AMD has introduced a new ray tracing technology called the Tetrahedral Cage Approach. This method aims to reduce video memory usage by allowing developers to perform ray tracing around unique cage structures within animations, rather than relying on traditional cluster-based methods.
In a technical demonstration using a Radeon RX 9070 XT graphics card with 16GB of GDDR6 memory, the new technology rendered complex environments like dense grass and trees at 60 frames per second in 1080p resolution. The memory footprint was reduced to 1.7GB, compared to over 80GB required by traditional cluster-based approaches.
The company confirmed that future consoles, specifically the next-generation systems from Microsoft and Sony, will continue to utilize AMD hardware. Both upcoming platforms are expected to feature custom processors based on the RDNA 5 graphics architecture and Zen 6 CPU architecture.
While the technology is not yet implemented in commercial games, it offers a potential solution for developers to create detailed environments without excessive memory demands. This development is particularly relevant given the ongoing DRAM shortage that has caused hardware prices to rise.
