Minecraft RTX beta is now available: Here's how to get in

If you've been waiting for Minecraft's RTX beta to arrive, then today is a big day for you. NVIDIA and Mojang have sent the Minecraft RTX beta live after announcing a launch date for it earlier in the week. As the name of the beta suggests, this test will give RTX graphics cards owners the chance to play Minecraft with ray tracing enabled.As NVIDIA explained earlier in the week, this beta includes six creator worlds that showcase the capabilities of ray tracing within Minecraft. All six of those creator worlds are available in the Minecraft Marketplace beginning today, so be sure to check those out in addition to making your own worlds.

Getting into the Minecraft RTX beta is a little bit of an involved process, but if you've participated in any other Minecraft beta on Windows 10, you should already be familiar with what to do. If you've never participated in a beta, joining involves signing up through the Xbox Insider program.

First, head over to the Microsoft Store and search for the Xbox Insider Hub app. Download, install, and then launch the app, then navigate to "Insider content" and select "Minecraft Beta." From there, all you need to do is select "Join," and you should be good to go. Keep in mind that you need an NVIDIA RTX card in your rig to run this beta, and you should also grab the latest drivers for your card, which NVIDIA released yesterday.

Assuming you tick all of those boxes, you should be able to join the Minecraft RTX beta – you'll know you're on the right version if the release number in the bottom right corner of the main menu screen reads "1.15.0.8." More information can be found over on the Minecraft website, but otherwise, we'll just keep an eye out for news on when ray tracing might be entering full release for Minecraft.