DirectX Raytracing Gets Clustered Geometry for Higher FPS and Up to 90% VRAM Savings
Microsoft has released one of the most significant updates to its DirectX Raytracing (DXR) since its debut in 2018.
Why am I seeing this Ranked on source trust — TechPowerUp
It ranks mainly on source trust: TechPowerUp is the most reliable outlet we track on this subject, and is the only one on the story so far.
Single-sourced. No second organisation has confirmed it yet.
Link-outLink-out, because only one organisation carries it and no first-party source is on it. Link-out means we point at the publisher and say nothing of our own.
| Factor | Weight | Score | Contribution | Where it came from |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Corroboration | 0.35 | 0.39 | +0.135 32% | 1 independent org on the story. Tier-3 aggregators never corroborate — they can show something is circulating, never that it is true. |
| Source trustleads | 0.25 | 0.80 | +0.200 47% | TechPowerUp is the highest-trust source on this story. Trust is taken from the best source, not averaged. |
| Pickup rate | 0.20 | 0.00 | +0.000 0% | One counted organisation, so there is no spread to measure — nothing has picked this up to set a rate. |
| Freshness | 0.20 | 0.45 | +0.090 21% | Halves every 10 hours from the newest item on the story. This is the only factor that rewards a story for nothing more than being recent. |
Corroboration counts distinct organisations, once each, and only from tiers 1 and 2. Freshness halves every 10 hours, so this ranking is a snapshot and will differ at the next build.
Microsoft has released a major update to DirectX Raytracing that introduces clustered geometry and partitioned top-level acceleration structure. Clustered geometry breaks down animated and generated geometry into simple, reusable triangle clusters, allowing ray tracing to use the same detailed geometry as standard rasterization rather than simplified proxies. This ensures ray-traced shadows and reflections match what appears on screen.
The update addresses performance demands in open-world games through partitioned TLAS, which lets ray tracing focus on geometry changes in specific regions while keeping acceleration-structure data elsewhere unchanged. This approach reduces both VRAM and compute requirements. The two features can be used together or independently without restrictions.
The changes represent a significant evolution for DirectX Raytracing since its introduction in 2018. The update aims to improve frame rates and reduce memory consumption in ray-traced scenes by streamlining how acceleration structures are built and maintained during rendering.
What happened
Microsoft has released one of the most significant updates to its DirectX Raytracing (DXR) since its debut in 2018. This update officially introduces clustered geometry and partitioned top-level acceleration structure (PTLAS). With clustered geometry, Microsoft envisions scenes where all animated and generated geometry is broken down into simple, reusable clusters of triangles. Typically, scenes repeatedly build large bottom-level acceleration structures, which incur additional compute costs. By using clustered geometry, ray tracing can utilize full detailed geometry used for standard rasterization instead of proxies, ensuring that ray-traced shadows and reflections match the currently visible scene.
How this story arrived
Ordered by when each source was first observed, which is what the velocity figure is computed from. Publishers backdate; observed order does not.
- 01 Techpowerup first seen DirectX Raytracing Gets Clustered Geometry for Higher FPS and Up to 90% VRAM Savings
Overclock clusters coverage from independent sources and grades it automatically. The figures above are computed, not editorial. This page summarises and links to reporting by the outlets named — follow the links for the original work.