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Bought an RTX 4090 in order to get some more frames in Cyberpunk 2077 (now that the new DLC is coming out) and Control. Both those games support ray tracing and both put a hurt on your video card.

Control looks like a completely different game with ray tracing on (it was playable with RT using the 3080, but FPS was around 60 and dipped lower at times - now it's a good 130. The reflections in the office cubicle windows, and the realistic use of shadows in dark, scary areas, add a lot to the game.

I'm a little less impressed in Cyberpunk 2077. Shadows and reflections, honestly, hardly looked any different because the game (like most modern games, effectively fakes this when you don't have Ray Tracing.

Someone on Blue News forums said that the real stunning difference is enabling Path Tracing, which realistically renders how light is emitted from light sources, especially neon signs in the game. He says that, for him, it really brought the city to life.

SO I tried it, and I'm still a bit underwhelmed. Yes, it's a noticeable improvement in lighting, but it's not like it's bowling me over, and honestly if I didn't know what I was looking for, I might not even notice the difference. It also cost me a good chunk of my frame rate. I'm down to around 80 fps with this enabled with everything set to high and using Using DLSS Super Resolution on Balanced and DLSS Ray Reconstruction. I was getting around 130 fps with ray tracing off. And this game has anything but a steady fps. In some areas that 80 fps can dip down to 50, depending on what you're looking at.

I'm going to leave it on for a while and try to see if it's making any appreciable difference for me as I play and go around the city.

Here's a couple of screenshots that do show what Path Tracing does. Look at the FUYUTSUKI sign in the upper part of the image, just left of center. With path tracing you get a more realistic glow hitting the building that the sign is on. Also look at the orange sign for the CAPTAIN CALIENTE restaurant on the left at street level. Also the 24/7 store sign on the right of the street has a more natural glow instead of a sharp edge to it with path tracing on.

These images are 3440x1440 so put your browser on full screen if you want to see them better.

RTX PATH TRACING OFF:


RTX PATH TRACING ON:

At my age, I can't see differences.

I'm arguing with a nice guy on Blues News who just keeps raving about what a game changer Path Tracing is, and that the difference is like night and day.

Meh, I just don't see it. Yes there is a difference, but it's like the subtle difference between different types of Anti-Aliasing. Yeah, it's noticeable when you look for it, but unless it's pointed out you're really not going to see much difference.

When early AA on old hardware cost us a lot of frames, we just left it off. Nowadays it's just on by default because even 10 year old hardware can handle basic AA just fine.

Ray tracing needs to get to that level: everyone has to have it, it can't be too much of a hit, and it's to the point where it's just enabled in all games by default because, why not? Until then, it's going to be niche.

Devs have spent a lot of effort over many years to fake lighting, reflections and shadows, and they look very good. Good enough.

I see the differences but BOY are they subtle AF. I don't see anything compelling to make me drop that much coin on a 4000 series card.