Ray Tracing Performance Calculator
Estimate ray tracing FPS for your GPU across Cyberpunk 2077, Alan Wake 2, Control and more, and see whether you need DLSS or FSR switched on.
What ray tracing costs you
Traditional rendering fakes lighting with pre-computed tricks. Ray tracing simulates how light actually travels, which produces correct reflections, shadows and global illumination — and costs an enormous amount of computation. Even with dedicated hardware, enabling it typically halves your frame rate.
Not all ray tracing is equal
Games implement it at very different intensities. Ray-traced shadows alone are relatively cheap. Reflections cost more. Full path tracing — as in Cyberpunk 2077's Overdrive mode or Alan Wake 2 — simulates far more light paths and can cost 70% or more of your frame rate. The per-game estimates below reflect those differences.
Upscaling is effectively mandatory
DLSS, FSR and XeSS render at a lower internal resolution and reconstruct the output. At 4K with ray tracing, that is usually the difference between playable and not. Frame generation adds further frames but also latency, so it works best when your base rate is already reasonable — roughly 40 fps or above.
Vendor differences are large here
NVIDIA's RT cores are more capable than AMD's equivalent, and the gap widens as ray tracing gets heavier. Two cards that match in traditional rendering can be far apart with path tracing enabled — which is why the GPU Comparison figures, which reflect rasterised performance, do not tell the whole story.
Is it worth turning on?
In games where lighting is central to the atmosphere — Cyberpunk, Alan Wake 2, Control — the difference is genuinely striking. In fast competitive titles you will not see it and the frames matter more. Try it, look at what it changes, and decide per game rather than as a blanket setting.
Frequently asked questions
How much FPS does ray tracing cost?
Typically 40-60% for reflections and shadows, and 70% or more for full path tracing. Upscaling recovers a large part of that, which is why the two features arrived together.
Do I need an RTX card for ray tracing?
No. AMD RX 6000 and later, and Intel Arc, all support hardware ray tracing. NVIDIA generally performs better at it, especially in the heaviest implementations, but it is not exclusive.
Is ray tracing worth it?
In atmospheric single-player games it is a genuine visual step up. In competitive shooters it is not - you will never look at the reflections, and the frames matter more.
What is path tracing?
A far more complete simulation that traces many light bounces rather than applying ray tracing to selected effects. It looks dramatically better and costs dramatically more - currently only practical with aggressive upscaling and frame generation.