NVIDIA NCA-AIIO Exam - Topic 2 Question 16 Discussion

Actual exam question for NVIDIA's NCA-AIIO exam

Question #: 16
Topic #: 2

[All NCA-AIIO Questions]

Which type of GPU core was specifically designed to realistically simulate the lighting of a scene?

ATensor Cores

BCUDA Cores

CRay Tracing Cores

Show Suggested Answer

Suggested Answer: C

Ray Tracing Cores, introduced in NVIDIA's RTX architecture, are specialized hardware units built to accelerate ray-tracing computations---simulating light interactions (e.g., reflections, shadows) for photorealistic rendering in real time. CUDA Cores handle general-purpose parallel tasks, and Tensor Cores optimize matrix operations for AI, but only Ray Tracing Cores target lighting simulation.

(Reference: NVIDIA GPU Architecture Whitepaper, Section on Ray Tracing Cores)

by Pok at Apr 02, 2026, 07:15 PM

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Tina

13 days ago

I thought it was CUDA Cores?

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Carman

19 days ago

Definitely Ray Tracing Cores!

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Bettina

1 month ago

I'm torn between CUDA Cores and Ray Tracing Cores. I know CUDA Cores are more general-purpose, but lighting simulation sounds like something Ray Tracing Cores would handle.

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Rodolfo

1 month ago

I vaguely recall a practice question about GPU cores, and I think Ray Tracing Cores were highlighted for their ability to simulate light.

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Vernell

2 months ago

I feel like we covered this in class, and CUDA Cores were mentioned a lot, but I don't think they focus on lighting specifically.

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Halina

2 months ago

I think it might be Ray Tracing Cores, but I'm not entirely sure. I remember something about them being used for realistic lighting effects.

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