Ray tracing memory usage could be reduced by up to 90% thanks to 'most significant' DirectX update

While I go 'oo' at every perfectly lit videogame vista, ray tracing can sometimes make my gaming rig go 'HNNNG'. I love a traced ray as much as the next person, but realistic reflections and lighting can be a bit of a memory hog. Thankfully, Microsoft is previewing something new for DirectX that could significantly take the load off many ageing rigs.

It's a pair of features called 'Clustered Geometry' and 'Partitioned TLAS'. At the risk of oversimplifying, you can think of this DirectX update as bringing tech very similar to Nvidia RTX Mega Geometry to every other GPU vendor.

Obviously there's more to it than that, though, with Microsoft describing this as the " most significant update [to DXR] since its debut in 2018." Top line: Microsoft's own testing of this update suggests it could reduce ray tracing memory load by as much as 90% without the need for a team green GPU (via Techspot).

So, how does it …