If you are eyeing up a brand new graphics card on your construct, you then’ve in all probability questioned what ray tracing is.
It’s been round seven years for the reason that real-time lightning rendering method first debuted on PC, with the final 4 AMD and Nvidia graphics card generations being offered off the again of their prowess.
Even consoles just like the Xbox Series X and PS5 can do it, however what’s ray tracing? More importantly, do you have to allow it?
We’ll be delving deep into the mechanics of ray tracing, the expertise required to do it correctly, the sorts of efficiency influence that it will possibly have, its reliance on AI-powered upscaling fashions (together with Frame Generation), and the video games that assist it.
We’ve steadily seen software program tailored for the tech, with a number of the new PC video games now forcing ray tracing on by default, so it is one thing that is right here to remain, because the early adoption course of is effectively and actually handed.
The excellent news is that you just will not essentially want one of many greatest graphics playing cards from AMD, Intel, or Nvidia to take benefit, although.
What is ray tracing?
Ray tracing is a real-time lighting method that sees your laptop’s graphics card realistically hint rays of sunshine utilizing a particularly dialled algorithm that mimics how mild sources would genuinely work together with objects and the atmosphere in a sport’s world.
It’s one thing of an umbrella time period close to its gaming/rendering purposes, because the tech is commonly used to explain comfortable shadows, ambient occlusion, world illumination, depth of area, and chromatic aberration alongside the likes of real-time reflections and refraction.
You can consider ray tracing as an extension of a sport’s digital digital camera, as the sunshine rays are drawn from this main supply after which are algorithmically bounced off an object (or collection of objects), which creates shadows, reflections, and refractions.
With extra mild rays being drawn comes a extra life-like (or correct) picture at the price of elevated pressure on the {hardware}.
Path tracing is a type of ray tracing which, true to its namesake, traces whole paths of sunshine as an alternative of the person mild rays, making for a extra refined and life like picture.
It boils all the way down to ray casting, which is the method of the sunshine ray being forged to an object, after which the algorithm (written for every sport/software program) decides which pixel to paint appropriately.
Why is ray tracing essential?
Ray tracing is essential due to its implementation in gaming and modelling software program, due to the RTX 20 collection (Turing) has enabled tech that was deemed too intensive to render in real-time a actuality.
We’ve slowly seen the expertise develop into extra widespread as sport builders and {hardware} producers have higher understood the best way to use it correctly, because the early days of issues had been tough (to not point out costly).
According to Nvidia, it is believed that over 500 video games now have assist for “RTX”, which is its blanket terminology that rolls in DLSS, ray tracing, and the corporate’s AI tech.
While not a strictly correct determine, it is a sign of the way in which the gaming business goes; it is now frequent for video games to launch with ray tracing by default, and it is now thought of anomalous if they don’t.
Ray tracing was (arguably) the most important USP for final 12 months’s PS5 Pro, backed by PSSR AI-upscaling tech, to deliver what consoles can do nearer to a decrease mid-range PC.
Some video games are actually even launching with ray tracing on by default, that means you will want an Nvidia RTX, trendy AMD, or Intel graphics card simply to play them optimally.
We’ve seen this pattern with titles comparable to Star Wars Outlaws, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Doom: The Dark Ages, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. In different phrases, you are going to need to develop into snug with the truth that it would sooner or later develop into obligatory as an alternative of a enjoyable toggle for higher lighting and shadows.
Why is not ray tracing extra widespread?
While we have seen a pattern in direction of ray tracing turning into extra distinguished in right now’s video games on PC and console, it is essential to keep in mind that the expertise remains to be extremely demanding.
As touched upon above, real-time ray tracing is barely a risk due to developments made with AI-upscaling tech, comparable to Nvidia DLSS, AMD FSR, Intel XeSS, and Sony’s PSSR, which downsample the image after which use AI to blow it as much as the goal decision.
This is how the PS5 can technically do 4K, and the identical could be mentioned for midrange GPUs just like the RTX 5070 and RX 9070. Even on an RTX 5090, you will see unplayable framerates if making an attempt to run RT reflections and shadows with out upscaling.
As such, ray tracing and AI-powered upscaling go hand-in-hand, which is usually a lot to implement even for affordable graphics playing cards. The trade-off then turns into a decrease decision (even rendering at 720p after which upscaling to 1080p) to make it occur.
We’re seeing the likes of dynamic decision develop into a preferred crutch as tech tries to maintain up with the demanding software program, so it is comprehensible that ray tracing is not all over the place (but).
Which graphics playing cards assist ray tracing?
Technically talking, real-time ray tracing has been “supported” by graphics playing cards since 2018 with the launch of the RTX 20 collection, however you will not get very far making an attempt to push these Turing playing cards (and their slower GDDR6 reminiscence and weaker CUDA core quantities).
You’ll be okay with a lower-end RTX 30 collection or RTX 40 collection GPU, however ideally, you need to attempt to get your palms on a more recent (and extra succesful) RTX 50 collection card.
Nvidia has had a foul behavior of constructing developments in its GPU expertise generationally unique. For the RTX 40 collection, it was Frame Generation (which interpolates AI-generated frames with historically rendered ones for the next framerate than purely with DLSS alone.
Similarly, the RTX 50 collection launched Multi Frame Generation, which provides as much as 4 occasions the efficiency of native rendering, however now AI generates three frames on the identical time as an alternative of 1.
AMD has additionally fallen sufferer to this with the launch of its RDNA 4 graphics playing cards, just like the RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT, which themselves have unique entry to FSR 4, and its vastly improved picture stability and high quality with ray tracing.
While the RX 6000 and RX 7000 collection had been respectable performers, they lagged behind Nvidia the place ray tracing is worried, and that is nonetheless the case with RDNA 4.
It’s the same story with Intel Arc Alchemist and Battlemage; each GPU generations are technically able to ray tracing, however are removed from supreme options even in 1080p with XeSS enabled.
Final ideas
Ray tracing could be unimaginable below the correct circumstances, nonetheless, it is a expertise that continues to be hardware-intensive, with its implementation not at all times making full use of the assets out there.
In titles the place it is totally embraced, it may be genuinely phenomenal for immersion, and the tech is now being required as customary in some big-budget video games.
It’s the trade-off for extra life like video games with life-like lighting and results; the {hardware} has to scale up, and AI upscaling is the crutch to make it occur.
