For almost a decade now, nearly every review for the latest graphics cards from AMD, Nvidia, and now Intel has used 3DMark Time Spy or Time Spy Extreme. However, the capabilities of Radeon and GeForce GPUs have grown substantially since the benchmark arrived on the scene, and its successor, 3DMark Steel Nomad, is almost here to put our pixel pushers to a new, gruelling test. Just before its official launch, though, the first results are in, with RTX 4090 naturally leading the charge.
3DMark Steel Nomad pushes the rasterised capabilities of the best graphics cards to their limits. Despite featuring no ray tracing, the benchmark takes its toll via other demanding means, including a 4K rendering resolution and modern graphics effects such as volumetric skies. Suffice it to say that it takes a suitably powerful GPU to overcome the challenges put forth by Steel Nomad. Naturally, this leaves Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 and AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX in a tussle for the crown, with the former clinching the win.
3DMark Steel Nomad benchmark results
Releasing May 21, 2024, UL Solutions has provided early access to its 3DMark Steel Nomad benchmark to a few select outlets. You can expect to see it enter our test suite in the near future, but for now, we have the first set of results to pour over courtesy of Guru3D.
| GPU | FPS (DirectX 12) | FPS (Vulkan) |
|---|---|---|
| Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 | 93 | 103 |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX | 64 | 66 |
| Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 | 38 | 50 |
| AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT | 40 | 41 |
| Intel Arc A770 | 34 | 35 |
| Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 | 23 | 24 |
| AMD Radeon RX 7600 | 23 | 23 |
Studying the results of the whopping 25 graphics cards tested, a few trends become clear. For instance, 3DMark Steel Nomad clearly runs best on Nvidia GPUs as they, more often than not, beat their closest AMD counterparts. This is somewhat surprising, given that rasterisation tends to be a stronghold of sorts for Radeon, GeForce RTX 4090 aside.
The benchmark supports both the DirectX 12 and Vulkan API, seemingly performing better on the latter by a significant margin on some graphics cards. For example, GeForce RTX 4070 lags behind Radeon RX 7800 XT in DirectX 12 by 2fps but then pulls ahead by 9fps swapping over to Vulkan. However, less powerful pixel pushers find no such refuge in either API, with GeForce RTX 4060 and Radeon RX 7600 crumbling under the weight of Steel Nomad with sub-30fps results.
In addition to the usual benchmark run we’re accustomed to in Time Spy and Speed Way, UL Solutions has also included a few extra modes with Steel Nomad. ‘Stress Test’ is, as it implies, a way to test system stability through a prolonged 20-minute run, while Explorer Mode allows you to take control of the camera and take a gander around the benchmark’s locale.
With the GeForce RTX 4090 already achieving 93-103fps in Steel Nomad, it’s a safe bet that the GeForce RTX 4090 will push performance even further still. Should Jensen and company tell all at Computex, you can expect coverage from us right from the conference floor. In the meantime, check out our GeForce RTX 4080 Super review for our most up-to-date benchmark figures.
