Square Enix has just released Final Fantasy 16 for PC. As mentioned, the game is quite demanding at 4K/Max settings, although it doesn't feature ray tracing effects. The good news is that FF XVI supports NVIDIA DLSS 3, AMD FSR 3.0, and Intel XeSS, so we decided to compare and contrast them.
For these first benchmarks, we used an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D, 32GB DDR5 at 6000MHz, and NVIDIA's RTX 4090. We also used Windows 10 64-bit and the GeForce 561.09 driver. In addition, we disabled the second CCD on our 7950X3D.
Final Fantasy XVI does not have a built-in benchmark tool, so we used the first Titan battle and the Garden/Palace area for our testing. These areas seem to be some of the most demanding locations, so we will also be using these areas for our upcoming PC performance analysis.
Let's start with some comparison screenshots. Native 4K is on the left, NVIDIA DLSS 3 quality in the middle, and AMD FSR 3.0 on the right.
At first glance, NVIDIA DLSS 3 Quality looks a bit blurrier than Native 4K. However, DLSS 3 Quality offers significantly better anti-aliasing. Look at how much smoother the window looks in the comparison below. Or how much better the tent ropes look. Thanks to its superior AA, DLSS 3 Quality looks better overall than Native 4K.
In this game, AMD FSR 3.0 suffers from severe artifacts. Although we didn't notice any major ghosting, almost all of the particles are a mess. See how pixelated and “low-res” the whole scene looks with FSR 3.0 in the comparison below. Intel XeSS doesn't have this problem. As you can see in the second comparison, Intel XeSS handles the game's particles better.
So if you have an RTX GPU, you should stick with NVIDIA DLSS 3 as the implementation is great. If you don't have an RTX GPU but can maintain 60 fps with Super Resolution, you should use Intel XeSS instead of AMD FSR 3.0. AMD FSR 3.0 with Frame Generation should be your last option.
In terms of performance, all upscaling techniques are equal. This is surprising because NVIDIA DLSS 3 can be slower than AMD FSR 3.0 in many games. However, that is not the case with this title.
With DLSS 3 Quality Super Resolution, our NVIDIA RTX 4090 was able to achieve frame rates of over 70 fps. And when we then used Frame Generation, we consistently achieved over 100 fps.
In my opinion, FF XVI is best played on an NVIDIA RTX 4090 with DLAA and DLSS 3 Frame Generation. With this combination, you get frame rates of over 80 fps at all times. And thanks to DLAA, you get a great picture.
Our PC performance analysis will go live later this week, so stay tuned for more!
John is the founder and editor-in-chief of DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fanatic and is a huge supporter of the modding and indie communities. Before founding DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. Although he is a diehard PC gamer, his gaming roots lie on consoles. John loved – and still loves – the 16-bit consoles and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. However, the PC platform won him over consoles. This was mainly due to 3DFX and its legendary dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on “The Evolution of PC Graphics Cards”.
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