Ray tracing & hybrid rendering
Ray tracing is a toolbox of effects — each has a different cost and denoising path; hybrid rendering is the norm.
Hybrid pipelines
Most games mix rasterization with selective ray-traced shadows, reflections, or global illumination. “RT Ultra” presets stack several effects — turning off one or two often recovers large FPS without ruining the look.
Denoising and stability
RT effects are noisy at low sample counts; denoisers hide grain but can shimmer or smear in motion. Driver and game updates change this over time — another reason to trust recent reviews.
VRAM and RT
RT structures consume additional memory. If you are already VRAM-constrained, RT presets are often the first thing to trim. See How much VRAM you need.