Is Ray tracing worth it?

[hlhbk]

My current specs:

Intel 8700k
Nvidia GTX 1080TI
32 GB RAM
SSD
Win 10

With Metro Exodus finally returning to Steam I have been reading and watching reviews for it. Several have praised it's use of Ray Tracing. Is the difference that noticable that I should consider upgrading to a 2080TI?

 

[KainXVIII]

My current specs:

Intel 8700k
Nvidia GTX 1080TI
32 GB RAM
SSD
Win 10

With Metro Exodus finally returning to Steam I have been reading and watching reviews for it. Several have praised it's use of Ray Tracing. Is the difference that noticable that I should consider upgrading to a 2080TI?

Click to shrink...

DF analysis did not convinced you?

 

[renx]

IMO, you should wait for the next generation RT gpus.

 

[Psyrgery]

Dictator might like to talk to you

 

[TSM]

We aren't far off the launch of the next gen of cards from both Nvidia and AMD. I wouldn't really be looking to get into a 2080ti right now personally.

 

[InfiniteCats]

The Geforce 30XX series is supposedly coming this summer, so it's probably not the best time to upgrade. I'm sitting on my 1070 until then at least.

 

[Dictator]

My current specs:

Intel 8700k
Nvidia GTX 1080TI
32 GB RAM
SSD
Win 10

With Metro Exodus finally returning to Steam I have been reading and watching reviews for it. Several have praised it's use of Ray Tracing. Is the difference that noticable that I should consider upgrading to a 2080TI?

Click to shrink...

I would wait IMO in your particular GPU config for the next grouping of GPUs, you just need to be patient is all.

 

[Bjones]

Well if metro is a game you are super excited for then that is the main reason to have have raytracing right now. As far as I know it's the only stand out RT game out.

 

[R dott B]

Nothing has been mind blowing so far but maybe in the future.

 

[Neoxon]

Just wait for the RTX 30 series, it should be revealed in the not-too-distant future.

 

[Dussck]

In a few years, absolutely.

 

[mindsale]

Winstone, Charles, Bradbury, Romano. Trace all the Rays, it's worth it.

 

[z1ggy]

I´m enjoying RTX but it wont be massive untill next gen consoles arrive. So for now, i would wait.

 

[joeblow]

I saw the DF video, and while the current implementation of RT they showed in some modern games is too subtle to me to get excited at the expense of the frame rate loss, I was impressed with the more advanced path tracing technique they showed on low graphic games.

That's too resource-intensive right now for modern games it seems, so I'll wait for path tracing to mature before hopping on the RT bandwagon with earnest. In the end, it'll only become more and more prevalent in future releases.

 

[More Butter]

Winstone, Charles, Bradbury, Romano. Trace all the Rays, it's worth it.

Click to shrink...

Liotta. Don't ignore Liotta.

 

[RyuCookingSomeRice]

Not a good time to upgrade your videocard right now

 

[Thera]

You will have both AMD and Nvidia version at the end of the year.
So yes, but wait.

 

[No Depth]

Q2 RTX looks quite nice with it, but you need to limit resolution way down to enjoy it at high FPS.

Control is additive, and it does somewhat improve the overall aesthetic, but it's a premium bonus. Not the game changer I expected. Noticeable when turned off, but if you never had it on to begin with, you aren't missing much.

Haven't tried Metro yet, but all the other majors like CoD 2019, and BFV, and SoTR. Meh, not really noticeable and often not worth the performance hit at all.

 

[Lobster Roll]

With the current monetary cost and performance cost, it's not currently worth it unless you're immune to both of those costs.

 

[Duxxy3]

RT is nice, but the performance decrease is enormous. Hopefully it improves. It's definitely not something I'd turn on in a multiplayer game.

For me it's a case by case basis. I didn't really need the extra frames in Metro Exodus and the world was more consistent with it turned on, so I left it on (also the gamepass version was buggy and I didn't want to mess around with settings). Control looks amazing with RT enabled, but honestly the gameplay is so fast that turning it off gave me a better game experience.

 

[Andi]

I would say wait with the system that you have right now.
I am using a 2080 and a I7 9700K, 16gb ram and I like how RT looks like in 1080p but it's still not really stable for me.
If you play in higher resolutions that this I would say wait.

 

[hlhbk]

Thanks for everyone's feedback! I also forgot to mention I also have gsync and am used to getting FPS well above 60 FPS in almost every game I play. After reading responses here I am not willing to take the performance hit I would get by upgrading. I'll wait.

 

[snausages]

You definitely shouldn't replace a 1080TI just yet.

I only have a 2060, but Metro does look very nice with RT. But I'd wait for the next gen of RT before taking it seriously just yet.

 

[Lump]

If you lasted until 2020 already, then you can last a little bit longer for Nvidia's next series of cards. It's just not a good investment to pay near MSRP for 2018 cards right now at the price they command. The pool of games is just not that huge right now for RTX anyway.

This is coming from a 2080 Ti owner. I don't regret buying my card in January 2019 - it has brought me exceptional performance and RTX niceness - but I bet I'd regret it if I bought it in February 2020. We're probably within 6 months of a new generation of cards coming out.

 

[otretas]

This might be an unpopular opinion, but RT is only good to speed up the process of creating environments due to the lack of need to bake up lighting to allow the artists vision come to life, as an example. It will not impact gameplay whatsoever, and create new "ideas" around it. While full environment reflections can be used for gameplay, those already exist even if they require more effort to pull off. It does provide really good screenshots thow...

 

[Dennis8K]

I would wait for next gen GPUs.

 

[AndrewDTF]

On current gpus and in current games — no

 

[ThreepQuest64]

I was coming from a 1070 which struggled at 1440p to reach 60fps in modern games, even with some settings reduced (which I don't really want) so I jumped onto the next generation and to experience the few games with RTX now instead of later, but also to hit 60fps (or even higher) at 1440p on my 144hz monitor. If I had a 1080 I'd probably wait.

But generally speaking, ray tracing is amazing.

 

[astro]

With a 2080 based system you can hit 60fps +with all RTX on at 1080 in a few games. It's honestly incredible when it's implemented well. Control, Metro Exodus, at times these games look absolutely stunning.

If we were a year ago, I would say upgrading to get around 2 years of performance would be worth it. We're too close to the next gen of GPUs. Even if you can't afford the 30xx, the 20xx will get cheaper.

Your system is fine for 60fps gaming still.

 

[Snake Eater]

Not now, too taxing. Wait one year

 

[ILikeFeet]

well probably be worth it when next gen systems and Ampere comes out. and it will be worth the wait

 

[Deleted member 3010]

Too taxing for the moment, will be glorious in 2-3 years.

 

[daninthemix]

It's just like asking if 4K is worth it - everyone must answer that for themselves.

 

[Deleted member 46489]

This might be an unpopular opinion, but RT is only good to speed up the process of creating environments due to the lack of need to bake up lighting to allow the artists vision come to life, as an example. It will not impact gameplay whatsoever, and create new "ideas" around it. While full environment reflections can be used for gameplay, those already exist even if they require more effort to pull off. It does provide really good screenshots thow...

Click to shrink...

It's not unpopular, just an uninformed opinion. Raytracing isn't about speeding up the lighting process for game devs. That's just a side benefit. Raytracing results in MUCH more realistic lighting and consequently makes game worlds feel more real. Baked lighting has severe limitations that show up in all kinds of situations where dynamic lights are involved. Self-shadowing in character faces during gameplay requires raytracing. As do many other kinds of natural lighting effects.

Raytracing makes smoke and particle effects look way more realistic than traditional techniques could ever manage.

Perhaps you don't notice the differences, but for me the changes are night and day.

 

[gabdeg]

RT is worth it, I don't think buying a 2080 Ti at this point in time is, at least for the price they're still asking.

Wait for the 3xxx series

 

[Deleted member 4346]

My current specs:

Intel 8700k
Nvidia GTX 1080TI
32 GB RAM
SSD
Win 10

With Metro Exodus finally returning to Steam I have been reading and watching reviews for it. Several have praised it's use of Ray Tracing. Is the difference that noticable that I should consider upgrading to a 2080TI?

Click to shrink...

I'm assuming that you are running at 1440p? I would hold with your current GPU. Wait and see how AMD's implementation of raytracing compares to NVIDIA's later this year. Because your upgrade path today from the 1080 Ti is the 2080 Ti, and at that cost you'll be sorry if AMD (or new NVIDIA cards) come out this summer and don't have the huge hit for raytracing that we see on today's RTX cards.

 

[Klyka]

Don't buy Gen 1 tech. Always wait for Gen 2.
Too few games that even use RT right now to make it a worthwhile investment.

 

[Corine]

Yes it's 100% worth it and more. I'd wait for the next cards if I were you though.

 

[Corine]

This might be an unpopular opinion, but RT is only good to speed up the process of creating environments due to the lack of need to bake up lighting to allow the artists vision come to life, as an example. It will not impact gameplay whatsoever, and create new "ideas" around it. While full environment reflections can be used for gameplay, those already exist even if they require more effort to pull off. It does provide really good screenshots thow...

Click to shrink...

That's not true at all. Just watch the Minecraft video to see that. You can use the lighting and stuff for all sorts of gameplay changing ideas.

 

[jett]

Not now, not for the price and the support it currently has. But surely in the future.

 

[LCGeek]

Not now, not for the price and the support it currently has. But surely in the future.

Click to shrink...

Nvidia thrives on being first to do things at all, well or right.

Look at the riva 128 compared to it contemporaries or the TNT series for that matter.

You get jack in the industry being last or late.

 

[Trieu]

I loved the games I played with RayTracing and I think it is an amazing feature that adds so much richness to the world and it immerses me much more into it. It was worth the DLSS trade off in my opinion even though I could clearly tell that it was rendered at a lower resolution.

I noticed it much more after I stopped playing the game when I played games without RayTracing.

My favorite are the reflections in the windows in Control.

But I also agree with others in here. For you it is not worth it with a 1080 Ti. Wait for the 3000 series

 

[Deleted member 35478]

With the upcoming consoles both supporting ray tracing via AMD Navi, how easy is it to port those games to Nvidia's version of ray tracing hardware? Actually, is that even a concern or a thing, or is ray tracing all the same it doesn't matter what's powering it?

 

[collige]

The 20XX line is underwhelming and there's few games with good implementations right now. No.

 

[Vitamin_B_Complex]

My current specs:

Intel 8700k
Nvidia GTX 1080TI
32 GB RAM
SSD
Win 10

With Metro Exodus finally returning to Steam I have been reading and watching reviews for it. Several have praised it's use of Ray Tracing. Is the difference that noticable that I should consider upgrading to a 2080TI?

Click to shrink...

Wait for the 30XX and AMD cards. Right now would be a bad choice. Nvidia will have learned a lot since their first RT cards and that knowledge will be implemented in the 3000 series. And whatever AMD is doing, it will be in the consoles so their solution might run well since most work is done with their way of doing it. But right now, I wouldn't especially with your 1080ti.

 

[OldDirtyGamer]

I have a 2060 and while I think the card is a great 1080p performer, I dont think RT has been impressive at all .
I wouldn't upgrade just for the small quantity of games currently out , and the small amount coming this year .

The 2080ti would be a great card to have , but I'd probably wait to the next line of RTX cards tbh .

 

[jett]

Nvidia thrives on being first to do things at all, well or right.

Look at the riva 128 compared to it contemporaries or the TNT series for that matter.

You get jack in the industry being last or late.

Click to shrink...

Good for them, but the OP is a consumer.

 

[gabdeg]

With the upcoming consoles both supporting ray tracing via AMD Navi, how easy is it to port those games to Nvidia's version of ray tracing hardware? Actually, is that even a concern or a thing, or is ray tracing all the same it doesn't matter what's powering it?

Click to shrink...

Xbox Series X is pretty much guaranteed to utilize DXR which is what the majority of raytraced PC titles already use, so it shouldn't be a problem.

 

[ppn7]

Do you prefer a RT increasing performance or rasterisation increasing for the next Ampere GPU ?

You think nvidia will prioritize RT over rasterisation performance, or maybe 50/50% ?

 

[TheWooniestWoona]

I feel like ray tracing now is like shaders on a GeForce 3.

I'm waiting for ray tracing's 9700 Pro.