Ray tracing can improve performance with advanced optimizations and hardware support.
Ray tracing can improve performance with advanced optimizations and hardware support.
Microsoft announced significant advancements in ray tracing through new technologies like OMM and Shader Execution Reordering. The demo video highlighted improvements from 55 to 90 frames per second, though the results were limited to static images. They also referenced updates for Alan Wake 2 with DXR 1.2, which may appear soon as the launch approaches. If these features are implemented, ray tracing could become more accessible in upcoming games or refreshes of older titles. I’ll keep an eye on it.
The performance improvement is definitely noticeable, especially in certain situations like the dense forest in Alan Wake 2. However, it’s not a universal fix—results can vary. They noted a significant drop in GPU time from 16.8 ms to just 10.2 ms on a 4090 at 1440p in their example scene, which is quite impressive.
I received my laptop with the 5070Ti, so every RT boost is nice. It might not be as strong as with the 4090, but that’s okay too. Also, a few extra FPS (10-20) would still count, especially when the base frame is hovering around 55-60 FPS. At least MS will make Nvidia’s Ray Tracing usable.
I understand you're teasing, but Nvidia didn't create RT or the initial RT hardware. They were the first to achieve commercial success with it, which makes sense considering their market position. Still, real-time RT remains in its infancy, so I'm confident more advancements will emerge in both software and hardware. AMD has also submitted several patents suggesting performance gains.
Early ray tracing development began before 2006, notably with Pixar’s animated film using RT. Nvidia later enabled real-time rendering, introducing upscaling and frame generation techniques already used in TVs before the RTX line. Today, the 5000 series offers better efficiency for real-time rendering than earlier models, and improvements like DXR 1.2 enhance performance on modern GPUs, allowing realistic ray tracing without heavy DLSS overhead at higher resolutions. We’ll see if these advances deliver on their promise and how quickly developers will adopt them.
Several decades prior to Cars' release, early computer-generated images emerged around 1968 or 1980. Turner Whitted actually introduced a short film featuring this tech in 1979, before publishing his research in 1980. I recall watching a real-time rendering demo back then—it operated on the CPU and likely achieved around 15 frames per second at a resolution of 320x200. I struggle to recall its exact name, and despite searching online, nothing comes up. It's still remarkable how we've moved from hours to days per frame in Cars to achieving over 60 frames per second today (with some compromises). Still, it hasn't been nearly as long since Cars was released. I'm hoping future advancements will make similar performance possible on lower-end hardware, though I doubt it will happen soon. I wouldn't mind using DLSS or FSR Performance if it could push me to 60 fps. The progress in DXR 1.2 is impressive, but how many more enhancements are expected? Can we achieve these gains purely through software improvements without needing new GPU generations? If I'm not wrong, the DXR 1.2 upgrades still depend on compatible hardware.
Sorry for the delayed reply, but thank you for checking again. From what I understand, DXR 1.2 is essentially an update for all DX12 Ultimate (RT Hardware support) GPUs. It's nice to see progress in RT features. Right now, with DLSS 4 and Ray Reconstruction, it's possible to achieve 1080p DLSS Quality plus ray tracing, delivering quite good image results.
The character's journey featured RT in a few key moments. Cars likely introduced it first, but Pixar had been using it since the 90s. DXR was part of the API before RTX graphics cards were available, and actually, implementing it in the 2000 series was challenging due to poor performance on those cards.
Excellent update! I've enjoyed working with path tracing in titles such as Cyberpunk and Alan Wake 2, especially since the FPS improvements were noticeable. I'm eager to see how it's implemented in practice.