Touch grass? Not when AMD has whittled down ray tracing memory usage by 98% for these hardware-sapping bushes and trees
News Source
β’Mon, 21 Sep 2026 15:47:01 +0000
π° What Happened
AMD has cut the memory needed for ray-traced grass, bushes and trees by 98 percent, according to PC Gamer. Ray tracing makes light and shadows look real, but it is heavy on hardware.
Plants are some of the worst offenders, because a single scene can hold millions of leaves and branches.
Trimming memory use that much could let games run ray-traced greenery on weaker graphics cards. It may also help games handle bigger outdoor worlds.
π The Backstory
Ray tracing has been a selling point since Nvidia launched its RTX cards in 2018. AMD has worked to catch up on ray tracing performance.
Foliage is a known problem, because each leaf can need its own data for light and shadow. Forests therefore eat memory fast.
Companies and researchers look for shortcuts, such as grouping plants together or storing their data more cleverly. Every time memory use drops, more players can switch the feature on.
π― Why It Matters
Lower memory use means more players can enjoy realistic lighting without buying an expensive graphics card. That could speed up how fast ray tracing becomes normal.
AMD has cut the memory needed for ray-traced grass, bushes and trees by 98 percent, according to PC Gamer. Ray tracing makes light and shadows look real, but it is heavy on hardware.
Plants are some of the worst offenders, because a single scene can hold millions of leaves and branches.
Trimming memory use that much could let games run ray-traced greenery on weaker graphics cards. It may also help games handle bigger outdoor worlds.
Ray tracing has been a selling point since Nvidia launched its RTX cards in 2018. AMD has worked to catch up on ray tracing performance.
Foliage is a known problem, because each leaf can need its own data for light and shadow. Forests therefore eat memory fast.
Companies and researchers look for shortcuts, such as grouping plants together or storing their data more cleverly. Every time memory use drops, more players can switch the feature on.
Lower memory use means more players can enjoy realistic lighting without buying an expensive graphics card. That could speed up how fast ray tracing becomes normal.