Subj : Ray tracing could soon be coming to a CPU near you, thanks to one
To   : All
From : TechnologyDaily
Date : Fri Mar 08 2024 19:15:05

Ray tracing could soon be coming to a CPU near you, thanks to one developer

Date:
Fri, 08 Mar 2024 19:00:40 +0000

Description:
A developer proves that ray tracing can technically be done with a CPU, but 
just not well.

FULL STORY
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Ray tracing is one of the most cutting-edge technologies in the PC gaming 
world, with its full potential remaining locked despite how much more 
powerful the best graphics cards have gotten. However, one developer seeks to 
test whether a processor can ray tracing in any capacity. 

So far the answer is: kind of? According to the developer, Konstantin Seurer, 
and reported on by PCGamesN , theyve been adding features to a CPU-run 
Vulkan-based version of the open-source Mesa graphics library. The dev 
enabled the function Implement VK_KHR_ray_query, which then allowed ray 
tracing to run on a processor. They tested this on the classic title Quake 2 
.. 

We dont know what kind of processor was used in testing, meaning it could 
range from a consumer-type Intel Core i9 to an extremely powerful 
Threadripper type. What we do know, however, is the information gleaned from 
the single screenshot Seurer released. It shows us that 34% of the processors 
power is being used, that the results are a paltry 1fps, and that the 
processor is solely running ray tracing due to the 0% GPU utilization. But 
why though? 

Now that we know its technically possible for a processor to run ray tracing, 
even though its barely running and on Quake 2 no less, theres another 
question that bears bringing up. Is it worth having a processor run 
ray-tracing technology in the first place? 

On one hand, its a fascinating process and one that Im curious about, because 
why not push components to their limits and see what you can accomplish with 
them. The best processors are only getting stronger and more efficient with 
each generation, with some of them even being able to handle some of the best 
PC games without a dedicated graphics card. So it stands to reason that they 
could handle more advanced tools someday. 

On the other hand, for what benefit would this be in the long run? As stated 
before, graphics cards can barely bring out the best in ray tracing, and 
often it needs the help of DLSS to pull it off without tanking the framerate. 
From a practical point, it makes sense to leave the ray tracing to the cards 
that are built to handle it. 

Regardless, Im still curious to see if anyone else can pull off this feat in 
the future. You might also like What is ray tracing? Everything you need to 
know After five years, ray tracing still isn't worth the bad performance DLSS 
is the true revolution in gaming, not ray tracing



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Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/computing/cpu/ray-tracing-could-soon-be-coming-to-a-
cpu-near-you-thanks-to-one-developer


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