Nvidia’s currently the only GPU in town for DirectX 12 Ultimate

Microsoft’s DirectX 12 Ultimate API is here, a new standard which will define the next generation of gaming hardware across PC and Xbox Series X.

While DirectX 12 Ultimate is a new standard, Nvidia fans will recognise its feature set, DXR (DirectX Raytracing), Variable Rate Shading and Mesh Shaders to the forefront of the next-generation experience. 

That’s right, Nvidia delivered these features on its RTX series of graphics hardware back in 2018, making Nvidia the only graphics card manufacturer that offers DirectX 12 Ultimate compliant hardware. Yes, AMD has their RDNA 2 series graphics cards on the way, but as it stands, only Geforce offers the next-generation feature set. 

Microsoft’s DirectX 12 Ultimate feature set will act as the baseline for the next-generation graphics, removing some of the fragmentation issues of DirectX 12 by splitting the API into two parts. These parts are baseline DirectX 12, and DirectX 12 Ultimate compliant.  By Defining the DirectX 12 Ultimate feature set, Microsoft has allowed developers to target specific features across Xbox Series X and high-end gaming PCs, something which is sure to bolster the adoption of raytracing, mesh shaders and variable rate shading across PC and Xbox Series X. 

While it is worth noting that Nvidia’s GTX-series Turing graphics cards aren’t DirectX 12 Ultimate compliant, given their lack of raytracing acceleration hardware. Even so, this announcement has confirmed that Nvidia has been ready for the next generation of gaming for almost two years. 

Microsoft’s DirectX 12 Ultimate standard is proof that Nvidia made the right move by delivering its RTX feature set back in 2018. That said, only time will tell if Geforce’s early RTX hardware will stand the test of time in a world of RDNA 2 powered consoles and competing AMD-powered raytracing hardware.