What did Microsoft announce?

In an October 28 developer-blog post, Microsoft introduced a preview of two DirectX Raytracing features: Clustered Geometry and Partitioned Top-Level Acceleration Structures (PTLAS), alongside a GPU-driven API for building and updating them. Microsoft described the release as the most significant DirectX Raytracing update since the API debuted in 2018.

Why do ray-traced games need acceleration structures?

Ray tracing requires the GPU to test rays against scene geometry. Acceleration structures help organise that geometry so the GPU can find relevant intersections efficiently. In dynamic scenes, objects move, deform or stream in and out. Updating large structures repeatedly can consume processing time and memory bandwidth.

Developers sometimes use simplified geometry for ray tracing because rebuilding the structures for full-detail animated scenes can be expensive. Microsoft’s approach breaks geometry into smaller reusable clusters and allows the top-level scene structure to focus updates on changed regions.

Clustered Geometry and Partitioned TLAS explained

The potential benefit is better support for detailed animated geometry, streaming worlds, and more consistent ray-traced shadows and reflections. The exact result depends on the engine, scene, driver and implementation choices.

Does this make ray tracing faster on every GPU?

No. This is a developer preview, not a universal FPS patch. Microsoft says the features use existing ray-tracing hardware capabilities, but each vendor must implement and validate driver support. Its preview documentation lists NVIDIA RTX GPUs and AMD Radeon RX 9000 series as supported hardware for the current implementation, with support for some older ray-tracing GPUs still to be determined. Check the official prerequisites before assuming a specific card is supported.

Game developers also need to integrate the new APIs. Players should not expect every existing game to receive an automatic memory reduction or frame-rate improvement just because the DirectX preview exists.

What does this mean for PC gamers?

• Ray tracing performance still depends on the GPU, game engine, resolution, settings and driver.
• VRAM capacity remains important for high-resolution textures, large scenes and demanding games.
• Do not upgrade a graphics card based only on a preview feature; wait for supported games and independent benchmarks.
• When comparing GPUs, consider raster performance, ray tracing, VRAM, power, cooling and the games you actually play.

For graphics-card comparisons, see our RTX 5060 vs RTX 5060 Ti guide and RTX 5070, 5070 Ti and 5090 comparison. You can also explore our NVIDIA graphics card category.

When could gamers see the benefits?

The first impact is on developers adopting the preview APIs and shipping compatible drivers and game updates. The timeline will vary by studio and engine. Until real games are tested, any claim about a specific percentage of extra FPS or VRAM saved would be speculation.