Raytracing without RTX: Nvidia Pascal receives DXR support via driver

by Hilbert Hagedoorn on: 03/19/2019 09:02 AM | source: | 106 comment(s)

Nvidia announced that it will bring support for Microsoft's DXR-API (the API responsible for real-time ray tracing), to older GPUs. This invokes the 10-series and recently introduced 16-series GPUs series.

The new driver thus makes it possible to use real-time raytracing in games via DXR as part of DirectX 12 without exclusive RT cores and thus on the traditional computing cores. However, with DXR effects enabled, performance will be significantly lower than Turing's counterparts with specialized RT cores - so the purpose remains to be seen. Also AMD could use DXR on its Radeon graphics cards, if supported by the driver. AMD has not yet released an official raytracing driver.

A new GeForce driver is due to be released in April, that one will add the compatibility. The Titan X, Titan V and Titan XP would also get supported. It is good to note that laptops with similar GPUs may also expect to get DX-R with the new driver, including the more economical Max-Q versions. Performance can be disappointing, NVIDIA mentions. Only very basic raytracing effects would work.

DLSS remains exclusively for Turing RTX
From now on Raytracing will no longer be available exclusively on GeForce RTX at Nvidia. But with DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) it is different. The alternative AI-based antialiasing will continue to be provided only with the dedicated tensor cores of the RTX family, Nvidia said in the Q & A after the GDC presentation to media representatives.

At least theoretically, it would be possible to create a counterpart to the proprietary DLSS via the Microsoft API Windows Machine Learning (WinML) or DirectML. DirectML takes advantage of the unified compute units of GPUs, with which even Radeon graphics cards from AMD could offer such a function, as an AMD employee had already suggested in an interview.

So in short, people can enable DirectX Raytracing ( DXR ) on GeForce GTX 1060 6GB and higher graphics cards via a Game Ready Driver update, expected in April. DLSS, no bueno.

supported GPUs

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Aura89
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Posts: 8408
Joined: 2008-07-31

#5651797 Posted on: 03/19/2019 09:09 PM

Something I've been wondering about is if it would be possible to do the old dedicated PhysX thing and having a second Pascal card in the system, or even a RTX 2060, to offload ones primary GPU for all the DXR stuff. Won't happen most likely, Nvidia want's us to buy a new, more expensive, RTX card instead. But I had enjoyed the possibility.

This would have little use from pascal as it still would not be able to do ray tracing even remotely well, this would be only useful if it was an RTX card and potentially, but less so, a 1660 series card.

A dedicated ray tracing card could actually be quite useful if it was 2-4 times larger and more powerful then what is in a 2080 ti, but i'm hoping for the technology itself to get better then offload it to another card, even another GPU.

So basically, Turing main unique feature "ray tracing", is going to be supported by previous generation as well?

Why would anyone get an RTX card now? it literally makes no sense.

does that mean that the 1660/ 1660Ti will also support DXR? haha so awkward

Someone didn't read the article and is drinking the koolaid......

1. u didn't account for inflation, 300$ in 2000 is not the same as 300$ in 2016. so the whole chart basically is pointless.

Really starting to question your ability to read and comprehend as the graph he posted, explained exactly what you're saying here it didn't. Here, i'll post it again, and if you can't understand it, ..............i'm not even sure what to say to that, as that's just...wow.

You state $300 in 2000 is not the same as $300 in 2016, which, yes, that's....obvious....as it's stated in the image, it clearly shows that. Granted, it doesn't show it in 2016 inflation, rather 2017, but that point isn't really even a point, since 2016 or 2017, doesn't matter, it matters that they are all compared to the same year, and not random years that will give random number jumps that are meaningless

Seriously, the whole graph is about inflation, yet you state it's not taking into account....inflation......................................what?

MegaFalloutFan
Senior Member

Posts: 1029
Joined: 2015-06-27

#5651917 Posted on: 03/20/2019 04:53 AM

Except the ray tracing performance on the 1080 ti won't work even remotely well performance wise.

Wrong, look at the article slides:
1080ti, RT Ultra 1440p, 16Gb RAM
18fps metro exodus
30fps shadow of the TR
45FPS BFV

XP-200
Senior Member

Posts: 6085
Joined: 2003-04-05

#5651918 Posted on: 03/20/2019 05:00 AM

Just drop the res down to 480p and have everything else on low settings and bingo, RT on a 1080 working perfectly. Lol

NewTRUMP Order
Senior Member

Posts: 696
Joined: 2017-02-04

#5652079 Posted on: 03/20/2019 02:34 PM

You guys can argue the point of ray tracing till you are blue in the face. All I know is it has been six months since Rtx cards came out. Since then a whopping 11 games use ray tracing. Two of which I would probably buy. But I assure you I am not going to spend $1100 to play two games with ray tracing. The price to actual use of ray tracing is ridiculous. Unless just about every game available becomes ray tracing enabled, or the pricing of Rtx cards tumble 50%, Nvidia has a white elephant on its hands. Do they double down on RT on the next generation Rtx cards, and charge even more for that series. And alienate even more customers. Or do they circle the wagons and go in another direction? And oh yeah, tick tick tick, Intel is getting into the gpu game in 2020. My how the mighty Nvidia has tumbled.

Astyanax
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Posts: 15729
Joined: 2018-03-21

#5652204 Posted on: 03/20/2019 07:17 PM

The next RT architecture will cost less, history has shown that's how it works.

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