Diablo 4 Ray Tracing Off vs On - Graphics / Performance Comparison | RTX 4090 4K

Diablo IV's new 1.3.5 update includes Ray Tracing. Putting it to the test with a quick graphical / performance comparison, using 4K DLSS with Ultra Settings on an NVIDIA RTX 4090.
▶️ PC Specs
✅ Monitor: Neo G8 32" 4K 240Hz
✅ CPU: i9 13900K
✅ GPU: RTX 4090 Suprim X
✅ RAM: x2 16GB A-Die green sticks clocked at 8200 CL 34 with tight timings and max trefi
✅ Motherboard: ASUS Z790 Apex
✅ PSU: HX1000i
✅ SSD: 990 Pro 4TB
✅ CPU Cooling: Heatkiller IV Pro
✅ RAM Cooling: BARTX DDR5 Copper Heatsinks with thermal paste for direct die and thermal pads on the PCIM
✅ Radiator: MO-RA3 420 Pro Stainless Steel with dual D5 pumps
✅ Case: Core X9 - open case + modded
#rtx4090 #diablo4 #raytracing

[@FrozburnYT]

If you enjoyed the video, consider giving it a thumbs up - it helps with the KZbin algorithm. Thanks! If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Patch notes for 1.3.5 news.blizzard.com/en-us/diablo4/23964909/diablo-iv-patch-notes

[@peter5444]

Good video. I briefly checked it out myself, and it's quite heavy with all the RT turned on. Seems to perform worse at nighttime in the game as well

[@Lynxique]

Can't see any difference... only half the FPS

[@TheHoboWithAShotgun]

Get ur eyes checked csuse there's a big difference. Look at the shadows no RT look to smooth and perfect shaped. Rt looks more "blurry" sns rigged also look st the shadows in water that weren't there before

[@Serandi1987]

​@@TheHoboWithAShotgun get your 🧠 checked please! In almost every game I turn the big lie of Raytracing off on my 4090 and use the GPU max undervolted! There's no need for raytracing now. It's just an absolutely luxurious feature that nobody really needs!!! 💩

[@Nookiezilla]

@@Serandi1987Speak for yourself. In D4 RT is a joke but for exemple in CP 2077 it's day and night.

[@TheHoboWithAShotgun]

@@Serandi1987 dumbass of the year award winner

[@Serandi1987]

@@Nookiezilla even in CP2077 I put it off but I did not paly much of the game either. I rather play Tekken, Dead Space or Metroid Prime

[@nikitos3558]

If this game had path tracing, then we would talk. Thats the worst RTX implementation Ive seen and Ive seen a lot of useless RT modes.

[@FrozburnYT]

It's quite disappointing indeed.

[@stevensv4864]

hi whats the program that count fps?

[@FrozburnYT]

Made it using Rivatuner, but also using MSI Afterburner + HWiNFO64 for the sensors to make it all work.

[@pancakeninja445]

I'm really impressed, they made it look identical while making the FPS drop more than half. Really got hand it them, just some amazing work by Blizzard.

[@kittenburger_prime]

You don't know what to look for.

[@hanzanpheet9047]

@@kittenburger_prime The shadow looks 10% different? Do you think raytracing in this game offers any actual improvement to the graphics?

[@rommelreyes2209]

And also drop the gpu usage

[@Ar7ific1al]

Quite possible one of the worst showcases of what RTX ray tracing can do for a game's visuals. Incredibly disappointed. Such an atmospheric game could benefit immensely from a good implementation of ray traced lighting and reflections, yet there's practically zero difference whatsoever. What a waste of resources.

[@JuanCris8684]

I was thinking the same, WTF Blizzard????

[@b3nderman]

Hey look it's April fools day already!

[@Alcoholikaust]

so turn off all RT. got it.

[@haftarun8]

Where's the improvement in ambient occlusion and subtle rounded additional shading and light bouncing when already in shadow? The game still looks flat as a pancake without that. Missed opportunity for RT to actually improve visuals and atmosphere.

[@KakavashaForever]

This is so stupid, literally zero difference in visual, 50% reduction in frame rate lmao.

[@tyr8338]

Slightly better shadows, quite nice improvement for a water reflections tho, now you can see offscreen objects too. Big fps hit, but I still have high fps with RT ultra in 1440 max settings on 3080 ti so why not use it?

[@CJW0056]

and this is part of the reason consoles are already having to sacrifice performance modes.... damn pointless RTX. Literally no noticeable differences.

[@aubrynobicop6924]

this is as bad as Elden rings rt implementation. i can tell the difference between rt and no rt in pretty much any game every time without fail but even then some games its a very VERY small difference in d4 its that the shadows are a little better in some areas and that reflections are a bit better that's it it sucks don't recommend enabling it if you want to see a good implementation of rt go look at Fortnite. rt only looks good if the game was made with it in mind if 95% of the lighting is baked with very few reflective surfaces in a top down view its gonna look barely different since the scene was already made to look about as good as its supposed to look. diablo 4 has pretty good baked lighting and its such a forced perspective so nothing is ever gonna need raytracing to look how it should. bad implementation the devs were obviously forced to add a feature they didnt want or need to add

[@iceburglettuce6940]

Just turned it on. Looks the same. More heat coming out my PC. Gonna then it back off. Pointless (as it often is).

[@Khalinor]

Thanks for the comparison video. 👍 You really have to look for the improvements with a magnifying glass. I won't use it despite the 4090/7800X3D. It's an extreme drain on the FPS and costs unnecessary power. With the hustle and bustle and the storm of effects, you can't tell the difference anyway. The action is also far too distant due to the perspective.

[@Nerma0815]

So, another D4 patch turns out to be a disappointment. What a surprise. 😂

[@Kylethejobber]

I'm having a difficult time telling the difference

[@lorn87417]

When I turning it on and looked at everything I shut down my pc and restarted it to make sure maybe it needed a restart.... nope... it didn't.... yeah 4090 here and it halved the FPS which I was really surprised about.

[@marcusbrockman3133]

Blizzard programmed the frame rate drop across the board to support the weakest link like Xbox users.

[@walcantor]

raytracing completamente irrelevante em D4

[@Sangminam]

Thanks for the video. very helpful.

[@Lemiwinks55]

I need a little help. Running a strix 4090, ryzen 5900x, 64 GB DDR, EVO 980 1TB. I am seeing on average 50-60 FPS. Cyberpunk ran fantastic a few months back. Is there a reason on my end that I am seeing such low numbers?

[@Lemiwinks55]

Looks like DLAA vs quality in quality mode was the big difference.

[@FrozburnYT]

Yeah, DLSS runs much faster because it upscales. It looks nice in most games, no need for DLAA usually.

[@Diaianz]

What? Cpu temp is 37? My 5700x while im gaminy goes to 80C wtf

[@FrozburnYT]

Keep in mind that my cooling is overkill. MO-RA3 420. Combined with dual D5 pumps running at 100% speed, that's an absurd amount of flowrate compared to an AIO cooler. It's impossible for the chip to heat up because the water is moving too fast, and there's a lot of it, which further helps with keeping the temps low.

[@harrison1671]

small indie company...

[@360shu]

@FrozenburnYT mate did you forget to put in the video the RayTracing records? XD the side by side records are 1:1 the same! XD

[@TheHoboWithAShotgun]

If your fucking blind they're the same. If your not a typical blizzard hater snd just shit on everything like an ignorant cunt you'd see the obvious differences that took 2 seconds not even to notice

[@FrozburnYT]

It's there, just a poor implementation. You can see some differences but it's hard to notice. For example, in the first town video, the shadow becomes blurry with RT on. At 0:33 you can see the wall on the left get a change in shadows etc.

[@ZomgZomg007]

gpu load is down in ray tracing on.

[@FrozburnYT]

Something probably wrong with the town and RT.

[@its-kemo]

Thanks for the video, may I ask what overlay do you use in the video to show the statistics like frametime/temps etc.?

[@FrozburnYT]

I use Rivatuner. It's just a blank page and you have to create everything yourself. After that you can connect whatever you've created to the sensors. I use HWiNFO64 for the sensors (and some from MSI Afterburner)

[@its-kemo]

@@FrozburnYT Thanks. I use RivaTuner with MSi Afterburner myself but I have not thought it may also look like yours.

[@CuttinInIdaho]

The ray tracing looks worse than the water reflections on Diablo II Resurrected on my Switch lol. They better patch this and add lighting and some bloom/more saturation

[@marcusbrockman3133]

The only difference I see is a little be in the water. Not worth it if it reduces the frame rate though. I was disappointed when Elden Ring introduced ray tracing

[@BBoyVD]

How tf do you get 260+ fps in ked bardu (without ray tracing). I also have a 4090 paired with a 5800x3d. With same settings i get only about 180 fps at that location. With ray tracing enabled its about 60 fps in most towns. I see that you oced your gpu, but that cant make that much of a difference. Might it be the RAM? Since im on AM4 I only have DDR4 3200

[@FrozburnYT]

RAM speed helps a lot in games that are CPU heavy (towns etc). Also, some games don't care about 3D cache, so the Intel clock speed + the highly tuned RAM would be ahead for sure. No idea if Diablo 4 cares about 3D cache, haven't looked much into the game.

[@Casomyro1983]

I see no diffrence. Only 150 fps less ..so...No Thank you!

[@raptorsrex]

🤔🤮

[@Ryan-xn3mt]

Nah I’m good, I’m gonna leave RT off. I tested the update this morning, and to me. RT shadows in D4 look worse than normal shadows. D4 didn’t need RT

[@FrozburnYT]

That's the way to go. The RT implementation in this is poorly done by the looks of it.

[@Funnky]

They look worse ? They look like in real life now with RT.

[@VikingDudee]

@@Funnky They, you mean the like vary few? Half the shadows still look identical with it off vs on.

[@Funnky]

@@VikingDudee Check the blog post about RT to see the differences "HELL’S BEAUTY BURNS ANEW WITH RAY TRACING"

[@LastRightsTV]

What is the fps in 1440p? Can it run ray tracing 1440p maxed out at 240 fps?

[@FrozburnYT]

Have not tried that since I mostly play in 4K. Could do a 1440p video on it I guess.

[@Akgis32]

Great video thank you, straight ON/OFF with FPS and detailed PC statistics and no other bullshit

[@FrozburnYT]

You're welcome.

[@Akgis32]

​@@FrozburnYT:) since you replied I edited my comment to better mention why I liked it.

[@ДимаЛо-р8я]

Why did you leave frame generation off?

[@ДимаЛо-р8я]

And dlaa ?

[@FrozburnYT]

Frame Gen is bugged, it gives lower FPS.

[@BalkanBiker]

@@FrozburnYT not for me, it was bugged before but works now.

[@miguelm.a7462]

improves the shadows but just the one projected by the character, not Ambient Occlusion Raytracing, that will make really a different, but is not, It is weird that the didn't add that

[@stevensv4864]

hi whats the program that count fps?

[@bubblegumpop078]

Not to sure if its the same program but i heard msi after burner has a section where you can select to show fps temps and all that

[@jackwebb2425]

in game just CTL-R. that's all

[@stevensv4864]

@@jackwebb2425 huh? its a windows program?

[@NachosHardwareTipps]

Sicher, dass Raytracing eingeschaltet ist in den Vergleichszenen? 🤣 Wow. Das ist ja ERSCHRECKEND schwach von Blizzard. Das nächste Mal bitte einfach Ressourcen für so eine Implementierung sparen und dafür viiiiel mehr in Content investieren. Dankeschön 😄 Dennoch danke für das Video!!

[@FrozburnYT]

I checked multiple times to make sure. Even restarted the game - FPS hit was the same and whatever visual changes happen after turning it on.

[@NachosHardwareTipps]

@@FrozburnYT thanks for reply. I trust what you did! I'm just very dissapointed with Blizzard. With this loss of performance there should be a huge visual upgrade. Not your fault 😄

[@JDLeeArt]

It looks as if there's a blur filter over the shadows and highlights. It's not really effective on a game like this.

[@FrozburnYT]

The shadows definitely look worse, they're blurry compared to no RT. FPS cost is massive as well.

[@oliverszucs1854]

Beatiful

[@Schwing27]

I literally can not see a difference at all.

[@FrozburnYT]

Unfortunately there isn't much and it is very heavy.

[@CombatManuel]

I really put an keen eye to detail here, and it only adds in one scene a little more but already existent shadows from the surrounding area at 1:24 other than that shadows with RTX on seem more blurry like at 0:28 the shadow of that right building and when u look super close at 0:44 you expect there to be more illumination from the light sources but no. Only difference if you look super close at the shadows from that iron stand left (with RTX on) look more blurry (which looks worse).

[@arch4916]

They fixed ram usage? Last time i played in season 2 ,game using more than 13/14gb ram on ultra 1080p

[@artofox]

still memory leak, crashes

[@Kylethejobber]

On my 7900xtx sometimes I see it use 16gb of vram. I'm playing at 3440x1440p

[@Artjoooom]

Why frame gen. off??

[@TheHoboWithAShotgun]

Cause you don't need it with the GPU being used Here in D4

[@NemesistheBoss]

ray tracing is the real end game boss of D4... not LILITH!

[@wayne0320]

LMAO what a garbage.

[@ZomgZomg007]

forget the trash feature, yo wtf is those cpu temps though, how is your cooler managing that much heat out lol

[@FrozburnYT]

Just overkill cooling. MO-RA3 420 and dual D5 pumps. Absurd flowrate .

[@sodapopinksi667]

I legit can't tell the difference. I'm a fan of RT, and I tested it for the first time today as I relogged to prep for the next season. I can't see any improvement.

[@alylian1099]

Rtx? April foul again?! 😂

[@sudd3660]

please do not name the video title 4k when the game render resolution is 1440p, you have dlss upscale quality on

[@lostinelysium9478]

dlss quality at 4k is pretty much equivalent to 4k native. even dlss performance at 4k is near impossible to tell apart from native at 4k, if compressed trough youtube.

[@sudd3660]

@@lostinelysium9478 that is not my point, not how it looks but at what resolution you rendered the game at, 4k is not the render resolution, it is 1440p upscaled. so now you know, so please never do this mistake in the future. otherwise you are goin to do the same with frame generation

[@mete7212]

rtx only serves to beautify old games, there is no need in new games.

[@grobekelle3002]

Games like Alan Wake 2 and CP2077 show otherwise. But yeah, sadly most other games show to little visual benefit for the cost in fps.

[@miguelm.a7462]

this game's Ambient occlusion is not the best, so that will improve a lot the quality but they didn't add raytraced AO to it