris Xe Graphics G7 with 96 EUs) can handle a maximum of 1,280 x 720 pixels and the preset Low, some iGPUs from AMD (e.g. the Radeon 680M) can also handle minimum details in Full HD. Midrange chips on the level of the GeForce RTX 3050 Ti on the other hand, do not have any problems at 1920x1080 pixels even with medium to maximum settings.

The Witcher 3 v4.00
1920x1080 Low Preset / Off 1920x1080 Medium Preset / On AA:FX 1920x1080 High Preset / On AA:FX 1920x1080 Ultra Preset / On AA:FX
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, i9-12900K Desktop-PC	257 (56.6^min, 145.9^P0.1, 183.2^P1) fps ∼41% 222 (61.5^min, 141.2^P0.1, 166.3^P1) fps ∼45% 191.6 (97.6^min, 121.2^P0.1, 132.8^P1) fps ∼42%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, i9-12900K Desktop-PC	226 (10.6^min, 43.2^P0.1, 154.5^P1) fps ∼36% 188.2 (17.3^min, 118.8^P0.1, 136.2^P1) fps ∼38% 151.5 (56.1^min, 93.8^P0.1, 105.3^P1) fps ∼34%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Laptop GPU, i9-12900HX MSI Titan GT77 12UHS	226 (33.7^min, 106.9^P0.1, 164.8^P1) fps ∼30% 195.6 (29.9^min, 65.9^P0.1, 141^P1) fps ∼31% 168.1 (30.5^min, 55.1^P0.1, 121.1^P1) fps ∼34% 140 (25.5^min, 73.5^P0.1, 97.6^P1) fps ∼31%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H XMG Neo 15 @165 W TGP	189.3 (9.59^min, 28.5^P0.1, 129.3^P1) fps ∼25% 164.4 (50.2^min, 95.1^P0.1, 120.2^P1) fps ∼26% 142.2 (49.6^min, 92.1^P0.1, 105.1^P1) fps ∼29% 120.9 (48.9^min, 72.1^P0.1, 82.2^P1) fps ∼27%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H XMG Neo 17 @140 W TGP	188.6 (7.29^min, 30^P0.1, 132.3^P1) fps ∼25% 160.7 (51.5^min, 86.1^P0.1, 120.1^P1) fps ∼26% 136.7 (16.8^min, 85.2^P0.1, 101.4^P1) fps ∼28% 117.3 (33.6^min, 62.6^P0.1, 80.3^P1) fps ∼26%
AMD Radeon RX 6800M, R9 5900HX Asus ROG Strix G15	119.6 (5.39^min, 14.3^P0.1, 82.4^P1) fps ∼19% 110.3 (36.9^min, 75.1^P0.1, 85.9^P1) fps ∼22% 97.5 (59.2^min, 64^P0.1, 74.5^P1) fps ∼22%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H XMG Core 15 @130 W TGP	158.3 (37.7^min, 89.4^P0.1, 113^P1) fps ∼21% 138.7 (9.84^min, 29.1^P0.1, 93.3^P1) fps ∼22% 108.6 (32.2^min, 50.8^P0.1, 76.8^P1) fps ∼22% 87.6 (27.7^min, 50.5^P0.1, 60.5^P1) fps ∼19%
AMD Radeon RX 6600M, R7 5800H Lenovo Legion 5	110.3 (4.86^min, 9.46^P0.1, 80.6^P1) fps ∼18% 95.3 (28.7^min, 65.8^P0.1, 75.3^P1) fps ∼19% 76.7 (39.5^min, 47^P0.1, 53.8^P1) fps ∼17%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU, i7-11800H XMG Focus 17 @75 W TGP	127.2 (66.7^min, 79.9^P0.1, 90.5^P1) fps ∼17% 92.5 (50.1^min, 57.1^P0.1, 63.3^P1) fps ∼15% 74 (41.4^min, 46.6^P0.1, 53^P1) fps ∼15% 58 (26.3^min, 37.4^P0.1, 41.8^P1) fps ∼13%
AMD Radeon 680M, R9 6900HS Asus ROG Zephyrus G14	44.7 (22.2^min, 22.7^P0.1, 24.8^P1) fps ∼6% 35.7 (16.7^min, 22.1^P0.1, 26.8^P1) fps ∼6% 30.2 (19.1^min, 19.5^P0.1, 23.6^P1) fps ∼6% 24.5 (12^min, 12.2^P0.1, 13.5^P1) fps ∼5%
Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs, i7-1165G7 Zotac ZBOX CI665 Nano	28.1 (15.5^min, 21.3^P0.1, 23.2^P1) fps ∼4% 21.5 (16.6^min, 17.1^P0.1, 18.2^P1) fps ∼3% 18.3 (14.7^min, 14.7^P0.1, 15.6^P1) fps ∼4% 15.1 (11.7^min, 11.8^P0.1, 12.7^P1) fps ∼3%

QHD (2,560 x 1,440)

For QHD displays with 2,560 x 1,440 pixels, it should be a graphics card from the upper mid-range. The Ultra-Preset is used here starting with a Radeon RX 6600M smoothly on the screen.

The Witcher 3 v4.00
2560x1440 Ultra Preset / On AA:FX
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, i9-12900K Desktop-PC	154 (88.1^min, 98.8^P0.1, 106.1^P1) fps ∼38%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Laptop GPU, i9-12900HX MSI Titan GT77 12UHS	110 (43^min) fps ∼27%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, i9-12900K Desktop-PC	109.9 (63^min, 68.6^P0.1, 78.3^P1) fps ∼27%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H XMG Neo 15 @165 W TGP	85.8 (36.5^min, 54.8^P0.1, 60.9^P1) fps ∼21%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H XMG Neo 17 @140 W TGP	83 (34.7^min, 52.2^P0.1, 59.4^P1) fps ∼20%
AMD Radeon RX 6800M, R9 5900HX Asus ROG Strix G15	78.2 (46.2^min, 51.2^P0.1, 60.3^P1) fps ∼19%
AMD Radeon RX 6600M, R7 5800H Lenovo Legion 5	51.7 (24.3^min, 38.1^P0.1, 42^P1) fps ∼13%

UHD (3,840 x 2,160)

4K monitors, on the other hand, cry out for a true high-end GPU if maximum details are desired. A mixture of 3,840 x 2,160 pixels and the Ultra preset needs at least Radeon RX 6800M or better. If you miss the 4K results of our Nvidia notebooks: unfortunately, we have had to struggle with partly significantly worse performance on external screens for a few weeks (probably a bug in newer driver versions). Fortunately, the AMD devices are not affected.

The Witcher 3 v4.00
3840x2160 Ultra Preset / On AA:FX
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, i9-12900K Desktop-PC	87.8 (54.2^min, 63.3^P0.1, 66.9^P1) fps ∼26%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, i9-12900K Desktop-PC	61.9 (39.4^min, 42.5^P0.1, 47.9^P1) fps ∼18%
AMD Radeon RX 6800M, R9 5900HX Asus ROG Strix G15	43 (29^min, 31.5^P0.1, 34.1^P1) fps ∼13%
AMD Radeon RX 6600M, R7 5800H Lenovo Legion 5	27.6 (9.74^min, 23.1^P0.1, 24.2^P1) fps ∼8%

Ray Tracing

The Witcher 3 becomes really demanding when ray tracing is enabled. Most laptop graphics cards already reach their limits in Full HD. Only Nvidia's top model, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti scratches the 40 FPS mark in the RT Ultra preset.

The Witcher 3 v4.00
1920x1080 RT Ultra Preset / On AA:FX
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, i9-12900K Desktop-PC	53.6 (6.43^min, 8.23^P0.1, 19.8^P1) fps ∼30%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Laptop GPU, i9-12900HX MSI Titan GT77 12UHS	39.5 (5.02^min, 5.86^P0.1, 15.7^P1) fps ∼22%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, i9-12900K Desktop-PC	37 (6.25^min, 7.08^P0.1, 13.5^P1) fps ∼21%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H XMG Neo 15 @165 W TGP	32.3 (4.43^min, 5.42^P0.1, 12.4^P1) fps ∼18%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H XMG Neo 17 @140 W TGP	30.1 (4.72^min, 5.65^P0.1, 11.7^P1) fps ∼17%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H XMG Core 15 @130 W TGP	23.5 (3.92^min, 4.65^P0.1, 8.51^P1) fps ∼13%
AMD Radeon RX 6800M, R9 5900HX Asus ROG Strix G15	22.4 (2.58^min, 3^P0.1, 16.2^P1) fps ∼13%
AMD Radeon RX 6600M, R7 5800H Lenovo Legion 5	15.6 (2.76^min, 3.08^P0.1, 6.06^P1) fps ∼9%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU, i7-11800H XMG Focus 17 @75 W TGP	14.5 (3.24^min, 4.64^P0.1, 5.26^P1) fps ∼8%

Note

Since gaming tests are very time-consuming and often restricted by installation or activation limits, we can only provide you with a part of the benchmarks for the publication of the articles. More graphics cards will be installed in the coming days and weeks.

Overview

Test systems

XMG Neo 15 (RTX 3080) - Click on photo to open the configurator (bestware.com)

XMG Neo 17 (RTX 3070) - Click on photo to open the configurator (bestware.com)

XMG Core 15 (RTX 3060) - Click on photo to open the configurator (bestware.com)

XMG Focus 17 (RTX 3050 Ti) - Click on photo to open the configurator (bestware.com)

Device	Graphics card	Processor	Memory	Operating system
Notebooks
MSI Titan GT77 12UHS	Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti @175 W TGP (16 GB GDDR6)	Intel Core i9-12900	2 x 16 GB DDR5	Windows 11
XMG Neo 15	Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 @165 W TGP (16 GB GDDR6)	Intel Core i7-11800H	2 x 16 GB DDR4	Windows 11
XMG Neo 17	Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 @140 W TGP (8 GB GDDR6)	Intel Core i7-11800H	2 x 16 GB DDR4	Windows 11
XMG Core 15	Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 @130 W TGP (6 GB GDDR6)	Intel Core i7-11800H	2 x 16 GB DDR4	Windows 11
XMG Focus 17	Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti @75 W TGP (4 GB GDDR6)	Intel Core i7-11800H	2 x 16 GB DDR4	Windows 11
Asus ROG Strix G15	AMD Radeon RX 6800M (12 GB GDDR6)	AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX	2 x 8 GB DDR4	Windows 11
Lenovo Legion 5	AMD Radeon RX 6600M (8 GB GDDR6)	AMD Ryzen 7 5800H	2 x 8 GB DDR4	Windows 11
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14	AMD Radeon 680M	AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS	2 x 16 GB DDR5	Windows 11
Tower PCs
Custom I	MSI GeForce RTX 3080 (10 GB GDDR6X) MSI GeForce RTX 3070 (8 GB GDDR6)	Intel Core i9-12900K	2 x 16 GB DDR4	Windows 11
Custom II	Palit GeForce RTX 4090 GameRock OC (24 GB GDDR6X) Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 FE (24 GB GDDR6X) Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (8 GB GDDR6X) Nvidia Titan RTX (24 GB GDDR6) lNvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super (8 GB GDDR6) Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super (8 GB GDDR6) KFA2 GeForce GTX 1660 Super (6 GB GDDR6) PNY GeForce GTX 1660 (6 GB GDDR5) KFA2 GeForce GTX 1650 Super (4 GB GDDR6) AMDGDDR6) AMD Radeon RX 6800 (16 GB DDR6) AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT (12 GB DDR6) AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT (8 GB GDDR6) AMD Radeon RX 6600 (8 GB GDDR6) AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT (8 GB GDDR6) AMD Radeon RX 5700 (8 GB GDDR6) AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT (6 GB GDDR6) AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT (8 GB GDDR6)	AMD Ryzen 9 7950X	2 x 16 GB DDR5	Windows 11
Custom III	Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super FE	Intel Core i9-11900K	2 x 8 GB DDR4	Windows 11
Mini PCs
Zotac ZBOX CI665 Nano	Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 (96 CUs)	Intel Core i7-1165G7	2 x 8 GB DDR4	Windows 11
Morefine S500+	AMD Radeon RX Vega 8	AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX	2 x 16 GB DDR4	Windows 11
Minisforum NUCXi7	Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 @125 W TGP (8 GB GDDR6)	Intel Core i7-11800H	2 x 8 GB DDR4	Windows 11
Minisforum HX90G	AMD Radeon RX 6600M @100 W TGP (8 GB GDDR6)	AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX	2 x 16 GB DDR4	Windows 11

4K monitors	Nvidia drivers	AMD drivers
Asus PB287Q, Philips Brilliance 329P9H, Gigabyte M32U	ForceWare 528.02	Adrenalin 22.11.2

Read all 2 comments / answer

Loading Comments

Comment on this article

Editor of the original article: Florian Glaser - Managing Editor Gaming Laptops - 615 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2009

I discovered my interest in computers in my childhood, growing up with MS-DOS and Windows 3.1 in the early 1990s. I was especially fascinated with computer games, even from an early age. From Monkey Island through Lands of Lore to Doom, I tried every game I could get my hands on. I have been working for Notebookcheck since 2009 with my focus mostly being on high-performance gaming laptops.

Translator: Ninh Ngoc Duy - Editorial Assistant - 388017 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2008

My main responsibility as an editorial assistant is maintaining the Library section, which aggregates reviews from other publications and channels. In addition, my daily breakfast is Notebookcheck's long list of new content, which I comb through to select the most interesting topics for translation from English to French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch."

contact me via: Facebook

Please share our article, every link counts!

> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > Reviews > The Witcher 3 v4.00: Notebook and desktop benchmarks

Florian Glaser, 2023-01-20 (Update: 2023-01-20)

Legend
5	Stutters – This game is very likely to stutter and have poor frame rates. Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, average frame rates are expected to fall below 25fps
	May Stutter – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game. Based on interpolated information from surrounding graphics cards of similar performance levels, stutters and poor frame rates are expected.
30	Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 25fps
40	Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 35fps
60	Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 58fps
	May Run Fluently – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game. Based on interpolated information from surrounding graphics cards of similar performance levels, fluent frame rates are expected.
?	Uncertain – This graphics card experienced unexpected performance issues during testing for this game. A slower card may be able to achieve better and more consistent frame rates than this particular GPU running the same benchmark scene.
	Uncertain – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game and no reliable interpolation can be made based on the performances of surrounding cards of the same class or family.
The value in the fields displays the average frame rate of all values in the database. Move your cursor over the value to see individual results.