AMD’s latest beta driver marks a significant leap in improving the ray tracing performance of Alan Wake 2. While the game’s utilization of path tracing stands out as a technological achievement, its playable framerates have been limited to Nvidia graphics cards. The new beta driver, currently available for testing, aims to bridge the ray tracing performance gap between AMD and Nvidia.
Recent benchmarks conducted by the German outlet PC Games Hardware reveal that AMD’s preview drivers can enhance Alan Wake 2’s ray tracing performance by up to 35 percent. The impact on other titles with intensive ray tracing features remains uncertain. Notably, Alan Wake 2 hasn’t undergone substantial updates since early December, aligning with the release of AMD’s stable Radeon drivers. The observed framerate improvement solely stems from the 23.40.01.10 preview driver.
At 1080p with maximum graphics settings and FSR 2 quality mode activated, AMD’s flagship 7900 XTX achieves an average of 58.3fps. While still trailing the GeForce RTX 4080 at 75.4fps, the new drivers provide a noteworthy 35 percent boost in performance compared to the previous month. Lower-tier GPUs or higher resolutions exhibit smaller but still meaningful gains. The 7800 XT, for instance, experiences a 22 percent increase at 1080p and an 11 percent improvement at 4K. Alan Wake 2’s various RT presets offer flexibility, potentially allowing users to attain a stable 60fps experience by adjusting settings.
It’s crucial to emphasize that the entire framerate enhancement is attributed to the driver update. This raises the possibility of improved performance in other games heavily relying on ray tracing, such as Cyberpunk 2077. TechSpot’s analysis from September highlighted the 7900 XTX falling behind the 4080 in the Phantom Liberty expansion. Beyond Alan Wake 2 and Cyberpunk, path tracing remains predominantly featured in updates for retro games like Portal RTX, Quake II RTX, and Sultim Tsyrendashiev’s mods for classic titles.
Scheduled for a stable release on January 24, AMD’s upcoming driver introduces Fluid Motion Frames (AFMF). While an alternative version of FSR 3 and less potent, AFMF allows users to implement frame generation at the driver level for most games. Despite Alan Wake 2 lacking support for FSR 3, the introduction of AFMF raises the prospect of further enhancing the game’s visual presentation.
Beyond its ray tracing advancements, Alan Wake 2 has gained notoriety for its demanding minimum system requirements. Aging GPU generations like GTX 10 and Radeon RX 5000 face challenges in running the game due to the absence of mesh shader support, despite their adequacy for recent titles. An unofficial Vulkan conversion offers some improvement, although it can’t perform miracles in overcoming the inherent hardware limitations.