In the 90s you could say rasterization is done via software that (typically) doesn't require any specific hardware. It may be faster on specific hardware, but i

In the 90s you could say rasterization is done via software that (typically) doesn't require any specific hardware. It may be faster on specific hardware, but it's feasible in most CPUs. The whole 3DFX thing is marketing. More seriously, RTX adds custom acceleration hardware (fixed function hardware ray box and ray triangle intersection). Whether or not this hardware is required (or enough) for feasible mainstream adoption of real-time raytracing in commercial games is up in the air, but at the very least it turns making a performant, GPU accelerated, real-time raytracer from very hard and only usable in toy applications to relatively straightforward and almost usable in real applications. The RTX name is marketing but the hardware does add some value. As with anything once (if?) raytracer hardware is cheaper, more powerful and more ubiquitous it could have major effects on real-time rendering.