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3DMark Port Royal became available on January 8, 2019. The “RTX On” announcement is historical, not a new 2026 release. Port Royal remains available as a 3DMark upgrade and is still useful for comparing DXR-capable GPUs, reproducing older review results, and testing a fixed 1440p ray-tracing workload.
It is not a universal measure of gaming performance, DLSS, frame generation, or modern ray-tracing hardware. Its technical requirement is Microsoft DirectX Raytracing support—not NVIDIA’s RTX branding.
What launched in January 2019?
UL announced Port Royal on December 8, 2018, with availability scheduled for January 8, 2019. It launched as a dedicated real-time ray-tracing benchmark inside 3DMark, rather than as a separate general-purpose application.
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- AMD RDNA 3 Architecture with AI & Ray Tracing Acceleration: Powered by 32 RDNA 3 Compute Units featuring 3rd Gen Ray Tracing Accelerators and 2nd Gen AI Accelerators, delivering lifelike lighting, shadows, and superior machine learning performance for enhanced gaming and content creation.
- Powerful 1080p & 1440p Gaming Engine: Features a max boost clock of up to 2695 MHz, a game clock of 2280 MHz, and 2048 stream processors, ensuring outstanding frame rates in the latest titles.
- 8GB High‑Speed GDDR6 Memory: Equipped with 8GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128‑bit interface running at 18 Gbps, delivering up to 288 GB/s bandwidth for high‑resolution textures and demanding game workloads.
The original announcement listed 3DMark Advanced Edition at $29.99 and the Port Royal upgrade at $2.99. Current pricing is storefront-, region-, tax-, and promotion-dependent.
Read UL’s original Port Royal launch announcement.
What Port Royal actually tests
Port Royal is a GPU graphics benchmark running at a fixed 2560×1440 resolution. It combines conventional rasterized rendering with selected real-time ray-tracing effects, especially:
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- Ray-traced reflections
- Ray-traced shadows
- Traditional rendering for much of the scene
- A DirectX 12 workload using feature level 12_1
That combination matters. Port Royal is not a pure measurement of theoretical ray-tracing throughput. It is a mixed workload intended to resemble the way games commonly add ray-traced effects to conventionally rendered scenes.
UL says the benchmark uses a custom engine developed with input from members of its Benchmark Development Program, including AMD, Intel, and NVIDIA. Its lighting includes a dynamic global-illumination solution using real-time photon mapping. Those details explain how the test is built, but they do not make its score a universal prediction of performance in every game or engine.
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- Enhanced Performance: The RTX 2060 Super delivers exceptional gaming performance with 8GB of GDDR6 memory and a boost clock speed of up to 1650 MHz. It efficiently handles modern gaming titles at high settings, making it ideal for gamers seeking an immersive experience.
- Real-Time Ray Tracing: Equipped with Turing architecture, the RTX 2060 Super supports real-time ray tracing technology. This feature allows for realistic lighting, shadows, and reflections, enhancing visual fidelity in supported games and applications.
- VR Ready: The RTX 2060 Super is optimized for virtual reality (VR) experiences, providing low-latency and high-performance rendering. Gamers can enjoy an immersive VR environment with smooth graphics and responsive gameplay.
- DLSS Support: The graphics card supports Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS), which utilizes AI rendering to produce sharp images and increase frame rates without compromising quality. This technology ensures smoother gameplay, particularly at higher resolutions.
- Multiple Display Outputs**: With support for up to three displays, the RTX 2060 Super offers versatile connectivity options. It includes DisplayPort 1.4 and HDMI 2.0b outputs, enabling multi-monitor setups for enhanced productivity or gaming immersion.
Ray-tracing performance varies with ray count, denoising, lighting design, geometry, resolution, upscaling, driver behavior, and the game engine. Port Royal therefore works best as one controlled data point.
See the official Port Royal benchmark overview.
Does Port Royal require an NVIDIA RTX graphics card?
No. “RTX On” is launch-era branding. The actual compatibility rule is support for Microsoft DirectX Raytracing, exposed through a suitable GPU driver.
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NVIDIA RTX cards can run the test, but an AMD or Intel GPU may also qualify if it meets the documented DXR requirements. Conversely, a graphics card without compatible DXR support cannot run Port Royal merely because it is a modern gaming GPU.
Port Royal also does not require DLSS. The standard benchmark is designed to run without NVIDIA’s AI upscaling technology. 3DMark offers a separate NVIDIA DLSS feature test, which should not be confused with the normal Port Royal score.
Port Royal system requirements
Port Royal has more specific requirements than the base 3DMark application. UL’s Port Royal documentation lists the following:
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- Next‑Gen AMD RDNA 4 Architecture: Powered by the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT GPU with 32 Compute Units featuring 3rd Gen Ray Tracing and 2nd Gen AI Accelerators, delivering exceptional 1440p gaming and AI‑enhanced performance.
- Blazing‑Fast Engine Clock: Delivers a boost clock of up to 3290 MHz and a game clock of 2700 MHz out of the box, providing the raw power for smooth, high‑framerate gameplay.
- 16GB GDDR6 Memory on 128‑Bit Bus: Equipped with 16GB of high‑speed GDDR6 memory running at 20 Gbps, offering ample capacity and bandwidth for modern game textures and creative applications.
| Component | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Operating system | 64-bit Windows 10 with the October 2018 Update, version 1809, or later supported Windows versions |
| Processor | 1.8 GHz dual-core CPU with SSSE3 support |
| Memory | 4 GB RAM |
| Graphics | DirectX 12 GPU with DirectX Raytracing support |
| Video memory | 6 GB |
| Storage | Allow at least 1.3 GB of free space |
The storage figure requires a qualification: UL’s requirements page lists 0.8 GB, while the Port Royal upgrade page lists 1.3 GB. Keeping at least 1.3 GB free is the safer practical recommendation.
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Check UL’s current Port Royal requirements.
What comes with the Port Royal upgrade?
The current Port Royal upgrade listing includes more than the standard benchmark:
- Port Royal: The mixed rasterization and ray-tracing benchmark.
- Port Royal Stress Test: A longer stability test for overclocks, undervolts, and hardware changes.
- DirectX Raytracing feature test: A more focused measurement of ray-tracing performance.
- NVIDIA DLSS feature test: A test of DLSS performance and image-quality behavior on compatible NVIDIA hardware.
- Intel XeSS feature test: A test of XeSS performance and image quality on compatible hardware.
These tests answer different questions. Do not use a stress-test result as a normal comparative benchmark score, and do not treat the DLSS or XeSS tests as part of the standard Port Royal workload.
How to get Port Royal in 2026
Port Royal is still listed as a 3DMark upgrade. The current Steam listing showed the Port Royal upgrade at $2.99 when reviewed for this article. The official UL upgrade page describes it as an optional upgrade for people who purchased 3DMark before January 8, 2019. Prices and eligibility can vary by storefront and account.
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- Already own qualifying 3DMark: Buy or activate the Port Royal upgrade through the storefront where you own the application.
- New consumer user: Purchase the 3DMark base application through Steam or UL, then confirm which benchmarks and DLC are included.
- Professional or business user: Review UL’s Professional Edition and licensing options rather than assuming a consumer Steam purchase is suitable.
- Epic Games Store user: Port Royal has also been listed on Epic, but availability and pricing can change; verify the current listing before purchasing.
Port Royal is not normally a standalone executable outside the 3DMark ecosystem. The base application and the relevant benchmark content must be installed.
How to run a useful Port Royal comparison
- Install 3DMark from an official storefront or UL.
- Confirm that Port Royal or the relevant DLC is attached to your account and fully installed.
- Update the graphics driver.
- Close unnecessary applications and overlays where practical.
- Run the benchmark at its default settings for a baseline.
- Record the Port Royal score, GPU score if shown, average frame rate, GPU model, driver version, and 3DMark version.
- Repeat the run if the result is unexpectedly high, low, or inconsistent.
- For an overclock or undervolt, run the Port Royal Stress Test or another dedicated stability test separately.
Compare results only when the benchmark version, drivers, GPU configuration, and settings are broadly comparable. A single successful benchmark pass does not prove long-term stability.
What does a Port Royal score mean?
A higher score generally indicates better performance in Port Royal’s specific 2560×1440 mixed rasterization-and-DXR workload. It does not directly establish:
- Average frame rate in a particular game
- 4K, ultrawide, or 1080p performance
- DLSS, FSR, or XeSS performance
- Frame-generation performance
- CPU performance or system responsiveness
- Power efficiency or sustained thermal behavior
For a purchase decision, pair Port Royal with game benchmarks at the resolution and settings you actually use. For an overclock, pair it with a longer stability test and temperature, power, and clock-speed monitoring.
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| Test | Best use | Important limitation |
|---|---|---|
| Port Royal | Historical comparisons, reviews, rankings, and mixed ray-tracing performance at 1440p | Older fixed workload; not a universal measure of current ray-tracing performance |
| Speed Way | A newer DirectX 12 Ultimate workload for modern ray-tracing-capable PCs | Not directly interchangeable with historical Port Royal scores |
| DirectX Raytracing feature test | More focused ray-tracing-performance measurement | Less representative of a mixed game-like rendering workload |
| Solar Bay | Cross-platform ray-tracing comparisons across Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android | Different APIs, platforms, and workload design make scores incomparable with Port Royal |
| Real games | Answering how a GPU performs in actual games | Less controlled and more affected by patches, engines, settings, and upscalers |
The current 3DMark catalog lists Port Royal alongside Speed Way, the DirectX Raytracing feature test, Solar Bay, and Solar Bay Extreme. Port Royal is therefore still relevant, but it is not the newest or only ray-tracing option.
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Feature-test requirements can also differ. For example, UL lists Windows 10 version 2004 or later and DXR Tier 1.1 support for the DirectX Raytracing feature test. Check the individual test’s requirements rather than relying on the base application’s specifications.
When should you still use Port Royal?
Port Royal is a good choice when you need:
- A repeatable 1440p mixed ray-tracing workload
- Comparison with older GPU reviews or ranking results
- A quick check after installing a GPU or driver
- A standardized workload for overclocking and undervolting
- A benchmark that does not depend on DLSS
Choose something else when you need to test a non-DXR GPU, measure CPU performance, evaluate 4K ray tracing, compare upscalers, test frame generation, perform cross-platform testing, or predict performance in one specific game.
Troubleshooting a failed run
If Port Royal will not start, check the following in order:
- The GPU supports DXR and the installed driver exposes it correctly.
- Windows is 64-bit and sufficiently up to date.
- The correct 3DMark edition or DLC is installed.
- Port Royal’s files have finished downloading.
- The GPU has at least the required video memory.
- There is enough free storage, preferably at least 1.3 GB.
- No compatibility mode, API override, or overlay is interfering.
- The display driver is not crashing during initialization.
If the issue persists, compare the system against the Port Royal-specific requirements and use 3DMark’s support resources. The generic 3DMark requirements are not sufficient to establish Port Royal compatibility.
The Bottom Line
Bottom line: Port Royal is a real, still-obtainable 3DMark benchmark, but its “now available” headline belongs to January 8, 2019. Buy or use it for DXR-capable GPU comparisons, legacy review data, and a fixed 1440p mixed workload. For newer ray-tracing behavior, cross-platform testing, or actual game performance, use Speed Way, Solar Bay, the appropriate feature test, or real games alongside it.
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