NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Review: A Look At 4K & Ultrawide Gaming

Metro Last Light Redux

Like a couple of other games in our stable, Metro Last Light might seem like an odd choice give its age. After all, the original version of the game came out in 2013, and its Redux version came out in late 2014. None of that matters, though, as the game is about as hardcore as it can get when it comes to GPU punishment.

Testing: The game’s built-in timedemo is used for testing here, which lasts 2m 40s. While the game can spit out its own results file, it’s horribly inaccurate, so Fraps is still used here.

I should note that this benchmark isn’t representative of the actual game, but due to issues I’ve experienced trying to manually benchmark the game in the past, I still stick to the time-demo. The game’s Trolly Combat level is a good example of one that will be harsher on the GPU than the timedemo.

That said, even with that kind of lenience, the game’s graphics can top out at brutal levels, as the 30 FPS in the 4K graph can attest. Ultrawide fares a lot better, hitting 52 FPS, which for many would likely prove “good enough”.

Rise Of The Tomb Raider

Lara Croft has sure come a long way. The latest Tomb Raider iteration becomes one of the first titles on the market to support DirectX 12, but even without it, the game looks phenomenal at high detail settings (as the below screenshot can attest).

Testing: Geothermal Valley is the location chosen for testing with this title, as it features a lot shadows and a ton of foliage. From the start of our saved game, we merely walk down a fixed path for just over a minute and stop the benchmark once we reach a broken down bridge (the shot below is from the benchmarked area).

For 4K gamers looking to pick up the 1080 Ti, Rise of the Tomb Raider would be a great title to add to your collection. 59 FPS at 4K is excellent, especially when the minimum isn’t too far behind.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Since the original The Witcher title came out in 2007, the series has become one of the best RPGs going. Each one of the titles in the series offers deep gameplay, amazing locales, and comprehensive lore. Wild Hunt, the series’ third game, also happens to be one of the best-looking games out there and requires a beefy PC to take great advantage of.

Testing: Our saved game starts us just outside Hierarch Square, where we begin a manual runthrough (literally – the run button is held down as much as possible) through and around the town, to wind up back at a bridge near a watermill (pictured below). The entire runthrough takes about 90 seconds. Please note that while ‘Ultra’ detail is used, NVIDIA’s HairWorks is not.

As gorgeous as Wild Hunt may be, it doesn’t require the highest-end PC to deliver incredible graphics. If you want to top things out with this GPU, you’ll be able to do so at both 4K and 3440×1440. And, if you want to mod the game to your heart’s content, the 1080 Ti’s huge framebuffer might be able to help.

Total War: ATTILA

For strategy fans, the Total War series needs no introduction. ATTILA is the latest in the series, which will remain true for only the next week, as Warhammer is due to launch. Thankfully, any recent Total War game is suitable for benchmarking, and our results are going to prove that.

Testing: ATTILA includes a built-in benchmark, so again, I’ve decided to use that. However, as I do with Metro, I stick to Fraps for framerate capturing as the game’s results page isn’t too convenient.

ATTILA might not look like the most graphically impressive game, but it sure is one of the most graphically demanding. I should stress that max detail in this game is almost entering “overkill” territory, so you won’t have to degrade your image quality too much to hit 60 FPS.