AMD clarifies ray tracing support for its RX 6000 in existing...

They will handle Microsoft’s DXR and the upcoming Vulkan raytracing API.

During the presentation of its RX 6000, AMD was careful not to communicate the slightest benchmark in ray tracing; however, its cards under RDNA 2 architecture benefit from hardware support for this technology. Obviously, some people wonder what is the compatibility with current games. Contacted by AdoredTV, AMD’s marketing department provided details.

Here is the answer : “AMD will support all ray tracing titles using industry standards, including Microsoft’s DXR API and the upcoming Vulkan raytracing API. Games using APIs and proprietary ray tracing extensions will not be supported ”.

UL Benchmarks dégaine son benchmark 3DMark DirectX Raytracing

Control et Watch Dogs Legion, oui ; Wolfenstein YoungBlood et Quake II RTX, non

A clear answer, although things are actually a bit more complicated. Indeed, there are currently different titles stamped ray tracing, but not all use the same API (DXR, Vulkan). In addition, communication strategies are sometimes confusing.

Take the example of Watch Dogs Legion. NVIDIA has communicated a lot around the ray tracing of this game, and even offered it in an RTX 3000 bundle. Naturally, we are led to think that the ray tracing effects can only be activated with RTX cards; it is not so. The title benefits from ray tracing on consoles, yet equipped with SoC AMD. In addition, a GTX owner can also activate them.

Watch Dogs Legion: ray tracing of the Xbox Series X version compared to that of the PC version

The reason: Watch Dogs Legion uses DXR ray tracing. Thanks to their RT cores, NVIDIA’s RTXs are effectively at ease with demanding ray tracing calculations. In addition, these cards support DLSS, which is often essential to maintain a correct framerate. But nothing prevents activating the ray tracing effects on this game with a GTX; only, as evidenced in Tom’s Guide’s test, the poor card is having a hard time handling it; logical, it was not designed for that.

Therefore, the AMD RX 6000, equipped with ray accelerators, will handle DXR ray tracing well but not the proprietary Vulkan extensions. They will therefore offer ray tracing on games like Watch Dogs Legion or Control, but not on Wolfenstein: Youngblood or Quake II RTX. The problem is that the type of ray tracing employed is not always very explicit.