GeForce GTX cards will get realtime raytracing

When DXR is enabled by a Game Ready Driver, targeted for April, the supported GeForce GTX graphics cards will work without game updates because ray-traced games are built on DirectX 12’s DirectX Raytracing API, DXR. This industry standard API uses compute-like ray tracing workloads that are compatible with both dedicated hardware units, such as the RT Cores, and the GPU’s general purpose shader cores.

In the time since, our software and developer teams have kept working, allowing Nvidia to optimize ray tracing technology, make new software advancements, and help developers further accelerate ray tracing performance in games. Because of this work, Nvidia have  sped up ray tracing performance for GeForce RTX GPUs, and can now enable DirectX Raytracing ( DXR ) on GeForce GTX 1060 6GB and higher graphics cards via a Game Ready Driver update, expected in April.

The much larger install base of RT-capable GPUs will fuel developer adoption of ray tracing technology, bringing more games for both GeForce RTX and GeForce GTX users to experience. GeForce GTX gamers will have an opportunity to use ray tracing at lower RT quality settings and resolutions, while GeForce RTX users will experience up to 2-3x faster performance thanks to the dedicated RT Cores on their GPUs, enabling the use of higher-quality settings and resolutions at higher framerates.