With the release of Windows 10 many PC gamers are wondering what DirectX 12 means for the future of gaming. Up to this point it hasn't been very clear. Anecdotes point toward better performance in many modern games, but there hasn't been much to back up the claims.
An Unreal Engine 4 project creator that goes by the name CryZENx decided that he wanted to test DirectX 12 to see what it's all about for himself. His intrigue resulted in him porting over the Unreal Engine 4 Elemental Demo that Epic Games has used to sell its software. The results are surprising.
Testing the Unreal Engine 4 demo on its original DirectX 11 version versus the new DirectX 12 on the same hardware has shown an increase of up to 18 frames per second. Instead of framerate dropping to a bothersome 42 at times, it remains at the 60 FPS cap with consistency.
The demonstration was captured by CryZENx and has been published to YouTube. You can see it below. Note that an FPS overlay can be read on the top-right of the screen.
For reference, his PC specs are the following:
- CPU: I7-4790K @ 4.8Ghz 1.32Vc + RAIJINTEK Triton watercooler
- GPU: GTX 980 Ti EVGA Superclocked+ ACX 2.0+ OCed = 1400mhz core / 3900mhz Memory
- MB: Asrock Z97 Extreme 4
- RAM: 32GB (4x 8192MB) HyperX Savage RED DDR3-2400 DIMM CL11 Quad Kit
- HDD: 1000 GB Sata 3.0 6 Gb/s Harddrive + 2TB hdd
- PSU: 630 Watt Thermaltake 80+ Germany
- Case: 410 Phantom red
The best part of all this is DirectX 12 is only getting started. Many developers are still playing around with it to learn how to best utilize its potential. Given time, it could become remarkably significant as gamers can crank up their video settings and enjoy an experience at the same framerate.
If you want to test this out for yourself, a download is available here. Just be sure that your PC is DirectX 12 compatible before giving it a go.
