Graphics settings

What is ray tracing in games?

Ray tracing is a rendering technique that simulates paths of light to create effects such as reflections, shadows or global illumination.

QUICK EXPLANATION

Treat each ray-traced effect as a separate workload

Games implement different ray-traced effects and quality levels. Enabling them can increase GPU work, with the impact depending on the scene and hardware.

Ray tracing is a visual feature, not a setting that automatically improves frame rate or image quality in every scene.

Result: Turning a specific effect off may change both appearance and frame time.

How to check it

Use the game's comparison view if available and change one ray-traced effect at a time. Upscaling options may offset some rendering cost but can alter image quality.

Check: Compare the same scene for lighting quality, artifacts and frame-time behavior.

Sources & page details

Microsoft: Direct3D 12 ray tracing documentation ↗

Reviewed 2026-09-26

These are general explanations; available features and results vary by game, graphics hardware, driver and display.