RTX HDR vs SDR Game Comparison

I made a couple videos to compare how the new RTX HDR feature looks side by side with SDR. My conclusions are the HDR video does look better on an HDR monitor (shocker), but honestly, I think it's not too much different than the SDR video playing on an SDR monitor. But this was just for the videos.

In game, the HDR image looks much better than the recorded video. Colors are much more vibrant. For some reason, I was not able to capture just how good it looked with recording. It definitely gives old games a good visual boost.

Basically, RTX HDR is a good fix if you have an HDR monitor so that the colors don't look washed out, which I am happy with. It means I no longer have to switch HDR mode on and off in Windows for movies and games. I can just leave HDR on at all times.

RTX HDR looked alright on both my regular LED monitors with "fake" HDR support (Asus XG27AQ and Dell G2724D), but I don't think it's worth it unless you have a "true" HDR monitor (either mini-LED or OLED). It looked great on my Alienware AW3225QF. It might look even better with 10-bit content. I'm pretty sure WoW is only 8-bit, as are many games currently.

HDR link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GO_SbXMxEgA

SDR link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFV6jLO7CbE

Settings: Driver is 551.76. My RTX HDR settings are 580 peak brightness, Mid-gray 44, Contrast 25, and Saturation -50. Apparently, with the new driver 551.86 that came out today, you no longer need to adjust contrast and saturation for accurate colors, but I have not tested this yet.

On my Alienware OLED, I use DisplayHDR True Black mode on my monitor, which the Windows HDR Calibration tool says reaches about 580 max luminance before clipping. I don't use HDR Peak 1000 like many reviews say to use because the auto dimming curve is too aggressive, so my HUD can get really dark at times if I look at a bright object, and it's distracting. True Black and Game Mode are more consistent and better for gaming IMO. Game Mode just reduces the blue light so it displays a warmer image, which is supposed to be easier on the eyes.