AMD patents trace at important ray tracing enhancements in future GPU architectures

In context: Earlier generations of AMD graphics playing cards have lagged behind Nvidia’s in ray tracing efficiency, however Crew Purple’s most up-to-date Radeon RX 9000 GPUs have made important strides in closing the hole. Quite a few current patents recommend the corporate is simply simply getting began, with future {hardware} probably making ray tracing and path tracing extra accessible.

Reddit person MrMPFR’s evaluation of AMD patents from the previous yr and a half reveals that the corporate is critical about treating ray tracing as the way forward for real-time graphics rendering. Whereas Nvidia has pushed many of the know-how’s progress during the last a number of years, Crew Purple would possibly lastly be closing the hole – and maybe even pulling forward.

In its push to enhance ray tracing efficiency throughout a wider vary of {hardware}, AMD has filed quite a few patents since round January 2023. Over an extended interval, it has additionally employed ray tracing specialists from Nvidia, Intel, and academia. An in depth breakdown of AMD’s patents signifies the corporate is aiming for parity with the RT and neural rendering options Nvidia launched in its lately launched RTX 5000 graphics playing cards.

AMD might have included a few of this newly developed know-how into the RDNA 4 structure used within the Radeon RX 9000 collection, which almost matches the RTX 5000 in ray tracing efficiency. For instance, TechSpot’s evaluation reveals that the RX 9070 XT matches or outperforms the RTX 5070 Ti in most titles.

Nonetheless, AMD nonetheless struggles with probably the most demanding RT tech in a number of video games, similar to Indiana Jones and the Nice Circle, Alan Wake II, and Black Fantasy Wukong.

If a ray tracing arms race is brewing between AMD and Nvidia, making superior ray tracing and path tracing options accessible at playable body charges for common customers is probably going a key aim.

Additionally see: Is Ray Tracing Definitely worth the FPS Hit? 36 Recreation Efficiency Investigation

Our ray tracing breakdown from final yr signifies that Alan Wake II and Wukong are among the many few video games the place ray tracing considerably improves visuals, although totally benefiting from these enhancements nonetheless requires spending at the very least a thousand {dollars} on a GPU.

AMD’s current work on BVH (bounding quantity hierarchy) administration, ray traversal, and different options might considerably decrease the {hardware} entry barrier with UDNA, the upcoming successor to RDNA 4. Creating equivalents to Nvidia’s applied sciences – together with the large polygon depend boosts from RTX Mega Geometry – might additionally make these options extra enticing to builders.

UDNA is predicted to energy the subsequent era of AMD graphics playing cards, and the graphics chip for Sony’s upcoming PlayStation 6 reportedly makes use of an early model of the structure. In the meantime, Nvidia is predicted to launch its Rubin structure in direct competitors, although particulars about its function set stay scarce.