Nvidia has released version 1.9.0 of its RTX Path Tracing developer kit, delivering up to a 20% performance gain over the previous release. The update introduces support for Windows on Arm systems, expanding full path tracing tools to laptops running Arm processors like the RTX Spark series. The software remains free to download for developers working on DirectX 12 and Vulkan graphics pipelines.
The software functions as a technology demo and development framework combining Nvidia RTX SDK technology with DLSS. Version 1.9.0 replaces rasterization entirely with pure path traced lighting for both DirectX 12 and Vulkan. Nvidia reports that the new build delivers a 20% framerate increase over version 1.8.1 while maintaining or improving visual output. The gain comes from reducing CPU frame times in scenes with heavy object instances, alongside lower memory demands for opacity micromaps.
Nvidia added asynchronous compute queues to streamline parallel workloads. This change processes DLSS Ray Reconstruction inputs at the same time the previous frame handles post processing and ray reconstruction tasks. The update also marks the first time this development software runs natively on Windows on Arm. Game creators can now test pure path tracing directly on Arm hardware such as RTX Spark notebooks without translation layers.
Source: github
