Microsoft previews DirectX ray tracing update that could cut memory use by up to 90%
The features are still in preview and Microsoft's results will vary between games, with no release date set.
Microsoft is previewing two DirectX ray tracing features, Clustered Geometry and Partitioned TLAS, which it calls the most significant update to DXR since its 2018 debut. Its own testing suggests they could cut ray tracing memory load by as much as 90% on hardware without an Nvidia GPU. In one test on an AMD Radeon RX 9070, memory use fell from 7.5 GB to 774 MB and frame rate rose from 1.2 fps to 79 fps. Clustered Geometry groups detailed models into packages of 256 triangles or fewer, while Partitioned TLAS splits a scene into smaller regions so only changed areas need updating each frame. Microsoft cautions that results will vary between games and that clustered geometry needs more temporary scratch memory, which developers will have to plan for. The update is not yet widely available and no release date has been given.
Why it matters
The update targets one of the main costs of ray tracing, the memory needed to hold scene geometry, and could make the technique practical on a wider range of graphics hardware than before. Microsoft's own figures come from a single test on one AMD card, and it warns that clustered geometry needs more temporary memory, so the gains are likely to differ from game to game. Until the features are widely available, the change remains a promise rather than a measured shift in how ray-traced games run.
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