We Benchmarked 35 GPUs in Black Myth Wukong

Benchmarks

So starting things off with 1080p on the low preset and it’s here where most cards actually did ok from both AMD and NVIDIA with the top-end 4090 giving us 212 FPS overall. AMD’s top-end 7900 XTX fell 6% behind at 200 FPS, but that’s still more than enough for this type of game though this may drop in the more intensive scenes when actually playing the game in fight scenes for instance. Beyond that, the performance trickles down but we still see strong performance from the likes of the RTX 4060 8GB at 85 frames per second which is essentially on par with the RX 7600 from AMD at 84 FPS. In terms of Intel, the A770 narrowly surpasses 60 FPS, while the A750 sits just 1 FPS below it, and while the A580 comes in at 54 FPS, I fear that higher resolutions or presets will see that drop pretty rapidly.

As we move up to 1440p, the RTX 4090 still comes in strong at 162 frames per second followed by the 7900 XTX which is now sitting 11% behind. There’s a bit of a mixed bag between AMD and NVIDIA cards like the 950 XT and 4070 Ti which both come identically in both the averages and the 1% lows. As we move down, we’re still good all the way down to the trusty 3060 Ti at 62 FPS, and the 2080 SUPER which still puts up a fight, coming in at 56 frames per second. A lot more cards now move into the territory of still being playable but not offering up the best experience, which no surprise again is the 3 ARC cards that we tested from Intel.

4K sees the 4090 take a bigger lead in comparison to AMD’s flagship by 23% and now only 7 cards sit above 60 frames per second with the 4070 Ti SUPER 2 frames above that. Older cards like the 6950 XT are still holding strong but now some newer cards like the RTX 4070 at just 44 FPS will start to see things struggle a bit. 30 FPS is still playable but more intensive parts of the game could see some sizable dips in performance and cards like the 7600 XT from AMD and RTX 4060 from NVIDIA won’t lead to an enjoyable experience, though what’s interesting is how the A770 moves up in our charts, but that’s more a testament to other cards dropping down, which in turn make it look somewhat better.

Back down to 1080p, but this time looking at the medium preset, and we still have some really strong performance across the board. The margin between the two flagships edge closer with just 7% separating them and some older cards, again, like the 6950 XT and also the 3090 Ti do well above 100 frames per second, showing that they still have some life left in them. Anything from the RX 7600 and up from AMD and 4060 and up from NVIDIA are still good for 60 FPS, and even the 2080 SUPER shows what performance it still has. Again, the Intel ARC cards sit at the bottom of our stack, are are still playable, but upscaling will help push things over 60 FPS, but will of course suffer in terms of the visual quality.

At 1440p we’re still good for over 60 FPS on quite a few cards including the 6950 XT again, 3080 Ti and RX 6800. There are some older cards which just fall short of 60 like the 3070 Ti, but again, upscaling would help push those numbers up though for cards like the RTX 3060 at 37 FPS and the Intel ARC cards at sub 36 frames per second, may find that upscaling may have to be quite aggressive to get the performance needed.

At 4K we’re starting to see more cards slip below 60 FPS now, with only the RTX 4090, 7900 XTX and 4080 SUPER making the cut. You could argue that the 4080 is still up there too as it comes in at 59 frames per second. We still have some hope for older cards like the RTX 3080 Ti, but if you’re not a fan of upscaling, then older and lower-end newer hardware are really going to start struggling and now we have some cards hitting the teens and not offering up any form of enjoyable gameplay.

At 1080p on the high preset, which is where I’d like to think most people will be playing, we have the majority of the RTX 40 series cards like the 4070 SUPER, and RTX 4070 doing well at 86 and 75 frames per second respectively. The 4060 Ti falls shy at 59 FPS, but again, without sounding like a broken record, frame gen or even just adjusting the scaling resolution will help push this up, closer to 80 FPS. Below 60 now includes the RTX 4060 and 7600 XT 16GB but at 1080p, all cards manage to perform above 30 FPS, but that’s not to say that it will feel smooth in any way.

1440p now sees the RTX 4090 slip below 100 frames per second, and the 7900 XTX and 4080 SUPER come in evenly matched. Other cards worth mentioning include the 3080 Ti at 61 frames per second, and RTX 4070 SUPER. The SUPER has the ability to utilise frame generation so has a small trick up its sleeve to boost performance, but it’s still nice to see an older card like the 3080 Ti holding its own. Moving down and we have 5 cards coming in at 30 FPS or less and while tweaking of the settings will help, there are sacrifices in visual quality that would have to be made.

4K on high takes quite a battering, now with only the RTX 4090 hitting 60 FPS. This just goes to show that the likes of the 4080 SUPER, 7900 XT and 4070 Ti SUPER for instance really are reliant on upscaling in this title, while older cards won’t get the same treatment in terms of frame generation, so lowering the resolution or the settings themselves really will be the main point of getting performance back up to reasonable levels.

1080p on Very High still shows good performance from the 4070 Ti and up, along with both 7900 series cards as they surpass 60 FPS. The likes of the 3080 Ti now drops to 54 FPS and the trusty 6950 XT now drops to 53 frames per second, while a lot more cards including the RTX 4060 and 7600 XT, which come in at 29 frames per second don’t quite make the cut at this setting and resolution.

At 1440p, the RTX 4090 is now the only card surpassing 60, though both the 4080 and 4080 SUPER just dip below at 57 FPS for both, followed closely behind by the 7900 XTX. Beyond that, a lot of cards hover around the 38 to 42 FPS mark where they essentially run out of steam. The demands of this game are really showing now as we have newer GPUs like the RTX 4060 Ti at 27 FPS, the 7600 XT at 21 FPS and the RX 7600 now hitting 20 frames per second, and matching that of the ARC A770.

Moving up to 4K and we’re now in new territory with the 4090 still leading the pack, but at 45 frames per second, while the 4080 series and 7900 XTX come in evenly matched. If wanting to game at 4K and on Very High, upscaling really is the only saving grace here, and something we’ll look at shortly, though things drop off quite rapidly for other cards with lots now sitting in the 20’s like the 3080 Ti, 3080 12GB, and even the 7900 GRE. Beyond that, we now have our first cards sitting in single digits which frankly was an awful experience to watch, let alone predicting what it would be like to play on.

Lastly, taking a look at the top setting, which is cinematic, and at 1080p, the 4090 still comes in with a commendable 81 frames per second. Both 4080 cards and the 7900 XTX come in above 60, while the 7900 XT just falls short of the mark at 58 FPS. Lower-end and older cards are still playable, like the 4070 SUPER, 7900 GRE and 7800 XT, though personally I’d be knocking the preset down or utilising upscaling to my advantage while a lot of lower-end cards may struggle, even with upscaling enabled.

At 1440p, the 4090 still clings on at 66 FPS with every other card dropping below that threshold that most gamers crave. The likes of the 4080 series and 7900 XTX are still within reach of making it work, while lower-end 40 series, 7000 series and older cards, even with extreme levels of upscaling are really going to feel the brunt of it, but I wouldn’t be expecting gamers to play at 1440p on max settings on a card like that anyway.

Then lastly, 4K cinematic just goes to show how intensive this game is. Even the RTX 4090, while putting up a fight, succumbs to its defeat at 41 frames per second. Again, being a 40 series, it does have frame gen up its sleeve, which we’ll look at, and scaling options, but it does look like this game is ready for next gen graphics, especially when we see the huge hit that a lot of cards take in our chart, all the way down to the Intel ARC cards and RX 7600, which never really started the race in the first place.