We Go Oldschool at the Nvidia Quake II RTX Event

Peter Donnell / 5 years ago

Last night, we headed into London for a very special Nvidia Quake II event. It wasn’t a big event, and it wasn’t open to the public, so we’re sorry you didn’t get an invite. However, it did allow us to get hands-on with the latest Nvidia SUPER graphics cards and learn a little bit about the latest games to support Ray Tracing!

NVIDIA Quake II RTX

The location didn’t seem anything special, at least at first. However, going for a bit of a bunker/arch was a stroke of genius. The whole place reminds you of the hallways of Quake II. Well, at least as close as you can get for a LAN party in the centre of London. It worked well though, and the ambience was superb.

The Games

Nivida set up a whole bunch of systems for us to play. They were obviously running the Quake II RTX game that we’ve seen already. You can actually play the demo here, or the full game if you have the original on your Steam. Of course, you will need an RTX class graphics card to see those glorious Ray Tracing effects. However, they also had a few other things to play, such as the upcoming Control; the spiritual successor to Quantum Break. However, Quake II was the primary focus of their retro-tastic theme.

Getting Old School

The snacks were on point. A range of Space Raiders, Sherbet Dib Dabs, and a range of “we’re teenagers again” alcohol; WK Blue, Smirnoff Ice, etc. However, that wasn’t the only thing that threw us back to our Quake II days.

They had built a bunch of custom Scan 3XS systems featuring the latest RTX graphics cards. OK, we didn’t have those back in the day. However, the PC cases are pretty special.

They ordered a bunch of classic Chieftec Dragon DG01 PC cases. This gave us that retro-modern look that really nailed it, to be honest. They still featured RTX cards, water cooling, and Corsair power supplies, so a bit above the old Nvidia Riva 128 chipset from 1997.

New School Vs Old School

So the game may be from 1997, but the graphics of the new RTX version of Quake II are certainly not. Sure, it looks “retro” but the lighting technology is bleeding-edge tech. What’s really caught our eye though were the SUPER cards. We’ve already reviewed a few. However, the as-yet-unreleased Nvidia RTX 2080 SUPER was here too. We really can’t wait to test that one out!

Ray Tracing

Seeing the Ray Tracing in action is always a joy. Sure, we’ve had plenty of time tinkering with it in the office too. However, the blend of flagship RTX hardware, old-school games, and retro snacks at a LAN party is something we’ll always be happy to get out of the office for. Thank you Nvidia for inviting us along for the evening!

We’re busy testing even more amazing RTX SUPER cards for review right now, as well as another one of our Ray Tracing features! If you’re too eager, you can check out our old ones and current RTX reviews below. I’ll add in a link to the new ones as soon as they’re ready too.