Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 Ti review: the typical performance upgrade spectrum

The RTX 3090 Ti is undoubtedly the fastest graphics card we've tested so far, but let's keep digging. We have two more games here, starting with Metro Exodus(non Enhanced Edition) and racing title Dirt Rally 2.0.

To capture our performance data, we use the FCAT tool baked into the Rivatuner Statistics Server (RTSS). This produces a coloured border on the side of the screen, with each new element's height corresponding to the time taken to generate a single frame. We capture a direct feed of what the video card produces - the game footage with the FCAT border - and then load the resulting video file into our own bespoke analysis tools to generate metadata for each run. It's this metadata that we upload to the Eurogamer website, which can then be included in any combination to create the embedded performance metrics you see below.

Metro Exodus

Metro Exodus is one of the best games to benchmark from a usability standpoint, as both in-game scenes and the dedicated benchmark tool load quickly, offer a good range of options and present a tough challenge for even modern graphics cards. For the 3090 Ti, we're looking at nearly a seven percent performance lead over the regular 3090, or 21 percent over an RTX 3080. Compared to the last-gen 2080 Ti, it's a 60 percent delta for the new blood - not bad. The 3090 Ti also outperforms anything we've seen from AMD, recording a 4K average that's 22 percent beyond that of the RX 6900 XT.

Dirt Rally 2.0

Dirt Rally 2.0 is another game that offers a big shift from the 3090 to the Ti, with an 11 percent advantage for Nvidia's latest. However, the 3090 Ti is only 56 percent faster than the 2080 Ti, a slightly smaller margin than we've normally seen. Compared to the RX 6900 XT, it's a 20 percent advantage for Team Green.

Now, let's see if the script gets flipped when it comes to ray tracing performance. Do those two extra RT cores make a difference?

Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 Ti analysis

• Introduction and hardware analysis
• Doom Eternal, Control, Borderlands 3, Shadow of the Tomb Raider - Game Benchmarks Part 1
• Death Stranding, Far Cry 5, Hitman 2 - Game Benchmarks Part 2
• Metro Exodus, Dirt Rally - Game Benchmarks Part 3 [This Page]
• Control, Metro Exodus, Battlefield 5 - RT game benchmarks
• Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 Ti - the Digital Foundry verdict