The use of real-time path tracing in games is still not common outside of brand-new AAA titles. This is at least partially due to the massive amount of computational power needed to run it. AMD clearly has high hopes for the technology on its new GPUs, however, judging by a newly unveiled video.

AMD released a video demo titled ‘Toyshop' which demonstrated the use of path tracing and neural rendering capabilities of its new Radeon 9070 series of cards. Though AMD did not directly specify what hardware and software were being used to create the demo, the implications in the video description suggested that one of its new RX 9070 GPUs and FSR 4 were involved.

Path tracing is a sophisticated form of Ray Tracing that simulates how light interacts with various objects and textures in order to make graphics more photo-realistic. However, it is very demanding on graphics cards and is generally considered a luxury for owners of high-end graphics cards.

Since AMD has decided to avoid the high-end GPU market in this generation, the video was created using AMD's mid-range cards. This could bring path tracing into an affordable range for many PC gaming fans.

AMD’s new tech demo hasn’t won everyone over

Some analysts who examined the video in detail have noted a few flaws. There are some visual artifacts that can be spotted. This includes errors such as the shimmering on the front of the cars or the odd wavering of the ‘Park Entrance' sign. Some objects that are meant to be static are also showing pixel blur, and the cars can show ghosting when moving.

AMD still has some catching up to do with rival Nvidia when it comes to path tracing, but the demo is a good start, even if it isn't entirely perfect. Another detail is that this tech demo is not released to the public, and we aren’t confident that it ever will be. If AMD were to release the demo publicly, we’d be keen to see how current-generation hardware handles it.

About the Author

Rebecca Hills-Duty

Writing and journalism experience at VRFocus, UploadVR, The Escapist, HTC, PC Gamer, Tech Radar+ and Dexerto. Can sometimes be found playing with retro tech.