GoKawiilNvidia's RTX 20-series, launched eight years ago today, kicked off ray tracing on PCs
On this date in 2018, Nvidia released the GeForce RTX 2080 and RTX 2080 Ti, the first consumer GPUs built on the Turing architecture with dedicated hardware for real-time ray tracing. CEO Jensen Huang touted the launch as ushering in a new era of graphical realism, though the mainstream RTX 2070 didn't arrive until October and few games initially supported the new capability. The RTX 2080 outperformed the previous-generation GTX 1080 Ti but launched at a higher price of $799 for the Founders Edition.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
This launch marked the beginning of an industry-wide shift toward ray-traced rendering that continues to shape GPU design, pricing, and game development priorities today. It also set a pattern still visible in later Nvidia generations: bold marketing promises about a killer feature that takes years for game content and affordable performance to catch up to.
- The RTX 2080 and 2080 Ti debuted Nvidia's Turing architecture with real-time ray tracing hardware.
- Game support for ray tracing was sparse at launch, with titles like Battlefield V and Shadow of the Tomb Raider among early showcases.
- The RTX 2080 outperformed the GTX 1080 Ti but cost $100 more, foreshadowing rising GPU price trends.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Graphics Card — If you're intrigued by the ray tracing legacy that began with the RTX 2080, the RTX 4070 delivers on that original promise with vastly improved real-time ray tracing performance and efficiency. It's a great way to experience how far Nvidia's hybrid rendering tech has come since that 2018 debut, without the steep performance penalties of early Turing cards.
See NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Graphics Card on Amazon → Affiliate link — we may earn a commission on purchases, at no extra cost to you. Product picked by AI based on this article; it is not a tested recommendation.Source: tomshardware.com — Mark Tyson, 2026-09-20
Published there as: “The PC gaming ray tracing obsession began with the first RTX 20 graphics cards released on this day in 2018 — the GeForce RTX 2080 and 2080 Ti led the charge, but games were thin on the ground”
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