NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPUs to Support the DirectX 12 Ultimate API

[AleksandarK]

NVIDIA graphics cards, starting from the current generation GeForce RTX "Turing" lineup, will support the upcoming DirectX 12 Ultimate API. Thanks to a slide obtained by our friends over at VideoCardz, we have some information about the upcoming iteration of the DirectX 12 API made by Microsoft. In the new API revision, called "DirectX 12 Ultimate", it looks like there are some enhancements made to the standard DirectX 12 API. From the leaked slide we can see the improvements coming in the form of a few additions.

The GeForce RTX lineup will support the updated version of API with features such as ray tracing, variable-rate shading, mesh shader, and sampler feedback. While we do not know why Microsoft decided to call this the "Ultimate" version, it is possibly used to convey clearer information about which features are supported by the hardware. In the leaked slide there is a mention of consoles as well, so it is coming to that platform as well.


View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[_Flare]

Announcing DirectX 12 Ultimate - DirectX Developer Blog

It is time for DirectX to evolve once again. From the team that has brought PC and Console gamers the latest in graphics innovation for nearly 25 years, we are beyond pleased to bring gamers DirectX 12 Ultimate, the culmination of the best graphics technology we’ve ever introduced in an...

devblogs.microsoft.com

Finally:
Prior to DX12 Ultimate, there was limited overlap between these two cycles. Even when hardware was similar, the software interfaces were quite dissimilar, discouraging aligned adoption by developers. By unifying the graphics platform across PC and Xbox Series X, DX12 Ultimate serves as a force multiplier for the entire gaming ecosystem. No longer do the cycles operate independently! Instead, they now combine synergistically: when Xbox Series X releases, there will already be many millions of DX12 Ultimate PC graphics cards in the world with the same feature set, catalyzing a rapid adoption of new features, and when Xbox Series X brings a wave of new console gamers, PC will likewise benefit from this vast surge of new DX12 Ultimate capable hardware! The result? An adrenaline shot to new feature adoption, groundbreaking graphics in the hands of gamers more quickly than ever before!

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

It's great all that but I can't see Intel or AMD not supporting it too.
Cup holds water = obviously.

So the first time dx12 ultimate breaks ground there is a Nvidia tie to it, great Pr by them but to me dubious.

Why didn't we here about the egg first, no it's chicken n egg at same time.

 

[_Flare]

next XBOX (AMD top to bottom) has full support

 

[ARF]

Isn't it time to get rid of x86 and go with Cell or DEC Alpha ?

 

[Mistral]

Isn't it time to get rid of x86 and go with Cell or DEC Alpha ?

Nope, it's not.

 

[Upgrayedd]

It's great all that but I can't see Intel or AMD not supporting it too.
Cup holds water = obviously.

So the first time dx12 ultimate breaks ground there is a Nvidia tie to it, great Pr by them but to me dubious.

Why didn't we here about the egg first, no it's chicken n egg at same time.

You did HEAR it. It was called RTX. Then came DX12 Ult. stop trying to throw all that shade.

 

[Vayra86]

It's great all that but I can't see Intel or AMD not supporting it too.
Cup holds water = obviously.

So the first time dx12 ultimate breaks ground there is a Nvidia tie to it, great Pr by them but to me dubious.

Why didn't we here about the egg first, no it's chicken n egg at same time.

Maybe you oughta ask that question at r/AMD instead of here.

You're now asking the company that has its stuff in good order to explain why the rest is lagging behind. And note, despite AMD having RDNA2 announced with RT capability. And despite RT not being new since yesterday. The fact that an abstraction layer was available as DXR has been clear from the get go. About cups and holding water... the one holding it here is that these other companies haven't got a thing to show us and are actually not quite as far as they might make out to be. Including AMD, I reckon. We have the console announcements and some tech demo footage. I didn't see games. And it makes sense too. The ramp up time for RT has been short and making a half decent game on new technology and frameworks definitely takes more than 1-2 years, especially if it has to have some content to it. And a good tech demo is not a last minute patch to add some shiny lights.

The only change here is that now DX has its feature levels segregated and explained more clearly for end users. Ultimate serves that goal and none other, the feature levels still exist.

 

[ARF]

Nope, it's not.

This is like asking why the superior Betamax standard didn't win over VHS.

What's the reason for Intel to go BIG.little if not to do something like ARM ?

Nowadays, GCC, an amazing Open Source Software project, does a better job compiling for most RISC platforms than any proprietary compiler you can find. Also, the speed of modern processors has sort of closed the noticeability gap for a shitty compiler. If the program is simple enough, even if it was poorly compiled, it will still execute faster than any user would notice.

We are at a stage where RISC architecture is probably the best direction to head for desktop applications. It is already in your servers and your cell phones (MIPS, Power, ARM, etc...). It was in your Apple Computers and it worked well there for a very long time (but getting a Mac to run Windows was a better business move).
I can go on much longer about things like average [CPI] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycles_per_instruction) and pipelining (which is easier when all of your instructions are the same length, which is most common on RISC architectures), but at that juncture, I would suggest picking up a computer architecture book.

ARM is already looking to be the desktop processor of the future. It should be caught up to x86 soon and its licensing is desirable. Microsoft even suggested that Windows 8 might run on ARM. Everyone likes it for the power dissipation it offers, but the instruction set is where it shines. Linux and Android already run quite well on it by the way. Check out RaspberryPi if you want to run one yourself. They should be available soon.

x86 has a whole heap of instructions that aren't commonly used anymore.

x86 is quite a terrible architecture but x86-64 makes many drastic improvements.

Now, as per x86 itself: there are a few reasons it is still used. The main one is that it is historical; it has a lot of momentum. Same reason Linux is widely used. It's not because it's optimal, but everyone already uses it.

Here is why we are stuck on x86 cpu's : When IBM got with intel to provide the chip for their desktop, IBM needed a larger supply and to ensure a better supply line than intel could provide.
Intel was forced to contract production of their their processors out of competition selling and their other cpu companies who agreed to make chips of a intel design stopped production and development of their own cpu's. Intel used this fact against their competition as eventually they were able to scale up production. They pushed Intel as a household brand, and did not license designs to those with a x86 license. Slowly x86 chip companies were bought out by other companies or went under.
Leaving intel with the only mature game in town.

https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/opg0h

 

[Vayra86]

Isn't it time to get rid of x86 and go with Cell or DEC Alpha ?

You're still on that train despite the response you got the other day?

Are you a troll? Or did you just hear the bell ringing somewhere and think you're on to something.

Let me cut it short. You're not on to something and you're not smarter than the engineers.

 

[eidairaman1]

Maybe you oughta ask that question at r/AMD instead of here.

You're now asking the company that has its stuff in good order to explain why the rest is lagging behind. And note, despite AMD having RDNA2 announced with RT capability. And despite RT not being new since yesterday. The fact that an abstraction layer was available as DXR has been clear from the get go. About cups and holding water... the one holding it here is that these other companies haven't got a thing to show us and are actually not quite as far as they might make out to be. Including AMD, I reckon. We have the console announcements and some tech demo footage. I didn't see games. And it makes sense too. The ramp up time for RT has been short and making a half decent game on new technology and frameworks definitely takes more than 1-2 years, especially if it has to have some content to it. And a good tech demo is not a last minute patch to add some shiny lights.

The only change here is that now DX has its feature levels segregated and explained more clearly for end users. Ultimate serves that goal and none other, the feature levels still exist.

Considering both AMD and NV released Game Ready Drivers at the same time for the latest game out, Im sure AMD will follow suit. Also RT is in RDNA2 as well so i guess this year/2021cards (tentative RX 6000) will be Radrays.

 

[Vayra86]

Considering both AMD and NV released Game Ready Drivers at the same time for the latest game out, Im sure AMD will follow suit. Also RT is in RDNA2 as well so i guess this year/2021cards (tentative RX 6000) will be Radrays.

Raydeons!

 

[londiste]

Maybe you oughta ask that question at r/AMD instead of here.

Powering Next-Generation Gaming Visuals with AM... | Community

AMD has long been a strong supporter of next-generation, low-overhead graphics API technologies like Microsoft DirectX 12 that help take games to a whole

community.amd.com

 

[ARF]

You're still on that train despite the response you got the other day?

Are you a troll? Or did you just hear the bell ringing somewhere and think you're on to something.

Let me cut it short. You're not on to something and you're not smarter than the engineers.

It doesn't depend on the engineers, though. This is politics with Intel having the upper hand.

 

[renz496]

What about RDNA support this DX12 ultimate?

 

[londiste]

What about RDNA support this DX12 ultimate?

DX12 Ultimate new big features: DXR Raytracing, Variable Rate Shading, Mesh Shaders. RDNA supports none of those, RDNA2 does/will.

 

[MxPhenom 216]

What about RDNA support this DX12 ultimate?

Maybe not RDNA, but RNDA2 for sure

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

You did HEAR it. It was called RTX. Then came DX12 Ult. stop trying to throw all that shade.

No it was DX12Rt then day's later Nvidia Rtx , a year or so later it's dx 12 ultimate sponsored by Nvidia.
We all are well aware who makes Microsoft's console so believing AMD are behind the curve is a stretch to me, these are not weekly but 7 year generational plans.

I'm glad Nvidia show support(I own a Rtx2060(and a vega64) all you Red n green biased peeps)

Just amused it's implied them (Nvidia)alone.

@Vayra86 I am sure you meant Intel or Amds Reddit not just AMD, I tagged them both in since they're both part of DX12 ultimates future , clearly, not just Nvidia.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

So we have had a handful of games that support DX12 and now we have DX12 ultimate???


Why am i not surprised. Probably gonna be another 5 years before we see any DX12 Ultimate games and by that time DX13 will be just about to be released.

 

[londiste]

Just amused it's implied them (Nvidia)alone.

Videocardz also lists Intel (Gen11) as supporting Variable Rate Shading.
These are simply the facts right now.

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

Videocardz also lists Intel (Gen11) as supporting Variable Rate Shading.
These are simply the facts right now.

We're talking about the Op no?, I mean general knowledge is relevant but my post is in reply to the OP not societies knowledge of DX12 ulty.
Though with the bias shown in the Op with it being an Nvidia PR piece , the general public is going to get an ideology that somehow Nvidia are the only steering group in graphics.
Let's see how that pan's out.

 

[Vayra86]

No it was DX12Rt then day's later Nvidia Rtx , a year or so later it's dx 12 ultimate sponsored by Nvidia.
We all are well aware who makes Microsoft's console so believing AMD are behind the curve is a stretch to me, these are not weekly but 7 year generational plans.

I'm glad Nvidia show support(I own a Rtx2060(and a vega64) all you Red n green biased peeps)

Just amused it's implied them (Nvidia)alone.

@Vayra86 I am sure you meant Intel or Amds Reddit not just AMD, I tagged them both in since they're both part of DX12 ultimates future , clearly, not just Nvidia.

Well, until Intel brings a half capable gaming GPU I'm not holding my breath for that But you're right - even so AMD does catch the bigger attention here because they ARE in fact on the RT train. But we got served by londiste anyway, good to see AMD plays ball too.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Isn't it time to get rid of x86 and go with Cell or DEC Alpha ?

Huh? You really need to stop taking whatever it is you're taking, as you keep coming up with these totally outlandish suggestions all the time.

 

[Vayra86]

It doesn't depend on the engineers, though. This is politics with Intel having the upper hand.

I'll humour you one more time then. The quotes you extracted are not off the ball or anything. But this is one of those clickbaity question articles that really don't go anywhere. My personal approach to tech developments is always first and foremost an economical consideration. Is it economically viable or not? If its not, it just won't happen. In that sense ARM is making strides though. Yes. The performance does improve and yes, it does get better in a higher pace than x86-64 but for the vast majority that happens on the plane of efficiency, not so much raw power. It remains to be seen if you can have as versatile a CPU with ARM as you can with x86 while still being more efficient and, hopefully, also a smaller die.

I doubt that.

ARM's time will come when it comes and now is not it for high performance consumer stuff. It is already making moves on server, for example, but are we really waiting for 64 core monsters in a desktop? How does that relate to efficiency when you're not running a wide number of tasks but instead want maximum IPC? We know how hard the struggle for single core performance is, and how vital it is for realtime applications. Its a problem ARM has not tackled. Meanwhile, the demands in realtime applications are going up rapidly, with stuff like VR and high refresh gaming.

Also, you know x64 is from AMD? As such they have a huge stake in it too.

x86-64 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

Well, until Intel brings a half capable gaming GPU I'm not holding my breath for that But you're right - even so AMD does catch the bigger attention here because they ARE in fact on the RT train. But we got served by londiste anyway, good to see AMD plays ball too.

As I pointed out to him.

Other site's ran with DX12 ulti as the news piece.

Here it's Nvidia's pr piece first and foremost, laughable.