Cyberpunk 2077

TechPowerUp frames Cyberpunk 2077 as an exceptionally demanding title, writing in its launch benchmark review that even without ray tracing the game is 'extremely taxing' and 'could well be the Crysis of our time.' Because of that, it tests the game across a selection of modern graphics cards at three popular gaming resolutions, and specifically examines the visual uplift and performance cost of both NVIDIA DLSS and RTX ray tracing, making it a useful single title for separating raster, ray-tracing and upscaling performance.

The game is also a reference workload for the newest rendering features. GamersNexus notes that enabling the game's full path-traced 'RT Overdrive' preset is the starting point for testing NVIDIA's DLSS 3.5 Ray Reconstruction, and lists how the different features scale by hardware: path tracing needs any RT-capable GPU, DLSS upscaling and Ray Reconstruction require RTX cards, and DLSS Frame Generation is limited to the 40-series. This makes Cyberpunk 2077 a common vehicle reviewers use to demonstrate cutting-edge ray/path tracing and AI upscaling technologies.

For VRAM and memory behaviour, TechPowerUp measured usage on a 24 GB RTX 3090 at the highest settings and found raster VRAM needs were more modest than expected, but that ray tracing pushed memory use up to almost 10 GB at 4K, so the game is frequently cited when discussing memory requirements for RT-capable cards.

Reviewers rely on repeatable custom scenes rather than only synthetic runs. ComputerBase, for example, uses a 25-second test sequence set in the DLC's Pacifica/Dogtown open-world area at night, chosen because it combines fire and heavy particle effects, high draw distance and many buildings — a demanding, consistent slice used to compare GPUs with and without ray tracing across 1080p, 1440p and 4K.