Credit: Brad Chacos/IDG
GTA V
We’re going to wrap things up with a couple of older games that aren’t visual barnburners, but still stop the Steam charts day-in and day-out. These are games that a lot of people play. First up: Grand Theft Auto V ($30 on Humble) with all options turned to Very High, all Advanced Graphics options except extended shadows enabled, and FXAA. GTA V runs on the RAGE engine and has received substantial updates since its initial launch.
Brad Chacos/IDGRainbow Six Siege
Finally, let’s take a peek at Rainbow Six Siege ($40 on Humble), a game whose audience just keeps on growing, and one that still feels like the only truly next-gen shooter after all these years. Like Ghost Recon Wildlands, this game runs on Ubisoft’s AnvilNext 2.0 engine, but Rainbow Six Siege responds especially well to games that lean on async compute features.
Brad Chacos/IDGPower draw, thermals, and noise
We test power draw by looping the F1 2018 benchmark after we’ve benchmarked everything else with a card, and noting the highest reading on our Watts Up Pro meter. The initial part of the race, where all competing cars are onscreen simultaneously, tends to be the most demanding portion.
Brad Chacos/IDGThe PNY XLR8 sucks down a few more watts than the Founders Edition and a several watts less than the ROG Strix, which makes sense as its overclocked speeds fall between the two. The Asus card also has three fans to keep powered up during gaming sessions.
Brad Chacos/IDGWe test thermals by leaving HWInfo’s sensor monitoring tool open during the F1 2018 5-lap power draw test, noting the highest maximum temperature at the end. The PNY XLR8 disposes of heat more efficiently than the Founders Edition card, coming in six degrees cooler. Both cards emit around the same level of noise, subjectively—they’re not silent, but not too loud either. But the ROG Strix demolishes both in pure temperatures and noise levels, depending on whether you’re using its Quiet or Performance mode. (The number above was taken in the Strix’s default Performance mode.)
Next page: Should you buy the PNY GeForce RTX 2080 XLR8?
