Can Directx 12 Save Microsoft?

By Author: Anita Bern
Total Articles: 20
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Let's be frank: Microsoft's status in PC gaming is not really that commendable. Could the newest DirectX 12 perhaps change that? Each version until now has brought something new to the table: this one promises a paradigmatic shift - to boost performance on a hardware level - and not just a bunch of new features meant to improve visual fidelity. DirectX 12 features the newest version of Direct3D, more efficient and faster than ever before!

DirectX 12 is also going to be supported by the widest range of GPUs until now: we may expect DirectX 12 to be compatible with most of newer Nvidia's DX11 lineup, AMD's GCN, and Graphic Core Next lineup. Microsoft is promising not only improved performances, but a significant reduction in power consumption at the same time. In one demonstration, DirectX 12 has reduced the power consumption of today's power-hungry GPUs for up to fifty percent!

This latest version of Microsoft's graphics API, DirectX 12 was introduced this spring at the annual Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. Hopes were high for DirectX to become the dominant standard in the industry, as it would provide ...
... the currently lacking infrastructure for more advanced applications. One other thing which may be important for the future success of DirectX 12 is that it spans PCs, laptops, XBox One (obviously, the rumors that this console is not going to be capable of running DirectX 12 without a hardware upgrade turned out not to be true), tablets and phones!

Additionally, NVIDIA is going to match Microsoft OS support for DirectX 12. When it recently announced Maxwell, its 10th generation GPU architecture, it has cited using the latest DirectX 12 advances among its major new graphic capabilities.

For gamers, new DirectX 12 means that there is not going to be a need for the so-called dumbed down ports any more, as game developers are now given a great deal of control over the GPU and CPU functions. There are other graphic features supported, which are important for game developers, such as conservative raster or raster ordered views.

And, as mentioned before, lower than ever level of access hardware is going to allow applications to do all of this at a greatly reduced energy cost, while drawing unimaginably complex scenes, thanks to the significantly improved CPU utilization. In conclusion, all this is going to empower game developers to create new, truly extraordinary games!

http://directx12download.com follows the newest developments over DirectX 12 as they unfold.