AMD hs finally started to reveal more about their plans for raytracing on their upcoming RDNA 2 graphics cards. Yesterday, AMD released the following video which showcases raytracing via Microsoft’s Direct X API. An interesting thing to note is that this comes right after Microsoft unveiled Direct X 12 Ultimate, which is an updated version of the same API.
AMD described the video as following:
Microsoft DirectX Raytracing (DXR) adds a new level of graphics realism to video games previously only available in movies, and AMD has collaborated with Microsoft on the design of DXR 1.1, an update to DXR that can deliver better efficiency and performance in many raytracing effects. This video is to give you a taste of the photorealistic realism DXR 1.1 will enable when using hardware-accelerated raytracing on our upcoming AMD RDNA 2 gaming architecture.
In a detailed blog post, AMD revealed more about how they worked with Microsoft to bring features like DXR raytracing, Variable Rate Shading and other features to the next-gen consoles. The same features will be used in both Sony’s PS5 and the Xbox Series X.
“Microsoft and AMD worked closely on the development of the DirectX 12 Ultimate feature set to ensure a great experience with AMD RDNA 2 architecture”
Bryan Langley, Graphics Group Program Manager, Microsoft
With the reveal of the new console’s specs and the release date of AMD’s RDNA 2 cards fast approaching, it’s finally great to see raytracing on team red’s hardware. Up until now, PC gamers only had NVIDIA to choose for their Geforce RTX series of graphics cards for their raytracing capabilities. It’ll be interesting to see AMD’s implementation of DXR raytracing in their Big Navi card against the upcoming NVIDIA Ampere cards.