In-Game Benchmarks

Now we finally get into the in game performance and that is the main reason people pick up a new video card. To test things out I ran through our new benchmark suite that tests 10 games at three different resolutions (1080p, 1440p, and 4k). Most of the games tested have been run at the highest detail setting and a mid-range detail setting to get a look at how turning things up hurts performance and to give an idea of if turning detail down from max will be beneficial for frame rates. In total, each video card is tested 54 times and that makes for a huge mess of results when you put them all together. To help with that I like to start with these overall playability graphs that take all of the results and give an easier to read result. I have one for each of the three resolutions and each is broken up into four FPS ranges. Under 30 FPS is considered unplayable, over 30 is playable but not ideal, over 60 is the sweet spot, and then over 120 FPS is for high refresh rate monitors.

So how did the RTX 3050 XC Black look in our resolution breakdown? Well, we can get 4K out of the way by saying it struggled there like expected with just one game (CS:GO) up over 120 FPS, 11 over 30 FPS, and 7 were unplayable at below 30. It does have more in the playable 30-59 FPS range at 4K than I would have expected but it wouldn’t be a great experience. At 1440p things look better, there is once again one result up over 120 FPS and this time there are 6 up over 60 FPS. There are 11 in the 30-59 range again but this time there is just one unplayable result. So 1440p is playable and sometimes good but still not optimal. Then for 1080p which is where the RTX 3050 XC Black is designed, there is finally no result in the red sub 30 FPS range. There are three in the bubble 30-59 range. But then from there, 13 results came in at over 60 FPS, and the 120 FPS range doubled with two results up there at 1080p. So 1080p performance is solid.

 

 

 

Of course, I have all of the actual in game results as well for anyone who wants to sort through the wall of graphs below. With the new test suite, I had some of our former tests but I have also changed things up slightly with a few older games as well. I was excited to include CS:GO this time around so we can get a better look at how the always popular but classic game handles things. The RTX 3050 XC Black may be near the bottom of the chart overall with just the GTX 1650 below it, but even at 4K, it came in at 125 FPS. For 1440p it was at 250 FPS and 1080 375 FPS. All there of those are important because being an esports title it is great to see that the RTX 3050 XC Black is able to perform up over the high refresh rates for each of those resolutions with 1080p reaching up to 360 Hz, 165 Hz starting to be popular for 1440p and  144 Hz hitting 4K. Beyond that, I will say that our inclusion of Mafia 2 Definitive edition as a throwback game with an update is looking a little weird with its high detail results all leveling off at 1080p and 1440p. Normally a CPU limitation would show itself more at the lower medium detail. Overall the RTX 3050 XC Black stayed in the same range sitting ahead of the 5500 XT consistently and going back and forth with the older GTX 1070 depending on the game.