Results: Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon, The Witcher 3, and WoW
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon (DX11)
The only reason we use Ghost Recon’s Very High detail setting is to avoid the Ultra preset’s Turf Effects option, which creates an unfair comparison between GeForce and Radeon cards.
True to Nvidia’s claims, GeForce RTX 2070 looks most at home gaming on a QHD screen with detail settings maxed out. It enjoys an 8% lead over GeForce GTX 1080 and a 14% advantage compared to Radeon RX Vega 64.
Our GeForce RTX 2080 review showed that card falling short of smooth performance in Ghost Recon at 4K, so it’s no surprise that GeForce RTX 2070 ends up even further down the hierarchy. You can splurge on GeForce RTX 2080 Ti for the ultimate experience at 3840x2160, drop to 2560x1440 and maintain the gorgeous-looking visuals, or dial back the quality settings to get a better frame rate at 4K. It’s a tough balancing act, to be sure.
The Witcher 3 (DX11)
AMD’s Radeon RX Vega 64 and Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1080 fare similarly in The Witcher 3 at 2560x1440 using Ultra settings. The new GeForce RTX 2070 blows past both with a 16%+ lead. To be fair, though, even a GeForce GTX 1070 Ti is ample in this game.
On the other hand, playing at 4K calls for heavier artillery. A GeForce RTX 2080 is ideal, though a GTX 1080 Ti works well for significantly less money. GeForce RTX 2070 nearly averages 60 FPS. We still think it’s better on a high-refresh QHD display, though.
Bonus: World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth (DX12)
WoW is another game that’d likely benefit more from a CPU upgrade than a $600 graphics card. However, since Battle for Azeroth added DirectX 12 support to its custom engine, we decided it’d be fun to test the game using its most taxing detail settings with 4x MSAA enabled.
If you’re already using a high-end Pascal-based graphics card, Blizzard’s latest expansion doesn’t get much faster from Turing at this resolution.
Switching to 4K and disabling MSAA has little effect on the top five finishers. GeForce RTX 2070 lands just ahead of GeForce GTX 1080 and 1070 Ti, both of which offer far better value (and greater than 60 FPS rates at 3840x2160 using the top quality setting in WoW).
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