Wolfenstein: Youngblood Benchmarked: GeForce & Radeon Battle It Out

Wolfenstein: Youngblood gets churned through the benchmark grind with a slew of AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards.

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12 minutes & 15 seconds read time

Introduction & Graphics Cards Used

I decided to benchmark Wolfenstein: Youngblood not too long ago with NVIDIA's technologies enabled, with the RTX-powered ray traced shadows and Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS). This was a great benchmark run that showed the raw power of DLSS and how it can deliver a better gaming experience without buying a higher-end graphics card.

Wolfenstein: Youngblood Benchmarked: GeForce & Radeon Battle It Out 106

But what about Wolfenstein: Youngblood benchmarked without RTX and DLSS technologies enabled? That's something I spent the better part of 2-3 days benchmarking and testing for. I added in a metric ton of graphics cards into the mix, and since there's no RTX and DLSS features here to test -- I was able to add in a bunch of AMD Radeon graphics cards into the testing pot.

I went back as far as Polaris with this run with the Radeon RX 480, Radeon RX 570, Radeon RX 580, and Radeon RX 590 -- as well as the Vega-based Radeon RX Vega 56 and Radeon RX Vega 64. I couldn't let the higher-end Vega-powered Radeon VII get away with not being tested, so the 16GB of HBM2 RAM and the first 7nm GPU get tested with Wolfenstein: Youngblood, too.

I've performed the benchmarks of Wolfenstein: Youngblood with virtually everything maxed out (sans anti-aliasing which I will disable completely in all tests I can). I've got it right up on the enthusiast-level 'Mein leben!' preset -- something I go into detail on the next page.

Wolfenstein: Youngblood is based on the id Tech 6 engine from id Software, and is powered by the Vulkan API. It has some great-looking graphics and was one of the first non-DirectX games to pack in NVIDIA's RTX real-time ray tracing technology. A recent update arrived enabling DLSS and RTX features in the game, something I thought deserves a deep dive benchmark.

Graphics Cards Used

NVIDIA:

  • MSI GTX 1660 Ti Gaming X (6GB GDDR5)
  • MSI GTX 1660 SUPER GAMING X (6GB GDDR6)
  • MSI GTX 1650 SUPER GAMING X (4GB GDDR6)
  • MSI GTX 1650 GAMING X (4GB GDDR5)
  • NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 (6GB GDDR6)
  • NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER (8GB GDDR6)
  • NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 (8GB GDDR6)
  • NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER (8GB GDDR6)
  • NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (8GB GDDR6)
  • NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER (8GB GDDR6)
  • NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti (11GB GDDR6)
  • NVIDIA TITAN RTX (24GB GDDR6)

AMD:

  • Radeon RX 480 (8GB GDDR5)
  • MSI Radeon RX 570 MECH 2 (8GB GDDR5)
  • MSI Radeon RX 580 MECH 2 (8GB GDDR5)
  • MSI Radeon RX 590 MECH 2 (8GB GDDR5)
  • Radeon RX Vega 56 AIR (8GB HBM2)
  • Radeon RX Vega 64 AIR (8GB HBM2)
  • SAPPHIRE RX 5500 XT PULSE OC (4GB GDDR6)
  • SAPPHIRE RX 5600 XT PULSE (6GB GDDR6)
  • Radeon RX 5700 (8GB GDDR6)
  • Radeon RX 5700 XT (8GB GDDR6)
  • Radeon VII (16GB HBM2)
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Graphics Settings & Drivers Used

Graphics Settings

With this test I had everything cranked up to maximum levels in Wolfenstein: Youngblood's video section, pumping the graphical bells and whistles up to maximum (Mein leben!). There are options for Low, Medium, High, Ultra, and Uber. I'm wanting to squeeze everything out of it with maximum visual fidelity, so Mien leben! it is.

I have disabled vertical sync, disabled streaming compatibility mode, disabled motion blur, disabled anti-aliasing, and disabled colorblind mode.

Video Settings

  • Video Quality Profile: Custom
  • Monitor: 1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Resolution: (1920 x 1080, 2560 x 1440, 3840 x 2160)
  • Window Mode: Fullscreen
  • Vertical Sync: OFF
  • Streaming Compatibility Mode: OFF
  • Motion Blur: OFF
  • Anti-Aliasing: Disabled
  • Colorblind Mode: OFF

Advanced Video Settings

  • Field of View: 90
  • Max FPS: 1000
  • Lights: Ultra
  • Shadows: Ultra
  • Particles: High
  • Directional Occlusion: High
  • Reflections: Ultra
  • Decals: Ultra
  • Motion Blur: Ultra
  • Image Streaming: Ultra
  • Water Quality: Ultra
  • Volumetric Quality: High
  • Material Aniso Filter: Anistrophic 16x
  • Decal Filtering: Anistrophic 16x
  • Lightmap Aniso Filter: Anistrophic 4x
  • Image Aniso Filter: Anistrophic 16x
  • LOD Switch: Ultra
  • Deferred Rendering: OFF
  • GPU Culing: OFF
  • Async Compute: On
  • Ray Traced Reflections: OFF
  • NVIDIA DLSS: OFF
  • NVIDIA DLSS Mode:
  • NVIDIA Adaptive Shading: OFF
  • Chromatic Aberration: ON
  • Depth of Field: ON
  • Dof Anti-Aliasing: ON
  • HDR Bloom: ON
  • Sharpening: 2.0
  • Film Grain: 1.0
  • Resolution Scale: OFF
  • Manual Scaling: 1.00
  • Show Performance Metrics: OFF

NVIDIA Ray Tracing (RTX) and Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS)

I did a full suite of testing with NVIDIA's graphics cards with both RTX (ray traced shadows) and DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) enabled. You can read more about that here, with benchmarks at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K for your viewing and nerding out pleasure.

Graphics Card Drivers Used

I'm using NVIDIA's latest GeForce Game Ready 442.19 WHQL drivers -- you can download those here, while for AMD, I'm using their latest Adrenalin 2020 Edition 20.2.1 Optional drivers that you can download here.

Test System Specs

GPU Test Rig Specs

Welcome to the latest revision of our GPU test bed, with our system being upgraded from the Intel Core i7-7700K to the Core i7-8700K. The CPU is cooled by the Corsair H115i PRO cooler, with the 8700K overclocked to 5GHz. We've stayed with GIGABYTE for our motherboard with their awesome Z370 AORUS Gaming 7.

Wolfenstein: Youngblood Benchmarked: GeForce & Radeon Battle It Out 1060

We approached our friends at HyperX for a kit of their kick ass HyperX Predator DDR4-2933MHz RAM (HX429C15PB3AK4/32), with 2 x 8GB sticks for a total of 16GB DDR4-2933. The RAM stands out through every minute of our testing as it has beautiful RGB lights giving the system a slick look while benchmarking our lives away, while the Z370 AORUS Gaming 7 motherboard joins in with its own array of RGB lighting.

Wolfenstein: Youngblood Benchmarked: GeForce & Radeon Battle It Out 1061

Anthony's Test System Specifications

Additional Images

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Wolfenstein: Youngblood Benchmarked: GeForce & Radeon Battle It Out 1064
Wolfenstein: Youngblood Benchmarked: GeForce & Radeon Battle It Out 1065
Wolfenstein: Youngblood Benchmarked: GeForce & Radeon Battle It Out 1066

Benchmarks - 1080p

Wolfenstein: Youngblood - 1080p Benchmarks

Wolfenstein: Youngblood benchmarked at 1080p is really something else, pushing up the performance of our flagship graphics cards past 250FPS which is simply insane. Check out these results:

Wolfenstein: Youngblood Benchmarked: GeForce & Radeon Battle It Out 01

Performance Thoughts

60FPS

If you're looking for 1080p 60FPS performance out of Wolfenstein: Youngblood, then look no further than even the years-old AMD Radeon RX 480. The Polaris-based GPU is still pumping out performance worthy of your dollars in Wolfenstein: Youngblood, with 64FPS average at 1080p and maxed-out settings.

AMD's older Radeon RX 480 beats out the new GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER, the GeForce GTX 1650 (non SUPER), and the new Navi-based Radeon RX 5500 XT. These cards could see gamers playing around with detail settings a little to nail down 60FPS average without an issue.

60-120FPS

Sitting in the 60-120 FPS area we have a few graphics cards at 1080p, with a large gap between the Radeon RX 480 and its 64FPS and the Radeon RX 5600 XT (thanks to its new BIOS) with 86FPS average in Wolfenstein: Youngblood. This shows there is still some wiggle room for both companies to nail down the 1080p market with more cards.

The Radeon RX 5600 XT performs well (again, with its new BIOS) at 1080p in Wolfenstein: Youngblood with 86FPS average, while the older-gen Polaris-based Radeon RX 570 is above it with 91FPS. The Polaris awesome sauce doesn't end there, with the Radeon RX 580 a little better with 103FPS and the Radeon RX 590 better again with 113FPS -- all at 1080p.

120-180FPS

This is where the fun begins: 120FPS. The first card to breach 120 FPS in Wolfenstein: Youngblood at 1080p is the GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER which pushes 132FPS average. The GeForce GTX 1660 Ti manages 2FPS more at 134FPS average, while the HBM2-powered AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 manages 145FPS.

We have the lowest member of the Turing RTX family in NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 2060 with 154FPS average in Wolfenstein: Youngblood at 1080p, while the new Navi-powered AMD Radeon RX 5700 pushes a hefty 160FPS average. The older-gen HBM2-based Radeon RX Vega 64 still does great work with 162FPS average at 1080p, while the suped-up GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER manages 174FPS average.

180-240FPS

Above 180FPS is a special thing in Wolfenstein: Youngblood, especially if you've got the monitor chops to get there -- remember, there are plenty of 1080p 240Hz gaming monitors on the market now. I wouldn't necessarily recommend getting a 1080p 240Hz gaming monitor for Wolfenstein: Youngblood, but I do enjoy pushing GPUs to their limits and seeing crazy FPS numbers.

NVIDIA begins the above 180FPS game in Wolfenstein: Youngblood at 1080p with its GeForce RTX 2070, while the Navi-powered Radeon RX 5700 XT performs well at 1080p with 184FPS average. Above that we have the 16GB HBM2-powered Vega-based Radeon VII graphics card from AMD at 188FPS average, while the GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER pushing 201FPS average.

The two last cards in this 180-240FPS area are the GeForce RTX 2080 with 214FPS average, and then the GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER with a huge 221FPS average. 1080p in Wolfenstein: Youngblood really lets these higher-end NVIDIA graphics cards let lose, with nothing on AMD's side capable of breaching 200FPS average at 1080p.

Beyond 240FPS

Oh yeah -- 240FPS and above is juicy, with NVIDIA's two flagship Turing-based graphics cards the only ones on the market capable of driving Wolfenstein: Youngblood at 240FPS+ with everything maxed out.

We have NVIDIA's flagship GeForce RTX 2080 Ti pushing an eye-melting 252FPS average in Wolfenstein: Youngblood at 1080p, while the even-more-insane TITAN RTX and its holy-crap amount of 24GB of GDDR6 memory pumping all the way up to 257FPS average. Crazy results here, folks.

Benchmarks - 1440p

Wolfenstein: Youngblood - 1440p Benchmarks

Wolfenstein: Youngblood benchmarked at 1440p is also interesting, with the $2499 flagship TITAN RTX graphics card just 2FPS from hitting 200FPS average at 2560 x 1440. Lots of good results to check out and go over here, too.

Wolfenstein: Youngblood Benchmarked: GeForce & Radeon Battle It Out 02

Performance Thoughts

30 - 60FPS

A bunch of graphics cards fall off the radar here at 1440p in Wolfenstein: Youngblood, with the GeForce GTX 1650 falling off a cliff with just 20FPS average. There's a huge gap between the GeForce GTX 1650 and the Radeon RX 5500 XT however, with AMD's new lower-end Navi-based offering hitting 38FPS average.

NVIDIA comes back into the game with the GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER with 41FPS average, while the older-gen Polaris-based Radeon RX 480 from AMD still performs well and kicks some ass with the idTech 6-powered Wolfenstein: Youngblood with 49FPS average. Navi goodness is right there with the BIOS-upgraded AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT and its 56FPS average, while the older-gen Polaris-based Radeon RX 570 nails 60FPS on the dot at 1440p.

60 - 120FPS

More of the fun at 2560 x 1440 begins at over 60FPS, with the Radeon RX 570 setting the stage at 1440p with its on-the-dot 60FPS average. The slighly higher-end Radeon RX 580 scales up to 68FPS average, while the GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER has 73FPS average -- just 2FPS behind the Radeon RX 590 with 75FPS average.

There's a large gap between the Radeon RX 590 at 75FPS average and NVIDIA's higher-end GeForce GTX 1660 Ti with 90FPS average, while the HBM2-based Radeon RX Vega 56 from AMD hits 99FPS -- just 1FPS short of 100FPS average.

Above that we have the non-SUPER version of NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 2060 with 103FPS average, while the Navi-powered AMD Radeon RX 5700 reaches 111FPS at 1440p in Wolfenstein: Youngblood. AMD has 1FPS more at 112FPS average with the HBM2-based Radeon RX Vega 64 graphics card, while NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER reaches 120FPS on-the-dot.

1440p 120FPS average in Wolfenstein: Youngblood with the GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is something pretty damn kick ass to see, I have to say.

120 - 180FPS

NVIDIA starts off 1440p 120FPS with the GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER right on the money at 120FPS average, while AMD's Navi-based Radeon RX 5700 XT hits 125FPS average. NVIDIA comes back with the GeForce RTX 2070 (non-SUPER) with 126FPS, while the 16GB HBM2-powered Vega-based Radeon VII graphics card manages 131FPS at 1440p in Wolfenstein: Youngblood.

We have 142FPS average from NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER graphics card at 1440p, while the GeForce RTX 2080 hits 154FPS average, and the GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER with 161FPS average in Wolfenstein: Youngblood at 1440p. Stellar results in the 160FPS barrier.

Beyond 180FPS

Once again NVIDIA is the only company on the market with a graphics card capable of over 131FPS average in Wolfenstein: Youngblood at 1440p, with the enthusiast-grade AMD Radeon VII managing 131FPS -- while the flagship Navi-based Radeon RX 5700 XT manages just 125FPS.

Above here, we have NVIDIA's flagship GeForce RTX 2080 Ti graphics card with a crazy 194FPS -- while the $2499 graphics card in the TITAN RTX pushes 198FPS. Insane results, with nearly 200FPS average at 2560 x 1440.

Benchmarks - 4K

Wolfenstein: Youngblood - 4K Benchmarks

Wolfenstein: Youngblood benchmarked at 4K is where all the fun is at, with nothing AMD has on the market capable of driving the game past 80FPS. NVIDIA has a stack of cards ready to go just that, and even right up to 120FPS and beyond. Check out the results below:

Wolfenstein: Youngblood Benchmarked: GeForce & Radeon Battle It Out 03

Performance Thoughts

30 - 60FPS

Wolfenstein: Youngblood at 4K is the most punishing test yet, where it all starts with AMD's new Navi-based Radeon RX 5500 XT and its average performance of just 21FPS. This isn't a desirable result at all, with 30FPS minimum something I'd be aiming for to play the game (somewhat) enjoyably.

AMD's older-gen Polaris-based Radeon RX 480 fits the job perfectly, offering up Wolfenstein: Youngblood at 4K 30FPS (just -- with 31FPS average). Up from there we have the AMD Radeon RX 570 with 34FPS average, the new Navi-based Radeon RX 5600 XT with 38FPS average, a tie in performance with the previous-gen Radeon RX 580 at 38FPS.

The slightly faster Radeon RX 590 manages 42FPS average at 4K in Wolfenstein: Youngblood, but this is where the boys get separated from the men at 4K -- AMD takes a big leap between its Radeon RX 590 at 42FPS average at 4K, right up to the HBM2-powered Radeon RX Vega 56 with its much-improved 57FPS average.

60 - 90FPS

Starting off the 60FPS and above league we have the Navi-based Radeon RX 5700 with 65FPS average, a great result for 4K gaming on the second-fast Navi graphics card AMD has on its roster... however, it ties with the previous-gen Vega-based Radeon RX Vega 64 for 65FPS at 4K.

The full Navi GPU in the Radeon RX 5700 XT pumps away at 73FPS average, just 2FPS behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER with 75FPS. The AMD Radeon VII and GeForce RTX 2070 are virtually tied for performance at 4K with 78FPS, and 79FPS average, respectively -- while the GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER hits 88FPS average.

90 - 120FPS

The largest test here is above 90FPS and into the 120FPS average territory, where NVIDIA has 4 cards capable of this and AMD isn't anywhere near it. The closest AMD Radeon graphics card doesn't even breach 80FPS at 4K, with NVIDIA kicking things off with its GeForce RTX 2080 and 96FPS average.

From there, we have the suped-up GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER with 100FPS average -- while the flagship GeForce RTX 2080 Ti performs beautifully at 119FPS average (just 1FPS away from 120FPS average) while $2499 buys you 125FPS at 4K in Wolfenstein: Youngblood, a truly momentous effort from Turing here.

Final Thoughts

Wolfenstein: Youngblood is a gorgeous looking game that shows off just how good the idTech 6 performs, and a testament to the Vulkan API, too. You don't need a powerhouse gaming PC to play it at 1080p 60FPS, or even 1440p 60FPS -- and hell, the older-gen Radeon RX 480 is still taking big swings around the place offering 1080p 60FPS without breaking a sweat.

Wolfenstein: Youngblood Benchmarked: GeForce & Radeon Battle It Out 106

You don't need anything too over-the-top to run the game, but if you want to try it out with ray traced shadows and Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) enabled, then you will want to grab an NVIDIA GeForce RTX graphics card and try that out in Wolfenstein: Youngblood. I have an entire article on Wolfenstein: Youngblood where I benchmarked it with RTX and DLSS technologies enabled, if you want to check that out here.

Without these technologies enabled, you're still getting some truly kick ass performance in a game that hasn't been that well received. I'm not here to review the game itself, and it's not something I'd play -- but from a technological and benchmark perspective, it was a fun ride in Wolfenstein: Youngblood.

In wrapping up, NVIDIA constantly dominates at the upper echelons of performance in all resolutions -- but man, do those 1440p and 4K tests stress out the GPUs and see NVIDIA climbing up the top near effortlessly.

NVIDIA offers up an insane 194FPS average at 2560 x 1440 in Wolfenstein: Youngblood with its flagship GeForce RTX 2080 Ti graphics card, while the $2499 graphics card in the insane TITAN RTX (which packs 24GB of GDDR6 by the way) pushes up near 200FPS with 198FPS average. This is no easy feat, as AMD has nothing that can come close.

Even with AMD's flagship enthusiast Radeon VII (with its 7nm Vega GPU and 16GB of super-fast HBM2 memory) Team Red manages just 131FPS average -- not even beating the GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER at 1440p. Things go to the next level at 4K.

4K sees AMD bleeding even more, barely managing to beat the GeForce RTX 2070 (non-SUPER) with the flagship Radeon VII offering up 78FPS average versus 79FPS average of the GeForce RTX 2070. NVIDIA flexes its muscle here, with the flagship GeForce RTX 2080 Ti offering 119FPS average at 4K which is a stellar achievement, while the $2499 TITAN RTX is 6FPS faster at 125FPS average.

Overall, NVIDIA wins the benchmark war in all resolutions in Wolfenstein: Youngblood.

Below, I've got a list of graphics cards in separate categories for 1080p 60/120, 1440p 60/120, and 4K 60/120FPS -- and the cards that find their performance falling into, or near those FPS averages. There's some surprises below with the Radeon RX 480 still offering kick ass performance in 2020 in an idTech 6-powered game like Wolfenstein: Youngblood, while NVIDIA consistently kicks ass with its Turing-based GeForce GTX and GeForce RTX series graphics cards.

Best Graphics Cards For 1080p 60FPS

  • AMD Radeon RX 480 - 64FPS average
  • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER - 58FPS average

Best Graphics Cards For 1080p 120FPS

  • AMD Radeon RX 590 - 113FPS average
  • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER - 132FPS average
  • AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 - 145FPS average
  • NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 - 154FPS average

Best Graphics Cards For 1440p 60FPS

  • AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT - 56FPS average
  • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER - 73FPS average

Best Graphics Cards For 1440p 120FPS

  • NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER - 120FPS average
  • AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT - 125FPS average

Best Graphics Cards For 4K 60FPS

  • AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 - 57FPS average
  • AMD Radeon RX 5700/Vega 64 - 65FPS average
  • AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT - 73FPS average
  • NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER - 75FPS average

Best Graphics Cards For 4K 120FPS

  • NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti - 119FPS average
  • NVIDIA TITAN RTX - 125FPS average
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Wolfenstein: Youngblood - Deluxe Edition

TodayYesterday7 days ago30 days ago
$39.99$39.99$39.99
* Prices last scanned on 3/8/2024 at 5:01 am CST - prices may not be accurate, click links above for the latest price. We may earn an affiliate commission.

Anthony joined the TweakTown team in 2010 and has since reviewed 100s of graphics cards. Anthony is a long time PC enthusiast with a passion of hate for games built around consoles. FPS gaming since the pre-Quake days, where you were insulted if you used a mouse to aim, he has been addicted to gaming and hardware ever since. Working in IT retail for 10 years gave him great experience with custom-built PCs. His addiction to GPU tech is unwavering and has recently taken a keen interest in artificial intelligence (AI) hardware.

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