Nvidia is bundling Battlefield 5 with select GeForce RTX graphics cards

The only game with ray tracing support is free when you purchase a qualifying RTX card.

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Battlefield 5 is the first game to support real-time ray tracing, but you'll need a GeForce RTX graphics card in order to enable it. Should you be inclined to upgrade, Nvidia has teamed up with select retail partners to bundle the game with its GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, 2080, and 2070 so you can see what all the fuss is about.

Before you take the plunge, there are some things you should know. For one, ray tracing is demanding, and that holds true for the hybrid implementation that Microsoft is pushing with its DirectX Raytracing (DXR) API. Jarred ran some performance comparisons in Battlefield with ray tracing enabled and as expected, there was a dip in framerates.

"There's good news and bad news, obviously. The good news is that all the people claiming Battlefield 5 would need to be at 1080p and only get 30 fps on an RTX 2080 Ti (based on the early preview we got in August) were too quick to jump to conclusions. With DXR enabled and at the ultra setting, the 2080 Ti runs 1080p at over 90 fps, and even minimums stay above 60 fps. The RTX 2080 likewise averages 78 fps, with minimums still above 60. Only the RTX 2070 comes up short of a steady 60 fps at 1080p, and at 58 fps it's not a huge deficit," Jarred wrote.