• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

Is DirectX 12 Worth the Trouble?

Joined
Oct 2, 2004
Messages
13,791 (1.93/day)
If you calm down and stop the rant, I think the main focus should be on building game engines natively on D3D12 instead of D3D9 or 10/11. Unless you have an Unreal Engine 5, for example, or Frostbite 3 build with that in mind, all the games are going to suck on D3D12.

That's not how things work. For an engine, there is no "native" thing. You're confusing game engine and renderer (render path). They are not the same thing. But they do work together to output image you see in the end. There may be things that explicitly depend on game engine support and are hard to do later, but majority isn't.
 
Joined
Oct 22, 2014
Messages
13,210 (3.80/day)
Location
Sunshine Coast
System Name Black Box
Processor Intel Xeon E3-1260L v5
Motherboard MSI E3 KRAIT Gaming v5
Cooling Tt tower + 120mm Tt fan
Memory G.Skill 16GB 3600 C18
Video Card(s) Asus GTX 970 Mini
Storage Kingston A2000 512Gb NVME
Display(s) AOC 24" Freesync 1m.s. 75Hz
Case Corsair 450D High Air Flow.
Audio Device(s) No need.
Power Supply FSP Aurum 650W
Mouse Yes
Keyboard Of course
Software W10 Pro 64 bit
And if you really want to say Nvidia can't do DX12, what are the fastest 2-3 single gfx cards right now?
Being the fastest or most powerful, does not equate to good Dx12 performance.
It's like building a bigger V8 to compare with high tech turbo 4's they may win a race, but they brute force it, no refinement.
 
Joined
Jul 9, 2015
Messages
3,413 (1.06/day)
System Name M3401 notebook
Processor 5600H
Motherboard NA
Memory 16GB
Video Card(s) 3050
Storage 500GB SSD
Display(s) 14" OLED screen of the laptop
Software Windows 10
Benchmark Scores 3050 scores good 15-20% lower than average, despite ASUS's claims that it has uber cooling.

bug

Joined
May 22, 2015
Messages
13,226 (4.06/day)
Processor Intel i5-12600k
Motherboard Asus H670 TUF
Cooling Arctic Freezer 34
Memory 2x16GB DDR4 3600 G.Skill Ripjaws V
Video Card(s) EVGA GTX 1060 SC
Storage 500GB Samsung 970 EVO, 500GB Samsung 850 EVO, 1TB Crucial MX300 and 2TB Crucial MX500
Display(s) Dell U3219Q + HP ZR24w
Case Raijintek Thetis
Audio Device(s) Audioquest Dragonfly Red :D
Power Supply Seasonic 620W M12
Mouse Logitech G502 Proteus Core
Keyboard G.Skill KM780R
Software Arch Linux + Win10
Being the fastest or most powerful, does not equate to good Dx12 performance.
It's like building a bigger V8 to compare with high tech turbo 4's they may win a race, but they brute force it, no refinement.
Well, the bigger V8 will most likely outlast that high tech turbo, so there's that :D
 
Joined
May 29, 2012
Messages
514 (0.12/day)
System Name CUBE_NXT
Processor i9 12900K @ 5.0Ghz all P-cores with E-cores enabled
Motherboard Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Master
Cooling EK AIO Elite Cooler w/ 3 Phanteks T30 fans
Memory 64GB DDR5 @ 5600Mhz
Video Card(s) EVGA 3090Ti Ultra Hybrid Gaming w/ 3 Phanteks T30 fans
Storage 1 x SK Hynix P41 Platinum 1TB, 1 x 2TB, 1 x WD_BLACK SN850 2TB, 1 x WD_RED SN700 4TB
Display(s) Alienware AW3418DW
Case Lian-Li O11 Dynamic Evo w/ 3 Phanteks T30 fans
Power Supply Seasonic PRIME 1000W Titanium
Software Windows 11 Pro 64-bit
DX12 for Deus-Ex Mankind Revolution was a pretty huge difference in performance and frame stuttering. I could actually crank up the graphics options even higher than the DX11 render path, and not lose any frame rate at all. The framerate itself was also smoother.

I've been impressed with my limited experience with DX12 games so far.
 
Joined
Feb 19, 2009
Messages
1,151 (0.21/day)
Location
I live in Norway
Processor R9 5800x3d | R7 3900X | 4800H | 2x Xeon gold 6142
Motherboard Asrock X570M | AB350M Pro 4 | Asus Tuf A15
Cooling Air | Air | duh laptop
Memory 64gb G.skill SniperX @3600 CL16 | 128gb | 32GB | 192gb
Video Card(s) RTX 4080 |Quadro P5000 | RTX2060M
Storage Many drives
Display(s) M32Q,AOC 27" 144hz something.
Case Jonsbo D41
Power Supply Corsair RM850x
Mouse g502 Lightspeed
Keyboard G913 tkl
Software win11, proxmox
Benchmark Scores 33000FS, 16300 TS. Lappy, 7000 TS.
DX12 for Deus-Ex Mankind Revolution was a pretty huge difference in performance and frame stuttering. I could actually crank up the graphics options even higher than the DX11 render path, and not lose any frame rate at all. The framerate itself was also smoother.

I've been impressed with my limited experience with DX12 games so far.

Same here, huge benefits in DX12 on my old entertainment system, it was like making a 1055T suddenly live a year longer.

The xeon system doesn't have a decent graphicscard in it and it really really hates putting one in it too, bluescreens so it is a cpu brute with 10 cores 20 thread.

hence my 1055T gaming system which runs everything I want up to about this point.. somehow... it's really crap.. but still games...
 

the54thvoid

Intoxicated Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Dec 14, 2009
Messages
12,460 (2.38/day)
Location
Glasgow - home of formal profanity
Processor Ryzen 7800X3D
Motherboard MSI MAG Mortar B650 (wifi)
Cooling be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4
Memory 32GB Kingston Fury
Video Card(s) Gainward RTX4070ti
Storage Seagate FireCuda 530 M.2 1TB / Samsumg 960 Pro M.2 512Gb
Display(s) LG 32" 165Hz 1440p GSYNC
Case Asus Prime AP201
Audio Device(s) On Board
Power Supply be quiet! Pure POwer M12 850w Gold (ATX3.0)
Software W10
Fury X actually beats 980Ti AND 1070 in the linked benchmarked (scroll down to DirectX12)

Read my post. I clearly say stock 980ti is a limp fish. But most OC to 20% gains. The Gaming X 980ti is faster than Fury X. I use my res of 1440p.
 
Joined
May 22, 2010
Messages
2,516 (0.49/day)
Location
Canada
System Name m1dg3t | DeathBox | HairPi 3
Processor 3570k @ 4.0 1.15v BIOS | q9550 @ 3.77 1.325v BIOS
Motherboard Asrock z77e iTX | p5q Dlx 2301 BIOS
Cooling Custom Water | D-14 & HR-03gt | Passive HSF
Memory Samsung MV-3V4G3D 4g x 2 @ 1866 1.35v | OcZ RpR 2g x 4 @ 1067 2.2v
Video Card(s) MSi 7950 tf3 @1000 / 1350 | Asus 5870 V2 @ 900 / 1275
Storage Adata sx900 256Gb / WD 2500 HHTZ | WD 1001 FALS x 2
Display(s) BenQ gw2750hm | 46" Sharp Quatron
Case BitFenix Prodigy - m0dd3d | Antec Fusion Remote MAX
Audio Device(s) Onboard Toslink > Yamaha HTR 6290 | Xonar HDAV1.3 > Yamaha DSP z7
Power Supply Ocz mXp700w | Ocz zx850w | Cannakit 5v 2.5a
Mouse Logitech G700s | Logitech G9x - Cable Repaired
Keyboard TT Meka G1 - Black w Cherry Blacks| Logitech G11
Software Win7 Home | Xp sp3 & Vista ultimate | Raspbian
Benchmark Scores Epeen!! Who needs epeen??
For the amount of money developers are charging for games they have a lot of balls to complain it's "too much work". I am not content with complacency.

Seems more like the industry is trying to hamstring advancement. In the name of profits. Again. IMHO
 
Joined
Nov 23, 2016
Messages
80 (0.03/day)
Why are they using possibly the worst Graphics card at DX12 to show DX12 performance ...
 
Joined
Jul 21, 2016
Messages
137 (0.05/day)
Processor AMD Ryzen 5 5600
Motherboard MSI B450 Tomahawk
Cooling Alpenföhn Brocken 3 140mm
Memory Patriot Viper 4 - DDR4 3400 MHz 2x8 GB
Video Card(s) Radeon RX460 2 GB
Storage Samsung 970 EVO PLUS 500, Samsung 860 500 GB, 2x Western Digital RED 4 TB
Display(s) Dell UltraSharp U2312HM
Case be quiet! Pure Base 500 + Noiseblocker NB-eLoop B12 + 2x ARCTIC P14
Audio Device(s) Creative Sound Blaster ZxR,
Power Supply Seasonic Focus GX-650
Mouse Logitech G305
Keyboard Lenovo USB
I don't know, should not we wait at least until Shader Model 6.0 is released, or isn't it supposed be part of DirectX 12, before we or the devs bury DX12?
 

eidairaman1

The Exiled Airman
Joined
Jul 2, 2007
Messages
40,435 (6.58/day)
Location
Republic of Texas (True Patriot)
System Name PCGOD
Processor AMD FX 8350@ 5.0GHz
Motherboard Asus TUF 990FX Sabertooth R2 2901 Bios
Cooling Scythe Ashura, 2Ă—BitFenix 230mm Spectre Pro LED (Blue,Green), 2x BitFenix 140mm Spectre Pro LED
Memory 16 GB Gskill Ripjaws X 2133 (2400 OC, 10-10-12-20-20, 1T, 1.65V)
Video Card(s) AMD Radeon 290 Sapphire Vapor-X
Storage Samsung 840 Pro 256GB, WD Velociraptor 1TB
Display(s) NEC Multisync LCD 1700V (Display Port Adapter)
Case AeroCool Xpredator Evil Blue Edition
Audio Device(s) Creative Labs Sound Blaster ZxR
Power Supply Seasonic 1250 XM2 Series (XP3)
Mouse Roccat Kone XTD
Keyboard Roccat Ryos MK Pro
Software Windows 7 Pro 64
Nixxess is a tool.
 

bug

Joined
May 22, 2015
Messages
13,226 (4.06/day)
Processor Intel i5-12600k
Motherboard Asus H670 TUF
Cooling Arctic Freezer 34
Memory 2x16GB DDR4 3600 G.Skill Ripjaws V
Video Card(s) EVGA GTX 1060 SC
Storage 500GB Samsung 970 EVO, 500GB Samsung 850 EVO, 1TB Crucial MX300 and 2TB Crucial MX500
Display(s) Dell U3219Q + HP ZR24w
Case Raijintek Thetis
Audio Device(s) Audioquest Dragonfly Red :D
Power Supply Seasonic 620W M12
Mouse Logitech G502 Proteus Core
Keyboard G.Skill KM780R
Software Arch Linux + Win10
For the amount of money developers are charging for games they have a lot of balls to complain it's "too much work". I am not content with complacency.

Seems more like the industry is trying to hamstring advancement. In the name of profits. Again. IMHO
Try to minimize the effort and maximize profits, isn't this what any industry is about?

What's missing from the picture is what is the amount of extra effort needed to get those improvements from DX12. Cause if you're spending 10% extra time to get 10% better performance, that's one thing. If you're spending 100% extra time to get 10% better performance, that's another. I'm a developer and I have an idea, but I won't speculate.
 
Joined
May 22, 2010
Messages
2,516 (0.49/day)
Location
Canada
System Name m1dg3t | DeathBox | HairPi 3
Processor 3570k @ 4.0 1.15v BIOS | q9550 @ 3.77 1.325v BIOS
Motherboard Asrock z77e iTX | p5q Dlx 2301 BIOS
Cooling Custom Water | D-14 & HR-03gt | Passive HSF
Memory Samsung MV-3V4G3D 4g x 2 @ 1866 1.35v | OcZ RpR 2g x 4 @ 1067 2.2v
Video Card(s) MSi 7950 tf3 @1000 / 1350 | Asus 5870 V2 @ 900 / 1275
Storage Adata sx900 256Gb / WD 2500 HHTZ | WD 1001 FALS x 2
Display(s) BenQ gw2750hm | 46" Sharp Quatron
Case BitFenix Prodigy - m0dd3d | Antec Fusion Remote MAX
Audio Device(s) Onboard Toslink > Yamaha HTR 6290 | Xonar HDAV1.3 > Yamaha DSP z7
Power Supply Ocz mXp700w | Ocz zx850w | Cannakit 5v 2.5a
Mouse Logitech G700s | Logitech G9x - Cable Repaired
Keyboard TT Meka G1 - Black w Cherry Blacks| Logitech G11
Software Win7 Home | Xp sp3 & Vista ultimate | Raspbian
Benchmark Scores Epeen!! Who needs epeen??
Try to minimize the effort and maximize profits, isn't this what any industry is about?

What's missing from the picture is what is the amount of extra effort needed to get those improvements from DX12. Cause if you're spending 10% extra time to get 10% better performance, that's one thing. If you're spending 100% extra time to get 10% better performance, that's another. I'm a developer and I have an idea, but I won't speculate.

If that's what satisfies the market, yes. Consumers have the power. NOT the corporations. If a pile of poop is what it takes to make you happy, that is all you're going to get.

TBH I think the fact that the smaller player is pushing for these advancements while the larger player is ignoring/dismissing them is quite telling. Let the hardware guys focus/work on hardware and let the software guys make the absolute best use of it. We all win. :)
 

W1zzard

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
May 14, 2004
Messages
27,049 (3.71/day)
Processor Ryzen 7 5700X
Memory 48 GB
Video Card(s) RTX 4080
Storage 2x HDD RAID 1, 3x M.2 NVMe
Display(s) 30" 2560x1600 + 19" 1280x1024
Software Windows 10 64-bit
What's missing from the picture is what is the amount of extra effort needed to get those improvements from DX12. Cause if you're spending 10% extra time to get 10% better performance, that's one thing. If you're spending 100% extra time to get 10% better performance, that's another.
It's more like you spend 50% addtional time (over the time spent for the DX11 engine you already have), just to not be worse .. reach the same performance.

Ubisoft had a (highly technical) presentation, on porting Anvil Engine to DX12. Their first internal versions, where they just did a simple port from DX11 to DX12 without touching on any features, they got 200% worse frametimes.
 
Joined
Nov 11, 2016
Messages
3,065 (1.13/day)
System Name The de-ploughminator Mk-II
Processor i7 13700KF
Motherboard MSI Z790 Carbon
Cooling ID-Cooling SE-226-XT + Phanteks T30
Memory 2x16GB G.Skill DDR5 7200Cas34
Video Card(s) Asus RTX4090 TUF
Storage Kingston KC3000 2TB NVME
Display(s) LG OLED CX48"
Case Corsair 5000D Air
Power Supply Corsair HX850
Mouse Razor Viper Ultimate
Keyboard Corsair K75
Software win11
Rise of the Tomb Raider is probably the best optimized DX12 title out there so when the developer said DX12 is not worth it it's probably true. I would rather play game when it launch rather than 3 months later for 10% better performance, maybe for gamers on a budget who wait for steam sale DX12 is rather intriguing.
 
Joined
Feb 19, 2006
Messages
6,270 (0.94/day)
Location
New York
Processor INTEL CORE I9-9900K @ 5Ghz all core 4.7Ghz Cache @1.305 volts
Motherboard ASUS PRIME Z390-P ATX
Cooling CORSAIR HYDRO H150I PRO RGB 360MM 6x120mm fans push pull
Memory CRUCIAL BALLISTIX 3000Mhz 4x8 32gb @ 4000Mhz
Video Card(s) EVGA GEFORECE RTX 2080 SUPER XC HYBRID GAMING
Storage ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 1TB 3D NAND NVMe,Intel 660p 1TB m.2 ,1TB WD Blue 3D NAND,500GB WD Blue 3D NAND,
Display(s) 50" Sharp Roku TV 8ms responce time and Philips 75Hz 328E9QJAB 32" curved
Case BLACK LIAN LI O11 DYNAMIC XL FULL-TOWER GAMING CASE,
Power Supply 1600 Watt
Software Windows 10
It's more like you spend 50% addtional time (over the time spent for the DX11 engine you already have), just to not be worse .. reach the same performance.

Ubisoft had a (highly technical) presentation, on porting Anvil Engine to DX12. Their first internal versions, where they just did a simple port from DX11 to DX12 without touching on any features, they got 200% worse frametimes.
:eek::eek::eek:o_Oo_Oo_O:eek::eek::eek: Wow that's not encouraging.
 
Joined
Feb 16, 2017
Messages
476 (0.18/day)
Developers sure like to kick the sheets around when it comes to this stuff. I don't know why they're still pouting about not having super fine control over the hardware when they know they're going to dump a lot on nVidia and AMD to fix in the drivers anyway.

Consumer complains about Ports

Now Porting studio complain about porting from DX11 to DX12.

Stop porting and make DX12 the standard
Add in Vulkan support alongside DX12 and everyone wins.
 
Joined
Nov 4, 2005
Messages
11,689 (1.73/day)
System Name Compy 386
Processor 7800X3D
Motherboard Asus
Cooling Air for now.....
Memory 64 GB DDR5 6400Mhz
Video Card(s) 7900XTX 310 Merc
Storage Samsung 990 2TB, 2 SP 2TB SSDs and over 10TB spinning
Display(s) 56" Samsung 4K HDR
Audio Device(s) ATI HDMI
Mouse Logitech MX518
Keyboard Razer
Software A lot.
Benchmark Scores Its fast. Enough.
Well, the bigger V8 will most likely outlast that high tech turbo, so there's that :D

No, they usually don't. The high tech turbo will outlast big V8s at the track, besides being lighter, there are fewer moving parts.

It's why heavy industry doesn't use V8 engines and usually prefers inline6 engines with one or two turbos.

Developers are whiny about DX12 as it IS more complicated to code for, and it's a much tougher gate to entry VS system managed but less robust code.

The nice thing is, good and great developers will use it to its fullest.

Lastly, DX11 was so unused that GTA5 didn't become the performance optimization wonder that it is..... just the difference in a developer wanting to do a great job vs slop.
 
Joined
Sep 15, 2007
Messages
3,944 (0.65/day)
Location
Police/Nanny State of America
Processor OCed 5800X3D
Motherboard Asucks C6H
Cooling Air
Memory 32GB
Video Card(s) OCed 6800XT
Storage NVMees
Display(s) 32" Dull curved 1440
Case Freebie glass idk
Audio Device(s) Sennheiser
Power Supply Don't even remember
But that's exactly the thing developers are complaining about: a lot of work with results that only show if you have a rather new AMD card and in some cases also an older CPU.

Do I really need to point you to steam statistics? 46% are still running dual cores. I imagine MANY of the quads are older, too.

Devs are lazy assholes. They don't care about majority (and likely vast majority) of users. They want to hide their shitty work with new hardware. We see it nearly every game release, now.
 

bug

Joined
May 22, 2015
Messages
13,226 (4.06/day)
Processor Intel i5-12600k
Motherboard Asus H670 TUF
Cooling Arctic Freezer 34
Memory 2x16GB DDR4 3600 G.Skill Ripjaws V
Video Card(s) EVGA GTX 1060 SC
Storage 500GB Samsung 970 EVO, 500GB Samsung 850 EVO, 1TB Crucial MX300 and 2TB Crucial MX500
Display(s) Dell U3219Q + HP ZR24w
Case Raijintek Thetis
Audio Device(s) Audioquest Dragonfly Red :D
Power Supply Seasonic 620W M12
Mouse Logitech G502 Proteus Core
Keyboard G.Skill KM780R
Software Arch Linux + Win10
Do I really need to point you to steam statistics? 46% are still running dual cores. I imagine MANY of the quads are older, too.

Devs are lazy assholes. They don't care about majority (and likely vast majority) of users. They want to hide their shitty work with new hardware. We see it nearly every game release, now.
Actually, the vast majority of users is the only thing devs care about, cause that's where sales come from.

And yes, 46% of the users may be running dual cores, but just below half of them have both a DX12 GPU and run Win10. And in Steam's view, 750Ti or HD7900 qualifies as a DX12 card. I'm not disputing that people use older systems, but those are not the people playing AAA games, which is where you expect DX12 to make its entrance. Whatever is out there, isn't enough to worth the effort, that's what the article says. And while I know devs are lazy, in this case I don't think they're wrong.
 
Joined
Sep 15, 2007
Messages
3,944 (0.65/day)
Location
Police/Nanny State of America
Processor OCed 5800X3D
Motherboard Asucks C6H
Cooling Air
Memory 32GB
Video Card(s) OCed 6800XT
Storage NVMees
Display(s) 32" Dull curved 1440
Case Freebie glass idk
Audio Device(s) Sennheiser
Power Supply Don't even remember
Actually, the vast majority of users is the only thing devs care about, cause that's where sales come from.

And yes, 46% of the users may be running dual cores, but just below half of them have both a DX12 GPU and run Win10. And in Steam's view, 750Ti or HD7900 qualifies as a DX12 card. I'm not disputing that people use older systems, but those are not the people playing AAA games, which is where you expect DX12 to make its entrance. Whatever is out there, isn't enough to worth the effort, that's what the article says. And while I know devs are lazy, in this case I don't think they're wrong.

How can they play AAA games when a lot are mediocre looking, but require high end hardware to run? It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

And it's not like only AAA titles matter, b/c they're total shit on the whole. I don't play them, either.
 
Joined
Sep 1, 2009
Messages
1,183 (0.22/day)
Location
CO
System Name 4k
Processor AMD 5800x3D
Motherboard MSI MAG b550m Mortar Wifi
Cooling Corsair H100i
Memory 4x8Gb Crucial Ballistix 3600 CL16 bl8g36c16u4b.m8fe1
Video Card(s) Nvidia Reference 3080Ti
Storage ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 1TB
Display(s) LG 48" C1
Case CORSAIR Carbide AIR 240 Micro-ATX
Audio Device(s) Asus Xonar STX
Power Supply EVGA SuperNOVA 650W
Software Microsoft Windows10 Pro x64
I can see where Vulkan and GPUOpen can really shine in this situation with pre-canned scripts to do what you need. Modify the code to your needs. Now if the developers used something like that i feel they could waste less time and make their timeline. Only problem is now is alot of developers will have to build code from scratch until the repositories start to fill.
 
Joined
Sep 17, 2014
Messages
20,944 (5.97/day)
Location
The Washing Machine
Processor i7 8700k 4.6Ghz @ 1.24V
Motherboard AsRock Fatal1ty K6 Z370
Cooling beQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 3
Memory 16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 3200/C16
Video Card(s) ASRock RX7900XT Phantom Gaming
Storage Samsung 850 EVO 1TB + Samsung 830 256GB + Crucial BX100 250GB + Toshiba 1TB HDD
Display(s) Gigabyte G34QWC (3440x1440)
Case Fractal Design Define R5
Audio Device(s) Harman Kardon AVR137 + 2.1
Power Supply EVGA Supernova G2 750W
Mouse XTRFY M42
Keyboard Lenovo Thinkpad Trackpoint II
Software W10 x64
How can they play AAA games when a lot are mediocre looking, but require high end hardware to run? It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

And it's not like only AAA titles matter, b/c they're total shit on the whole. I don't play them, either.

Doesn't that just prove his point? There is no market for shit games and if there is one, it evaporates shortly after release (No Man's Sky anyone?). And you can polish a turd, it's still a turd.

What Nixxes is saying (not a person, its a company, but ok) is that the adoption rate of DX12, alongside its limited advantage on CURRENTLY dominant hardware among users, is not worth the effort. And that is just about similar to what most of the sane people on this forum said when AMD's Mantle vanished and all eyes turned to DX12 as the new miracle API.

It's the same as with all economics; if there is no good business case, nobody's doing the business. And for DX12, this is very true in most cases for the vast majority of games, because most games, especially triple A console ports, are hardly CPU intensive because then the consoles couldn't run them. You don't need the majority of theoretical performance advantage you get with DX12 because that advantage reflects mostly on CPU load, not GPU.
 
Top