DirectX 12 to Be Unveiled At GDC 2014
by Ryan Smith on March 5, 2014 8:34 PM EST
Picking up from where we left off with last week’s discussion of GDC presentations, Microsoft has released a short teaser regarding their GDC presentation. The previously mentioned “DirectX: Evolving Microsoft's Graphics Platform” session isn’t just a session on low-level APIs, as we first surmised, but will in fact be the formal unveiling of DirectX 12.
Just what DirectX 12 will contain remains to be seen. Given the session descriptions for this and other sessions, low-level (ish) interfaces for Direct3D seems likely. But it’s not clear if there are updates in store for any of the other components of DirectX.
Historically speaking, Microsoft has been overdue for a new DirectX announcement. Other than the various point updates over the last couple of years, Microsoft hasn’t had a major DirectX announcement since DirectX 11 in 2009, with DirectX 10 coming 3 years before that in 2006.
In the meantime it’s interesting to note who’s listed as a participating partner in Microsoft’s tease. The big 3 – AMD, Intel, and NVIDIA – are included, but so is Qualcomm. Qualcomm of course is not a player in the traditional dGPU or x86 iGPU spaces, but they are a significant vendor in the Windows on ARM space, having their SoCs in products such as the Nokia Lumia tablets. Consequently, with Microsoft continuing to push into the tablet space with Windows RT, it stands to reason that some of DirectX 12's functionality will be tuned for tablets too.
Anyhow, we’ll have more details on March 20th when Microsoft makes their formal presentation.
Source: Microsoft
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xaml - Thursday, March 6, 2014 - link
Thanks for that.Your recommendation for a card with a better ratio would be a custom-cooled 290X, I suppose?
Naris17 - Thursday, March 6, 2014 - link
Probably be better at this point to wait until the next node shrink and/or a price war. The bitminers of the world have inflated the R9 cards of the world to the point that NVIDIA probably doesn't feel any heat to reduce prices in any meaningful way. Honestly unless you're doing a slew of QHD monitors or something 4K there really doesn't seem to be a reason to get the N level cards when N+1 or N+2 are much more affordable and can play almost everything well.inighthawki - Thursday, March 6, 2014 - link
I found that after the 290X was released the 780 dropped to a more respectable price level. You can get a 780 on newegg now for $500, which is a pretty good deal to me. The biggest issue is we don't really have a good timeline for the next set of GPUs. Nvidia and AMD are usually pretty secretive with their announcements. Rumors in the past have often been inaccurate.You should ask yourself what you need. 12 months from now DX 12 might be out, but then you might keep putting it off. Technology advances too quickly to always have the best you can get. I bought a 780 myself about a month or two before AMD anounced their new cards and Mantle in BF4. Prior to that, it was anyone's guess. At some point you have to put your foot down an invest, otherwise you'll just be in a loop of waiting for the next best thing ;)
I can't really give you any advice beyond that. I don't know your financial situation, or how badly you want/need a new video card, etc. That part is up to you. I can only try to put the future in perspective for you.
Hope that helps.
meacupla - Wednesday, March 5, 2014 - link
Watch DX12 only be for Win9.Notmyusualid - Thursday, March 6, 2014 - link
Dam - beat me to it!But I would have said Windows 8 at least, as that seems to be Micro$oft's only focus of attention of late... So much so there are rumors they will even give Win 8 away, free, or at near no cost.
To hell with us customers....
nathanddrews - Thursday, March 6, 2014 - link
If Microsoft believes that DX12 will be incentive for gamers to upgrade to Windows 8/9, I think they'll lose that bet.Harag - Thursday, March 6, 2014 - link
There are a ton of features/reasons to use windows 8 for gaming. They don't need DX for that, it just adds to the list.r3loaded - Thursday, March 6, 2014 - link
Doubtful. DX10 was Vista-only due to the massive changes made to the entire graphics stack (drivers in userspace, DWM for compositing and rendering the GUI to GPUs etc). Backporting it to XP would have been too large a task. DX11 on the other hand has been backported to Vista in a platform update as Windows 7 and 8 are closely related to Vista's architecture. I'd expect DX12 to be backported to at least Windows 7 and 8.Mr Perfect - Thursday, March 6, 2014 - link
You have to consider how MS handled DX11.2 though. They made it a Windows 8 exclusive for no other apparent reason then to push people from 7 to 8. The question now is will they try again with the bigger DX12 carrot, or have they given up on tempting people over and support the mass of people using 7?B3an - Thursday, March 6, 2014 - link
Finally! Been waiting for DX12 forever, it's long overdue and it better have a ton of new features along with lower level access. I don't care if it requires a new OS i always upgrade to the latest anyway.