Basemark GPU DX12 VS Vulkan Performance Review

1080p Testing

Be default Basemark GPU only offers PC users the ability to run the benchmark’s standard test at 4K High settings using the DirectX 12, Vulkan or OpenGL APIs. Further options are only available when we look at the benchmarks custom mode, which allows us to select lower resolutions and the tool’s mobile-oriented medium preset. 

1080p High Testing

To best look at the limitations of OpenGL, we decided to test this benchmark at a lower resolution than Basemark GPU’s default 4K option, placing more strain on the user’s processor. 

Like our previous Basemark GPU testing, we found that OpenGL offers significantly lower scores/performance than Vulkan, though we have also found that in most cases Vulkan and DirectX 12 offer similar performance on all of our tested graphics cards, though Radeon GPUs appear to prefer DirectX 12. 

At 1080p our Radeon graphics cards sit behind their Nvidia counterparts, though they remain close enough to make Nvidia’s victory a slim one. On Open GL we see nigh-identical scores on both our RX 580 and RX Vega 56 and similar results on our GTX 1070 and GTX 1080-based setups, making these scores appear CPU limited. OpenGL prefers Nvidia hardware, but Vulkan and DirectX 12 surpass it in all situations.