Microsoft made a powerful assertion at GDC by revealing Undertaking Helix, a brand new system designed to ship main enhancements in ray tracing efficiency.
The corporate’s purpose will not be solely to extend uncooked energy but additionally to carry a significant leap ahead in lighting know-how for video video games.
Jason Ronald, Vice President of Xbox {hardware}, confirmed that Undertaking Helix will ship ray tracing efficiency ten instances increased than the present Xbox Collection X. The intention is to make ray tracing now not simply an optionally available graphics setting however a regular visible function in future video games, even permitting path tracing on house consoles.
Undertaking Helix Guarantees Main Ray Tracing Enhancements
Undertaking Helix will likely be powered by a customized SoC developed with AMD, based mostly on the RDNA 5 structure. This processor is anticipated to enhance computing efficiency whereas additionally integrating synthetic intelligence instantly into the rendering pipeline.
Based on Microsoft, the purpose is to dramatically enhance lighting realism and total visible high quality in video games.
With this stage of efficiency, builders may use extra superior rendering strategies with out sacrificing body charges, one thing that has usually restricted ray tracing on present consoles.
Undertaking Helix may also introduce a number of new applied sciences designed to enhance each picture high quality and efficiency.
Considered one of them is FSR Diamond, an evolution of AMD’s upscaling know-how that makes use of machine studying to enhance picture high quality whereas growing body charges.
One other function is Ray Regeneration, a system that recreates visible info utilizing fewer rays. This helps enhance ray tracing efficiency whereas sustaining excessive visible high quality.
The system may also embody GPU-Directed Work Graphs, which permit the GPU to handle its personal workloads in actual time. This reduces bottlenecks that historically happen when the CPU controls rendering duties.
Growth kits, referred to as Alpha kits, are anticipated to reach at studios in 2027. Undertaking Helix can be described as a hybrid system, able to operating each conventional console video games and native PC titles.
