Click "Win + R" to open the Run dialog box.I fell in love with this adorable mini gaming PCĢ3% of PC gamers probably can’t play Alan Wake 2. How Hyte is tying your gaming PC together with a single cable PC: Which is the better buy for gaming in 2024? My most anticipated game of 2024 is getting the full Nvidia treatment
If you want to dig in deep on those optimizations, make sure to read our comparison between DirectX 11 and DirectX 12. More recent versions of DirectX bring better features and opportunities for developers to optimize performance. Most games only support one version, but there are a handful of titles that straddle the line between versions like Control, Civilization VI, and Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands. Which version of DirectX should you use? Image used with permission by copyright holderĭirectX is backward compatible, so it’s usually best to use the most recent version that the game you want to play supports. Use the Check for updates button to search for new updates.Search for Check for updates and select it.Use Windows Key+S to pull up the search box.If you don’t, you can force Windows to check for new updates with the following steps: Check for DirectX version under the System tab.Īs long as you’ve kept Windows up to date, you should have the latest version.Type “dxdiag” into the box and select OK.Right-click on the Windows icon in the Start bar and select Run.Before updating DirectX, you need to figure out your DirectX version, which you can do by following these steps: Read our full guide on how to install Windows 11 if you’re starting from scratch. Installing and updating DirectX involves performing a Windows Update. Microsoft doesn’t make any installers available. If you see an offer to install DirectX online, avoid it at all costs. It comes with Windows, and you can only update it with Windows. How to install and update DirectX Image used with permission by copyright holder The most important addition is DXR, which enables ray tracing not only on PC but on the Xbox Series X, as well. They’re mainly for developers to optimize games beyond what they could do in DirectX 12 or DirectX 11. Sampler feedback feeds samples of what could happen without actually executing the instruction, allowing games to make better decisions about what assets to stream in.Īlthough DirectX 12 Ultimate has many new features, you don’t need to worry about them. Sampler feedback: Modern games stream assets into the game world, and the game is forced to predict what to stream next based on what the player is doing.This avoids passing between your CPU and RAM when drawing meshes, which improves performance. Mesh shaders: Mesh shaders are a complex topic, but they essentially combine multiple shader steps into a single process.The idea is to boost performance by focusing on the most important areas of a scene, which saves resources in less demanding areas. Variable rate shading (VRS): Allows the GPU to allocate different amounts of power to different areas in a frame.DirectX ray tracing (DXR): An early version of ray tracing introduced in games like Fortnite and Battlefield V. Most titles that support ray tracing do so through DXR (though Vulkan has its own ray tracing support, as well).Here are all of the additional features in DirectX 12 Ultimate: Microsoft describes it as “additive” to DirectX 12, bringing features like ray tracing and variable rate shading to Windows and Xbox consoles. The most recent version of DirectX is DirectX 12 Ultimate, which is available on Windows 10, Windows 11, and Xbox Series X/S. DirectX 12 Ultimate explained Image used with permission by copyright holder It’s exclusive to Windows, however, while open-source APIs like Vulkan provide cross-platform support. Graphics APIs also enable features like hardware-accelerated ray tracing, and they can boost performance through various optimizations.ĭirectX isn’t the only graphics API, but it’s the main one you’ll encounter. APIs like DirectX are standardized, which allows your AMD or Nvidia drivers to do everything regardless of what graphics card you have.
In years past, game developers would need to write drivers for multiple graphics cards. Download Mobile Legends Bang Bang for Android.