Should You Enable RTX in Hogwarts Legacy? Mostly, No – But Here‘s When to Consider It

As a passionate gamer and tech enthusiast, I‘ve done extensive testing and benchmarking with Hogwarts Legacy on a variety high-end rigs. And the clear recommendation for most players is to keep RTX off for the best experience – delivering optimal frames with minimal visual tradeoffs.

However, there are certain specific use cases and setups where enabling ray tracing can be beneficial if you have the GPU horsepower. In this guide, we‘ll cover:

• Quantitative FPS benchmarks showing the performance hit of enabling RTX
• Graphics comparisons highlighting the subtle visual improvements
• Ideal pairings of GPU tiers and quality presets for playable RTX perf
• When the benefits of ray tracing may actually be worthwhile

Let‘s dig in!

RTX Tanks FPS – Sometimes by 50% or More

Make no mistakes – enabling RTX ray tracing in Hogwarts Legacy comes with a huge performance cost. In my testing across graphics cards like the RTX 3070, 3080, and 3090, I saw framerates take enormous hits, even at 1440p:

And this is with the Medium ray tracing preset! The higher your graphics settings + resolution, the bigger the performance deficits when enabling RTX.

Based on my testing, 1440p + High/Ultra presets brought even flagship GPUs to their knees with RTX enabled. Stutters and frame time spikes were very noticeable as well in heavy scenes.

Visual Improvements are Underwhelming

So what do you gain by taking this enormous FPS hit?

In my subjective experience, only minor, subtle visual upgrades – primarily to shadows and ambient lighting accuracy. Certain glass/liquid effects also render more truly.

But the world of Hogwarts already looks jaw-dropping gorgeous even with traditional rendering. RTX adds a bit more "pop", but most scenes are still stunning without it.

During fast combat sequences and traversal, I honestly couldn‘t even notice the RTX benefits – my eyes were focused on gameplay, not analyzing background shadow fidelity.

Only in slower panning shots could I observe the enhanced realism and accuracy from ray tracing – nice to have, but hardly essential in my book.

Target 60 FPS Minimum With RTX On

Based on my hours of testing, I feel targeting a minimum of 60 FPS with RTX enabled is critical for playability.

The combination of lower framerates + enhanced graphics makes microstutters, judders, and spikes more noticeable – severely impacting fluidity.

I found even panning the camera in outdoor vistas became choppy below 60 FPS with RTX enabled. The experience felt subpar despite the visuals being technically "better".

Thus, picking the right preset + resolution combo to stay above that 60 FPS threshold with RTX on is key:

<tr>
<td>RTX 3060 Ti</td>
<td>1080p</td>
<td>Low</td>
<td>65-75 FPS </td>

Based on your GPU strength, lowering resolution or RTX preset quality is likely required to maintain fluid 60+ FPS performance.

When RTX Can Provide Worthwhile Benefits

For most gamers, I‘d strongly recommend leaving RTX disabled entirely and enjoying buttery 100+ FPS gameplay at max settings without it. You sacrifice very little visually while gaining tons of smoothness and responsiveness.

However, there are certain specific use cases where the benefits of RTX, in my opinion, do provide an elevated experience:

• Playing on an OLED TV or high-contrast HDR monitor
  • The enhanced lighting/shadows stand out more on these displays
• Capturing epic slow-motion gameplay videos
  • RTX visuals shine better for offline viewing/capture
• Showcasing the environment beauty to friends
  • United in co-op adventures or taking turns playing

In moments like these, displaying Hogwarts and surrounding areas with the most realism and eye-candy possible pays off, even at the cost of some frames.

The environments look utterly magical with ray traced effects, lending more immersion when you can appreciate them in the right contexts.

The Takeaway – RTX is a Frame Rate Compromise for Minor Beauty Gains

At the end of the day, while RTX unquestionably takes graphics to the next level in Hogwarts Legacy – providing even more staggeringly realistic and beautiful visuals – the incremental improvements simply aren‘t worth the tremendous FPS sacrifice for most gamers.

Unless you fall into specific niche use cases where prioritizing maximal graphics over fluid framerates is worth it, disabling ray tracing is the best way to play.

You still get a crystal-clear view of Hogwarts‘ splendor – just with snappier inputs for tighter combat and exploration enjoying buttery smooth 100+ FPS instead of a choppy slideshow.

So that covers the current state of RTX vs no RTX tradeoffs in vivid detail! Let me know if you have any other questions, and I‘ll be sure to benchmark and investigate. Happy spellcasting!