Grand Theft Auto V (2015, DX11)
Originally released to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2013, Grand Theft Auto V didn’t make its way to PC until early 2015. We promptly added it to our graphics testing suite, giving us one more DirectX 11-based comparison point.
AMD clearly improved the performance of its Radeon RX 480 in Grand Theft Auto V after launch. The Crimson ReLive Edition 17.7.2 and Adrenalin Edition 18.7.1 builds yield quantifiably higher average frame rates compared to 16.6.2. In the end, two years of driver work translate to a ~4% speed-up.
In comparison, Nvidia only coaxed 1.4% more performance from GeForce GTX 1060 6GB’s Pascal architecture between 2016 and 2018. That’s alright, though. Its aggressively-optimized driver helps the 1060 6GB outperform Radeon RX 480 8GB by more than 30% at the same resolution and quality settings in our benchmark sequence.
Beyond average frame rates, a comparison of frame time charts shows all three Nvidia software packages facilitating less frame time variance than what the Radeon demonstrates. Again, the implication is a qualitatively smoother experience.
MORE: Best Graphics Cards
MORE: Desktop GPU Performance Hierarchy Table
MORE: All Graphics Content