Metro Exodus Retested – More Cards, More RT, More DLSS!

Metro Exodus Retested When Metro launched, it set a benchmark for how demanding modern PC games can be. "Can it run Crysis?" we used to cry. However, from this day forth, "Can it run Metro" is the benchmark to take note of. With a powerful game engine, the game looks stunning, but will make even the RTX 2080 Ti cry for its mother. Since the game launched, however, it has played host to a wide range of GPU driver updates, as well as game updates. The game its self, as well as the feature-packed benchmarking tool, have been heavily adjusted. What does that mean? Well, it means performance has improved quite a bit. Furthermore, it means all our lovely benchmarks we've run are now invalid junk. So, there's only one thing to do! Grab a big stack of graphics cards from AMD and Nvidia, and put them on the bench. I don't know how you spend your weekends, but this is how I spent mine! Plus, I spent last weekend testing Far Cry New Dawn in a similar fashion. Check that out here! GPUs Featured PowerColor Devil RX580AMD Radeon Vega 56Sapphire VEGA 64ASUS 9Gbps GTX 1060 PNY XLR8 GTX 1070MSI Gaming GTX 1070 TiNvidia FE GTX 1080 TiNvidia GeForce GTX 1660 TiASUS Strix RTX 2060Aorus Xtreme RTX 2070EVGA XC Ultra RTX 2080MSI RTX 2080 Ti Lightning Z Metro Exodus Trailer Game Description Metro Exodus is an epic, story-driven first person shooter from 4A Games that blends deadly combat and stealth with exploration and survival horror in one of the most immersive game worlds ever created.Flee the shattered ruins of dead Moscow and embark on an epic, continent-spanning journey across post-apocalyptic Russia in the greatest Metro adventure yet.Explore the Russian wilderness in vast, non-linear levels and follow a thrilling story-line inspired by the novels of Dmitry Glukhovsky that spans an entire year through spring, summer and autumn to the depths of nuclear winter.Incorporates 3rd-party DRM: Denuvo Anti-Tamper.Created by 4A Games \ Published by Deep Silver. Features Embark on an incredible journey - board the Aurora, a heavily modified steam locomotive, and join a handful of survivors as they search for a new life in the EastExperience Sandbox Survival - a gripping story links together classic Metro gameplay with new huge, non-linear levelsA beautiful, hostile world - discover the post-apocalyptic Russian wilderness, brought to life with stunning day / night cycles and dynamic weatherDeadly combat and stealth - scavenge and craft in the field to customize your arsenal of hand-made weaponry, and engage human and mutant foes in thrilling tactical combatYour choices determine your comrades’ fate - not all your companions will survive the journey; your decisions have consequence in a gripping storyline that offers massive re-playabilityThe ultimate in atmosphere and immersion - a flickering candle in the darkness; a ragged gasp as your gasmask frosts over; the howl of a mutant on the night wind - Metro will immerse and terrify you like no other game… Recommended System Requirements MINIMUM OS* : WINDOWS 7 | 8 | 10CPU : INTEL CORE I5-4440 or equivalentRAM : 8GBGPU : GEFORCE GTX 670 | GEFORCE GTX 1050 | AMD RADEON HD 7870VRAM : 2 GBDIRECT X : 11 |12 RECOMMENDED OS* : WINDOWS 10CPU : INTEL CORE I7-4770K or equivalentRAM : 8GBGPU : GEFORCE GTX 1070 | GEFORCE RTX 2060 | AMD RX VEGA 56VRAM : 8 GBDIRECT X : 12 *Windows 10 RS5 (Build 1809) or newer and DirectX 12 required for RTX features. Win 8.1 requires build 9600 or newer, Win 8 requires build 9200 or newer, Win 7 requires SP1 or newer. Graphics Card Test System Motherboard – Aorus Z390 Gaming MasterProcessor – Intel Core i9-9900K (Stock)RAM – Crucial Ballistix Gaming 32GB (4 x 8GB) 3000 MHzCPU Cooler – Noctua NH-D15SPower Supply – Be Quiet Power Zone 1000WMain Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GBChassis – Thermaltake Core P5 TGOperating System – Windows 10 64-bitMonitor – AOC 28-Inch 4K Gaming Monitor Gaming To gauge performance levels which are easily reproduced time after time, by both ourselves and our readers, we now stick strictly to games default profiles. With our previous reviews, we used the “Medium or Normal” preset. However, as GPUs get faster, we’ve now moved that up to “High” profiles for all games, at all resolutions. V-Sync is always disabled in our testing, as are FreeSync and G-Sync technologies or similar. Graphics card power usage set to optimised or balance, and the system power mode set to High Performance within Windows and the available GPU driver software. Identical settings are used for all resolutions unless otherwise stated. For Ray Tracing, we use the HIGH profile setting in the Metro Benchmark Tool. DLSS testing is done also, at least on cards and resolution which both support it, and are available to us in the benchmark tool. GPUs Featured PowerColor Devil RX580AMD Radeon Vega 56Sapphire VEGA 64ASUS 9Gbps GTX 1060 PNY XLR8 GTX 1070MSI Gaming GTX 1070 TiNvidia FE GTX 1080 TiNvidia GeForce GTX 1660 TiASUS Strix RTX 2060Aorus Xtreme RTX 2070EVGA XC Ultra RTX 2080MSI RTX 2080 Ti Lightning Z 1080p (Full HD), 1440p (2K), and 2160p (4K) Unsurprisingly, the RTX 2080 Ti Lightning Z tops the charts. It's by far the most powerful and expensive GPU we've ever tested, and it shows. However, even at 4K, that card didn't hit 60 FPS at 4K. In fact, it's the only card that came close. I am amazed that even the Vega 56 and the RTX 2060 hit 30 FPS though, which is playable, if you're not a foaming at the mouth 60 FPS enthusiast. Which... I'm better many of you are. It seems then that if you're gaming at 4K, you're going to have to compromise on the High profile for medium, or lower. Ultra you say? Don't waste your time, it doesn't look much different and slaughters performance. 1440p This is the sweet spot for this game. Stunning graphics, and at least on flagship cards, 60 FPS is attainable. The VEGA 64, GTX 1080 and RTX 2060 scored 50 FPS, which is fine with VSYNC. However, dial down a few minor graphics settings and you'll be at 60 FPS before you can say "Artyom!" 1080p Good old 1080p, Full-HD, 1920 x 1080, what ever you call it. It can always be trusted to be easy to run these days. Anything from a 1070 Ti up will get the job done, or a VEGA 56 if you're an AMD fan. Even the RX580 and GTX 1060 did reasonably well, but I'd be dropping to medium graphics for those two if I were you. Ray Tracing OK, so there aren't as many GPUs on this chart. Of course, only the Nvidia RTX cards can even think about attempting this for now. When it comes to 4K gaming, well, I hope you like cinematic frame rates, because that's what you'll get. Are the GPUs to blame? Nope, this game is just a graphical monster to render. At 1440p, the RTX 2080 and Ti did just fine though, better than I though, and a step up from when the game launched. At 1080p, depending how focused you are on that 60 FPS figure, even the RTX 2060 did a fine job. I would have expected more than 11 FPS between the RTX 2080 and RTX 2080 Ti though, but hey-ho. DLSS Now, this is a tricky one, as even fewer cards run this correctly. At 1080p, the RTX 2080 Ti won't do DLSS, nor will the RTX 2080. However, at 4K, the RTX 2060 won't work, doh! Regardless, we see some healthy improvements throughout. RTX 2080 Ti moved up from 35.8 to 49.3 FPS at 4K; almost 15 FPS! It was also enough to see both the RTX 2080 and RTX 2070 break past the 60 FPS mark at 1440p, which is a welcome boost indeed. The 1080p performance improvements are good, but DLSS at such a low resolution isn't ideal, I'd rather use a lower GPU profile than do so; or not use Ray Tracing and DLSS at all. How Much Does It Cost? The game is available now on the Epic Games Store for £49.99 for the standard edition, or £69.99 for the Gold Edition. Which one is right for you? Well, that's only for you and your wallet to decide! Overview I love this game, I really do. I know people are pissed that it's not on Steam, and well, I am too. However, it's my job to play these games, test them, and more. So for that, I have to look past these issues and power through. That being said, it's one of the finest looking games of this generation, but that's the problem too. Rendering I really wasn't joking about that "can it run Crysis" analogy. This game is a monster that makes even the mighty RTX 2080 Ti wimper. When the game launched, we were seeing framerates that were 5-15% lower than what we got today. All those cards scraping past 60 FPS here, were sitting in the 40-50 FPS ranges. The updates are working, that's for sure. However, while the game looks great at medium settings, High, Ultra, and Ray Tracing, will take some serious power, the likes we still don't even have available. Next Gen This game is runnable at 60 FPS on almost any modern GPU. You just have to dial things down a bit. However, when we're testing this game in 6-months, or even 12-months. I think that's when we'll see proper performance figures to be proud of. However, that'll be on GPUs that we haven't even got rumours for yet. RTX 30xx, Navi from AMD? Who knows!