Can You Spot the Difference?

When it comes to graphics settings in new games, many players think that the difference between Low to Medium and Medium to High is easy to spot. However, as you go higher on this scale, the change becomes less obvious, outside of your framerate suffering a significant drop. This brings up an interesting question: why do developers still add advanced graphics options to their games when they are hardly noticeable, especially when players can afford to buy new PCs that can't even run them at playable frame rates?

The Answer Lies with GPU Manufacturers

It's not entirely clear who is responsible for the proliferation of these advanced graphics options. However, it's worth considering the role that GPU manufacturers play in this situation. With the release of the latest 30-series cards, systems are struggling to keep up when outputting to a 4K monitor and making multiple in-game changes. This has led to the development of technologies like DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) and FSR (Frame Rate Scaling), which aim to improve performance without sacrificing visual quality.

The Cost of Advanced Graphics

One of the main concerns with advanced graphics options is the cost. A 3070, for example, costs $499 at MSRP, while a 3090 can be purchased for nearly triple that amount, at $1,499. This means that players who want to experience these advanced graphics settings are being asked to spend significant amounts of money on their PC. But is it worth it? The answer depends on individual preferences and priorities.

A Test of Different Settings

To get a better understanding of whether skipping rent payments or buying a new graphics card is worth it, we built two systems to compare different graphics settings at similar frame rates. We then asked a few colleagues from around the office if they could tell the difference between these settings without being told what was going on.

The Results

Our test revealed that while some players were able to notice a slight improvement in visual quality when switching to higher graphics settings, many others couldn't tell the difference at all. This suggests that the visual upgrade may not be as noticeable as some people expect, especially when compared to the significant cost of advanced graphics options.

Is it Really Worth It?

So, is spending your life savings on a high-end graphics card really worth it? The answer depends on individual priorities and preferences. While maxed-out settings do offer a certain level of visual quality, the difference may not be as noticeable as some people expect. Additionally, with the advent of technologies like DLSS and FSR, which can improve performance without sacrificing visual quality, the need for high-end graphics cards may decrease.

A Word from Our Sponsors

Before we wrap up this article, a word from our sponsors is in order. If you're experiencing lag while gaming, GlassWire can help you identify what apps are wasting your bandwidth and causing your games to lag. Use the link below to get 25% off today using offer code LINUS.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Can you spot the difference?I mean, Low to Medium, or Medium to High,sure, that's easy.But the higher we go, thechange is less obvious,outside of your framerate biting the dust.So if super-fancy-extreme-ultragraphics optionsare hardly noticeable,why are developers stilladding them to new games,especially when your bangin' new PCcan't even run them atplayable frame rates?Are the GPU manufacturers to blame?I need an answer.And the answer to who sponsoredthis video is GlassWire.Are you lagging out while gaming?Use GlassWire and see whatapps are wasting your bandwidthand causing your games to lag.Get 25% off today using offer code LINUSat the link below.(upbeat music)Even with the best modern hardware,brand-new triple-A games often struggleto run at maxed-out graphics settings.With the advent of ray tracing and HDR,this has become even more apparentas systems with high-end 30-series cardscan barely keep up onceyou output to a 4K monitorand flip a few in-game switches.DLSS and FSR are helping,but is it really worth itto spend your life savings on a Bugattiso you can feel like a badasson your five-minute commute?Look, we're not sayingmaxed-out settings do nothing.It's just that the visualupgrade you'll noticeis minimal, comparatively speaking.After all, at MSRP a 3070 is $499while a 3090 is basicallytriple that at $1,499.So to see whether skipping a rent paymentto buy a graphics card is worth it,we built two systemsto compare different settingsat similar frame ratesand asked a few folksfrom around the officeif they could tell the difference.We didn't tell them what was going on.We just asked them to play a sectionfrom \"Metro Exodus: Enhanced Edition\"and to tell us which one looked nicer.- Uh...- Uh...- Uh, I mean...- They're the same.- I would say this one's better.- I want to say I like this one better.- It's hard to tell though.- I don't know. They look the same.- And guess what? Only oneperson picked correctly.- Yeah. Is this the 3090?- Yeah, it's the 3090.- Yeah.It's a little bit clearer, but like...I don't know, a tiny bit.- Our resident gamer god Davidwas able to tell pretty quicklywhich system was our RTX3090 at extreme settings,while everyone else defaulted to the 3070.The results were so skewed,we started doubting the setup by the end.But, nope, it's just reallyhard to tell for most people,particularly those whoaren't already gamingon some of the mostexpensive hardware available.But why?The answer has to dowith diminishing returns.I mean, you're gonna enjoy a $70 steakmore than a buck-fifty hot dog,but will you enjoy it $68.50 more?I don't know.But fortunately our friendsat CryTek are meat experts,and by meat, I mean video game graphics.They're working on the\"Crisis Remastered Trilogy,\"so we reached out for some answers.They told us that they dohave performance targetsand are aware of modern hardwarelike the latest generation ofconsoles or graphics cards,but there are always hurdlesin the way of smooth performance,large environments, 4K textures,particle effects, and AIbeing some of the bigger ones to get over.The first step is gettingall of this into the gameand running in the first place,while optimization typically comes later.Usually, the more time for optimization,the better the game willrun on most hardware.When there's a lot ofhardware to optimize for,things can get messy.And if your setup's cablemanagement is messy,make sure to pick up somecable ties from lttstore.com.Like these. They're so good.Targets have scaled up over the years,and with modern consoles,we're finally looking at 1440por even 4K resolutions runningat 60 frames per second,at least on medium or low settings.If your hardware is getting older,which it is for a lot of usaccording to the Steam hardware survey,and my back!Ooh!Some settings have a muchbigger impact than others,particularly shadows and particle effects.You've probably found yourselftinkering with settings one by oneto try to get the best mixof frame rate to fidelity,only to have trouble evennoticing the difference sometimes,especially if there are noexample images or videosto show you in real time.Why does Ultra and Very Highin many cases look basically identical,but suddenly you go from 70 FPS to 40?The real problem often isn'tdevelopers failing to optimize.It's that as thingslook better and better,it's hard to notice due to the 80/20 rule.Getting 80% of the way thereis actually pretty easyand it's not until we try to squeeze outthat extra 20% of detail and depththat we run into problems.Take \"Anno,\" for example.It looks great, but forthe best play experience,you need to really zoom the camera out,and adding more objects andtextures to render in-framecauses performance to chug significantly.We see similar resultswhen improving drawdistance in other games,but at a certain pointit's not really worth itsince we can barely makeout distant objects anyway.But we're all dumb apes,and when there's a sliderwe can move all the way to the right,we just have to stick ourgrubby fingers in thereeven though the Low,Medium, and High settingswill probably look just fine.Ooh-ooh, ah-ah.Me like sliding.So here's the example CryTek gave us.At the lowest option you'vegot pretty low-res textures,a 1,000-meter draw distance,low amounts of particles for effects,and extra details like waveson water are turned off.Very High sounds drastically different,offering 4K textures, a2,500-meter draw distance,lots of particles, andall the extras turned on.But when you compare High to Very High,the gap is much smaller,with the main difference beingtexture resolution going from 2K to 4Kand a draw distance improvement.If you don't have a 4Kmonitor to begin withand the foliage is thick,good luck spotting thatwith the naked eye.Another improvementthat can be hard to seepast a certain point is tessellation,or splitting up polygonsinto finer pieces.Adding more triangles tosmooth out a curved surfaceis a huge improvement to 3D environments,but unless you start zooming in a lot,you likely won't be ableto tell the difference.However, some things are100% worth turning on,even if your frame ratedrops significantly.We mentioned draw distance already,but more realistic shadows and lightingcan really just make a dull environmentmmm, spring to life.Antialiasing solutions are also hugefor smoothing ugly, jagged surfaces,and higher-resolutiontextures do look a lot betterif you have the right screen for them.But these options are gonna havedifferent effects in every game,so whatever you're playing,try to test the watersand find the right balanceof frame rate to visualquality for yourself.And speaking of visual quality,make sure you're subscribedso you don't miss outon our upcoming LookingGlass Portrait video.Ooh.Now, if we know deep downthat going from Very High to Ultrais either indistinguishableor hardly better,why do developers keep makingthese ridiculous settingsthat only a tiny fractionof players can actually runif anyone at all?Well, there's two big reasons.One: options are always good to have.And two: it helps market the game.We all want to buy the new hotness,especially when it's pretty,but many of us have beenduped into preorderingbased on what's shown at E3versus the final product.And while most people can't run Ultraor Very High settings now,they might be able to inthe future once they upgradeand want to revisit some older games.For now, though,if you don't have thelatest and greatest GPU,which is probably the casegiven the hard, hard year we've had,don't worry.These days, Low settings often looksurprisingly good in modern gamesand in some cases can giveyou a competitive advantage,with Medium and Highoffering a nicer experienceif you can run it.There's no shame in keepingsetting on the left, silly ape.Don't give yourself slider envy.But it's perfectly acceptableto envy this video's sponsor, Drop.- Drop's Sennheiser HD 6XX headphonesare one of their all-time bestsellerswith over 90,000 units sold.And why not? They're frickin' awesome.They have not changed thedriver and sound structurecompared to the regular HD 650s,so you can expect anice, balanced midrangeand natural-sounding bass.They've got an open-back designwhich allows auditorium-like acousticsfor accurate sound reproduction.They've got a detachable six-foot cableinstead of the 10-foot cableon the more conventional models and...Really is a better length for the cable.And they use a 1/8-inch plugthat's versatile for everyday usewith a 1/4-inch adapterincluded for your A/V gear.So why wait? Buy them todayat the link down below.They're actually very similarto my daily driver HD 600s.They're just so comfy, too.- So what do you guys think, though?Do you have a 3090 or a 6900 XTand you just refuse to play at anythingother than 4K Ultra, evenif the frame rate dips?Let us know in the comments below.And if you liked this video,make sure to check outour DLSS and FSR videos.Ooh, the future is lookin'bright. (kiss smacks)\n"