They show off their raytracing solution, built together with AMD for native DXR hardware support. 30 to 50 % more efficient (depending on workload/use case) than RTX implementation of DXR. RDNA2 was created exclusively for Microsoft and high power Radeon GPUs, includes deep learning AI for upscaling, animation interpolation (adding 60 fps support to 30 fps games) and highly varied NPC intelligence. Turn 10 is the powerhouse for it, they've been working exclusively on this tech for one and a half years and are showing off an unnamed racing game in the rain. Raytraced reflections everywhere, using a combination of ray traced light probes in low frequency parts of the image for global illumination and actual raytracing close to the near view frustrum. SSR is used wherever possible, with rayracing adding on top of that to get rid of SSR artifacts (show example of a slow camera pan over the Nurburgring, the switch between SSR and DXR is not noticeable until they show multi-colored dev mode which part is rendering what and how).
Next up: VRS. Playground added it to Forza Horizon 4, first iteration when they received devkits in December already increased frame rate by 32 %, no optimizations, just using VRS in parts with motion blur. Talk about how until now motion blur was a post process effect, VRS changes the way they design games (VRS as motion blur replacement). Lead engineer says they can reach 4K/120 today on XSX thanks to RDNA2 architecture and the combined effort of AMD and Microsoft.
Lisa Su and Phil Spencer talk about what's next for the industry. Deep dive into xCloud, something about special cloud features built into XSX and supported by RDNA2 GPUs. Then Azure raytracing. Powered by RDNA2, able to run full scene raytracing on any device as long as it is online and connected to Azure. Playground again. "This is what our second team has been working on over the past two years". Live demonstration using realtime connection to Azure. It's a forest. It's the most mind blowingly realistic forest you have ever seen. Just a camera pan through it, switching between local raytracing and Azure raytracing. The difference is staggering. Different seasons. Snow is forming, the deep sun is shining through every single snowflake on screen, casting diffuse shadows. Snow melts, forming puddles and streams, all lighted with a precision that was impossible until now. Just a glimpse into the future, not actually planned for their next game, local raytracing only for now.
Those are the relevant parts of the event. Before and after is Lisa Su talking about the potential of RDNA2, three new RDNA2 GPUs, highest end is 18.x TF for $999. Talks about TSMC and how amazing the partnership has been, 7nm+ faster than ever and 5nm tracking even faster. Stresses the partnership with Microsoft and the importance of their cloud business for the future. Expects 40 % growth YOY just from cloud.
Don't hate, you'll see for yourself in three days.
