How do games normally handle light?
To appreciate ray tracing, you need to see what it replaces. This section describes traditional lighting in everyday language.
Rasterisation and clever tricks
Most games use a method called rasterisation to draw a scene. It turns 3D shapes into flat pixels very quickly. Lighting is then added through tricks: shadows are drawn by rendering the scene from a light's point of view, reflections come from stored pictures of the surroundings and indirect light is baked into the scenery in advance. These tricks are fast and, in skilled hands, convincing.
Where the tricks fall short
Baked lighting cannot react when something moves. A shiny floor can only reflect what was stored, so it may miss a character walking past. Shadows can look blocky or wrong at the edges. Artists spend a great deal of effort hiding such flaws.
Why this approach lasted so long
It is fast. For many years, graphics cards could not simulate light physically in real time, so developers built a toolbox of approximations, and the results were good enough for most players.
The idea behind simulating light
In real life, light travels from sources, bounces off surfaces and enters your eyes. Simulating that process directly would give accurate results, but it requires enormous calculation. Ray tracing and path tracing are two ways to do so in games, differing in how much of the scene they simulate.
What is ray tracing?
Ray tracing in games has been available on RTX cards since 2018.
The basic method
For each pixel, the card sends out rays, which are imaginary lines, into the scene. It finds what each ray hits, then calculates how light affects that spot. For a reflection, a ray bounces off a shiny surface and finds what the surface mirrors. For a shadow, a ray travels towards a light, and if something blocks it, the point is in shadow.
RT cores
RTX cards include RT cores, hardware units that speed up the hardest part, which is finding what each ray hits. Without them, ray tracing would be far too slow. RTX 50 series cards have fourth-generation RT cores, as the Blackwell architecture guide describes.
Hybrid ray tracing
Most games use ray tracing for selected effects and rasterisation for the rest. A game might ray trace reflections and shadows, while using traditional methods for general lighting. This hybrid approach keeps the cost manageable.
Typical ray tracing effects
| Effect | What it adds | Typical impact on frame rate |
|---|---|---|
| Ray-traced reflections | Accurate mirrors, puddles and windows | Moderate to high |
| Ray-traced shadows | Soft, accurate shadow edges | Moderate |
| Ray-traced ambient occlusion | Better contact shadows | Low to moderate |
| Ray-traced global illumination | Realistic bounced light | High |
How to read the table
The impacts are general. Costs depend on the game and the settings. Reflections and global illumination are usually the most visible and the most expensive.
What is path tracing?
Path tracing is the more complete method.
Simulating whole light paths
In path tracing, rays do not just check one reflection or one shadow. They follow whole paths of light, bouncing from surface to surface several times and collecting light and colour as they go. Direct light, reflections, shadows and indirect light all come from the same simulation, which makes the lighting consistent and physically plausible.
Why it looks better
Because everything comes from one system, a moving light, an opening door or a passing character affects the whole scene naturally. There are fewer visible seams between effects.
Why it costs so much
Following many paths for every pixel needs enormous calculation. Games can afford only a few paths per pixel, which leaves noisy images that must be cleaned, as the guide to Ray Reconstruction explains.
Where you meet it
Path tracing has appeared in showcase games, such as Cyberpunk 2077's top ray tracing mode, Alan Wake 2 and a growing list of titles, and in remastered classics. The site's guide to Resident Evil Requiem and path tracing shows how a modern game uses it.
Ray tracing compared with path tracing
The table summarises the differences.
| Question | Traditional lighting | Ray tracing | Path tracing |
|---|---|---|---|
| How light is made | Tricks and baked data | Rays for selected effects | Rays for most or all lighting |
| Realism | Good with artist effort | Better for reflections and shadows | Highest |
| Reacts to change | Limited | Partly | Fully |
| Performance cost | Lowest | Moderate to high | Very high |
| Needs RT cores | No | Yes | Yes, heavily |
| Needs upscaling | No | Often | Almost always |
Reading the comparison
Each step up the table gains realism and costs performance. Many players choose ray tracing for key effects, and a few enable path tracing in games where they have the hardware.
Which cards can handle them?
The answer depends on resolution, settings and upscaling.
Ray tracing
All RTX cards support ray tracing, and performance rises with the tier. Entry cards can use light ray tracing with upscaling, and higher cards can use more effects. The site's article on top DLSS 4 and ray tracing games lists games that use it.
Path tracing
Path tracing generally needs a strong card, usually at the higher tiers of recent generations, together with DLSS upscaling and Ray Reconstruction. Lower cards can run it in a few games with aggressive settings, at modest frame rates.
Why upscaling is essential
Path tracing is so expensive that most players use Balanced or Performance DLSS with it. Frame generation can then smooth the result, as the Multi Frame Generation guide explains.
How to choose ray tracing settings
A short plan helps you balance picture and performance.
Step one: find your baseline
Run the game with ray tracing off and note the frame rate in a demanding scene. This shows how much room you have.
Step two: turn on one effect at a time
Enable ray-traced reflections first, then shadows, then global illumination. Note the frame rate and the picture after each.
Step three: enable DLSS and Ray Reconstruction
Switch on DLSS Super Resolution at Quality or Balanced, and Ray Reconstruction if the game offers it. Compare the picture and the frame rate. The guide to DLSS quality modes explains the choices.
Step four: decide what to keep
Keep the effects that make a clear difference for an acceptable cost. If an effect costs a lot and changes little, turn it off.
Step five: add frame generation if needed
If your base frame rate is healthy and your monitor is fast, try frame generation. See the article on frame generation and input lag.
What each effect looks like
Describing the effects helps you know what to look for.
Reflections
Look at puddles, windows, polished floors and car paint. Ray-traced reflections show the real surroundings, including things off to the side and moving characters.
Shadows
Look at the edges of shadows. Ray-traced shadows soften naturally with distance from the object, whereas traditional shadows can look hard or blocky.
Global illumination
Look at how light bounces around a room. A bright red wall can tint nearby white objects, and sunlight entering a window brightens the room.
Ambient occlusion
Look in corners and where objects meet. Ray-traced ambient occlusion adds subtle darkening in the right places.
Path tracing
In a path-traced scene, all of these happen together, and the overall lighting feels coherent.
A short history of ray tracing in games
Looking back shows how quickly the feature has moved.
The early showcases
Ray tracing reached consumer games in 2018, when the first RTX cards launched and a few titles added reflections. Frame rates were modest, and many players left the feature off.
Wider adoption
Over the next few years, more games added ray-traced shadows, reflections and global illumination, and DLSS made them practical. Consoles and other graphics brands added their own ray tracing hardware, which encouraged developers.
The path tracing era
More recently, a handful of high-profile games introduced path tracing, treating it as the top graphics tier. These games became showcases for hardware and for tools such as Ray Reconstruction.
Where we are now
Ray tracing is common in major releases, and path tracing is growing but still limited to games that can afford it. Each hardware generation lowers the cost, and the trend suggests that more games will offer it over time.
Matching settings to card tiers
The table gives a general starting point. It is not a benchmark, and results vary by game and resolution.
| Card tier | Reasonable starting point |
|---|---|
| Entry cards | Light ray tracing in selected games, with Balanced or Performance upscaling |
| Mid-range cards | Several ray-traced effects with Quality or Balanced upscaling |
| Upper cards | Most ray tracing effects at 1440p, with upscaling |
| Top cards | Path tracing with upscaling and frame generation at high resolutions |
How to use the table
Treat it as a first guess, then test. The beginner guide to the RTX 50 series helps you place your card, and the model names guide explains the tiers.
Resolution changes everything
A card that handles path tracing at 1080p may struggle at 4K. Always consider your resolution when you read advice.
Recipes for balancing frames and quality
A few simple recipes help.
Recipe one: the careful start
Turn on ray-traced reflections, use DLSS Quality and see the frame rate. If it is comfortable, add shadows. If not, step to Balanced.
Recipe two: the path tracing push
Enable path tracing, DLSS Balanced or Performance and Ray Reconstruction. Add frame generation if your base frame rate is healthy. Watch memory and temperatures.
Recipe three: the frame rate first
Turn ray tracing off, use DLSS Quality for quality and enjoy a high frame rate.
Recipe four: the compromise
Use ray-traced global illumination only, with lower shadow quality. This often gives the most visible improvement for the cost.
Looking at a real game: Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the most discussed examples because it offers a range of ray tracing levels.
What it offers
The game provides ray tracing options for reflections, shadows and lighting, and a top-end path tracing mode. It also supports DLSS, frame generation and Ray Reconstruction.
How to approach it
Start with reflections and see what your card can do. If you have a powerful card, try the path tracing mode with upscaling. The site's comparison of GPUs for Cyberpunk 2077 shows how different cards behave.
Lessons for other games
The same approach works elsewhere: start small, add effects one at a time and use DLSS to pay for them.
Video memory and ray tracing
Ray tracing uses extra memory.
Why it uses more
The card must store a structure that lets rays find geometry quickly, and detailed scenes need larger structures. Path tracing uses still more.
What to do about it
If you stutter after enabling ray tracing, lower texture quality, and check the memory use. The guide to how much VRAM you need explains the symptoms and fixes.
Frame generation adds more
Frame generation needs extra buffers. On cards with 8 GB, combining ray tracing, high textures and frame generation can be too much.
How to evaluate whether ray tracing is worth it in a particular game
Not every game benefits equally, and a short test tells you.
Compare in a showpiece scene
Choose a scene with shiny surfaces, strong lights and shadows, such as a rainy street or a lit interior. Take a screenshot with ray tracing off and on, and compare.
Compare in ordinary play
The showpiece scene exaggerates the benefit. Play for ten minutes with ray tracing on, and ask whether you notice it during normal movement.
Weigh the cost
Note the frame rate in both cases. If the cost is high and the benefit is subtle, you may prefer to turn it off. If the benefit is clear, you may enjoy paying for it.
Remember the art style
Stylised games, such as cartoon or pixel-art titles, gain less from realistic lighting than realistic games do.
Ray tracing on handhelds, consoles and laptops
Ray tracing appears across devices, with limits.
Consoles
Consoles use ray tracing in selected games, usually with careful limits, because their hardware is fixed. The result is a modest implementation compared with a high-end PC.
Laptops
RTX laptops can run ray tracing, but power limits mean lower settings than on desktops. Use upscaling and lighter effects to keep temperatures in check.
Handheld PCs
Most handhelds have small graphics chips, so ray tracing is usually off. When it is available, it costs a lot.
What this tells us
Ray tracing's cost scales with hardware, so adapt your expectations to your device.
Heat, noise and power
Ray-traced games work the card hard.
What to expect
You may notice higher temperatures, louder fans and more power use. This is normal for demanding games.
How to manage it
Use upscaling to reduce the work, set a frame cap and keep your case airflow healthy. The guide to thermal and power limits shows how to read the numbers.
Laptops
Laptop owners should be careful, because cooling is limited. Use lighter settings and plug in.
Why ray tracing needs so many tricks to run well
It helps to understand why the technology leans on so many helpers.
The sheer number of calculations
A 4K frame has about eight million pixels. Even with one ray per pixel, that is eight million rays to find and shade, sixty or more times every second. Add bounces and the number multiplies. Hardware can handle only part of this, so software must cut the work.
Sampling and noise
Using few rays means each pixel gets a rough estimate. The picture is noisy until denoised. More rays mean less noise and more cost.
The helpers
Several helpers keep costs down. Upscaling draws fewer pixels. Denoisers, including Ray Reconstruction, clean the noise. Frame generation fills the gaps between real frames. Smart data structures help rays find geometry quickly. Hardware RT cores handle the hardest steps.
What this means for your settings
Because the tools support each other, turning one off can hurt the others. Disabling upscaling in a path-traced game can make the frame rate collapse, and disabling the denoiser can leave the picture grainy. Change settings with this in mind.
The overall picture
Real-time ray tracing is a clever balancing act, and its progress comes from many small improvements, not one big leap. That is why each hardware and software update brings steady gains.
Four example players
These illustrations show different choices.
The path tracing enthusiast
This player owns a high-end RTX card and plays a path-traced game at 4K with Performance upscaling and frame generation. The lighting looks stunning, and the frame rate is smooth.
The balanced player
This player has a mid-range card. They enable ray-traced reflections and shadows, use Balanced upscaling and keep global illumination off. The game looks great and runs well.
The frame rate first player
This player turns ray tracing off in every game and uses high frame rates for smooth play. They enjoy the result.
The budget player
This player uses light ray tracing in one favourite game with Performance upscaling, and leaves it off elsewhere.
The shared lesson
Each chose the mix that suited their card and taste, and each tested before committing.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Likely cause | What to try |
|---|---|---|
| Frame rate falls a lot | Heavy ray tracing settings | Turn off the costliest effect, use a faster DLSS mode |
| Noisy or grainy lighting | Weak denoising | Enable Ray Reconstruction, or raise the DLSS mode |
| Stutter with ray tracing | Video memory shortage | Lower textures, close other programs |
| Smeary reflections | Old model or denoiser | Try a newer DLSS model through the NVIDIA App |
| Game crashes with path tracing | Driver or memory issue | Update the driver, lower settings |
| No difference noticed | Subtle effect or wrong scene | Test in a scene with shiny surfaces |
How to use the table
Change one setting at a time, restart the game after driver-level changes and keep notes.
Buying advice if ray tracing matters to you
If lighting quality is a priority, a few rules of thumb help.
Prioritise the tier
Ray tracing and path tracing reward higher-tier cards, because each step up in power lets you use more effects at a given resolution. If you plan to use path tracing, aim for the upper tiers.
Do not forget video memory
Ray tracing uses extra memory, so favour cards with enough. The guide to how much VRAM you need helps you choose.
Think about the whole system
A strong card needs a capable processor and a good power supply. See the guide to the RTX 50 series for how the range fits together.
Consider resolution
If you play at 1080p, a mid-range card can use more effects than at 4K. Choose the card for the resolution you actually use.
Beware of marketing
Claims that a card "does path tracing" without saying at what resolution and with which upscaling are incomplete. Look for independent tests that state the settings.
A calm way to think about the debate
Online discussions of ray tracing can be heated, with some people calling it essential and others calling it a gimmick. Both views miss the middle ground.
What the enthusiasts get right
Realistic lighting can transform a scene, particularly in games built around it. When the effect is well done, it adds depth, mood and believability that traditional methods struggle to match, and path tracing pushes that further.
What the sceptics get right
The performance cost is real, and many games gain little in normal play. Frame rate and responsiveness matter for how a game feels, and a cleaner reflection does not always justify a slower game.
A practical middle path
Try the feature, judge it by your own eyes and your own frame rate, and choose per game. You can enjoy ray tracing in one title and ignore it in another, and nothing about that is inconsistent. The best graphics settings are the ones that make you want to keep playing.
A weekend plan for exploring ray tracing
If you want to try ray tracing without feeling lost, this plan fits a weekend.
Saturday: learn what you have
Open one favourite game that supports ray tracing, and note the frame rate with it off. Turn on a single effect, such as reflections, and compare the picture and the frame rate. Take screenshots, and write short notes.
Saturday evening: add upscaling
Enable DLSS Super Resolution at Quality, then Balanced, and see how the frame rate changes. If the game offers Ray Reconstruction, try it, and judge the lighting.
Sunday: try a second effect
Add shadows or global illumination, and see whether the cost is worth the improvement. If you own an RTX 40 or 50 series card, test frame generation too, as the Multi Frame Generation guide explains.
Sunday evening: decide and record
Keep the combination that gives a picture you love at a frame rate you enjoy, and note it. Next weekend, try a second game. By the end of a month, you will have a personal guide to ray tracing on your own computer, which is worth more than any general recommendation.
If you only remember one thing
Treat ray tracing and path tracing as quality dials, not switches. Turn them up until the picture delights you or the frame rate protests, then step back one notch. That habit keeps you in the sweet spot on any card, in any game, and it works as well for a modest card as for a flagship.
Quick reference: a one-page summary
- Traditional lighting uses tricks and is the fastest.
- Ray tracing adds accurate reflections, shadows or lighting for selected effects.
- Path tracing simulates most lighting and looks the most realistic, at the highest cost.
- RT cores make both practical, and DLSS makes them playable.
- Start with one effect, test and add more.
- Use Ray Reconstruction in ray-traced games that offer it.
- Turn effects off if the cost outweighs the benefit.
Why a short list helps
Lighting settings can feel overwhelming. A short list gives you a way to start, and the rest of this guide fills in the details when you need them.
Myths about ray tracing and path tracing
Myth: ray tracing and path tracing are the same
They are related. Ray tracing adds selected effects, while path tracing simulates most lighting.
Myth: path tracing is only for the newest cards
Several generations of RTX cards can run it in some games, with upscaling and modest settings.
Myth: ray tracing always looks better
It usually adds realism, but good traditional lighting can look excellent, and some scenes show little difference.
Myth: you must turn it on
It is optional. If you prefer frame rate, turn it off.
Summary
Traditional game lighting uses clever tricks, ray tracing simulates light for selected effects such as reflections and shadows, and path tracing simulates whole light paths for most of the scene. Each step brings more realism and a bigger performance cost. RTX cards carry RT cores that make these techniques practical, and DLSS upscaling, Ray Reconstruction and frame generation help recover performance. Choose effects one at a time, keep those that make a visible difference and turn off those that do not. Test in the games you play, watch memory and temperatures and revisit your settings after updates. If you want more detail on the supporting tools, read the guides to Ray Reconstruction, DLSS 4 and neural rendering.
Short glossary for this article
- Rasterisation: the traditional method of turning 3D shapes into pixels.
- Ray tracing: simulating light rays for selected effects.
- Path tracing: simulating whole light paths for most lighting.
- Global illumination: light that bounces from surface to surface.
- RT core: hardware that speeds up ray tracing.
- Denoiser: a filter that cleans noise from ray-traced images.
Frequently asked questions about ray tracing and path tracing
What is the difference between ray tracing and path tracing?
Ray tracing simulates light for selected effects, such as reflections or shadows, usually on top of traditional rendering. Path tracing simulates whole light paths with many bounces for most of the lighting, giving more realistic and consistent results at a much higher performance cost.
Is path tracing worth the performance cost?
It depends on your card and your taste. Path tracing looks more realistic and reacts naturally to changes, but it can cost a large share of your frame rate. Players with strong RTX cards often enjoy it with DLSS, while others prefer lighter ray tracing or none.
Do I need an RTX card for ray tracing?
Yes, for practical use. Ray tracing needs RT cores to run at playable speeds. Some other brands' cards also have ray tracing hardware, and older cards without it run ray tracing very slowly or not at all. RTX cards also provide DLSS to recover performance.
Does DLSS help with path tracing?
Yes, greatly. DLSS Super Resolution lowers the number of pixels drawn, Ray Reconstruction cleans the noisy lighting and frame generation raises the smoothness. Path-traced games are rarely playable without at least upscaling on typical cards, so turn DLSS on first, then add the other features one at a time while you watch your frame rate.
Should I turn ray tracing on?
If your frame rate is comfortable and you like the look, yes. If the game struggles or you prefer a faster frame rate, turn it off or use only the effects you notice most. Both choices are valid, and you can change them per game.
Which ray tracing effect matters most?
Many players find reflections and global illumination the most visible, and shadows and ambient occlusion more subtle. Try each effect on and off in a scene you know, and keep those that make a visible difference for an acceptable cost.