While not all games use ray tracing technology, there is a respectable list of popular titles that implement this feature. Such games include Cyberpunk 2077, Quake II, STALKER 2, Fortnite, and Resident Evil Village; just to name a few.
- How to Buy An Nvidia RTX 3000 Series GPU in 2021 (3060Ti, 3070, 3080 & 3090)
- Get Quick, Get Lucky, and Get Busy Waiting
- Stock Alert Services
- Retailer Lotteries
- The Option to Pre-Order
- What Is GeForce RTX?
- Which Games Support RTX?
- How to Turn RTX on
- What is GeForce RTX?
- Requirements for RTX
- How to turn on Minecraft RTX ray tracing
- Does my PC run Minecraft RTX ray tracing?
- Start with RTX
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Super
- RTX on the move
- Dell G5 15
- How to Enable RTX
- What Is RTX Voice and How to Enable It on Your Nvidia Graphics Card
- What Is RTX Voice and Is It a Big Deal?
- Can You Use RTX Voice on GTX GPUs?
- How to Enable RTX Voice
- When to use RTX Voice
- How do I turn on RTX in Minecraft?
- Sign up for the Minecraft RTX beta
- Join PC Hardware / Builder Forums & Communities
- Conclusion
How to Buy An Nvidia RTX 3000 Series GPU in 2021 (3060Ti, 3070, 3080 & 3090)
When it comes to buying a graphics card, 2021 is the best and worst of times.
The new Nvidia RTX 3000 series and AMD RX 6000 GPUs are some of the most exciting cards we’ve seen in generations. They offer tremendous gains in intergenerational performance and a huge leap in ray tracing and potential growth.
But thanks to the combination of a global semiconductor shortage and a huge interest in cards from both gamers and cryptocurrency miners, they are almost impossible to get hold of. Even if that is the case, you have to pay a huge premium for the price, no matter what model you choose. And if you dare to go aftermarket, the cost could be even higher.
The fact that it has been going on for months and looks like it will continue for a predictable time while the supply lines are rising and demand is stabilizing has left many players feeling depressed. If their current graphics card is already showing its age, or worse, kicking the bucket after many years of long use, how are they going to buy a new one? Is it better now to pay above the chances of something great, for the performance and features you want, or try to save some money and go for an older, still overpriced, used card instead?
It’s clear that getting the GPU in 2021 isn’t easy, but there are ways. In fact, if you want to upgrade to more than just your graphics card, there are ways to get all the next-gen performance you need without paying a huge premium for it.
Get Quick, Get Lucky, and Get Busy Waiting
If you’re just looking for a graphics card, the best way to guarantee a good price is to buy direct from a reputable retailer. The downside to this, however, is that you will be competing with everyone else who tries to buy it.
This includes other games, cryptocurrency miners, scalpers, and bots that everyone is using to help them buy the card in front of you. It’s not uncommon for RTX 3000 and RX 6000 series cards to disappear from stock just seconds after they go on sale, so you need to be first and you need to be quick.
To make that happen, you can open GPU store pages to some of the most popular retailers who regularly receive declines in stocks of next-gen cards and refresh periodically. Though you do have to stick to it, as being late for the boat a few minutes may be enough to miss even the biggest arrival of new merchandise.
Stock Alert Services
There are inventory alert services such as NowInStock and Stock Informer that can help you spot when certain cards go on sale at different retailers. You can even set an alarm to go off when stock alerts are triggered.
There are also some dedicated hardware Twitter accounts worth keeping track of that provide their own inventory alerts. Alternatively, the Distil browser extension allows you to set up custom site change alerts which can be useful for keeping an eye on smaller sellers that some of the large inventory tracking services might not pick up on.
Retailer Lotteries
Some retailers even run sweepstakes to give casual customers a chance to buy cards before everyone else, so it might be a good idea to sign up for them – although you’ll be competing with potentially thousands of customers again.
Others run player certification programs that allow you to prove that you are not a scalper or a bot in various ways, which could also put you on the list for purchasing a card at some point if you are lucky.
The Option to Pre-Order
You can also consider pre-ordering the GPU from certain retailers. Keep in mind, though, that stock limits still apply, so even getting the option to pre-order a graphics card in 2021 isn’t easy. With so many models available, there is no guarantee that the selected model will be available again in the near future or at all.
You also usually have to pay up front in full, which is a hell of a liability for an expensive GPU that you may not get for a long time – some waiting times have been longer than six months. Some sellers even had to refund deposits for pre-orders where they weren’t able to fulfill orders at all, which could make you have to wait for a card that never arrives.
If this all sounds like too much luck, guesswork, and downtime with your thumbs up, there’s a much better way to guarantee a card at the right price and in no time…
Getting the most out of your PC hardware is paramount, especially Nvidia RTX’s features – or ray tracing.
What Is GeForce RTX?
RTX technology is only available with GeForce graphics cards. Here we are talking about the 20 and 30 series GeForce GPUs. You’d be wrong to think you were turning on RTX just by having one of these powerful graphics cards on your PC. You also need to enable one extremely game-changing visual effect in the supported games – real-time ray tracing.
Lighting is one of the most important elements in video games. Until recently, manufacturers have relied on multiple techniques to enhance their appearance. But it was almost impossible to create sufficiently convincing reflections and shadows. The arrival of RTX graphics cards has been hailed as the beginning of a new era. This is the holy grail of computer graphics. It is available to everyone, and what’s more, it works in real time.
Ray tracing is a complex algorithm that computes the behavior of light in a virtual world. When you turn on RTX, you’ll immediately see some significant visual improvements. Reflections on glossy surfaces become more detailed, shadows softer, and the mood of each scene is improved.
However, there is a caveat. Ray tracing in games is a very hardware-intensive process. That’s why Nvidia puts separate RTX cores in its GPUs, and for the best results and optimal performance, you’ll want the best RTX 2080 graphics card or even more powerful. Even with DLSS, another part of Nvidia’s technology designed to improve performance and resolution, enabling ray tracing has a serious impact on performance. FPS drop is always noticeable, so it’s a matter of deciding between performance and graphics.
Which Games Support RTX?
The catalog of RTX-enabled games is growing day by day. Nvidia maintains an up-to-date list of current and upcoming games on its website, and some upcoming titles such as Dying Light 2 have already confirmed ray tracing support.
Gamers began to wonder how to enable ray tracing in Battlefield 5. The 2018 multiplayer FPS was the benchmark for this new technology. This was followed by adventure action control, in which we noticed a greater impact of RTX on the game’s graphics. Set in an office space, Remedy’s Control featured lots of reflective surfaces and lots of translucent glass. Even without RTX, it’s a visually impressive game. But when you turn the effects on, it’s absolutely stunning.
We also can’t forget about two huge RTX games from 2020, Cyberpunk 2077 and Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War. Both games relied heavily on ray tracing for an atmospheric effect, especially the former. The inclusion of RTX in Cyberpunk 2077 turns Night City, a huge playground you’ll spend hours on, into a vibrant neon wonderland. You could even say that the game was designed with the RTX in mind, as many streets are filled with glass skyscrapers and giant neon lights.
Several games were created specifically for the ray tracing show. There are also Minecraft RTX and Quake 2 RTX, which are prime examples of how you can improve the atmosphere with better lighting. And since Quake 2 RTX is completely free on Steam, there’s no reason to skip it.
How to Turn RTX on
There is a lot of confusion about what players need to do in order to see ray tracing in their games. Of course, the first step is to buy an Nvidia GeForce GPU that supports it. If your graphics card is properly installed in your PC and your gaming PC is running Windows 10, you’re all set.
After that, all you have to do is start a game that supports RTX, see if the effect needs to be turned on manually, and maybe tweak the details a little. But PC games wouldn’t be PC games without the various labels causing confusion and leaving everyone in the gaming community wondering how to turn RTX on. Overall, the setting is usually found in the advanced graphics options. You can see it as “RTX”, “ray tracing” or even “DXR” which is short for DirectX Ray Tracing.
Depending on the game, ray tracing and other RTX effects settings can range from a simple on / off feature to a variety of other details. In the aforementioned controls, you can choose several levels of ray tracing detail as well as choose which effect you want to turn on.
After enabling RTX effects, you can enable both uniform and transparent reflections, diffused lighting, contact shadows, and determine if contaminants are processed by the algorithm. Needless to say, the more effects you have, the greater the impact on the game’s performance. Many games handle ray tracing in a similar way, requiring a few user-selected effects for better optimization.
The Quake 2 RTX is a bit of a standout, and the setup can be confusing. If you’re wondering how to enable RTX in this game, you’re not alone. It turns out that the developers simply used a different wording. For starters, in the options menu, set renderer to RTX, if it is not already enabled. You also want to have “divine rays” turned on, then it is just a matter of choosing the level of global illumination. This demo game works great even on entry-level cards, so you won’t need the best RTX 2070 to achieve the best possible performance.
Finally, the very popular Minecraft, which recently received a patch and official RTX support. Those trying to learn how to enable RTX for this game must have the Windows 10 version, which can be purchased from the Microsoft Store. Then go to the settings menu and on the Video tab, find the little ray tracing switch. Below it is a render distance slider that you can play around with for optimal results.
You’ll also want to enable the Physically Based Rendering Texture Pack, which drastically improves texture quality and enables transparent blocks. Finally, if you’re looking for worlds to play, Nvidia has some free maps on the market. If you enable ray tracing in these worlds and builds, you will immediately notice the RTX impact even in a block game. Best of all, RTX players can still join friends via cross-platform multiplayer and build together.
While retailers’ efforts to offer gamers graphics cards at fair prices have somewhat alleviated supply problems, the very high demand and bots made purchasing a new graphics card in 2021 a chore. The aftermarket is even worse where availability may be better, but prices are undeniably higher.
What is GeForce RTX?
There are around 20 and 30 series of GeForce GPUs, and RTX is only available for GeForce GPUs. But you can’t enable RTX by only having one of these graphics cards on your computer. To do this, you need to turn on games that support RTX. RTX is a hardware-intensive process, which is why Nvidia places a separate RTX core on its GPU.
The list of games that support RTX is growing day by day.
One of them is Remedy’s Control. While it has the characteristic of translucent lenses, the reflective surfaces that are visually captivating without RTX.
But the RTX makes it more stunning with a stunning realistic lighting effect. There are also more games that support RTX. They are –
- Cyberpunk 2077
- Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War.
- Against the Evil
- Battlefield 5
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Control
- Provide us with the moon
- Dirt 5
- Fortnite
- Ghostrunner
- Online Justice
- JX3
- Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries
- Medium
- Metro Exodus
- Minecraft
- A blade of moonlight
- deadly coating
- Observer: Downsizing the system
- Pumpkin Jack
- Quake 2 RTX
- Ring of Elysium
- Shadow of the Tomb Raider
- Stay in the Light
- Watch Dogs: Legion
- Wolfenstein: Youngblood
Nvidia always keeps an update of its upcoming and up-to-date game list on its website.
Requirements for RTX
To enable RTX you must have the minimum requirements that are –
- OS (operating systems): Windows 10 (or newer) 64-bit
- GPU: DirectX ray tracing hardware graphics processor such as NVIDIA GeForce RTX 20 series and newer and AMD Radeon RX 6000 series and newer
- Equipment: computer; Virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) goggles are not supported
- Processor: Intel Core i5 or equivalent
- RAM:> 8 GB RAM
- Minecraft version: 16,200 or later
RTX Voice works to eliminate background noise from real-time voice communications. This can be extremely useful for everything from streaming to video conferencing calls.
How to turn on Minecraft RTX ray tracing
source: Windows Center
minecraft RTX ray tracing can be turned on and off on the fly by going to Settings> Advanced Video> DirectX Ray Tracing or by using the semicolon on your keyboard; as a shortcut key.
However, since Minecraft’s beta RTX is still in its early stages, Microsoft has restricted which worlds it supports for its ray tracing solution. As of the initial beta, RTX ray tracing is only supported by RTX-enabled worlds from the Minecraft Marketplace or by using your own ray tracing-enabled resource pack.
“To experience ray tracing, you can download the free RTX enabled world from the Marketplace,” says Mojang. “Or create your own textures that use a physical rendering system and put them into the game.”
The Minecraft RTX beta was launched along with six ray tracing maps created by various community members, but more have been added since then in additional updates.
Does my PC run Minecraft RTX ray tracing?
source: Windows Center
Minecraft ray tracing support uses the NVIDIA RTX platform, designed specifically for RTX-capable graphics cards. The latest 20 series cards have dedicated ray tracing hardware, so enabling this feature does not reduce the frame rate. If necessary, you can check all the minimum and recommended requirements for Minecraft RTX before trying to access the beta.
NVIDIA says users should use a GeForce RTX 2060 or later graphics card covering the full 20-series lineup. While RTX desktop-class graphics cards excel in performance, a wide range of laptops also offer RTX features. Here’s a complete list of RTX compatible graphics cards that will work with Minecraft’s RTX beta.
- GeForce RTX 2060
- GeForce RTX 2060 Super
- GeForce RTX 2070
- GeForce RTX 2070 Super
- GeForce RTX 2080
- GeForce RTX 2080 Super
- GeForce RTX 2080 Ti
- RTX titanium
With the 20 series upgrade available today, we recommend the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Super card for high performance on a budget. It outperforms the baseline for Minecraft and other RTX-enabled titles while providing additional overhead compared to the entry-level 2060 cards. Choosing RTX makes Minecraft much harder on the GPU, but this card handles next-gen ray tracing like a champion.
Start with RTX
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Super
NVIDIA’s 20-series GPUs offer massive power, including ray tracing and deep learning super sampling (DLSS), which use artificial intelligence to ensure the right level of performance at all times. This Minecraft RTX compatible card has 8GB of GDDR6 memory and a boost clock to 1650MHz, providing a slight upgrade over entry-level cards, striking a balance between performance and affordability.
Mobile work requires mobile solutions – this Dell G5 15 is our RTX laptop of choice for Minecraft. The option of robust hardware configurations, and complemented by the RTX 2060, includes all the essentials for gaming, with the added benefit of an RTX compatible card. This includes ray tracing and super sampling deep learning (DLSS) compatibility, both supported by the Minecraft beta.
RTX on the move
Dell G5 15
the Dell G5 15 inch gaming laptop is one of the most balanced RTX graphics types, offering a budget-friendly deal compared to other laptops, forgoing an aggressive “gaming” design, and offering excellent post-purchase support from Dell. The RTX 2060 comes with an Intel Core i7-8750H processor and 8GB of RAM that are upgradable.
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News sites (like us) are also a great source of getting updates, most likely because some of these news sites have already built up their contacts and relationships with manufacturers or sellers. Just find websites that post news articles related to the PC / Hardware Building niche.
How to Enable RTX
If you meet the above hardware conditions and the application you want to use supports ray tracing, you can enable this process directly from the application.
Apart from installing the latest GPU driver (Nvidia, AMD) and the Microsoft DirectX 12 API, you don’t need to do anything from your desktop.
Specifically for games, the graphics setting you want to search for in the in-game menu will be “Ray Tracing”, “DXR” or “RTX”.
In-game setting to enable RTX in Cyberpunk 2077
If you cannot find this setting, either the game itself does not support Ray Tracing, or you are not using DirectX 12 or DX 12 Ultimate. Steam users should ensure that the game is using the correct version of DirectX when launching.
Professional applications such as GPU Render Engines have their own settings that you may need to turn on in your 3D modeling software before rendering.
Here’s what it looks like in Cinema 4D and the Renderer Octane GPU:
What Is RTX Voice and How to Enable It on Your Nvidia Graphics Card
Now that we’ve gone through ray tracing and its relationship to Nvidia’s RTX technology, let’s take a look at the AI-powered RTX Voice app.
What Is RTX Voice and Is It a Big Deal?
RTX Voice works to eliminate background noise from real-time voice communications. This can be extremely useful for everything from streaming to video conferencing calls.
What makes RTX Voice even more cost effective is the fact that it filters both background noise and incoming noise emissions from other people during a call.
In other words, your friends or colleagues can hear your voice clearly, and you can hear their voice free of excessive pollution from surrounding noise.
RTX Voice runs on many supported applications; a full list of which can be found here.
Can You Use RTX Voice on GTX GPUs?
RTX Voice really has nothing to do with the RTX nomenclature and the architecture surrounding it.
Ray tracing is not used in this application, and while Nvidia initially mentioned that this technology was made possible by Tensor cores, it later withdrew this claim.
The reason for this misrepresentation could be a hack that was created to make RTX Voice compatible with the GTX GPU.
Shortly thereafter, Nvidia allowed RTX Voice to be officially compatible with Nvidia GTX graphics cards that have driver 410.18 (or newer.
How to Enable RTX Voice
Currently, you can download RTX Voice as a standalone app or integrate it with the Nvidia Broadcast app.
Please note that Broadcast is only available for Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060, Quadro RTX 3000, Titan RTX or higher graphics cards; and requires 64-bit Windows 10.
If you want to download RTX Voice, the setup process is pretty straightforward. Download the app, install it, and turn on background noise removal.
For instructions on how to organize RTX Voice for specific compatible apps, please refer to the official Nvidia guidelines.
When to use RTX Voice
While RTX Voice is extremely useful in real-time voice communication applications, it can become a hindrance to voice recording on tape.
When RTX Voice filters noise, fine blemishes and artifacts are introduced into the sound; and may overlap with the dialogue.
These drawbacks are easily ignored when heard in real time, but can be distracting and unpleasant when editing audio. The resulting distortions are also difficult – if not impossible – to remove.
For pre-recorded audio, it’s best to use an app – such as Adobe Audition or iZotope RX 8 – to clean and restore audio in the post-production process.
Gumtree, eBay, and other auction and classifieds sites have hundreds of GPUs for sale at any time, from the latest generation RTX 3000 and RX 6000 cards to the 10th Gen Pascal GTX series GPU. The only problem is you’ll be paying up to three times the recommended retail price anywhere to get it.
How do I turn on RTX in Minecraft?
The first thing you need to do is install the Xbox Insider Hub. Since the update is in beta, you need to become a beta tester to enable RTX in Minecraft.
Before you start, we strongly recommend that you back up all your Minecraft worlds as they can get corrupted while testing features that aren’t ready for final release.
Sign up for the Minecraft RTX beta
After selecting the RTX beta version, you can fire up Minecraft and wait for the update notification to appear. Additionally, you can also reinstall Minecraft after backing up your worlds.
Note that not all versions of Minecraft receive RTX editing. If you want to enable RTX in Minecraft, you’ll need either Bedrock Edition or Minecraft for Windows 10.
You will see that the game update will not arrive immediately. During our testing, we had to wait a few hours for the game to update to beta, so be patient if you see the Insider Hub Pending message.
Check that you have the minimum system requirements to enable RTX in Minecraft:
- GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060
- Processor: Intel Core i5 or AMD equivalent
- RAM: 8 GB
- Memory: 2 GB (game and all worlds and resource packs)
- Operating system: Windows 10 x64
There is a lot of confusion about what players need to do in order to see ray tracing in their games. Of course, the first step is to buy an Nvidia GeForce GPU that supports it. If your graphics card is properly installed in your PC and your gaming PC is running Windows 10, you’re all set.
Join PC Hardware / Builder Forums & Communities
image source: reddit / r / buildapc
There are no great sources other than forums where people regularly participate in the group. PCMR has Facebook groups, Reddit forums, and a non-compliance server with thousands of hardware enthusiasts actively participating. Subreddits like r / buildapc ir / hardware have millions of members.
Before joining a group, however, you should read the rules and regulations of each group. I myself constantly check on subreddits what is going on in the PC Hardware world, I would say that the subreddits and Facebook groups are a good source as there are experts, news reporters and journalists have also joined these communities.
Conclusion
the year 2021 may be the most difficult time to build a pc – scalpers selling these new components almost three times more than the MSRP, and manufacturers only produce minimal inventory.
For people who are building from scratch and don’t have other components yet, I would highly recommend purchasing a pre-made desktop, it can be a good choice if you really want a PC powered by new components like the Geforce RTX 3000 series. But if you just want to upgrade your pc using these new components, the first 2 and last may be the best option for you.
Do you have any thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments below, or move the discussion to our Twitter or Facebook.