One of the stand-out features of the NVIDIA RTX 30 and 40 Series graphics cards is real-time ray-tracing. More and more games are integrating this technology, which is great news for us but perhaps not for some of your gaming hardware. Whilst ray tracing creates enhances your graphics, it can take its toll on your gaming PC.
Today, we’re looking at five games that really push your PC when ray-tracing is enabled. We will also suggest the hardware you need to keep up with the demand. You know the drill – biscuit, cuppa, and let’s go!
What is Ray-Tracing?
First of all, what is ray-tracing? It is a rendering technique used to simulate the way light behaves. Lighting can make or break a game’s realism, or any image that has been digitally rendered. Ray tracing takes the point of view of the camera, looks at an image, and then traces it back to the light source taking into account textures to create realistic shadows.
This technique has been used in the film industry, too, but on a much larger scale with super-computers rendering multiple light sources. Of course, we don’t have access to, nor the budget for such monster machines, so the ray-tracing we see in games is not quite as complex. Still, it renders light and shadow behaviour to create incredibly realistic images. Check out this video of NVIDIA demonstrating ray tracing in action.
Naturally, innovating technology and implementing it in-game is going to draw on a lot of power. Hence why having ray-tracing turned on for certain games can be more than your PC can handle. Now to name and shame!
Cyberpunk 2077
It should be no surprise that Cyberpunk 2077 is the top of this list. This hefty game from CD Projekt Red is packed full of beautiful detail, just begging to be played at ultra-settings and 4K resolutions. Integration with ray-tracing was also one of the big selling points during the long wait for release. The futuristic, rainy setting with neon lighting is the perfect way to demonstrate this rendering technique, especially at night when Night City truly comes to life. We get an impressive display of light reflecting off puddles, adding depth and reality to gameplay.
The recommended specs for Cyberpunk 2077 are actually pretty modest, but more aimed at 1080p resolutions at 30 FPS. If you want to enjoy Cyberpunk 2077 the way it was meant to be played, 4K resolution with buttery smooth frame rates, then you’re going to need some high-end hardware.
Recommended Hardware
Sticking with graphics, to best run Cyberpunk 2077 in all its ray-traced glory, we recommend the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080. These harness the power of 9728 CUDA cores and 16GB of GDDR6X VRAM. Plus with boost speeds up to 2.51GHz, the 4080 is lightning fast. To best support this performance, we recommend having an AMD Ryzen 7 7700 or Intel Core i5-14600K processor. Both of these processors are primed for handling multi-threaded tasks and demanding workloads.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 GPU
AMD Ryzen 7 7700 CPU
Intel Core i5-14600K CPU
Our top PC recommendation has to be the Refract Indigo. This pre-built gaming PC was literally designed to play Cyberpunk 2077!
Refract Indigo Pre-Built Gaming PC
- Designed for 4K gaming
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 GPU
- AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D processor
- Dazzling RGB lighting
- Three years parts and labour warranty
Minecraft
Minecraft is the crafting and building game that took the world by storm. For over ten years, this game has been going strong – seeing almost 140 million monthly players last year. In 2020, this game was upgraded to support ray tracing. Whilst it has a simplistic, blocky design, ray tracing has enhanced textures, lighting, shaders, and reflections. As a result, those amazing builds look even more breath-taking.
Even standard gameplay is much more atmospheric with realistic light physics. I hesitate to say the overall graphics are realistic, it’s still cartoony blocks! But fires now reflect in nearby pools of water, shadows behave more naturally, and everything is smoother in general.
As a relatively older game, Minecraft’s recommended specifications are not that demanding. With ray-tracing enabled, however, we see a distinct jump in hardware requirements.
Recommended Hardware
To play Minecraft with ray tracing, you need at least an NVIDIA RTX 20 Series GPU. If you want to enjoy it at 4K with high frame rates, you’re going to need something from the latest generation of graphics cards. We recommend at least an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070, with 12GB of GDDR6X VRAM and boost clock speeds of 2.48GHz. For your processor, it’s recommended at least an Intel Core i5 to best enable ray-tracing. The Intel Core i5-13400F or AMD Ryzen 7 5700X both harness the power of optimised cores and technology to enhance performance.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 GPU
AMD Ryzen 7 5700X CPU
Intel Core i5-13400F CPU
The OcUK Gaming Katana Gaming PC is an excellent choice for Minecraft with ray-tracing enabled. This configurable PC offers a selection of AMD Ryzen 7000 Series CPUs and RTX 40 Series GPUs, allowing you to best craft a machine to suit you.
OcUK Gaming EmpathGaming PC
- Configurable gaming PC
- AMD Ryzen 7 7700X CPU
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070
- Flexible storage options
- Up to 64GB DDR4 RAM
Lego Builder’s Journey
Lego games are a firm favourite for us here at Overclockers UK. Their blend of exciting gameplay and humorous whimsy is a great way to unwind after a stressful day at the office. Lego Builder’s Journey swaps the destructive nature of their licensed games for chill music and building puzzles. It is a free-form puzzle solving game with a recently released Creative Mode. Each puzzle is solved by building with the most accurately rendered Lego bricks to date. Complete with that iconic noise they make when pieced together.
Each set floats in the middle of your screen, upon a coloured background with dynamic lighting. With ray tracing enabled, the shadows and reflections become phenomenal. The light reflects off each individual brick for an amazing overall effect.
While a simple game in premise, to play Lego Builder’s Journey in 4K with ray tracing at 60FPS you have to use DLSS. Currently, no graphics cards can do it natively. Thank goodness for Deep Learning Super Sampling, eh?! As a result, you are going to need a hefty PC to play this in all its glory.
Recommended Hardware
To best help your PC render this game, we recommend the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card. This top-of-the-line model has the highest GDDR6X VRAM capacity, the most CUDA cores, and a 384-bit memory interface width. Plus, all the gaming technology we know and love from Ada Lovelace architecture. To best support this, an AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D or Intel Core i7-14700K is an excellent choice for your processor.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 GPU
AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU
Intel Core i7-14700K CPU
Considering that you can’t play this game at 4K without DLSS, our top PC recommendation is a future-proofed option. The 8Pack Comet MK2 already houses top-tier hardware, perfect for heavy gaming.
8Pack Comet MK2
- Overclocked 4K PC by 8Pack
- AMD Ryzen 7950x3d CPU
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 GPU
- Bespoke water-cooling
- Custom-made Micro-ATX case
Hitman III
When Hitman III dropped in 2021, one of its biggest draws was the incredibly detail-rich world. Agent 47 takes you across the globe to many stunning locations. In May this year, the game was updated to support ray tracing. Ray-traced reflections and shadows have been integrated within the game for even more photo-realistic graphics – at great computational cost. All that detail requires a little help from AI DLSS.
Played at modest settings, Hitman III does not require that much from your hardware. However, even with AI DLSS on, 4K resolutions and ray tracing are going to need components with a little more oomph.
Recommended Hardware
For the graphics card, an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is an ideal model to utilise. With 12GB of GDDR6X VRAM and a boost clock up to 2.51Hz, this is an incredibly fast GPU designed for gaming at max settings. Paired with an Intel Core i9-14900K or AMD Ryzen 9 7900X, and you’re sure to experience smooth gameplay.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti
AMD Ryzen 9 7900X CPU
Intel Core i9-14900K CPU
Our top PC recommendation for Hitman III at top settings has to be the beautiful and powerful Infin8 Obelisk. Configurable, armed with top-tier hardware, and sporting a stunning aesthetic, this gaming PC seems like the perfect choice for Agent 47.
Infin8 Obelisk Gaming PC
- Pink and blue pro-tuned gaming PC
- Intel Core i9-13900KF CPU
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090
- Dual water-cooling loop
- Configurable hardware options
Dying Light 2: Stay Human
Released back in February this year, Dying Light 2: Stay Human takes place 22 years after the first game. Thankfully, it’s only been a seven year wait for us. This new addition to the zombie apocalypse with parkour enhances its already beautiful graphics with ray tracing. Shadows, light sources, and reflections all get the magic touch, grounding this scary game in an all-too-real looking world.
As a new, richly detailed, and fast-paced game, the recommended specs for Dying Light 2 feature a number of more recent generations of hardware. Likely due to the ray tracing support.
Recommended Hardware
Once again, playing this game at 4K resolutions and max settings is going to take elite-tier hardware and a little support for AI DLSS. For a graphics card, we recommend an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 card, due to its high CUDA core count and VRAM capacity. When it comes to the processor, we suggest the Intel Core i9-13900KF or AMD Ryzen 7 7950X3D.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 GPU
AMD Ryzen 7 7950X3D CPU
Intel Core i9-13900KF
To get the best out of this game, we recommend the OcUK Gaming Zirconium PC. This configurable PC offers a selection of elite-tier gaming hardware in a stylish, water-cooled setup.
OcUK Gaming Zirconium Gaming PC
- Configurable gaming PC
- 14th generation Intel CPU
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080
- Flexible storage options
- Up to 64GB DDR5 RAM
More Ray Tracing
As more and more games are available with ray tracing, there are plenty out there to make your PC sweat. The highly anticipated Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered, for one, is going to need a £2500 PC to run the game at max settings with ray tracing on! Here are some honourable mentions that could have made this list:
- Metro Exodus
- Crysis Remastered Trilogy
- The Ascent
- GhostWire: Tokyo
- F1 22
Alternatives to Ray Tracing
Of course, with technology being constantly innovated and developed, it may be that we end up gaming with a new rendering technique. Another route being explored is Path Tracing, a further developed form of ray tracing. At the moment it is being used to create scenes that are nigh on indistinguishable from reality at first glance. We’re a way off having this at a consumer, gaming-grade level, but it’s exciting to think about!
Game On, Friends
What are your favourite games to play with ray tracing? What hardware do you use? Drop us a comment below.
PC specs are subject to change.
- 10 min read
Emily Haylock
Author
Emily is a board and cosy gamer, keyboard obsessive, and content copywriter for Overclockers UK. She has been with Overclockers UK for two years, writing about everything from noblechairs to 8Pack PCs. She writes from within her desk nest with a foster pup at her feet. (What, a desk duvet is a totally normal thing!) In her downtime, she likes to play board games, farming sims, and old-school Final Fantasy. IX to be specific. It is the best, and that is a hill she will die on.
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