Yesterday we shared details about the new RT Overdrive mode in Cyberpunk 2077. This mode is a fully path-traced renderer that replaces the current hybrid ray-tracing pipeline with a fully unified path-tracing solution.

This allows for the simulation of every single light source in the game for the most realistic lighting, shadows, and reflections possible. In the video, Nvidia used a GeForce RTX 4090 to run the Overdrive tech demo at 4K resolution, and the GPU struggled to hit 30 FPS at native resolution and in fact rendered full path at roughly 16 FPS on an RTX 4090. With DLSS 3 frame generation and image upscaling, the frame rates improved to triple digits, but the performance hit is significant.

It's worth noting that Overdrive mode is a new rendering mode that will be added to Cyberpunk 2077 on April 11th. We don't yet know the system requirements for this new mode, but it's safe to assume that you'll need a top-tier RTX 30-series GPU or one of Nvidia's RTX 40-series GPUs to run it at high frame rates.

Overall, the RT Overdrive mode is an impressive rendering solution that significantly expands the game's rendering engine, but the performance hit is notable, even on high-end GPUs. It remains to be seen how other GPUs will perform with this new mode when the update arrives on April 11th.

New Rendering Mode for Cyberpunk 2077 with Significant Performance Hit - 16 FPS