Microsoft reveals DirectX 12 Ultimate for PC and Xbox Series X

Microsoft has just announced DirectX 12 Ultimate, a feature set which will power the next-generation of gaming experiences across Xbox Series X and Windows PC. 

In effect, DirectX 12 Ultimate is full-fat DirectX 12 support, meaning that DirectX 12 Ultimate support will only be available to modern GPU architectures like AMD RDNA 2 and Nvidia Turing (RTX-series only). These features will also be available on Xbox Series X, acting as a new baseline feature set for modern DirectX 12 gaming. 

What Does DirectX 12 Ultimate Include?

Raytracing

DirectX 12 Ultimate hardware must support DXR (DirectX Raytracing) 1.1, a feature set which will be available on AMD’s upcoming RDNA 2 graphics cards and Nvidia’s RTX Turing series GPUs  

VRS (Variable Rate Shading)

VRS is a feature which can be used to lower GPU load intelligently, enabling increased framerates by allowing developers to dedicate high precision rendering to where it is necessary. 

Mesh Shader

Mesh Shaders allow developers to better control the geometry pipelines of graphics hardware, allowing future games to offer more geometric precision without a huge performance cost. Like VRS, Mesh Shaders will enable increased hardware efficient in future gaming titles. 

Sampler Feedback

Sampler Feedback is a feature which will allow developers to get the most out of their memory, preventing memory waste by preventing unnecessary textures from staying in memory. This will allow developers to make more efficient use of GPU memory, and act as an “effective 2x or 3x (or higher) multiplier” according to Microsoft.