AMD and Intel held two separate panels at GDC showcasing Microsoft’s upcoming DirectX 12 API, and giving more information on its performance, as reported by Scott Wasson.
AMD
D3D12 is primarily is a software change. Hardware model is same. Wanted to match API to what HW wants.
— Scott Wasson (@scottwasson) March 5, 2015
“The application is the arbiter of correct rendering.” Devs have opportunity to do things really right–or wrong. — Scott Wasson (@scottwasson) March 5, 2015
Fundamental DX12 structure is command lists. Bindings, objects. Blah blah. There is nothing here about Karl Barth or Jacques Derrida.
— Scott Wasson (@scottwasson) March 5, 2015
The DX12 application has responsibility for resource synchronization. API doesn’t manage. — Scott Wasson (@scottwasson) March 5, 2015
Sounds like DX12 will give game devs the chance to make huge headaches for GPU guys with the added control.
— Scott Wasson (@scottwasson) March 5, 2015
D3D12 exposes new bottlenecks. One dev found a PCIe limit due to x8 slot config. Fixed it when he switched to x16. — Scott Wasson (@scottwasson) March 5, 2015
DX12 is fast enough to expose problems one wouldn’t have seen before. Still, “this is a much better API, and you’re going to enjoy it.”
— Scott Wasson (@scottwasson) March 5, 2015
Max McMullen of Microsoft takes the podium. pic.twitter.com/1M0SfxflgZ — Scott Wasson (@scottwasson) March 5, 2015
DX12 demo of Ashes of the Singularity from Oxide Games. pic.twitter.com/TzcedZaqdr
— Scott Wasson (@scottwasson) March 5, 2015
Intel
.@DirectX12 can reduce power use or improve performance. pic.twitter.com/UOi1vtRQiP — Scott Wasson (@scottwasson) March 6, 2015
Deferred contexts in DX11 didn’t really cut the mustard. pic.twitter.com/J7qLfl8hTC
— Scott Wasson (@scottwasson) March 6, 2015
DX12 commands are basically free threaded. pic.twitter.com/l7owKaYuGS — Scott Wasson (@scottwasson) March 6, 2015
Current Intel GPUs can’t run graphics and compute simultaneously in DX12. pic.twitter.com/SUm8FtoNvP
— Scott Wasson (@scottwasson) March 6, 2015
DX12’s reduced overhead costs something: game devs must manage resources themselves, says @AndrewLauritzen — Scott Wasson (@scottwasson) March 6, 2015
Haswell IGP is limited to 2GB of virtual address space. @AndrewLauritzen says it’s “already fixed in Broadwell.” pic.twitter.com/EbtCUqdDI6
— Scott Wasson (@scottwasson) March 6, 2015
Intel also released a video showcasing the difference between DirectX 12 and DirectX 11 using FutureMark’s draw calls benchmark, and the performance of DirectX 12 on Intel chips using Unity and Unreal Engine 4. You can enjoy it below.
