DirectX 12 Ultimate: New version of the graphics interface on the way

You haven't really heard much from DirectX for a while, but now Microsoft is working with NVIDIA and AMD to launch a new version of the API.

The new version is called DirectX 12 Ultimate and is expected to combine five years of development and the latest next-gen graphics technologies in order to significantly improve and simplify the production of video games. This also includes recently implemented features such as DirectX Raytracing, Variable Rate Shading, Mesh Shaders and Sampler Feedback, all technologies that will also be used with the new PS5 and Xbox Series X consoles.

DX Ultimate is still compatible with hardware that does not support such features. Microsoft is hoping for an advantage, among other things, through a comprehensive graphics platform with numerous tools that can probably be used on PC as well as on consoles and should thus facilitate development.

DXR 1.1 is said to allow additional efficiency in the implementation of ray tracing, a major topic that NVIDIA is particularly concerned with with the RTX graphics cards, although ray tracing should also be used in the new consoles based on AMD processors. Variable rate shading allows different areas of a game scene to be rendered in different qualities without affecting the visible image quality, so that the performance can be significantly improved. Mesh shaders in turn make it possible to use a more efficient calculation of geometric details. Sampler feedback is also a feature for optimizing performance.

NVIDIA's GeForce RTX and AMD's RDNA-2 architecture are already optimized for DirectX 12 Ultimate. With the upcoming Windows 10 update 20H1, the corresponding features should be integrated into the operating system, and parallel drivers from the GPU manufacturers should be available in parallel.

DirectX 12 Ultimate on GeForce RTX – Information about the new graphics interface

With DirectX 12 Ultimate, Microsoft announced a new version of the graphics API, which now also supports next-gen features such as ray tracing, variable rate shading, mesh shaders and sample feedback.