1. PROPOSAL – Virtual RTX Boot Device (Original Idea) and Proposal Nvidia RTX Shadow Device(new idea)

Developer Tools Nsight Graphics
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Dear Development Team,

I would like to share a simple but important idea that I believe is a missing feature in today’s GPU ecosystem.

The problem in short:
Games only enable RTX features (ray tracing, DLSS, etc.) if a physical RTX graphics card is installed in the PC.
However, many users still have older GPUs (for example GT640) which can display an image, but cannot provide RTX functions.

My idea:
During system boot, there should be an option to load a “Virtual RTX” device — similar to how PowerISO creates a virtual DVD drive.

  • The old GPU (e.g., GT640) would remain the display/output card.

  • The “Virtual RTX” would appear as a separate device in the system.

  • Games would detect and use this Virtual RTX as if it were a real RTX GPU.

  • The actual computation could be done in the cloud, on the local CPU, or any backend system.

  • The GT640 would only draw the final rendered image.

This would create a hybrid GPU system:

  • the old GPU handles display output,

  • the Virtual RTX handles RTX‑level computation,

  • and the game simply sees that “RTX is available”.

This is not about tricking old hardware, but about creating a new driver‑level solution that allows users to access RTX features even without owning a physical RTX card.

Why is this useful?

  • RTX features would work on older PCs.

  • Cloud GPUs would finally have a practical gaming use‑case.

  • Games would not fail or disable features when no RTX card is present.

  • More users could access modern graphics technologies.

  • The system would work like a virtual drive — but for GPUs.

I believe this is a missing step in current GPU architecture, and it could be a major improvement in how cloud and local GPUs work together.

Thank you for your time.
Best regards,
Gyerko K. B.
2. PROPOSAL – NVIDIA RTX Shadow Device (New Idea)
Dear Development Team,

I would like to propose a new concept that expands on the idea of virtual GPU functionality: the NVIDIA RTX Shadow Device (RTX‑SD).

What is the RTX Shadow Device?
The RTX‑SD is a driver‑level virtual RTX layer that operates invisibly in the background.
It does not appear as a physical GPU, does not require PCIe hardware, and does not require a real RTX card.
Yet, games would still detect RTX capabilities and use them normally.

How it works:

  1. A game requests RTX features (ray tracing, DLSS, global illumination, etc.).

  2. The driver reports that these features are available.

  3. The RTX‑SD module intercepts the requests.

  4. The computation is performed by a backend system (cloud GPU, CPU, or any compute resource).

  5. The driver returns the completed results to the game.

  6. The local GPU (even an old one like GT640) only displays the final image.

This creates a hardware‑independent RTX system, where RTX functionality is provided by software and backend compute, not by the physical GPU.

Why is this important?

  • RTX features become available on any PC, even with very old GPUs.

  • Cloud GPUs gain a new, practical gaming purpose.

  • Developers can rely on RTX features being available on a much wider range of systems.

  • Users gain access to modern graphics without needing expensive hardware upgrades.

  • It enables a new hybrid model: local display + remote RTX compute.

Why this is different from existing solutions:
Unlike virtual machines or cloud gaming, the RTX‑SD integrates directly into the driver layer.
It behaves like ShadowPlay or DLSS — but instead of recording or upscaling, it provides full RTX functionality.

This could be a major step forward in GPU virtualization and hybrid rendering.

Thank you for considering this idea.
Best regards,
Gyerko K. B.

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Hi @gyerkokocsisbalint, this forum is about using the tool called Nsight Graphics.