How to turn Ray-tracing on/off in Dead Space remake: All supported GPUs and more

Dead Space 2023 is Electronic Arts' modern take on the original title, launched over a decade ago. The much-anticipated remake of the sci-fi shooter classic made its way into the growing video game market on January 27, 2023.

Dead Space (2008) was a milestone launch for Electronic Arts: an exceptional horror-survival IP that impressed thousands of fans at its release.

Considering the franchise’s erstwhile success, the popular video game publisher released a remake that promises higher graphical immersion and utilizes modern technology to provide an upscale experience.

In addition to visual, audio, and gameplay improvements, Dead Space 2023 supports ray tracing, an advanced rendering technique that can enhance the game’s titular jump-scare scenes.

Take a look at how you can enable ray tracing in the game.

How can you enable or disable ray tracing in Dead Space Remake

Ray tracing technology has revolutionized the world of gaming, offering immersive lighting effects and realistic visual experiences. With its ability to simulate how light interacts with objects in a virtual environment, ray tracing has become a sought-after feature in modern video games. In the case of the highly anticipated Dead Space Remake (2023), players have the option to enable or disable ray tracing to enhance their gaming experience. However, understanding how to toggle this setting and considering its impact on performance is crucial. In this article, we will explore how to enable or disable ray tracing in Dead Space Remake and delve into the implications it may have on gameplay and system performance.

For those unaware, ray tracing is a graphical technique embedded in video games that can heavily enhance the way lighting effects are rendered. Most modern GPUs (graphic cards) support ray tracing, letting you experience advanced realism in video games.

To enable ray tracing in the game, you’ll have to enable Quality Mode by following these steps:

In the in-game settings, select the Display and Graphics option.
Locate the option to disable the Performance Mode. Toggle the switch to disable Performance Mode and enable Quality/Fidelity Mode.

You can then enable ray tracing in the game. To do so, follow these steps:

Under Settings > Display and Graphics, locate the option for Ambient Occlusion.
To enable Ray Tracing, select RTAO (Ray-traced Ambient Occlusion) for Ambient Occlusion.

Similarly, you can disable Ambient Occlusion to disable ray tracing.

All GPUs (graphics cards) that support ray tracing

Nvidia RTX GPUs (20, 30, or 40 series) or AMD Radeon RX GPUs (6000, 7000 series) support ray tracing. You can also enjoy basic ray tracing with older Nvidia GPUs (GTX 10, 16 series), but GTX cards aren't powerful enough to deliver stable in-game performance with ray tracing enabled.

The Dead Space remake supports Nvidia’s DLSS 2 and AMD’s FSR 2, which are image-enhancing and upscaling technologies that work with compatible graphics cards to provide a better in-game visual experience. These technologies also improve the ray tracing quality and help in performance optimization.

Dead Space 2023 may feature some intriguing upgrades over the original game. However, fans are not happy with the game’s performance optimization, especially on consoles.

As per reports, even the most advanced graphics cards from AMD and Nvidia have failed to offer a stable 60FPS experience in the game.

The situation deteriorates on consoles - the game refuses to run at 4K on the PlayStation 5 or the Xbox Series X. The resolution is capped at 1440p at 30FPS. The Xbox Series S consoles don't even support ray tracing in Dead Space 2023.

Ray tracing is a graphically-demanding setting, and enabling it in an inadequately-optimized game will affect your system’s ability to deliver frames.

Enabling the Quality/Fidelity Mode, which is required for ray tracing in Dead Space 2023, will cap the maximum FPS to 30 to increase resolution. Hence, you will have to sacrifice frames to experience ray tracing in the remake, regardless of how powerful your system is.