Question Are there different implementations of Ray Tracing?

Jul 14, 2025
8
2
15
I was just wondering, as I've tried using it on some newer games and it just won't work (using a RTX 4070 SUPER) namely Indiana Jones and the Great Circle but on older games such as Cyberpunk 2077 it runs without any problem. I was thinking about a graphics card update but think I might just wait until the 6000 series is out.
 
Not that I'm an expert on graphics settings and RT but from what I know theres RT and then theres full path tracing. Some games will ray trace shadows and so on so arent quite as demanding but others have the full implementation on everything and need much more powerful RT hardware.

Cyberpunk 2077 defintely has path tracing though, and I dont think theres a newer version of RT that doesnt work on older cards, aside from the games being much more demanding in general on older hardware.

Theres also Unreal Engine using Lumen which as I understand it is a software based RT that doesnt need the specialized RT hardware but is demanding in its own way on traditional hardware.

I dont understand why it wouldnt work for you in any game with a 4070 Super though, that sounds like you are having another issue. What other games have you tried that dont work with RT on? What resolution is your monitor?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Lutfij and CParsons

CParsons

Staff member
Dec 9, 2019
386
941
11,770
I was just wondering, as I've tried using it on some newer games and it just won't work (using a RTX 4070 SUPER) namely Indiana Jones and the Great Circle but on older games such as Cyberpunk 2077 it runs without any problem. I was thinking about a graphics card update but think I might just wait until the 6000 series is out.
Can you clarify what you mean by 'it just won't work'? I thought Ray Tracing was on mandatory in Indy. Are you just not seeing the results you are expecting or something else is happening?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Lutfij and Colif
RT is necessary to play the game. If it works at all on your PC, ray tracing is present. How obvious it is, I don't know. It seems the game can be stressing on systems and only people with 4090 or similar will get the best performance. It was compared to Crysis in some videos.


Every Nvidia GPU since the RTX 20 series supported Ray Tracing, I wouldn't think you need a new GPU yet.
The recommended specs are:
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti 12 GB or AMD Radeon RX 7700XT 12 GB
Ultra settings are:
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 16 GB or AMD Radeon RX 7900XT 20 GB

You somewhere inbetween Recommended and Ultra now, but what rest of the system is also could play a part
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Lutfij