If you want to play games on your PC and have a graphics card with NVIDIA graphics and Nvidia integrated graphics, you will have to buy a separate graphics card. This is not a unique situation, but it’s a really common one.
But what if you are using Windows 10? You don’t want to buy a new graphics card to play DirectX 12 games. You will probably use this card only for graphics-intensive games and 3D visualization, where the performance is crucial.
Windows 8 doesn’t have DirectX 12 and does not have discrete graphics cards.
It was a challenging situation for game developers to develop DirectX 12 games because they did not have access to the DirectX 11 library and development tools.
But here we are, and we have the great news that DirectX 12 has made a remarkable step forward to a DirectX 11 level of performance. It uses the unified API as if it were DX11.
Let’s now have a closer look at integrated graphics.
What are integrated graphics?
“Integrated” means that they are combined into a single chip. So you don’t have two separate chips. Most Intel-based and AMD-based computers now have integrated graphics. They provide an equivalent level of performance to a discrete graphics card (at least at standard resolutions), so developers have an option to choose, depending on their need, between a discrete graphics card or an integrated graphics card.
So why are we discussing this now?
Well, Microsoft launched DirectX 12 SDK and said that a new API is being developed for future DirectX and Windows.
So it is not only that DX12 should be fully supported by next year’s edition of DirectX 11, it also introduces a new API in which some effects, APIs, and other aspects have been built from scratch. And that is, of course, not an easy task, especially when it comes to DirectX 11.
As it seems, the current architecture does not match the performance-oriented needs of developers. That’s why we said that it’s not the first time that developers have had to choose between DirectX 11 or DirectX 12.
Games are built according to Windows 10
The Windows 10 vision is such that developers should build a Game according to the Windows 10 vision and have a single platform to test their game on.
It’s a very clear step in the right direction to adapt existing libraries to the future of Windows 10. It’s especially important for Windows 7 and Windows 8. x games, which cannot be converted to the Windows 10 universal development environment (UDE).
But that does not mean that the graphics card is not important.
Why do we need a dedicated graphics card for DX12 games?
We are not saying that DirectX 12 will provide a similar level of performance compared to DirectX 11. It will not.
The new API is still in the development phase.
The DirectX 11 developers built a strong foundation for developers, so they could learn the API.
A new API requires a new hardware platform. So developers and companies that build DX12 GPUs must prepare for the development of the new API and the upcoming game titles.
It will take a while before developers will have a firm foundation of development tools for DirectX 12, and that will influence the development of games. That’s why we will need dedicated graphics cards for testing and development.
The first release of DirectX 12 will not provide a DirectX 11 level of performance. This is the reason that graphics card manufacturers and software developers will develop special test cases for developing DirectX 12 games.
So, right now you can’t use a standard GeForce GTX 960 or Radeon R9 280x for any DX12 games.
Research of BenchLife indicates that it might be possible to develop DirectX 12 games that would be playable on the standard cards.
Test builds of the first DirectX 12 games will not be optimally optimized for DirectX 12 drivers. But according to some reports, they could provide a sufficient level of performance on dedicated graphics cards.
We can understand your concerns, though.
If you want to be absolutely sure that a specific card is good for the task, you can try the same test builds on open-source drivers. But it’s better to do it in a controlled environment.
So, what can we do?
In the past, Microsoft was very supportive of the developers. They tried to explain all the issues and provide as much information as possible about the DirectX 12 API and its future support.
Because this is still in the early development phase, and it will take several months before this new API is mature enough for a stable driver experience, it is important that this API be developed using proven technologies that have been adopted in millions of games.
We also have a special Technical Preview that enables you to get a preview of the capabilities of the upcoming DirectX 12 API. The Technology Preview is available for download. Click the link below to get started today and get started helping us make Windows 10 the most advanced platform of the modern era. The Windows 10 Technical Preview for Developers is now available for download. In this update, you can also download and use the tools we are providing for you to help optimize your applications and games for the new Windows 10 platform.”
With DirectX 12, Windows 7, and Windows 8. x developers need to create development environments, test environments, test games, test your games, and more.
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