VR Wars: Ampere vs. Big Navi – Is the RTX 3060 Ti the New Bang-for-Buck VR Champ?

ARK Park

ARK Park is a single or multiplayer VR adventure game set in a dinosaur theme park, and it allows gamers to interact with a few of the dinosaurs in ARK: Survival Evolved. The idea is to explore your own “Jurassic Park”, study genetics, raise baby dinosaurs from eggs, ride and paint them, and even defend the park against attacking dinosaurs in a wave shooter segment. It’s not a great game with small maps, but its visuals are still worth benchmarking.

ARK: Park has very few adjustable settings so we benchmark it using its highest preset. We also used SteamVR to increase the resolution from 100% to 200%.

Here are the performance results of our two competing cards using FCAT VR’s generated chart.

Here are the details are reported by FCAT-VR:

The RTX 3060 Ti delivered 194.95 unconstrained FPS with 2 dropped frames and 2 frames were synthesized. In addition, it suffered 2 Warp Misses.

The RTX 3070 achieved 216.02 unconstrained FPS with 1 dropped and 6 synthetic frames together with 1 Warp miss.

The RX 6800 delivered 165.79 unconstrained FPS with no dropped frames and no frames were synthesized. It suffered no Warp misses.

The RX 6800 XT delivered 174.25 unconstrained FPS with 1 dropped frame and 1 frame was synthesized. In addition, it suffered 1 Warp Miss.

The RTX 3080 achieved 265.48 unconstrained FPS with 2 dropped and 4 synthetic frames together with 2 warp misses.

There isn’t any difference playing on any of our cards at our chosen settings using 200% Super Resolution as ARK Park is built on the Unreal Engine and it is just not very demanding. However, the RTX 3080 has significantly more performance headroom than the RX 6800 XT and even the RTX 3060 Ti is faster.

Next up, Assetto Corsa Competizione.

Assetto Corsa Competizione

Fallout 4

Fallout 4 uses the Creation Engine, and Bethesda has dropped all support for it so it remains unoptimized although there are mods that may be helpful. It’s pretty hard to use the Index controllers with it, so we use the Vive wands instead for this game. We benchmark at its highest settings and with TAA. All Fade settings are set to their maximums.

Fallout 4 had some issues on both cards as it is still an unoptimized mess abandoned by its publisher – but it is playable and an amazing full-game experience.

Here is the frametime plot for Fallout 4.

Here are the details are reported by FCAT-VR:

The RTX 3060 Ti delivered 103.28 unconstrained FPS with no dropped frames and no Warp misses, but 1793 (30%) frames were synthesized.

The RTX 3070 managed 112.80 unconstrained FPS with no dropped or no Warp misses, but 655 (11%) frames were synthesized.

The RX 6800 delivered 125.19 unconstrained FPS with 12 dropped frames and 12 Warp misses but 824 (14%) frames were synthesized.

The RX 6800 XT produced 153.2 unconstrained FPS with 6 Warp Misses and none of its frames were synthesized probably because 259 (4%) frames were dropped instead.

The RTX 3080 delivered 145.20 unconstrained FPS with 7 Warp Misses and 7 dropped frames, and it required 173 (3%) synthetic frames.

Dropped frames are more noticeable than synthetic frames and the RTX 3080 delivers a smoother VR experience for Fallout 4 although it also suffered warp misses like the RX 6800 XT. The three lesser cards may benefit by using lowered settings for a smoother experience.

Next we look at Half Life: Alyx:

Half Life: Alyx

Half Life: Alyx uses an adaptive/dynamic scaling algorithm which uses a card’s performance headroom to subsample in demanding scenes and to supersample in less demanding scenes. We used its console commands to lock the SteamVR resolution to 200% so that it did not supersample or subsample.

Here is the frametime plot for Half Life Alyx.

Here are the details as reported by FCAT-VR.

The RTX 3060 Ti delivered 104.51 unconstrained FPS with 2 dropped frames and 2 Warp misses, but 1431 (22%) frames were synthesized.

The RTX 3070 managed 117.88 unconstrained FPS with no dropped or no Warp misses, but 276 (4%) frames were synthesized.

The RX 6800 delivered 114.68 unconstrained FPS with 10 dropped frames and 10 Warp misses but 306 (6%) frames were synthesized.

The RX 6800 XT delivered 138.18 unconstrained FPS with 44 dropped but no synthetic frames nor any warp misses were reported.

The RTX 3080 delivered 157.26 unconstrained FPS with 4 dropped and 21 synthetic frames and with 4 warp misses.

Half Life: Alyx isn’t particularly demanding until the Super Resolution increased to beyond 150% in SteamVR settings, but unless console commands are used, the game will automatically subsample or supersample as needed and it will run fine with Ultra settings on all five cards that we benchmarked.

Next, we look at Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice.

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is a visually impressive game built using the Unreal 4 engine. It is a dark and disturbing game that is far more intense in VR than the pancake version. We benchmark at its very highest settings and with TAA, and we also increased the resolution to 150% and also to 170% in-game.

First with the highest settings and at 170% resolution as set in-game, here is the frametime plot for Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice.

Here are the FCAT-VR details.

The RTX 3060 Ti delivered 70.31 unconstrained FPS with 4 dropped frames and 4 Warp misses, but 3184 (50%) frames were synthesized.

The RTX 3070 delivered 79.12 unconstrained FPS with 3 dropped frames and 3 Warp misses, but it also required 3184 (50%) synthetic frames.

The RX 6800 delivered 85.80 unconstrained FPS with 673 (11%) dropped frames and 7 Warp misses, but with no synthesized frames.

The RX 6800 XT delivered 96.81 unconstrained FPS with 33 dropped and 1558 (24%) synthetic frames along with 33 Warp Misses as it also could not deliver 90 FPS to the HMD at 170% resolution.

The RTX 3080 delivered 109.51 unconstrained FPS with 3 dropped and 94 synthetic frames (1%). It also suffered 3 Warp Misses.

Hellblade becomes demanding after the in-game resolution is set to above 130% although it looks great. Since 170% Super Resolution is too demanding for our test bed, here is Hellblade at 150% resolution with the three lesser cards.

Next we look at Into the Radius.

Into the Radius

Next, we will check out another demanding VR game, No Man’s Sky.

No Man’s Sky

No Man’s Sky is an action-adventure survival single and multiplayer game that emphasizes survival, exploration, fighting, and trading. It is set in a procedurally generated deterministic open universe, which includes over 18 quintillion unique planets using its own custom game engine.

The player takes the role of a Traveller in an uncharted universe by starting on a random planet with a damaged spacecraft equipped with only a jetpack-equipped exosuit and a versatile multi-tool that can also be used for defense. The player is encouraged to find resources to repair his spacecraft allowing for intra- and inter-planetary travel, and to interact with other players.

Here is the No Man’s Sky Frametime plot. We set the settings to High which is above Enhanced but below Ultra, and we also set the anisotropic filtering to 16X and upgraded to FXAA+TAA.

Here are the FCAT-VR details of our comparative runs.

The RTX 3060 Ti delivered 83.06 unconstrained FPS with no dropped frames or Warp misses, but 3202 (50%) frames were synthesized.

The RTX 3070 produced 93.83 unconstrained FPS with no dropped frames nor any Warp misses, but it required 2678 (42%) synthetic frames.

The RX 6800 managed 91.57 unconstrained FPS with no dropped frames nor Warp misses, but with 3215 (50%) synthesized frames.

The RX 6800 XT delivered 108.90 unconstrained FPS with 4 warp misses and 187 (3%) dropped frames probably because none of its frames were synthesized.

The RTX 3080 achieved 126.48 unconstrained FPS with no dropped frames and no warp misses, and it only required 39 synthetic frames.

The RTX 3080 edges out the RX 6800 XT and delivers more performance headroom and a smoother experience. We do not recommend using Ultra settings for either card, however, and the Enhanced Preset may be better suited for the 3 lesser cards.

Next, we will check out another VR game, Obduction.

Obduction

Obduction is considered to be the spiritual successor to Myst and Riven. It is an adventure game developed by Cyan Worlds using the Unreal 4 engine and it has very good visuals. There is an emphasis on puzzle solving which get more and more difficult as a player progresses.

Here is Obduction’s frametime plot.

Here are the details.

The RTX 3060 Ti delivered 92.22 unconstrained FPS with 5 dropped frames and 5 Warp misses, but 2591 (40%) frames were synthesized. Dropping the resolution to 100% or 110% should keep it from needing Motion Smoothing.

The RTX 3070 delivered 107.61 unconstrained FPS with 4 dropped frames and 4 Warp misses but 617 (10%) synthetic frames were generated. Again, lower the in-game resolution down from 140%.

The RX 6800 delivered 93.67 unconstrained FPS with 634 (10%) dropped instead of synthesized frames and 8 Warp misses. Lowering the resolution to 120% or 130% would probably be a good starting choice to avoid reprojected, synthesized, or dropped frames.

The RX 6800 XT produced 112.83 unconstrained FPS with 3 dropped frames, 191 synthetic frames (3%), and 3 warp misses.

The RTX 308 0 delivered 130.54 unconstrained FPS and with 3 dropped frames, 10 synthetic frames and 3 warp misses.

Next we will check out another demanding VR game, Project CARS 2 that we like better than Project CARS 3.

Project CARS 2

There is a real sense of immersion that comes from playing Project CARS 2 in VR using a wheel and pedals. It uses its in-house Madness engine, and the physics implementation is outstanding. We are disappointed with Project CARS 3, and will continue to use the older game instead for VR benching.

Project CARS 2 offers many performance options and settings and we prefer playing with SMAA Ultra.

We used maximum settings including for Motion Blur although it looks best to us on Low or Medium. For lesser cards, we would also recommend lowering grass and reflections to maximize framerate delivery as motion smoothing or reprojection tends to cause visible artifacting.

Here is the frametime plot.

Here are the FCAT-VR details.

The RTX 3060 Ti managed 77.45 unconstrained FPS with no dropped frames but 4814 (50%) frames were synthesized. It suffered no Warp Misses.

The RTX 3070 achieved 87.61 unconstrained FPS with 4 dropped and 4581 (47%) synthetic frames together with 4 Warp misses.

The RX 6800 delivered 106.35 unconstrained FPS with 19 dropped frames and 498 (5%) frames were synthesized. It suffered 19 Warp misses.

The RX 6800 XT produced 123.10 unconstrained FPS, with 5 dropped frames, 5 warp misses but 210 of its frames (2%) had to be synthesized.

The RTX 3080 delivered 117.70 unconstrained FPS with 2 dropped frames, 2 warp misses, but it only required 18 synthetic frames.

The experience playing Project CARS 2 on our maximum VR settings is similar on the top three cards, but we would recommend lowering settings for the RTX 3070 and RTX 3060 Ti.

Let’s benchmark Skyrim VR.

Skyrim VR

Skyrim VR is an older game that is no longer supported by Bethesda, but fortunately the modding community has adopted it. It is not as demanding as many of the newer VR ports so its performance is still very good on maxed-out settings using its Creation engine.

We benchmarked Skyrim VR using its highest settings, and we also increased the resolution to its in-game maximum.

Here are the frametime results.

Here are the details of our comparative runs as reported by FCAT-VR.

The RTX 3060 Ti delivered 124.01 unconstrained FPS with 8 dropped frames and 8 Warp misses, and 57 frames were synthesized.

The RTX 3070 managed 131.56 unconstrained FPS with 3 dropped frames, 19 synthetic frames, and 3 Warp misses.

The RX 6800 achieved 118.83 unconstrained FPS with no dropped frames or synthesized frames and no Warp misses.

The RTX 3080 delivered 158.87 unconstrained FPS with 5 dropped frames, 5 synthetic frames, and 5 warp misses.

Many players may prefer adding more mods to the game rather than increasing the resolution, and the RTX 3080 gives a bit more performance headroom than the RX 6800 XT. All 5 cards can play Skyrim at its maxed out in-game settings including using maximum in-game Supersampling.

Let’s check out Subnautica next.

Subnautica

Subnautica uses the Unity engine. As the sole survivor of a crash landing, the player ventures into the depths of a visually impressive alien underwater world. Here you can explore, craft equipment and build bases, pilot underwater craft, and solve mysteries all while attempting to survive a hostile environment. It is an unoptimized mess, but the VR experience is well worth it.

We benchmarked Subnautica using its highest settings plus TAA, but we left its resolution at 100%, and here are the frametime results.

Here are the details.

The RTX 3060 Ti managed 70.35 unconstrained FPS with 2 dropped frames and 2 Warp misses, but 3323 (50%) frames were synthesized.

The RTX 3070 achieved 79.82 unconstrained FPS with no dropped frames or Warp misses, but 3077 (47%) frames needed to be synthesized.

The RX 6800 delivered 97.6 unconstrained FPS with 16 dropped frames but 2956 (46%) frames were synthesized. It suffered 16 Warp misses.

The RX 6800 XT delivered 111.20 unconstrained FPS with 20 Warp Misses, and although it required no synthetic frames, it reported 2001 dropped frames instead. There could be issues with Adrenalin drivers.

The RTX 3080 delivered 102.13 unconstrained FPS with no dropped frames, no warp misses, but 37% (2380) of its frames had to be synthesized.

The experience playing Subnautica using its highest settings is not ideal as it doesn’t appear to be very well optimized and there are obvious stutters at times which may also be driver related.

Next up, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is an older game which is built on the Unreal 4 engine and it still boasts amazing visuals although it is not demanding. Although it is considered by some to be a walking simulator, it is also an excellent detective game with great puzzles. But be aware that its style of locomotion tends to make some of its players VR sick.

There are just a few in-game graphics options available, so we set 100% resolution in-game with TAA and then set SteamVR’s resolution to 200%.

Here is the frametime plot. The charts state +100% resolution incorrectly – the game is benchmarked at 200% Resolution.

Here are the FCAT-VR details at 200% Resolution.

The RTX 3060 Ti delivered 183.38 unconstrained FPS with 2 dropped frames and 2 Warp misses, but 2 frames were synthesized.

The RTX 3070 managed 210.15 unconstrained FPS with 2 dropped frames, 3 synthetic frames, and 2 Warp misses.

The RX 6800 delivered 222.55 unconstrained FPS with 1 dropped frames but no frames were synthesized and it suffered no Warp misses.

The RX 6800 XT achieved 250.76 unconstrained FPS with no dropped frames, no warp misses and no synthetic frames.

The RTX 3080 produced 258.67 unconstrained FPS with 8 dropped frames, 8 warp misses, and 8 synthetic frames.

Although it is a beautiful game visually, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter isn’t particularly demanding even after the Resolution is increased to 200% using SteamVR. The VR experience playing on all 5 cards are similar.

Last up, The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners.

The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners

The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinner is the last of BTR’s 15 VR game benching suite. It is a first person survival horror adventure RPG with a strong emphasis on crafting. Its visuals using the Unreal 4 engine are outstanding and it makes good use of physics for interactions.

We benchmarked Saints and Sinners using its highest settings, but this time we increased the Pixel Density to 150% in game. Here is the frametime chart. Please note that the Pixel Density is 150%.

Here are the details as reported by FCAT-VR. Please note that the Pixel Density is 150%.

The RTX 3060 Ti produced 79.80 unconstrained FPS with 1 dropped frame and 1 Warp miss, but 3265 (50%) frames were synthesized.

The RTX 3070 managed 97.48 unconstrained FPS with no dropped frames or Warp misses but 2048 (32%) synthetic frames were generated.

The RX 6800 delivered 103.99 unconstrained FPS with 12 dropped frames but 500 (11%) frames were synthesized and it suffered 11 Warp misses.

The RX 6800 XT delivered 116.32 unconstrained FPS with 18 dropped frames and 18 warp misses, and 213 (3%) of its frames had to be synthesized.

The RTX 3080 achieved 120.28 unconstrained FPS with 2 dropped frames and 2 Warp Misses, and it required 46 synthetic frames.

Playing The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners using the in-game maximum settings and the highest Pixel Density is difficult for 3 of our cards, so lets lower the resolution to 100% and check the frametime plot with this less demanding scenario.

Here are the details at highest Ultra settings/100% resolution. The RTX 3060 Ti produced 146.58 unconstrained FPS with 2 dropped frames and 2 Warp misses, but only 3 frames were synthesized so there is plenty of room to increase the resolution as long as it is below 150%.

The RTX 3070 achieved 167.41 unconstrained FPS with 1 dropped frame and 1 Warp miss, but only one frame was synthesized. Increase the resolution but stay below 150%.

The RX 6800 delivered 187.23 unconstrained FPS with no dropped frames and no Warp misses nor synthesized frames. Again, increasing the resolution is a good option to improve visual fidelity.

Let’s look at our overall Unconstrained Framerates Chart.

Unconstrained Framerates

The following chart summarizes the overall Unconstrained Framerates (the performance headroom) of our two cards using fifteen test games and four synthetic benches: Superposition, VRMark’s Cyan and Blue Rooms, and the OpenVR benchmark. Higher is better. Synthetic benchmarks are only useful for ranking cards. They don’t predict how any game will actually play in VR on any particular video card.

We don’t give percentages of change or percentages of increase between competing cards since unconstrained framerates are just one metric of performance headroom that is useless without the accompanying frametime charts. The RX 3060 Ti Founders Edition at $399 is well-suited for VR in this company of brand new elite Ampere and Navi 2 cards.

Let’s check out our conclusion.

Conclusion

It is great to see AMD delivering two cards that are performance competitive with the RX 3000 series. However, the RX 6800 XT only delivers higher unconstrained framerates in 4 of the 15 games we benchmarked versus the RTX 3080 although the RX 6800 does much better than the RX 3070 winning more than half of the benchmarks. It will also be interesting to see what AMD brings to this price segment with the upcoming RX 6700/XT.

The RTX 3060 Ti Founders Edition (FE) sits in a very unique position as the fastest $399 video card available for VR and it offers very good bang-for-buck for use with a HMD like the Vive Pro or the Valve Index. It may not be as fast as the other cards, but it can max out most of the games in our benching suite if the resolution is left at 100% or the in-game settings lowered a bit. If someone is going to spend $1000 for a Vive Pro Eye, Valve Index, or another premium HMD it makes sense to pair it with a quality video card.

The RTX 3060 Ti is a great card for high quality PCVR at a rather bargain price of $399. The RTX 3070 is faster but it also costs $100 more at $499 and the RX 6800 costs $179 more at $579. It is very impressive and a real step forward toward more widespread VR adoption that a $399 card can power a high-end HMD satisfactorily!

BTR’s next video card review will compare the performance of the EVGA RTX 3070 FTW3 versus the RX 6800 reference version in 35+ games, and will also compare ray tracing performance, overclocking and features to help determine relative value. All of us are eagerly awaiting Cyberpunk 2077, and afterward we will return to a full review of the RTX 3060 Ti.

Stay tuned to BTR!

Happy VR Gaming!