What is ray tracing and what hardware and games support it?

(Pocket-lint) - If you're a gamer, past the chances are you've heard of ray tracing, but you mightiness not cognize precisely what it means oregon wherefore it's a large deal. We're present to assistance you find out.

Nvidia has been pushing ray tracing since it first announced its RTX 20-series graphics cards successful 2018, but ray tracing is overmuch much than conscionable a selling ploy to assistance merchantability graphics cards for high-end gaming PCs and hardware.

It's a processing exertion for enhancing the visuals of games that results successful a overmuch much immersive, eye-catching and visually pleasing gaming experience. 

• What is DLSS? Nvidia's AI-powered graphics tech explained
• What is Nvidia Reflex? What does it bash and however tin it amended your gaming prowess?

What is ray tracing?

Ray tracing is really thing new. It's been astir for years now, but it's lone precocious that PC hardware and exertion has got to a constituent wherever ray tracing tin beryllium implemented successful a mode wherever it tin marque a existent quality to your games. In real-time. 

In its simplest form, ray tracing is simply a strategy that's utilized to heighten the lighting successful games. This is done successful a assortment of antithetic ways. It's utilized successful everything from reflections to shadows some successful the gaming situation and connected items wrong it. This includes things similar atmospheric effects, reflections connected surfaces (water, metal, glass) and adjacent diffused lighting. 

Diffused lighting is particularly absorbing arsenic that includes light bouncing disconnected of surfaces and reflecting onto others. This, successful effect, is an indirect lighting root which past helps make a much realistic experience. Imagine however sunlight falls into a room, past bounces disconnected walls and floors and people makes the full country brighter. That's 1 portion of however ray tracing works. 

When ray tracing is afloat implemented, you often won't adjacent announcement what's happening unless you're paying truly adjacent attraction arsenic it's portion of the full representation of a graphically stunning environment. It's lone erstwhile you spot a side-by-side examination of the games with ray tracing connected and disconnected that you'll spot what a quality it tin make. 

With the latest and top Nvidia graphics processors, each this happens successful real-time. This helps make "high-resolution, real-time reflections that bespeak details successful beforehand of, behind, supra and beneath the subordinate oregon camera; details the subordinate couldn't spot with erstwhile techniques."

As good arsenic reflecting light, shadows and biology highlights, the ray tracing strategy tin besides adhd awesome ocular effects to characters wrong the crippled and adjacent the items they're carrying.

Think astir the reflections of a sword's leaf oregon player's metallic armour showing the surrounding satellite with a mirror-like effect, but realistically reflected and successful real-time - changing arsenic the quality moves and passes done the crippled world.

Reflections, shadiness lighting and immersive visuals

This demo created successful the Unreal engine shows galore of the next-generation rendering features imaginable with the tech. The effects successful this demo include:

• Textured country lights
• Ray-traced country airy shadows
• Ray-traced reflections
• Ray-traced ambient occlusion
• Cinematic extent of tract (DOF)
• Nvidia GameWorks ray tracing denoising 

Using this caller exertion successful rendering lighting and creating visuals, developers are capable to make uber-realistic gaming experiences.

It volition surely beryllium absorbing to spot however this tech progresses successful the adjacent future. We've already had a sensation of what the aboriginal of gaming mightiness look similar and ray tracing is yet different stepping chromatic successful the close direction.  

• Best graphics cards: Get a GPU to powerfulness you to gaming bliss

What hardware bash you need?

When ray tracing was archetypal announced it was lone unfastened to gamers with the latest Nvidia graphics cards successful their gaming machines. Only the RTX 20-series cards were susceptible of supporting ray tracing and DLSS. Although that database included the Nvidia Geforce RTX 2060/2070/2080 and 2080Ti, it was hardly an extended one.

These graphics cards are besides costly and enactment ray tracing retired of scope of astir gamers unless they were consenting to splash retired for cutting-edge tech. 

This each changed successful April 2019 when the institution announced that older GPUs would enactment ray tracing with the latest game-ready drivers. 

For some, this means that ray tracing is enabled via bundle level DirectX Raytracing (DXR) alternatively than astatine hardware level, but it gives much users entree to ray tracing visuals. You tin find retired more astir this here. 

And truthful the existent database of older ray-tracing susceptible graphics cards includes:

• GeForce GTX 1660 Ti
• GeForce GTX 1660
• Nvidia Titan Xp (2017)
• Nvidia Titan X (2016)
• GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
• GeForce GTX 1080
• GeForce GTX 1070 Ti
• GeForce GTX 1070
• GeForce GTX 1060 6GB

It's not conscionable gaming desktops that enactment ray tracing either, laptops with equivalent Pascal and Turing-architecture GPUs are besides included successful the list. There's besides rather a list of gaming laptops with RTX GPUs included arsenic a specification option. That database is perpetually increasing too. 

Ray tracing isn't constricted to PC either. The Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 are said to enactment Ray Tracing. 

All that said, it's worthy noting that if you privation the champion experiences with ray tracing, past you'll request the champion hardware. Although older graphics cards present enactment ray tracing, they volition conflict with performance. Old GTX GPUs tin lone connection basal ray tracing effects with a debased ray count. While RTX graphics processors tin negociate overmuch much analyzable effects with aggregate effects being presented with a higher ray count. 

Ray tracing is besides a graphically intensive process. With it turned connected and settings maxed out, adjacent the highest-specced gaming PCs tin spot a dip successful show successful presumption of frames per 2nd displayed connected the screen.

You'll get a visually stunning gaming experience, but it won't needfully beryllium an uber-smooth one. Nvidia adjacent shows the interaction maximum settings tin person connected mean FPS astatine assorted resolutions and adjacent astatine 1920 x 1080 these figures are astir 30FPS connected older GTX GPUs. So it's worthy splashing retired for RTX graphics cards if you tin spend it. 

The newer RTX 3000 bid graphics cards spot notable improvements successful show adjacent with ray tracing turned on.

Current games that enactment ray tracing

Support for ray tracing depends greatly connected developers implementing the effects and ocular enhancements arsenic they're crafting their games. 

Many of the main ray traced games are triple-A titles that person besides appeared connected console but without the aforesaid visuals. The archetypal database of games that supported ray tracing was reasonably short, but it's perpetually being added to. 

It helps that Nvidia and Intel person been moving to standardise the Vulkan API successful bid to marque it easier for crippled developers to adhd ray tracing enactment to their games successful the future. This volition besides mean that ray traced games should much easy marque their mode to the caller consoles with the aforesaid enactment successful future. 

Battlefield 2042

Battlefield 2042 has each the bully things from Nvidia - ray tracing, DLSS and Nvidia Reflex too. So not lone volition the crippled tally good and look great, if you person the close hardware you'll beryllium capable to get the competitory borderline too.  

Cyberpunk 2077

Cyberpunk 2077 mightiness person had a unsmooth commencement and a spot of a hard launch, but if you person the close hardware, you tin instrumentality vantage of the superb ray-tracing capabilities for immoderate earnestly awesome views successful Night City. 

• 90 awesome screenshots that amusement the ocular pleasures of Cyberpunk 2077

Fortnite

Fortnite present has ray tracing enactment on with DLSS to assistance with show improvements. This means Fortnite players tin present bask ray-traced reflections, shadows, planetary illumination and ambient occlusion too.

Minecraft RTX

That's right, even Minecraft is making the astir of enhanced lighting acknowledgment to Nvidia's RTX technology. It's astonishing what the updates person done to the crippled too. 

MechWarrior 5

In 3015, Humankind has colonised thousands of systems successful space. MechWarriors predominate the battlefields and ray-traced visuals assistance merchantability the communicative and immerse you successful the battle. 

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Although it didn't motorboat with ray tracing support, Shadow of the Tomb Raider was updated with enhanced visuals soon afterwards. Improved shadows, diffused lighting and much added other extent to an already beauteous game. 

• Shadow of the Tomb Raider review: Stealthy finale for Lara Croft trilogy

Metro Exodus

Battlefield V mightiness person been the archetypal crippled to enactment ray tracing, but Metro Exodus was the archetypal crippled to integrate real-time ray-traced planetary illumination technology. This meant the crippled could use more-realistic indirectly diffused lighting arsenic good arsenic adjusting successful real-time arsenic the satellite situation changed and time turns to night. 

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare includes "an epic reimagining of the iconic Modern Warfare bid from the crushed up" with ray tracing goodness arsenic standard. As such, it's 1 of the champion looking COD games to day and an awesome ocular acquisition to boot. 

Control

Control is different beardown favourite of ours. It's besides 1 of the champion examples of Nvidia's ray tracing tech successful immoderate caller crippled with plentifulness of stunning ocular highlights acknowledgment to ray tracing support.  

Wolfenstein: Youngblood

It mightiness beryllium acceptable successful the 1980s, but this crippled features immoderate futuristic graphics with ray tracing enhancements. Slaying Nazis volition ne'er person looked truthful stunning. 

Ghostrunner

Ghostrunner is simply a fast-paced, convulsive single-player with a science-fiction vibe. As you'd expect, this action-packed, cyberpunk styled crippled looks glorious acknowledgment to the ray-tracing enhancement.  

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War

Alongside the ray tracing tech being utilized successful the adjacent outing of Black Ops is the usage of DLSS to supply enhanced framework rates and smoother gameplay too. 

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War besides features Nvidia Ansel allowing players to instrumentality awesome high-resolution screenshots too. 

Watch Dogs: Legion

The latest outing of Watch Dogs is acceptable to see real-time ray tracing which should surely marque London look that small spot much magnificent. Just beryllium definite to instrumentality it each successful arsenic you dash astir the streets trying to prevention the superior and recruiting your service of hackers and absorption fighters. 

World of Warcraft: Shadowlands

The adjacent section of the World of Warcraft saga is getting the ray traced overhaul too. Meaning not lone a pleasing motorboat for World of Warcraft fans, but a beauteous 1 too. 

Future games with ray tracing support

If you're contemplating whether ray tracing is for you and whether you should splash retired connected a caller graphics paper oregon gaming machine, past there's bully quality arsenic the database of upcoming PC games that volition enactment ray tracing is beauteous awesome. That database includes the following:

Ready oregon Not

Kick successful the door, propulsion a flashbang and admit the ray-traced lighting arsenic it explodes blinding the atrocious guys. Looks similar a batch of fun. Ready oregon Not promises an authentic acquisition that's bound to beryllium enhanced by the ocular tech here. 

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2

The long-awaited travel up to 2004's awesome Vampire: The Masquerade - The Bloodlines mightiness person been delayed but is inactive promising ray tracing enactment erstwhile it does come. This should truly assistance adhd immoderate ambience to acheronian alleyways and environments stuffed afloat of vampires. We can't hold to descend our teeth into this one!

Dying Light 2

The travel up to 1 of the champion zombie shooters we've ever played promises to beryllium adjacent amended than the archetypal with the summation of ray tracing and enhanced visuals too. 

Writing by Adrian Willings. Originally published connected 6 June 2019.