Ray tracing is one of the most advanced technologies in the PC gaming world, retaining its full potential despite how much more powerful the best graphics cards have become. However, one developer is trying to test whether a processor can do ray tracing in any capacity.
So far the answer is: sort of? According to the developer, Konstantin Seurer, and reported by PCGamesN, they have “added features to a CPU-controlled Vulkan-based version of the open-source Mesa graphics library.” The developer enabled the Implement VK_KHR_ray_query feature, which allowed ray tracing to be performed on a processor. They tested this on the classic title Earthquake 2.
We don’t know what kind of processor was used in testing, which means it could range from a consumer-type Intel Core i9 to an extremely powerful Threadripper type. What we do know is the information gleaned from the single screenshot Seurer released. It shows us that 34% of the processor’s power is being used, that the results are a paltry 1 fps, and that the processor is only doing ray tracing due to the 0% GPU usage.
But why exactly?
Now that we know that it is technically possible for a processor to perform ray tracing, even if it is barely turned on and off Earthquake 2 no less, there is another question worth bringing up. Is it even worth running a processor with ray-tracing technology?
On the one hand, it’s a fascinating process that I’m curious about, because why not push the components to their limits and see what you can achieve with them. The best processors only get stronger and more efficient with each generation, and some can even handle some of the best PC games without a dedicated graphics card. So it stands to reason that they could one day handle more advanced tools.
On the other hand, what benefit would this bring in the long run? As mentioned earlier, graphics cards can hardly bring out the best in ray tracing, and often need the help of DLSS to achieve this without dropping the framerate. From a practical point of view, it makes sense to leave the ray tracing to the cards built for it.
Regardless, I’m still curious to see if anyone else can pull off this feat in the future.