Microsoft unveils DirectX 12 Ultimate

Martin Brinkmann
Mar 20, 2020
Windows
|
13

Microsoft's DirectX development team unveiled DirectX 12 Ultimate yesterday and praised it as the "best graphics technology" it ever introduced. The company announced DirectX 12 back in 2014.

Microsoft's upcoming Xbox Series X supports DirectX 12 Ultimate; on PCs, it is necessary to run Windows 10 version 2004, out in May 2020, or higher, to use the new functionality.

Devices with the DirectX 12 Ultimate logo will support "all next generation graphics hardware features" including "DirectX Raytracing, Variable Rate Shading, Mesh Shaders and Sampler Feedback". Microsoft wants the logo to become a criteria for PC gamers. It sees DirectX 12 Ultimate as an "additive initiative" that "provides gamers with assurance that their hardware meets the highest bar for feature support in next-generation games".

Current hardware may not support all features of DirectX 12 Ultimate but that won't impact compatibility according to Microsoft. Microsoft confirmed in the announcement that current hardware can be used to run next-generation games that use DirectX 12 Ultimate features.

Gamers may not experience all the visual benefits that DirectX 12 Ultimate offers in that case but the games will run on non-DirectX 12 Ultimate hardware according to Microsoft.

Though such hardware won’t provide the visual benefits of the new features, it can still provide a very compelling gaming experience on next generation games, depending on the specifics of the hardware.

Microsoft highlights the following improvements that found their way into DirectX 12 Ultimate:

  • DirectX Raytracing 1.1, an incremental addition to version 1.0 that adds these major capabilities:
    • GPU Work Creation now allows Raytracing
    • Streaming engines can more efficiently load new raytracing shaders as needed
    • Inline raytracing support
  • Variable Rate Shading, allows developers to vary a game's shading rate.
  • Mesh Shaders to build more "detailed and dynamic worlds".
  • Sampler Feedback for better visual quality, shorter load time, and less stuttering.

DirectX 12 Ultimate unifies the "graphics platform across PC and Xbox Series X" and that offers many advantages according to Microsoft. For one, feature adoption should be faster.

Microsoft's last attempt at pushing software through hardware, by making DirectX 10 Windows Vista exclusive, backfired heavily on the company. Only a handful of games made use of the new technology because Vista's attractiveness was not very high at the time.

Developers find a "getting started guide" on Microsoft's DirectX Developer Blog.

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Microsoft unveils DirectX 12 Ultimate
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Microsoft unveils DirectX 12 Ultimate
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Microsoft's DirectX development team unveiled DirectX 12 Ultimate yesterday and praised it as the "best graphics technology" it ever introduced.
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Comments

  1. PoxRedmondNot said on March 24, 2020 at 3:56 am
    Reply

    I’d rather expect that Vulkan will get all that DX has feature wise the same that is available in any DX/Marketing Branding lock-in to Redmond’s 10 Prison Colony. So some Linux/Vulkan arrangement and less total system breakage via my control over my own PC/Laptop hardware/drivers and update scheduling.

  2. seven fingered howler monkey said on March 22, 2020 at 1:44 am
    Reply

    ULTIMATE! IT SAYS ULTIMATE SUPER SIZE ME MAN BRAH BRO WHATEVER

    BTW, no microchip for me, I don’t care if I’m left being homeless and eating my own human waste. I’ll never take the chip.

    PS: google for: bill gates id2020 – read for yourself

    1. Jake said on March 22, 2020 at 8:59 pm
      Reply

      I don’t hardly blame you. Microsoft can’t even provide a stable computing platform that doesn’t randomly delete the customer’s files or downgrade itself without warning after 30 years, so I’ll be damned if I’m ever gonna let them stick something inside of my body!

      https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/11/08/windows_10_activation/

      1. yawn said on March 23, 2020 at 9:39 pm
        Reply

        Yup, Microsoft randomly deletes customer’s files because the world is flat and we never went to the moon.

  3. Anonymous said on March 21, 2020 at 5:15 pm
    Reply

    vulkan is going to kill directx. ultimate, mega, supreme marketing releases of it won’t change the inevitable. microsoft will eventually realise that it’s game over on this monopoly they enjoyed for years, fork vulkan and rename it to directx 13.

  4. VulkanFuture!! said on March 21, 2020 at 7:55 am
    Reply

    Vulkan OpenSource all the way!!!

  5. Anonymous said on March 21, 2020 at 12:00 am
    Reply

    m$, all hat and no cattle

  6. Spartan said on March 20, 2020 at 8:45 pm
    Reply

    LOL! Seriously! When will it be released though and how to download it or would it come through Windows updates?

    1. Jeremy said on March 21, 2020 at 11:09 am
      Reply

      The complete set of DirectX 12 Ultimate features will be available in the next retail version of Windows 10, version 2004 (also called or 20H1)..

  7. Ultimate Megatron said on March 20, 2020 at 6:50 pm
    Reply

    …..uh just call it version 13 *faceslap*

    1. Mike Wazowski said on March 20, 2020 at 7:25 pm
      Reply

      Superstition. They don’t want to associate the number X to a new product.

  8. Yooge Nissy said on March 20, 2020 at 6:42 pm
    Reply

    “Microsoft’s last attempt at pushing software through hardware, by making DirectX 10 Windows Vista exclusive, backfired heavily on the company. Only a handful of games made use of the new technology because Vista’s attractiveness was not very high at the time.”

    The very same thing happened with the original directX 12 + windows 10, and it was a far more drastic case. The number of games supporting directX12 to this day has been laughably low, and the number of games actually requiring and being exclusive to the directX 12 API, can be counted on your fingers… Microsoft shills and ‘influencers’ went as far to lobby for the deletion and complete removal of the Wikipedia page, containing a list of directX 12 titles. Burn in hell, MicroTrash…
    Vulkan is da futor!

    https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/List_of_DirectX_12_games

  9. Yuliya said on March 20, 2020 at 6:32 pm
    Reply

    They bring a new WDDM version on every Win10 release:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Display_Driver_Model
    DX features seem to be tied to it. Not sure what’s so “Ultimate” about this one.

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