3D Mark’s New Port Royal benchmark demonstrates how far we’ve come, and how far we have yet to go

The new Port Royal benchmark is beautiful, but you really have to have TWO Geforce RTX 2080Ti graphics cards to appreciate it. It is worth noting that the Port Royal benchmark does not run at 4K. I’ve heard reports that it runs at 1440p, but it looks terrible enough that I feel it might even be dialed back to 1080p. On my watercooled. overclocked RTX 2080ti it averages about 35fps. If you force it to run at 4k, it will barely pass 15fps and is totally unwatchable.


This benchmark shows us a glimpse into what the future of computer games might look like, however, it still requires us to use imagination as it proves that the current generation of Geforce RTX 2000 series cards are just not up to the task quite yet. Even if I had spent the $3000 required to get TWO of the best cards on the market, i would still only be achieving ~35fps at 4K for this scene.

We have come a long way, but, clearly, we still have another decade to go before all these graphical goodies will truly come to fruition. I figure we need several generations of graphics cards upgrades to do what developers truly want to do with Raytracing. I figure this:

1) Power needs to double to satisfy 4K customers.
2) Most current games only use raytracing for one effect. Reflections, refractions, shadows, global immumination. The power of these cards probably needs to double 3 more times if games are to take advantage of all 4 of these effects.

That’s 4 generations of graphics cards. Figure an average of 2-2.5 years in between generations… 10 years… approximately.

Hopefully old age doesn’t catch up to me before then. Happy raytracing, everyone!

0 Replies to “3D Mark’s New Port Royal benchmark demonstrates how far we’ve come, and how far we have yet to go”

  1. It’s interesting to think about how far we’ve come in terms of graphics capabilities, yet how far we still have to go. I agree with the author’s assessment that we are likely a good decade away from fully realizing the potential of ray tracing in 4K.

    In the context of developing graphics-intensive games, this might even seem like an understatement. After all, having high-powered cards like the RTX 2080Ti struggling to produce a fluid experience at such resolutions makes one think about the practical limitations we are yet to overcome.

    In that regard, I wonder, would it be more beneficial for developers to focus on refining and optimizing existing graphic technologies rather than pushing the boundaries with new, highly demanding features? It seems like the push for more advanced graphics is outpacing the hardware capability to handle it.

    To that end, is realism the ultimate goal in game graphics? Or is there a point at which it becomes almost indistinguishable from, say, watching a live-action movie? Not a criticism, just genuinely curious about everyone’s thoughts on this.

    1. Totally hear ya! Optimization’s as key as innovation, right? And where is that sweet spot between hyper-realism and gamey charm? Guess balance is everything!

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