NVIDIA's DLSS 3.5 Ray Reconstruction, which debuted in 2023, has been a game changer for PC games with multiple ray-tracing effects - particularly those with ray-traced reflections. It's an AI-powered denoiser, a part of the rendering process that cleans up an image.
NVIDIA's Ray Reconstruction AI model was trained on over 6X the data used for DLSS Super Resolution and Frame Generation. It's a game-changer that 'fills in the gaps' in a way that dramatically improves the image quality of ray-traced effects. Reflections become sharper and more detailed, and the lighting looks more realistic and cinematic.
The difference is so big that games with ray tracing look better on GeForce RTX rigs - plain and simple. The good news is that AMD is working on a similar-sounding AI denoiser that could be part of RDNA 4's new "AI capabilities." Also, its FSR super-sampling or upscaling is going AI.
AMD has published a new paper, 'Neural Supersampling and Denoising for Real-time Path Tracing,' which describes how its new "neural supersampling and denoising work together to push the boundary for real-time path tracing."
The article mentions that AMD and the RDNA team are "moving towards real-time path tracing on RDNA GPUs" and "highly optimized performance for real-time path tracing at 4K resolution."
Path tracing is exponentially more hardware intensive than a game featuring a single ray-tracing effect like shadows or reflections. Path tracing uses ray tracing for all lighting in a game. It is only possible (translation: playable) thanks to NVIDIA's DLSS suite of RTX AI technologies: Super Resolution, Ray Reconstruction, and Frame Generation. As seen in Cyberpunk 2077, Alan Wake II, Portal with RTX, Black Myth Wukong, and more - it's a glimpse into the future of game visuals.
AMD confirms that it's focusing on real-time path tracing on RDNA GPUs, which is excellent news. Hopefully, we will see the first version of AI-powered RDNA 4 path tracing in early 2025.
- Read more: AMD's Lisa Su confirms RDNA 4 GPU details - 2025 launch, powerful ray tracing, and AI
- Read more: Cyberpunk 2077, Phantom Liberty, and DLSS 3.5 - Ray tracing on PC just leveled up
- Read more: AMD's FSR 4 will be AI-powered like NVIDIA DLSS, and optimized for handhelds
- Read more: AMD could have a ton of reveals for CES 2025: Strix Halo, RDNA 4 GPUs, new X3D CPUs and more