S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl Ray Tracing test
| BASIC GAME INFORMATION |
We found a way to activate ray tracing in Game S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl and tested to assess its impact on performance and visual quality, including modern technologies such as DLSS, FSR и Frame Generation.
| NEW PRODUCTS PROVIDED FOR TESTS BY DEEPCOOL |
In our review we present you the case DeepCool CH780WH. DeepCool CH780WH – is a spacious Mid Tower case, made in white with a large tempered glass window on the side panel. The case supports the installation of ATX, Micro-ATX and Mini-ITX motherboards, as well as video cards up to 380 mm long. DeepCool CH780WH It is equipped with an excellent cooling system with the ability to install up to 9 fans, and also supports liquid cooling systems with radiators up to 360 mm in size. For ease of assembly, the case has removable dust filters and sufficient space for cable management.
In our review we present you with a power supply Deepcool PX1200G 1200W. Deepcool PX1200G 1200W has a power of 1200 watts, 80 Plus Gold certification, which guarantees a high level of energy efficiency of up to 92%. It is equipped with a modular cable system for easy cable management and minimizing clutter in the case. The power supply supports protective functions such as OVP (overvoltage protection), SCP (short circuit protection) and OCP (overcurrent protection).
The power supply also supports the standard ATX 3.0, which is important for modern systems with high-performance components, such as the latest generation of graphics cards. The ATX 3.0 standard provides more stable power delivery, improved performance with peak loads, and support for the PCIe 5.0 slot, which is necessary for the latest graphics cards with high power requirements, such as the NVIDIA RTX 40-series. This makes Deepcool PX1200G the optimal choice for gamers and professionals who require reliable and efficient power for their powerful systems.
We will also consider Deepcool LT720, liquid cooling system with a 360 mm radiator. Deepcool LT720 has three 120 mm fans with addressable ARGB lighting, providing effective cooling and a stylish appearance. The cooler supports Intel LGA1700 and AMD AM5 platforms, making it compatible with most modern processors.
| NEW PRODUCTS PROVIDED FOR TESTS BY ASUS |
In our review we present you with the motherboard ASUS ROG Strix B650-A Gaming Wi-Fi. ROG Strix B650-A Gaming WiFi includes 4 DDR5 DIMM modules with a maximum capacity of up to 64 gigabytes and a frequency of up to 6400 MHz. For the file subsystem, the motherboard supports 3 M.2 PCIe 5.0/4.0 x4 slots and 4 SATA 6 Gb/s ports. You can directly view the testing of this motherboard on our website.
In our review we present you with motherboards ASUS Z790-A GAMING DDR4. We use this motherboard as a test bench for testing new generations of processors. Intel.
This time the company's top video card is participating in our test. ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4070 Ti OC. The GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is based on the AD104 GPU and features 7680 CUDA cores and 12GB of GDDR6X memory. Test this video card on our website.
This time the company's top video card is participating in our test. ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7900 XT OC Edition 20 GB.. This video card is based on the RDNA 3 architecture, operates at a frequency of 2500 MHz and has 20 gigabytes of video memory.
| NEW PRODUCTS PROVIDED FOR TESTS BY GIGABYTE |
In our review we present you with the motherboard Gigabyte X670E AORUS PRO X. We use this motherboard as a test bench for testing new generations of processors. AMD.
Its testing on our website.
| NEW, SUPPLIED FOR TEST BY KINGSTON |
In our review we used RAM: 32 GB DDR4 3600 CL16 Kingston FURY Renegade, 32 GB DDR4 4000 CL18 Kingston FURY Renegade,32 GB DDR5 6000 Kingston FURY Renegade, 16 GB DDR4 4600 CL19 Kingston FURY Renegade и 32 GB DDR5 7200 Kingston FURY Renegade. And for game tests we use an external Kingston XS2000 Portable SSD 1TB.
In our review we used RAM Kingston Fury Renegade DDR5 48GB 7200MHz.
In our review we used RAM Kingston Fury Renegade DDR5-8000 48 GB Limited Edition.
In our review, for the full variety of our test benches, we use SSD drives Kingston KC600 256GB 2.5" SATAIII 3D NAND TLC и SSD drive Kingston NV3 1TB M.2 2280 NVMe PCIe 4.0 x4 , which are an ideal choice for use when there are a large number of components.
| How to enable ray tracing in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl |
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl – is a game that can immerse the player in a unique world, rich in atmosphere and detail. However, without advanced graphics technologies such as ray tracing, its visual component loses depth. Although Ray Tracing is not officially supported, there is a way to manually activate this feature and transform the game. This solution is intended for those who have a powerful enough computer to cope with the additional load, but the reward will be an incredibly realistic Zone.
To enable ray tracing, you need to make changes to the game configuration. This process begins with finding the folder where user settings are stored. For example, for the Steam version of the game, the necessary files are located at %localappdata%\Stalker2\Saved\Config\Windows.
Once you open this directory, you need to create or edit a file Engine.ini.
This file adds commands that enable additional graphical capabilities. These options enable improved reflections, lighting, and other effects that are not available in the standard version of the game.
Code to insert into the file Engine.ini, as follows:
[System Settings]
r.VolumetricFog.GridPixelSize=3
r.VolumetricFog.GridSizeZ=128
r.Lumen.TranslucencyReflections.FrontLayer.Allow=1
r.LumenScene.Heightfield.MaxTracingSteps=32
r.Shadow.Virtual.Enable=1
r.Lumen.Reflections.DownsampleFactor=0
r.Lumen.Reflections.AsyncCompute=1
r.Lumen.DiffuseIndirect.AsyncCompute=1
r.LumenScene.Lighting.AsyncCompute=1
r.LumenScene.Radiosity.SpatialFilterProbes.KernelSize=0
r.LumenScene.Radiosity.UpdateFactor=128
r.LumenScene.Radiosity.ProbeSpacing=3
r.LumenScene.Radiosity.HemisphereProbeResolution=64
r.Lumen.IrradianceFieldGather.NumProbesToTraceBudget=300
r.Lumen.RadianceCache.NumFramesToKeepCachedProbes=30
r.Lumen.Reflections.MaxRoughnessToTrace=0.4
r.Lumen.Reflections.ScreenSpaceReconstruction.RoughnessScale=0.5
r.Lumen.Reflections.SmoothBias=1
r.Lumen.Reflections.Temporal=0
r.Shadow.MaxCSMResolution=2048
r.Shadow.FilterMethod=1
[ScalabilityGroups]
sg.GlobalIllumination=4
sg.HairQuality=4
sg.VolumetricFogQuality=4
sg.ShadowQuality=4
sg.PostProcessQuality=4
sg.TextureQuality=4
sg.EffectsQuality=4
Why is this software tracing?
- Lumen Reflections и Lumen Global Illumination work through dynamic processing of lighting and reflections, which does not require hardware RT cores (Ray Tracing Cores), as in NVIDIA RTX or AMD RDNA2/3 video cards.
- Settings such as
r.Lumen.Reflections.DownsampleFactor=0иr.LumenScene.Heightfield.MaxTracingSteps=32, control the number of tracing steps, but do not require direct access to hardware tracing. - All calculations are performed on GPU via regular compute shaders, not RT cores.
In addition, the weapons in the game began to look much more realistic. Metal surfaces acquired a natural shine, and raindrops flowing down them seem real. Such small but important details significantly enhance immersion in the atmosphere of the post-apocalyptic world.
It is worth noting that this method of enabling ray tracing is artisanal and may be accompanied by some shortcomings. However, after you see how the game has been transformed, you are unlikely to want to return to the standard settings. The technology makes the picture much more lively, rich and visually expressive, emphasizing every detail of the unique Zone.
| TEST PART |
| Test configuration | |
| test stands |
ROG Strix X570-E Gaming Z490 AORUS PROAX GIGABYTE Z590 VISION GIGABYTE Z690 AERO G GIGABYTE Z790 GAMING XAX MSI MPG Z790 Edge WiFi ASUS ROG Strix B650-A Gaming Wi-Fi ASUS ROG Maximus Z790 Apex Encore |
| Sponsored video cards |
ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4070 Ti OC ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER OC ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7900XT 20G |
| Multimedia equipment |
16 GB DDR4 4600 CL19 Kingston FURY Renegade 32 GB DDR4 3600 CL16 Kingston FURY Renegade 32 GB DDR4 4000 CL18 Kingston FURY Renegade 32 GB DDR5 5600 CL40 Kingston Fury Beast 32 GB DDR5 6000@6400 CL30 Kingston FURY Renegade 32 GB DDR5 7200 CL36 Kingston FURY Renegade 48GB DDR5 7200 CL36 Kingston FURY Renegade 48GB DDR5 8000 CL36 Kingston FURY Renegade Kingston FURY Renegade PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD Kingston NV3 1TB M.2 2280 NVMe PCIe 4.0 x4
Case DeepCool CH510 WH SVO DeepCool LS720 WH Power supply unit Deepcool PX1200G 1200W |
| Software configuration |
|
| Operating system | Windows 11 24H2 |
| Graphics driver |
Nvidia GeForce/ION Driver Release 566.14 WHQL AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 24.10.1 |
| Monitoring programs |
MSI Afterburner |
Our video cards were tested in game version 1.02 at separate screen resolutions 1920x1080, 2560x1440 и 3840x2160 with maximum graphics quality settings, including DLSS, FSR in mode Qualityand Frame Generation.
We didn't torture the poor beasts in the form of 8 gigabyte solutions, because even without ray tracing they barely cope with the lack of video memory in the game...
Our previous tests without ray tracing
| TEST GPU |
In the video card test, the default resolution is 1920x1080; other resolutions are added and removed manually. You can also remove and add any positions of video cards. You can also select any of our test processors from the list in the drop-down menu, comparing its performance with the given video card tests (by default, the most productive solution is selected). The test is carried out on the most powerful CPU in this game and is scaled to other processors, taking into account their testing on NVIDIA and AMD video cards.
- Epic+RT
- Epic + RT + Frame Generator
When resolved 1920x1080:
- Average FPS (25 frames): Reached on video cards of the level of Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 2080 Ti.
- Minimum FPS (25 frames): Provided by video cards of the Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 2080 Ti level.
- Comfortable average FPS (60 frames): Possible with graphics cards like Radeon RX 7900 XT or GeForce RTX 4070 Ti S.
When resolved 2560x1440:
- Average FPS (25 frames): Achieved on Radeon RX 6800 or GeForce RTX 4070 Ti level graphics cards.
- Minimum FPS (25 frames): Provided by video cards of the Radeon RX 6800 or GeForce RTX 4080 level.
- Comfortable average FPS (60 frames): Possible with video cards of the level of Radeon RX 7900 XT FSR or GeForce RTX 4090.
When resolved 3840x2160:
- Average FPS (25 frames): Achieved on Radeon RX 6800 FSR or GeForce RTX 4070 Ti DLSS level graphics cards.
- Minimum FPS (25 frames): Provided by video cards of the level of Radeon RX 7900 XT or GeForce RTX 4080 DLSS.
FSR3 Frame Generation
When resolved 1920x1080:
- Average FPS (25 frames): Reached on video cards of the level of Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 3060.
- Minimum FPS (25 frames): Provided by video cards of the Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 3060 level.
- Comfortable average FPS (60 frames): Possible with video cards of the Radeon RX 6750 XT or GeForce RTX 2080 Ti level.
When resolved 2560x1440:
- Average FPS (25 frames): Reached on video cards of the level of Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 2080 Ti.
- Minimum FPS (25 frames): Provided by video cards of the Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 2080 Ti level.
- Comfortable average FPS (60 frames): Possible with video cards of the Radeon RX 6900 XT or GeForce RTX 4080 level.
When resolved 3840x2160:
- Average FPS (25 frames): Achieved on Radeon RX 6750 XT FSR or GeForce RTX 2080 Ti DLSS level graphics cards.
- Minimum FPS (25 frames): Provides video cards of the level of Radeon RX 6800 or GeForce RTX 2080 Ti DLSS.
- Comfortable average FPS (60 frames): Possible with graphics cards like Radeon RX 7800 XT FSR or GeForce RTX 3080 Ti DLSS.
| VIDEO MEMORY CONSUMPTION |
Testing of video memory consumed by the game was carried out by the program MSI Afterburner. The indicator was based on the results on video cards from AMD and NVIDIA with separate screen sizes 1920x1080, 2560x1440 and 3840x2160 with various anti-aliasing settings. By default, the graph displays the most current solutions. Other video cards are added and removed from the chart at the request of the reader.
- Epic+RT
- Epic + RT + Frame Generator
GameGPU
Resolution 1920x1080:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 8 GB
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 9 GB
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 9 GB
Resolution 2560x1440:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 10 GB
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 10 GB
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 10 GB
Resolution 3840x2160:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 13 GB
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 14 GB
Frame Generation
Resolution 1920x1080:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 9 GB
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 9 GB
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 9 GB
Resolution 2560x1440:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 10 GB
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 11 GB
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB
Resolution 3840x2160:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 11 GB
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 15 GB
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 16 GB
| CPU TEST |
Testing was carried out at a resolution of 1920x1080. In the processor test, you can remove or add any processor positions. You can also select any tested video card from the list in the drop-down menu, comparing its performance with the given processor test results (by default, the most productive solution from NVIDIA is selected). Testing takes place on the most powerful NVIDIA and AMD video cards and scales to low-end models.
- Epic+RT
- Epic + RT + Frame Generator
When using NVIDIA video cards:
- Processors for acceptable FPS (not lower than 25 frames per second):
- AMD Ryzen 3 3100
- Intel Core i5-10600
- Processors for comfortable FPS (at least 60 frames per second):
- AMD Ryzen 9 9950X
- Intel Core i5-13700K
When using AMD video cards:
- Processors for acceptable FPS (not lower than 25 frames per second):
- AMD Ryzen 3 3100
- Intel Core i3-10100
- Processors for comfortable FPS (at least 60 frames per second):
- AMD Ryzen 7 7950X
- Intel Core i5-12900K
Frame Generation
When using NVIDIA video cards:
- Processors for acceptable FPS (not lower than 25 frames per second):
- AMD Ryzen 3 3100
- Intel Core i3-10100
- Processors for comfortable FPS (at least 60 frames per second):
- AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
- Intel Core i3-12100
When using AMD video cards:
- Processors for acceptable FPS (not lower than 25 frames per second):
- AMD Ryzen 3 3100
- Intel Core i3-10100
- Processors for comfortable FPS (at least 60 frames per second):
- AMD Ryzen 5 3600
- Intel Core i5-12600
- Epic+RT
Loading and using streams:
- Maximum load: The game can load up to 24 streams.
- Optimal loading: Uses up to 16 threads as efficiently as possible.
| RAM TEST |
The test was carried out on the basic configuration of Core i 9 13900K with 32 GB DDR5 6400 MHz pre-installed memory. All used RAM was taken as an indicator. The RAM test on the entire system was carried out on various video cards without launching third-party applications (browsers, etc.). In the graphics, you can add and remove any resolutions and video cards as desired.
- Epic+RT
- Epic + RT + Frame Generator
GameGPU
Resolution 1920x1080:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 16 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 16 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 16 GB of RAM
Resolution 2560x1440:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 17 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 16 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 17 GB of RAM
Resolution 3840x2160:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 19 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 16 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 17 GB of RAM
Frame Generation
Resolution 1920x1080:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 16 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 16 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 17 GB of RAM
Resolution 2560x1440:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 17 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 17 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 17 GB of RAM
Resolution 3840x2160:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 15 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 17 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 17 GB of RAM
| SPONSORS TESTS |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| CONCLUSION |
By activating ray tracing в S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, it is impossible not to notice how much the game has changed. But along with this came significant productivity drops, which should be taken into account.
Decreased productivity
The most noticeable effect of enabling ray tracing was significant drop in FPS, especially when increasing the resolution. The problems were especially evident on video cards RTX 40 series, where observed performance anomalies. As the resolution increases, the frame rate drops sharply, which becomes noticeable even on powerful systems.
Processor dependency
The gameplay has become much more processor-dependent. When using ray tracing, the CPU load increases, which can cause bottlenecks even on modern multi-threaded processors. If the game used to be more dependent on the video card, now it is difficult to ensure smooth gameplay without a powerful processor.
Video memory consumption
Another serious problem is high video memory consumption. Even video cards with 12 GB VRAM encounter difficulties, especially on ultra graphics settings. For comfortable gaming, you now need at least 16 GB VRAM, which calls into question the possibility of smooth gaming on less productive systems. If your video card does not have enough memory, the game may "choke", giving noticeable freezes and FPS drops.
But I don't want to turn off tracing
Despite all the listed difficulties, and even the fact that this software ray tracing, I don’t want to go back to the standard graphics settings. The game looks much more alive and realistic. Reflections and dynamic lighting turn the Zone into a real artistic picture. Thanks to ray tracing, STALKER 2 conveys a unique atmosphere of the post-apocalypse, which is difficult to feel without this technology.