Is the RX 5500 XT “VR Ready Premium”? Benchmarked with FCAT-VR

Is the RX 5500 XT “VR Ready Premium” as AMD claims?  – Tested vs the RX 590 & GTX 1660 using the Vive Pro

This recapitulation follows up BTR ’ second Red Dragon RX 5500 XT 8GB recapitulation where we noted that AMD claims it is “ VR Ready Premium ”. On AMD ’ s website they picture a Vive Pro as a HMD capable of providing a “ VR Ready Premium experience ”. So we present a VR performance confrontation between the RX 5500 XT 8GB, the RX 590 8GB, and versus the GTX 1660 6GB. We measure frametimes and unconstrained performance using FCAT VR with the Vive Pro to see if any of these entry-level PCVR television cards can provide a premium VR experience .

The RX 5500 XT 8GB starts at $ 199 in the USA and the Red Dragon translation we benchmark is $ 219. The GTX 1660 starts at $ 209 and our trial EVGA GTX 1660 XC is $ 229. The RX 590 starts at $ 199 and the Red Devil translation commands a premium price if one can be found. All of these test cards fit into the $ 199 to $ 229 image and we are matter to to see how they compare using our 10-game VR benchmark suite .
Since we posted our original review three years ago, we have benchmarked many VR games for our follow-up reviews over the by thirty-six months using the Oculus Rift CV-1 but now we are using a more demand HMD, the Vive Pro. We have besides compared FCAT-VR with our own video benchmarks using a television camera to capture images directly from our HMDs ’ lenses. For BTR ’ s VR testing methodology, please refer to this evaluation.
We presently benchmark ten-spot VR games using the Vive Pro. BTR ’ s testing platform is an Intel Core i7-8700K at 4.8GHz, an EVGA Z370 FTW motherboard and 16 GB of T-Force XTREEM DDR4 at 3866MHz on Windows 10 64-bit Home Edition. here are the ten VR games that we benchmark :

• ARK: Park
• Elite Dangerous
• Fallout 4
• Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
• No Man’s Sky
• Obduction
• Project CARS 2
• Skyrim
• Subnautica
• The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

It is crucial to be aware of VR performance since ill delivered frames can make a VR experience very unpleasant. It is besides authoritative to understand how we accurately benchmark VR games as explained here. But before we benchmark our ten-spot VR games, check out our test shape.

Test Configuration – Hardware

• Intel Core i7-8700K (HyperThreading and Turbo boost is on to 4.8GHz for all cores; Coffee Lake DX11 CPU graphics).
• EVGA Z370 FTW motherboard (Intel Z370 chipset, latest BIOS, PCIe 3.0/3.1 specification, CrossFire/SLI 8x+8x), supplied by EVGA
• T-Force XTREEM 16GB DDR4 (2x8GB, dual channel at 3866MHz), supplied by Team Group
• Red Dragon RX 5500 XT 8GB, at Red Dragon Factory clocks, on loan from PowerColor
• Red Devil RX 590 8GB, at Red Devil factory clocks, on loan from PowerColor
• EVGA GTX 166 XC 6GB, at EVGA factory clocks, on loan from EVGA
• 480GB L5 LTE Team Group SSD
• 1.92TB San Disk enterprise class SSD
• 2TB Micron 1100 enterprise class SSD
• T-FORCE Vulcan 500GB SSD, supplied by Team Group
• EVGA 1000G 1000W Gold power supply unit
• Cooler Master 240mm CPU water cooler
• EVGA Nu Audio stereo PCIe sound card, supplied by EVGA
• Edifier R1280T active desktop speakers
• EVGA DG-77, mid-tower case supplied by EVGA
• Monoprice Crystal Pro 4K
• Vive Pro, on loan from HTC/Vive

Test Configuration – Software

• GeForce Game Ready 441.66 WHQL drivers
• Adrenalin Software Edition 19.12.3 drivers
• Unconstrained framerate results show average frame rates where higher is better; Frametime plots show frametimes where lower is better
• Highest quality sound (stereo) used in all games
• Windows 10 64-bit Home edition v1909
• Latest DirectX
• All 10 VR games are patched to their latest versions at time of publication
• FCAT-VR Capture vCL27239443
• FCAT-VR Beta 18
• SteamVR
• Viveport

10 VR Game benchmark suite & 2 synthetic tests

Synthetic

• VRMark Cyan Room
• Unigine Superposition VR Benchmark

SteamVR/Viveport*/Epic** Platform Games

• ARK: Park
• Elite Dangerous
• Fallout 4
• Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
• No Man’s Sky
• Obduction*
• Project CARS 2
• Skyrim
• Subnautica**
• The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

The Unreal 4 engine is a very democratic engine for VR development, and four of our ten-spot benchmarked games are created with it. The Creation engine is used for two games, while the COBRA, No Man ’ second Sky, Unity, and Madness engines are each represented by one plot. All of the engines are identified under each game ’ second description .
It is crucial to remember that BTR’s charts use frametimes in ms where lower is better, but we besides compare “ unconstrained framerates ” which shows what a television card could deliver ( headroom ) if it wasn ’ t locked to either 90 FPS or to 45 FPS by the HMD. In the case of unconstrained FPS which measures one important performance measured, faster is better .
Please note that these charts only feature frametimes without interval plots because of an consequence with the way FCAT-VR still falsely reports synthetic frames as drop frames using the Vive Pro. All of our games were benchmarked at 100 % resolution .
Let ’ s individually look at our ten-spot VR games ’ performance using FCAT-VR. First up, ARK Park .

ARK Park 

ARK Park is a single or multiplayer VR venture game set in a dinosaur root park, and it allows gamers to interact with a few of the dinosaurs in ARK : survival Evolved. The estimate is to explore your own “ Jurassic Park ” with opportunities to study genetics, raise baby dinosaurs from eggs, ride and paint them, and even defend the park against attacking dinosaurs in a wave taw segment.
ark : Park has very few adjustable settings so we benchmark using its highest preset set .
here are the operation results of our three competing cards using FCAT-VR ’ sulfur generated chart .

The unconstrained framerate of the GTX 1660 was 101.2 FPS and the RX 1550 XT gave 55.1 FPS and the RX 590 only achieved 55.2 unconstrained FPS. We suspect that the Radeon cards have driver issues with this game .

Elite Dangerous

Elite Dangerous is a popular space sim built using the COBRA locomotive. It is hard to find a repeatable benchmark outside of the train missions .

A actor will probably spend a lot of meter piloting his space cruiser while completing a multitude of tasks. Elite Dangerous is besides cooperative and multiplayer with a dedicate surveil of players .
We picked the Medium Preset. here are the frametimes .

The unconstrained framerate of the GTX 1660 was 81.2 FPS and the RX 1550 XT gave 68.7 FPS, while the RX 590 got 70.1 FPS  
Let ’ s check out Fallout 4 .

Fallout 4 VR

Fallout 4 uses the Creation Engine. We benchmark at its highest settings and with TAA .

hera are the frametimes for Fallout 4 .

In Fallout 4, the unconstrained framerate of the GTX 1660 was 46.7 FPS and the RX 1550 XT gave 42.9 FPS, making the bet on an impossible experience on highest settings even using reprojection. The RX 590 is in a similar class with 45.8 unconstrained FPS. It was unpleasant to play Fallout 4 with a RX 5500 crosstalk at these settings as many frames were dropped tied while using reprojection and we would recommend lowering them .
Next we benchmark Hellblade : Senua ’ sulfur Sacrifice .

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice

Hellblade : Senua ’ second Sacrifice is a visually impressive game using the Unreal 4 engine. It is a iniquity and distressing game that is far more acute in VR than playing the regular translation. We benchmark at the Very Highest settings and with TAA even though all three of our submission level cards will use reprojected frames.
here is the frametime plot for Hellblade : Senua ’ second Sacrifice on its highest settings at 100 % .

The unconstrained framerate of the GTX 1660 was 59.3 FPS but the RX 1550 XT did much better with 69.4 FPS.  The RX 590 managed 67.9 unconstrained frames. Hellblade : Senua ’ south Sacrifice is a beautiful game on its highest place setting and it is broadly playable with all three of our video recording cards at a lock 45Hz/FPS framerate using reprojection .
Next we will check out another very demanding VR game, No Man ’ s Sky .

No Man’s Sky

No Man ’ randomness Sky is an action-adventure survival single and multiplayer game that emphasizes survival, exploration, active, and trade. It is set in a procedurally generated deterministic receptive universe, which includes over 18 quintillion unique planets using its own custom-made plot locomotive .
The musician takes the role of a Traveller, in an chartless population by starting on a random planet with a damaged spacecraft equipped entirely with a jetpack-equipped exosuit and a versatile multi-tool that can besides be used for defense. The player is encouraged to find resources to repair their spacecraft allowing for intra- and inter-planetary travel, and to interact with other players .

here is the No Man ’ sulfur Sky Frametime diagram. We set the settings to “ Enhanced ” which is just above first gear and we raised anisotropic filtering from 2x to 16x .

In No Man ’ randomness Sky, the unconstrained framerate of the GTX 1660 was 49.5 FPS but the RX 1550 XT only gave 42.8 FPS, making it an impossible experience on Enhanced settings even using reprojection. The RX 590 only managed 45.6 unconstrained FPS. which means some frames will be dropped. Again, it was unsettling to play No Man ’ randomness Sky at Enhanced settings using a RX 5500 crosstalk and we would recommend dropping them to Low .
next up is another demanding VR game, Obduction .

Obduction

Obduction is considered the spiritual successor to Myst and Riven. It is an adventure crippled developed by Cyan Worlds using the Unreal 4 engine. There is an emphasis on puzzle solving which get more and more difficult as a player progresses .

Obduction ’ south visuals are graphically intensifier. There are adjustable menu sliders that will allow the player to dial down the settings and we picked Medium. Lowering the settings means the populace textures are less detail, and the musician will experience them pop into see preferably on the spur of the moment breaking ingress .
here is Obduction ’ s frametime plot .

Obduction ’ south unconstrained framerate of the GTX 1660 was 68.7 FPS with 7 dropped frames and the RX 1550 XT gave 75.3 FPS. T he RX 590 delivered 75.0 unconstrained FPS  which means all three cards will work OK with reprojection .
Next we will check out another demanding VR game, Project CARS 2 .

Project CARS 2

There is no room outside of the virtual world know to convey the incredible sense of concentration that comes from playing Project CARS 2 in VR using a wheel and pedals. It uses its in-house Madness engine and the physics implementation is outstanding .

project CARS 2 offers many performance options and settings, and we prefer playing with our three cards using Medium settings ( besides using SMAA Medium ) but with Motion Blur set to Low .
here are the results of our FCAT-VR bench .

project CARS 2 ’ second unconstrained framerate of the GTX 1660 was 49.6 FPS and the RX 1550 XT gave 47.0 FPS. The RX 590 delivered 50.3 unconstrained FPS which means the game is marginally playable on all three cards at Medium settings using reprojection although it is surely not ideal .
Let ’ s benchmark Skyrim VR .

Skyrim VR

Skyrim VR is an old game that is not vitamin a demanding as many of the newer VR ports thus its performance is very dear on maxed-out settings using its Creation engine. We played for over 40 hours to complete the main request in VR with a much higher common sense of submergence than playing the pancake game. Casting fireballs from ones fingertips and feeling the thunk of arrows into one ’ sulfur shield is a bang-up know alone to Skyrim VR .

We benchmarked Skyrim VR using its highest settings .

Skyrim ’ second unconstrained framerate of the GTX 1660 was 86.1 FPS but the RX 1550 XT gave 65.9 FPS. The RX 590 delivered 72.8 unconstrained frames per second base so all three cards can play Skyrim on highest settings with reprojection .

Subnautica

Subnautica uses a heavily modded version of the Unity engine. As the sole survivor of a crash landing, the actor ventures into the depths of a visually impressive extraterrestrial being submerged world. hera you can explore, craft equipment and build bases, pilot program subaqueous craft, and solve mysteries while attempting to survive a very hostile environment.
We benchmarked Subnautica using its Lowest mount. There is a bunch less detail play on low, and textures pop into view preferably suddenly .

Subnautica ’ south unconstrained framerate of the GTX 1660 was 57.5 FPS and the RX 1550 XT gave 54.8 FPS, making the crippled a reasonably acceptable VR have on Low settings using reprojection. The RX 590 managed 51.8 unconstrained FPS in third put .
Subnautica is a very necessitate game flush at the lowest settings. We would recommend adding Steam VR ’ s Motion Smoothing – or dropping the solution multiplier – in addition to using reprojection for satisfactory play without tempting VR nausea using submission level cards with a demanding HMD such as the Vive Pro .

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is built on the Unreal 4 engine and it boasts perplex visuals even on entry-level cards. Although it is considered by some to be a walk simulator, it is besides an excellent detective game with bang-up puzzles. Be mindful that its style of locomotion tends to make some of its players VR disgusted .

There are merely a few in-game graphics options available, so we picked 100 % solution with TAA .

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter ’ sulfur unconstrained framerate of the GTX 1660 was 147.7 FPS, the RX 1550 XT gave 122.2 FPS, and the RX 590 produced 131.5 FPS. No synthetic or dropped frames were reported by any of our cards and this is one plot out of ten where our three cards can each deliver a “ premium ” VR have .
When there is operation headroom as in this case, we recommend increasing the resolution multiplier arsenic far as a player ’ mho card can handle without needing to generate synthetic frames. The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is the last of our ten tested games, therefore permit ’ s expression at the summary charts .

Unconstrained Framerates

The follow chart summarizes the overall Unconstrained Framerates of our three test games. Included are two synthetic benchmarks, Superposition ( given in average and minimum FPS ) and VRMark ’ s Cyan Room ( score ). An ‘ X ’ means the game was not run.
The GTX 1660 is the fastest VR card of the three tested winning seven games while the RX 1550 XT only wins two and the RX 590 only manages to win one game .

The VR Big Picture

Besides the above three cards, we besides compare the GTX 1660 SUPER, the GTX 1660 Ti, the RX 5700 XT, the RTX 2060 SUPER, the RTX 2070 SUPER, the RTX 2080 SUPER and the RTX 2080 Ti on holocene drivers using the Vive Pro. Please note that settings have been lowered for the first five entry flat cards as noted in the smaller chart above. An ‘ X ’ means the game was not run at that setting. Open the chart in a freestanding window or pill for best viewing.
entirely the RTX 2080 Ti is able to deliver at least 90 FPS/90Hz in 9 of our 10 of our test games, and the results have been ranked in order from the weakest circuit board ( RX 5500 crosstalk ) to the strongest ( RTX 2080 Ti ). Let ’ s check out our conclusion .

Conclusion

The GTX 1660, the RX 5500 XT and the RX 590 are in approximately the lapp class when it comes to VR performance although the GeForce card wins seven out of ten games .
Although these three cards are sufficient for playing with a less demanding HMD like the Oculus Rift CV-1 or the original Vive, they each fight to give sufficient performance using the Vive Pro. At best, these cards can alone manage to keep two out of our ten test games at 90 FPS while the others require using reprojection to even maintain a lock in 45 FPS, and in some cases they fail to maintain that cadence and drop frames. We felt awkward benching several games and would have to drop settings even further to avoid VR sickness for extended play.

We would like to make it gain that a drop to 45Hz down from 90Hz is noticeable and that any irregularities in framerate rescue are magnified by reprojection. This commentator would not recommend an entry-level card like the RX 5500 XT for premium VR. If person is going to spend hundreds of dollars on a premium HMD like the Vive Pro or the Valve Index they should not cheap out on their graphics calling card. We conclude that the RX 5500 XT and similar performing cards do not deliver a “VR Ready Premium” experience using a premium headset .
future up, we are reviewing a Team Group Delta Max 500GB RGB-enabled SSD before we return to VR with something very special for our readers. Stay tuned !
happy VR bet on !