Ray Tracing Cores
Ray Tracing Cores are specialized hardware units designed to accelerate real-time ray tracing calculations in GPUs. Introduced by NVIDIA in 2018 with the launch of the Turing architecture and the GeForce RTX 20 Series, these cores enable GPUs to simulate realistic lighting, shadows, and reflections in real-time. Ray tracing is a rendering technique that traces the path of light rays as they interact with objects in a scene, providing lifelike visual effects. By offloading the computationally expensive tasks associated with ray tracing, these cores allow games and applications to achieve cinematic-quality visuals while maintaining high performance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce_20_series
The first-generation RT Cores in the Turing architecture provided foundational support for ray tracing in gaming and professional graphics applications. With the release of the Ampere architecture in 2020, NVIDIA introduced second-generation RT Cores, which offered twice the throughput of the previous generation. These advancements enabled more complex and detailed scenes to be rendered in real-time, supporting higher resolutions and smoother frame rates. For example, games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Control showcased the visual impact of ray tracing enabled by these cores. https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/technologies/rtx/
In 2022, NVIDIA's Ada Lovelace architecture introduced third-generation RT Cores, further improving performance and efficiency. These cores are integrated into the GeForce RTX 40 Series, delivering enhanced ray tracing capabilities for modern gaming and professional workflows. The evolution of Ray Tracing Cores highlights their critical role in advancing the realism and quality of computer-generated graphics, bridging the gap between traditional rasterization and real-time photorealistic rendering. https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/graphics-cards/40-series/rtx-4090/