Nvidia debuts Portal: Prelude RTX, and you can play it for free
Nvidia is launching Portal: Prelude RTX, a prequel to the main game based on a mod. It's packed full of RTX goodies, including DLSS 3 and ray tracing.
Lynk
Nvidia has just opened up its bag of RTX 40-series goodies and unleashed all of them on Portal: Prelude RTX, a community remaster of one of the most popular Portal mods.
The game features full ray tracing, as well as support for DLSS 3. To top it off, it also utilizes Nvidia’s Reflex and RTX IO tech to improve performance. You can play it for free, but only if you already own the original version of Portal.
NvidiaNvidia’s DLC for Portal, titled Portal RTX, has been on Steam for a while. Now, a remake of an unofficial mod will also become available at 12 p.m. PT on July 18. First released in 2008, it takes place before the main game. Nvidia teases that Portal: Prelude serves up an “extremely challenging” 10-hour campaign that comes with a lot of interesting stuff to sink your teeth into. Expect to see new gameplay mechanics, 19 previously unseen test chambers, and a fully fleshed-out story complete with voice acting.
Although it may have started as a successful mod, Portal: Prelude certainly sounds like a proper game. It was created by modders with the use of Nvidia’s RTX Remix creator toolkit, which is a modding platform that lets creators revamp classic games to take advantage of Nvidia’s RTX tools, including ray tracing and DLSS. The end result is a collaboration between Nvidia and the original creator of Portal Prelude, Nicolas Grevet (NykO18).
The game is said to make the most of what Nvidia has to offer in this generation of GPUs. The ever-impressive DLSS 3 is here in full force, ramping up frame rates while Reflex cuts back on latency. Every frame has been upgraded in a group effort by a team of five modders, and it now features high-resolution imagery with realistic ray tracing and lighting, as well as enhanced models. It’s like Portal, but on steroids.
Nvidia teases huge performance boosts thanks to the use of its RTX product stack (DLSS 3, Reflex, RTX IO). The game is said to run up to 5x faster on average when played at 4K with max settings, which, Nvidia claims, translates to 80 frames per second (fps) or more. This only applies to the RTX 4080 and the RTX 4090, though. RTX IO itself improves texture loading speeds by 5x and also takes up 44% less space on your drive.
NvidiaIn addition to the game itself, Nvidia is launching a new Game Ready Driver. It also adds some optimizations for other games, such as Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, and boosts the way RTX IO and Microsoft DirectStorage in Windows work in these two titles.
The game is up for grabs — if you already own Portal, you can download the new prequel on Steam. Nvidia hasn’t mentioned any availability for the game elsewhere, so this seems to be the only option.
Nvidia also teased that the 16GB version of RTX 4060 Ti is coming later this month, which seemingly confirms the theory that Nvidia itself is not making a Founders Edition of the card.
Editors' Recommendations
Did Nvidia just fix the RTX 4090’s melting power connectors? Should you buy Nvidia’s RTX 4060 or RTX 4060 Ti? Nvidia’s RTX 4060 might not be such a disappointment after all Nvidia’s RTX 4060 might arrive sooner than expected AMD might crush Nvidia with its laptop GPUs — but it’s silent on the desktop front
Monica is a UK-based freelance writer and self-proclaimed geek. A firm believer in the "PC building is just like expensive…
Here are 5 GPUs you should buy instead of the RTX 4060 Ti
Let's not beat around the bush -- Nvidia's recent RTX 4060 Ti isn't one of the best graphics cards out right now. It doesn't even come close.
Still, it's the second cheapest graphics card in this generation, and for Nvidia, it's the most affordable by far. Because of that, you might be tempted to buy it to include it in a budget-oriented PC build. Well, this is my cue to tell you that you probably shouldn't get the RTX 4060 Ti, but there are several other GPUs that are more worth your money.
A lukewarm welcome
Why the Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti simply isn’t enough for 2023
The RTX 4060 Ti isn't one of the best graphics cards you can buy. It's hard to even call it a good graphics card, with reports suggesting that there has been "zero" interest in Nvidia's latest GPU. I've tested the card, and I was going to review it, but this is a GPU that challenges the status quo.
If you visit several sites that review graphics cards, you'll find that scores are all over the place. Some are praising the card for solid power efficiency improvements and Nvidia's Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) at a lower price, while others are focusing on its limited VRAM and the implications that has in modern games.
Literally no one wants to buy Nvidia’s RTX 4060 Ti
Nvidia’s RTX 4060 Ti graphics card may have only just launched, but the outlook for Team Green’s latest GPU does not look bright at all. According to one report, there is apparently “zero” interest in the card from consumers, with many retailers expecting absolutely feeble sales.
The news comes from hardware YouTuber Moore’s Law is Dead, who is considered to have some strong sources in the industry. According to their latest video, Nvidia’s budget GPU could be in deep trouble.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25750033/STKS487_Antitrust_STK093_Google_D_2.jpg)
