Arm Is RTX ON

At this week's Game Developers Conference (GDC), NVIDIA revealed a pair of new technical demos pairing its GeForce RTX technologies with an Arm-based MediaTek processor to show how advanced graphics can be extended to a broader, more power-efficient set of devices. The demos mark the latest milestone in a journey to bring advanced graphics to Arm-based systems.

Ray Tracing and DLSS on ARM for the First Time Ever!

The two demos include Wolfenstein: Youngblood with real time ray traced reflections and DLSS on an Arm-based platform for the first time ever. NVIDIA also showed The Bistro demo running with real-time ray tracing on Arm, with RTX Direct Illumination (RTXDI) and NVIDIA Optix AI-Acceleration Denoiser (NRD) enabled.  

The demos are running in real-time on a MediaTek Kompanio 1200 Arm-based platform paired with a GeForce RTX 3060 GPU. The two demos are made possible because NVIDIA has ported several RTX SDKs to work on Arm devices, including:

1. Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS), which uses AI to boost frame rates and generate beautiful, sharp images for games.
2. RTX Direct Illumination (RTXDI), which lets developers add dynamic lighting to their gaming environments.
3. NVIDIA Optix AI-Acceleration Denoiser (NRD), which uses AI to render high-fidelity images faster.
4. RTX Memory Utility (RTXMU), which optimizes the way applications use graphics memory.

1. RTX Global Illumination (RTXGI), which helps recreate the way light bounces around in real-world environments.

The RTXDI, NRD and RTXMU SDKs for Arm with Linux and Chromium are available now. RTXGI and DLSS will be coming soon. RTX has redefined the industry. Now NVIDIA is investing in new platforms where advanced graphics can be deployed so gamers have more choice.

Supporting Quotes:

“NVIDIA extending RTX support to Arm and Linux has the potential to benefit games and industries such as automotive, where leading manufacturers use Unreal Engine not only for design visualization but also for digital cockpits and infotainment, “ said Nick Penwarden, vice president of  engineering, Epic Games. “We always welcome powerful features and SDKs that can be leveraged across many platforms.“

“Wolfenstein: Youngblood is the first RTX PC game to be shown on an ARM-based system, a testament to the flexibility, power and optimized-nature of the iD Tech engine,” said  Jim Kjellin, chief technology officer, Machinegames.  “An iD Tech-based game running on an ARM CPU with ray tracing enabled is a significant step in a journey that will result in many more gaming platforms being available to all game developers.”

“RTX is the most ground-breaking technology to come to PC gaming in the last two decades,” said PC Tseng, general manager of MediaTek's intelligent multimedia business unit. “MediaTek and NVIDIA are laying the foundation for a new category of Arm-based high-performance PCs.”

“RTX support for Arm and Linux opens up new opportunities for game developers to provide more immersive experiences on a wider variety of platforms,” said Mathieu Muller, senior technical product manager of high-end graphics, Unity. “With GeForce RTX’s cutting edge graphics features, Unity developers targeting Arm platforms will have more tools in their toolbox to create with.”