If you've got GeForce GTX graphics in your desktop or laptop, Nvidia's got an update you're going to like.
The graphics chipmaker announced Monday at GDC 2019 it will enable DirectX ray tracing (DXR) on some of its older graphics cards with its Pascal architecture via a driver expected in April. DXR is one of the major features of its newest RTX GPUs using its Turing architecture announced last year. Ray tracing reproduces how light behaves in the real world improving shadows and reflections to give games a more photorealistic look and immersive feel.
The GTX cards supported include:
Titan XP
Titan X
GTX 1080 TI
GTX 1080
GTX 1070 TI
GTX 1070
GTX 1060 6GB
The Volta-based Titan V and Turing-based GTX 1660 and 1660 TI are also supported. But, before you get too excited, know that the cards will only support basic ray-tracing effects and low ray counts. The level of support will be dependent on the game, the graphics card model and game resolution, said Justin Walker, product manager for GeForce desktop GPUs.