Recently the folks over at Eurogamer did a few benchmarks using AMD and Nvidia hardware on the latest build of the DirectX 12 API on Windows 10. Microsoft recently released the free upgrade to millions with the aim of getting 1 Billion devices upgraded to Windows 10 within 3 years. They also announced that they managed to rake in 14 Million upgrades within 24 hours, which is just under 160 upgrades per second.
| Entry Level CPUs | GeForce GTX 750 Ti | Radeon R7 260X | GeForce GTX 970 | Radeon R9 290X |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| i3 4130 DX11 Single Thread | 1.1m | 0.7m | 1.2m | 0.7m |
| i3 4130 DX11 Multi-Thread | 1.2m | 0.7m | 1.2m | 0.7m |
| i3 4130 DX11 Mantle | – | 7.6m | – | 7.9m |
| i3 4130 DX12 | 8.1m | 8.5m | 9.6m | 8.8m |
| FX 6300 DX11 Single Thread | 1.1m | 0.8m | 1.1m | 0.8m |
| FX 6300 DX11 Multi-Thread | 1.3m | 0.7m | 1.3m | 0.7m |
| FX 6300 DX11 Mantle | – | 10.1m | – | 10.1m |
| FX 6300 DX12 | 7.7m | 12.6m | 12.5m | 12.7m |
With Windows 10 comes the next giant leap for gaming, DirectX 12. The new API inspired by Mantle, gives PC and Xbox One even lower level graphics and performance access for games which are CPU based. Eurogamer tested this new API on the Nvidia GT750Ti which is a favourite amongst gamers, and the Radeon R9 290X. When pared with relatively ‘ancient’ processors namely the Core i3 4130, FX 6300 and FX 8350 they measured a definite improvement in draw calls to the GPU by an effective 1600%. AMD saw the biggest improvement over Nvidia which is good to see, since AMD have struggled to keep up with the efficient Nvidia hardware and drivers. AMD hardware is also being used in the Xbox One, which uses a custom build DirectX 12 ready APU.
| Mainstream CPUs | GeForce GTX 750 Ti | Radeon R7 260X | GeForce GTX 970 | Radeon R9 290X |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| i5 4690K DX11 Single Thread | 1.4m | 1.1m | 1.3m | 1.1m |
| i5 4690K DX11 Multi-Thread | 2.1m | 1.0m | 2.1m | 1.0m |
| i5 4690K DX11 Mantle | – | 13.0m | – | 13.2m |
| i5 4690K DX12 | 8.1m | 14.1m | 14.5m | 14.7m |
| FX 8350 DX11 Single Thread | 1.2m | 0.9m | 1.2m | 0.9m |
| FX 8350 DX11 Multi-Thread | 2.1m | 0.8m | 2.1m | 0.8m |
| FX 8350 DX11 Mantle | – | 12.9m | – | 13.3m |
| FX 8350 DX12 | 7.7m | 14.1m | 16.0m | 14.8m |
Compared to the current standard graphics API’s namely DirectX11, this is a stellar improvement in general. Gamers will be able to get the performance out of their hardware they deserve, and developers will finally be able to build massive worlds without having to worry about CPU/GPU bottlenecks in your hardware.
With Windows 10 being pushed out by the millions per day, we should see DirectX 12 become the defacto standard when it comes to games. Dice’s Johan Andresson said they’re in discussions to make DirectX 12 the minimum requirement for games going forward. It wouldn’t be surprising to see the next Battlefield which is slated for release in 2016 use the amazing new API from Microsoft.
Although DirectX11 won’t be going anywhere soon (Xbox One currently is using a Multi-threaded DX11 API) until all hardware is updated, it’s good to see Microsoft and their hardware partners embrace the future. All gamers, whether you’re on Xbox One or Windows 10 will benefit greatly from this update.
