Editing DirectX (section)

===DirectX 12===
{{See also|Direct3D#Direct3D 12|l1=Direct3D 12}}

DirectX 12 was announced by Microsoft at [[Game Developers Conference|GDC]] on March 20, 2014, and was officially launched alongside [[Windows 10]] on July 29, 2015.

The primary feature highlight for the new release of DirectX was the introduction of advanced [[Low-level programming language|low-level programming]] APIs for [[Direct3D 12]] which can reduce driver overhead. Developers are now able to implement their own command lists and buffers to the GPU, allowing for more efficient resource utilization through [[Parallel computing|parallel computation]]. Lead developer Max McMullen stated that the main goal of Direct3D 12 is to achieve "console-level efficiency on phone, tablet and PC".<ref name="Direct3D 12 API Preview">{{cite web |last1=McMullen |first1=Max |title=Direct3D 12 API Preview |url=https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Build/2014/3-564 |website=[[Channel 9 (Microsoft)|Channel 9]] |publisher=[[Microsoft]] |date=2 April 2014}}</ref> The release of Direct3D 12 comes alongside other initiatives for low-overhead graphics APIs including AMD's [[Mantle (API)|Mantle]] for AMD graphics cards, Apple's [[Metal (API)|Metal]] for iOS and macOS and [[Khronos Group]]'s cross-platform [[Vulkan (API)|Vulkan]].

Multiadapter support will feature in DirectX 12 allowing developers to utilize multiple GPUs on a system simultaneously; multi-GPU support was previously dependent on vendor implementations such as [[AMD CrossFireX]] or [[Scalable Link Interface|NVIDIA SLI]].<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.pcgamer.com/directx-12-will-be-able-to-use-your-integrated-gpu-to-improve-performance/ |title=DirectX 12 will be able to use your integrated GPU to improve performance |last1=Moore |first1=Bo |date=May 5, 2015 |magazine=PC Gamer |publisher=Future US |access-date=August 22, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphics-Cards/BUILD-2015-Final-DirectX-12-Reveal |title=BUILD 2015: The Final DirectX 12 Reveal |last1=Michaud |first1=Scott |date=May 4, 2015 |website=PC Perspective |access-date=August 22, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905111424/http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphics-Cards/BUILD-2015-Final-DirectX-12-Reveal |archive-date=September 5, 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://blogs.msdn.com/b/directx/archive/2015/07/29/windows-10-and-directx-12-released.aspx |title=Windows 10 and DirectX 12 released! |last1=Langley |first1=Bryan |date=July 29, 2015 |website=MSDN DirectX Developer Blog |publisher=Microsoft |access-date=August 22, 2015 |archive-date=August 2, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150802054522/http://blogs.msdn.com/b/directx/archive/2015/07/29/windows-10-and-directx-12-released.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://blogs.msdn.com/b/directx/archive/2015/05/01/directx-12-multiadapter-lighting-up-dormant-silicon-and-making-it-work-for-you.aspx |title=DirectX 12 Multiadapter: Lighting up dormant silicon and making it work for you |last1=Yeung |first1=Andrew |date=April 30, 2015 |website=MSDN DirectX Developer Blog |publisher=Microsoft |access-date=August 22, 2015 |archive-date=August 20, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150820072227/http://blogs.msdn.com/b/directx/archive/2015/05/01/directx-12-multiadapter-lighting-up-dormant-silicon-and-making-it-work-for-you.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref>
*''Implicit Multiadapter'' support will work in a similar manner to previous versions of DirectX where frames are rendered alternately across linked GPUs of similar compute-power.
*''Explicit Multiadapter'' will provide two distinct API patterns to developers. ''Linked GPUs'' will allow DirectX to view graphics cards in SLI or CrossFireX as a single GPU and use the combined resources; whereas ''Unlinked GPUs'' will allow GPUs from different vendors to be utilized by DirectX, such as supplementing the [[Graphics processing unit#Dedicated graphics processing unit|dedicated GPU]] with the [[Graphics processing unit#Integrated graphics|integrated GPU]] on the CPU, or combining AMD and NVIDIA cards. However, elaborate mixed multi-GPU setups requires significantly more attentive developer support.

DirectX 12 is supported on all [[Fermi (microarchitecture)|Fermi]] and later Nvidia GPUs, on AMD's [[Graphics Core Next|GCN]]-based chips and on Intel's [[Haswell (microarchitecture)|Haswell]] and later processors' graphics units.<ref name="anand12">{{cite web|url=http://www.anandtech.com/show/7889/microsoft-announces-directx-12-low-level-graphics-programming-comes-to-directx/2|title=AnandTech - Microsoft Announces DirectX 12: Low Level Graphics Programming Comes To DirectX|author=Ryan Smith|work=anandtech.com}}</ref>

At [[SIGGRAPH]] 2014, Intel released a demo showing a computer generated [[asteroid field]], in which DirectX 12 was claimed to be 50–70% more efficient than DirectX 11 in rendering speed and CPU power consumption.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Yeung|first1=Andrew|title=DirectX 12 – High Performance and High Power Savings|url=http://blogs.msdn.com/b/directx/archive/2014/08/13/directx-12-high-performance-and-high-power-savings.aspx|website=DirectX Developer Blog|publisher=[[Microsoft]]|date=13 August 2014|access-date=November 6, 2014|archive-date=August 13, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140813213912/http://blogs.msdn.com/b/directx/archive/2014/08/13/directx-12-high-performance-and-high-power-savings.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Lauritzen|first1=Andrew|title=SIGGRAPH 2014: DirectX 12 on Intel|url=https://software.intel.com/en-us/blogs/2014/08/11/siggraph-2014-directx-12-on-intel|website=Developer Zone|publisher=[[Intel]]|date=11 August 2014}}</ref>

''[[Ashes of the Singularity]]'' was the first publicly available game to utilize DirectX 12. Testing by ''[[Ars Technica]]'' in August 2015 revealed slight performance regressions in DirectX 12 over DirectX 11 mode for the [[GeForce 900 series|Nvidia GeForce 980 Ti]], whereas the [[AMD Radeon Rx 200 series|AMD Radeon R9 290x]] achieved consistent performance improvements of up to 70% under DirectX 12, and in some scenarios the AMD outperformed the more powerful Nvidia under DirectX 12. The performance discrepancies may be due to poor Nvidia driver optimizations for DirectX 12, or even hardware limitations of the card which was optimized for DirectX 11 serial execution; however, the exact cause remains unclear.<ref name="arsuk-dx12bench">{{cite web |url=http://arstechnica.co.uk/gaming/2015/08/directx-12-tested-an-early-win-for-amd-and-disappointment-for-nvidia/ |title=DirectX 12 tested: An early win for AMD, and disappointment for Nvidia |work=Ars Technica UK |author=Walton, Mark |date=August 19, 2015 |access-date=August 19, 2015}}</ref>

The performance improvements of DirectX 12 on the Xbox are not as substantial as on the PC.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/184768-head-of-xbox-warns-gamers-not-to-expect-dramatic-improvements-from-dx12/|title=Xbox One chief warns gamers not to expect dramatic improvements from DirectX 12 - ExtremeTech|work=ExtremeTech|access-date=30 September 2014}}</ref>

In March 2018, DirectX Raytracing (DXR) was announced, capable of real-time ray-tracing on supported hardware,<ref name=msblogdxr>{{cite web|url=https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/directx/2018/03/19/announcing-microsoft-directx-raytracing/|title=Announcing Microsoft DirectX Raytracing!|date=March 19, 2018|publisher=Microsoft}}</ref> and the DXR API was added in the Windows 10 October 2018 update.

In 2019 Microsoft announced the arrival of DirectX 12 to [[Windows 7]] but only as a plug-in for certain game titles.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pcworld.com/article/3365177/microsoft-ports-directx-12-to-windows-7.html|title=Microsoft ports DirectX 12 to Windows 7, giving some older PC games a performance boost|date=2019-03-13|website=PCWorld|language=en|access-date=2019-04-17}}</ref>