Let's Settle This: is Ray Tracing worth the premium?

[Valheru]

Windows 10, 11, steam, battle.net, video editing software video capture, hardware software( asus, gigabyte, corsair, logitech, etc), overclocking software and mining had no impact. So not sure what software you are running unless I should already know that too.

Had a PM or two which echoed some reddit comments about Corsair iCue. Seems like this is one of the main culprits. Some also mentioned running HWInfo along with AMD software, some games do not likey.

TBH, I refuse to change out an entire system, which I spent years building up to amke it fit to a GPU. It is a pity though, seems like a lot of people are happy with theirs and are not having some of the issues I had.

 

[MopKop]

Been back and forth between Nvidia and AMD for years. AMD the past 3 Years. Still to experience an issue with their drivers since the 6600xt. Have had the 6700xt, 6800xt, 6900xt.....

 

[Switch]

Had a PM or two which echoed some reddit comments about Corsair iCue. Seems like this is one of the main culprits. Some also mentioned running HWInfo along with AMD software, some games do not likey.

TBH, I refuse to change out an entire system, which I spent years building up to amke it fit to a GPU. It is a pity though, seems like a lot of people are happy with theirs and are not having some of the issues I had.

I think you should install less bloatware, all the extra software like adrenalin, geforce experience, etc, doesn't really add much to the core gaming experience while consuming resources. Just have the driver installed and call it a day, unless you really want all the [gimmicky] one click optimization and performance tracking/status window features.

As to the OP question, ray tracing can be worth the premium but it requires a lot of investment in other equipment, like a high performance screen, high performance gpu/cpu/etc, and critically requires the developer buy in to actually implement ray tracing that has meaningfully impact visually.

 

[HButton]

Had a PM or two which echoed some reddit comments about Corsair iCue. Seems like this is one of the main culprits. Some also mentioned running HWInfo along with AMD software, some games do not likey.

TBH, I refuse to change out an entire system, which I spent years building up to amke it fit to a GPU. It is a pity though, seems like a lot of people are happy with theirs and are not having some of the issues I had.

Had an issue where an asus api was still running that plugged into corsair iCue for RGB. After an uninstall of Asus crate my CPU was running 80-90% on idle. Got the API that was not uninstalled during the asus uninstaller and problem solved.

 

[Valheru]

Had an issue where an asus api was still running that plugged into corsair iCue for RGB. After an uninstall of Asus crate my CPU was running 80-90% on idle. Got the API that was not uninstalled during the asus uninstaller and problem solved.

Asus kak got tanked a long time ago. Hence I am only running iCue for my Commander Pro / H150i, all the peripharels are a bonus.

I think you should install less bloatware, all the extra software like adrenalin, geforce experience, etc, doesn't really add much to the core gaming experience while consuming resources. Just have the driver installed and call it a day, unless you really want all the [gimmicky] one click optimization and performance tracking/status window features.

I try to, but also use the machine as my daily driver. I keep to a minimum & use a virtual machine for other shit I don't want near my things.

 

[Deago999]

I dont know how other people feel - but....

If Nvidia did an RTX 4080ti and a GTX 4080ti - and the only difference was that one had the RTX Cores and one didnt...

and the price between them was like ... 30k vs 19k..... ngl - I wouldnt pay the premium.

 

[Valheru]

I dont know how other people feel - but....

If Nvidia did an RTX 4080ti and a GTX 4080ti - and the only difference was that one had the RTX Cores and one didnt...

and the price between them was like ... 30k vs 19k..... ngl - I wouldnt pay the premium.

But, but a 4090 at full tilt, ray/path traced does look pretty.

Is it worth it? No.

 

[Deago999]

But, but a 4090 at full tilt, ray/path traced does look pretty.

Is it worth it? No.

I guess.... on like.... the 4 titles where is implemented vaguely well...

Hogwarts? I can thank them for the involuntary retina burning it gave me:

 

[Neo_Geo]

Been using the RX 6700XT for the past 8 months and with 2 screens at 144hz at 1080P. No issue with drivers. FSR do not use so Cannot comment and Ray tracing do not use as real time as in most cases the normal shadows work well enough for me to enjoy the game. Then again its up to you.

 

[VoodooZA]

Overall no.

DLSS is better than FSR but FSR is still good.

Ray-Tracing is fantastic sometimes and unnoticeable at other times. Really depends on the implementation.

This!

 

[Marcell1992]

No.
Ray-Tracing: Not yet, and it's already being outshined by software
DLSS: BIG NO, as already stated here, fuck devs for for making shit games and just relying on DLSS. There's so many old games that look and run better than new games.

 

[Mk1MiLAN]

no

 

[SantaMuerte]

No.

Technologies like Lumen in Unreal Engine 5 will eventually replace ray tracing. Capcom is working on their own alternative with their next-gen RE engine. Hell, they even removed ray tracing from the RE2 and 3 remakes. Ray tracing is a performance clusterfuck that is poorly implemented in most games. Even in a game like Hogwarts Legacy which has one of the better ray tracing implementations, it's sometimes not even noticeable when it's enabled, more so in the open world. Other studios will likely follow suit and also implement their own ray tracing alternatives like Lumen.

Having had a 3070 before going to the 7900 XTX, neither DLSS or FSR does it for me. I don't use it. Native just looks better and if you have a high-end card in most games you will still get decent enough performance to just use native. DLSS and FSR are both lazy things and enabling them are more often than not clearly visible because it blurs the fuck out of some games. If you don't have a high-end GPU, use native res and sacrifice quality on other things like lowering shadow quality rather than texture quality.