Use rasterization when you need efficient real-time graphics and its lighting is good enough; add selective ray tracing when effects such as reflections or shadows justify the cost; choose path tracing when fuller light transport matters more than maximum speed. Many real-time games combine these approaches rather than choosing just one.
What each rendering method does
Rasterization
Rasterization projects scene geometry onto the screen and processes the resulting pixels to determine their displayed colors. Its efficiency makes it a widely used baseline for interactive graphics. It is not obsolete: it can deliver the performance a game needs and can work alongside ray tracing. NVIDIA’s overview of rasterization and ray tracing describes the distinction.
Ray tracing
Ray tracing follows rays through a scene to find intersections with objects. Depending on the renderer and settings, it can represent effects including reflections, refractions, shadows, and indirect lighting. An application may use it for selected effects rather than tracing every part of the image.
Path tracing
Path tracing is a more comprehensive ray-based approach to light transport. By tracing paths through multiple light interactions and taking samples, it can represent a broader range of lighting behavior. That added work increases computational demand; in real-time use, limited samples can also make the image noisy.
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Why games often combine the methods
The choice is not necessarily rasterization versus ray tracing. A hybrid renderer can use rasterization to determine what is visible from the camera, then use ray tracing for selected lighting effects. NVIDIA’s real-time engine integration guidance discusses this approach for reflections, diffuse global illumination, shadows, and ambient occlusion.
This lets a game spend ray-tracing work where the visual benefit is useful while keeping other rendering work on an efficient rasterized path. The balance varies by game, scene, implementation, and settings; a mode’s name alone does not tell you its performance or image quality.
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Which should you choose?
Choose rasterization for performance and responsiveness
Start with rasterization if the game’s rasterized lighting looks good to you and your priority is meeting an interactive frame-rate target. It is also a sensible fallback if a more demanding mode causes unacceptable performance or visual artifacts.
Choose selective ray tracing for specific effects
Try a ray-tracing option when you care about a particular improvement, such as more convincing reflections or shadows, and the frame-rate trade-off is acceptable. If the game offers separate controls for effects, compare them one at a time so you can tell which change is worth its cost.
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Choose path tracing for fuller lighting when speed is less important
Path tracing is the stronger candidate when broad light-transport fidelity is the priority and your hardware and workload can accommodate the extra rendering effort. It may suit slower, image-focused rendering better than a demanding real-time game setting. Real-time implementations can rely on denoising and reuse of prior lighting information to reduce noise, but these processes can affect the reconstructed image. NVIDIA’s discussion of interactive path tracing explains the sampling and denoising challenge.
How to compare modes in a game
Compare the actual options in the game, not just the labels. Test the same scene and viewpoint where possible, and consider:
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- Visual effect: Does the mode improve lighting or a specific effect you notice?
- Performance: Does it keep frame rate or rendering time within your target?
- Noise and reconstruction: Do you see grain, smearing, or other artifacts, particularly in motion?
- Implementation: Is the option selective ray tracing, path tracing, or a hybrid? What effects does the game actually trace?
- Compatibility: Does your hardware and software support the mode in this particular game?
There is no universal performance threshold or ranking that applies to every scene, renderer, and device. Judge the trade-off in the game and settings you plan to use.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Hardware and support
Real-time ray-tracing workloads can use GPU hardware acceleration, but the required hardware depends on the application and its implementation. NVIDIA’s real-time ray-tracing overview describes its RTX technologies; it does not establish that every ray-tracing or path-tracing workload requires an NVIDIA card. Check the game’s own system requirements and graphics options before making a hardware decision.
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