NVIDIA Turing Architecture
The NVIDIA Turing Architecture, introduced in August 2018, represents a significant leap in GPU design, bringing real-time ray tracing and AI-powered rendering to consumer and professional graphics. Named after the mathematician Alan Turing, this architecture powered the GeForce RTX 20 Series GPUs and included innovations such as Ray Tracing Cores and Tensor Cores. Turing introduced support for real-time ray tracing, a rendering technique that delivers lifelike lighting, reflections, and shadows, and brought hardware-level acceleration for ray tracing to consumer GPUs for the first time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_(microarchitecture)
The Turing Architecture also integrated second-generation Tensor Cores, which accelerated AI-based tasks such as Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS). This technology leverages machine learning to upscale images, improving performance without sacrificing visual quality. Turing GPUs also introduced GDDR6 memory, delivering higher bandwidth for demanding applications. These features collectively made Turing a foundational architecture for modern gaming, enabling titles like Battlefield V and Shadow of the Tomb Raider to showcase next-generation graphics capabilities. https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/news/geforce-rtx-20-series-announcement/
In addition to gaming, the Turing Architecture found applications in professional and enterprise workflows. GPUs based on Turing, such as the NVIDIA Quadro RTX series, offered enhanced performance for tasks like 3D rendering, video editing, and data science. By combining real-time ray tracing, AI acceleration, and high memory bandwidth, Turing GPUs set new standards in visual computing and established the foundation for subsequent architectures like Ampere and Ada Lovelace. https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/design-visualization/quadro/rtx/