Shadow of the Tomb Raider RTX Performance Review - Ray Tracing and DLSS Analysed

Introduction - RTX On!

When Nvidia first showcased their RTX series of graphics cards, the company has Nixxes take the stage and showcase Shadow of the Tomb Raider and an early implementation of Ray Traced Shadows, a new graphical feature that's only possible within the game through the company's ray tracing technology. 

It was hard not to be impressed by what was being shown, with shadows being cast in all directions from point lights, while other shadows moved and changed as scene lighting was adjusted. Now that Ray Traced Shadows are available within Shadow of the Tomb Raider, our question has become, "can the full game live up to that initial demo?"

RTX Ray Traced Shadows are now available within Shadow of the Tomb Raider alongside the company's DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) technology, with Ray Traced Shadows promising to boost the game's graphical quality while DLSS promises to increase the game's framerate.

In recent weeks, DLSS has gotten a bad name for reductions in in-game image quality, with final images being more blurred than native resolution images in games such as Battlefield V and Metro Exodus. Today we will see how DLSS impacts the graphical quality of Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and how much performance the feature can claw back on some of our RTX series graphics cards. 

Are you ready to see the Ray Traced Shadows of the Tomb Raider? Please head over to the next page as we start our full RTX performance and graphical analysis.   

* Please note that we used Nvidia's Geforce 419.35 Driver for our Shadow of the Tomb Raider testing.