The benefits of DirectX 12 are already apparent. As an API that allows developers closer access to hardware, it will allow them to get the most out of your graphics hardware, and give you better-looking games. Unfortunately – for some – the API is tied in to Windows 10, and those who’re still stuck in the past with Windows 7 might be unwilling to make that upgrade. Frostbite’s technical director really, really hopes you’ll upgrade. In fact, he’d like it so that it was mandatory for all 2016 games.
Speaking on Twitter, Johan Andersson, Technical Director at Frostbite (the engine that powers Battlefield and pretty much all of EA’s upcoming games), said he’d love to have it as the minimum spec, though he realises how aggressive that might appear.
Would like to require Win10 & DX12/WDDM2.0 as a minspec for our holiday 2016 games on Frostbite, likely a bit aggressive but major benefits
— Johan Andersson (@repi) April 7, 2015
@repi I do think the Win10 adoption within core gamers will be _really_ quite fast, and Microsoft is helping with their upgrade program
— Johan Andersson (@repi) April 7, 2015
The upgrade will be worth it. Preliminary tests show that DirectX12 significantly reduces CPU overhead, resulting in significant performance gains.
Will you be upgrading to Windows 10? I see no real reason not to. I’ve played around with the technical preview, and I like what I’ve seen so far. The upgrade, as a reminder, will be free to all of those sporting legal copies of Windows 7 and 8 in the first year of release. After that, you’ll likely have to pay a fair bit, so upgrading sooner rather than later would be the fiscally smart thing to do. I’ll be upgrading the day that Windows 10 is available, but I do like to live dangerously.
Last Updated: April 8, 2015
Lord Chaos
April 8, 2015 at 13:08
I’ll move to 10, think the free upgrade is going to be a large download though.
Masyer
April 8, 2015 at 14:53
Downloading dosnt seem to take to long depending on internet speed but install is a different story at least from the latest update for the new os build update was 6hrs long on my pc. But I do have a older laptop with a i5 4gb of ram and only a integrated intel graphics bridge
Lord Chaos
April 8, 2015 at 15:41
The update and what not wont bother me. Just the bandwidth.
Victor "Vicky" Moolman
April 8, 2015 at 16:08
It’s the bloody updates that get me. Windows: “hey we need to restart, also the update will take at least two hours.” this happened on my work PC -_-
Masyer
April 8, 2015 at 17:15
Its not that bad when you make sure you set the updates for auto and what time to install I didn’t have that setup yet and this was for a new build version not just a simple update the simple normal updates are rather quick this time.
Alan Jones
April 8, 2015 at 17:42
I have been running the the tech preview for windows 10 and gone through two updates. I would say it took less than 30 minutes after it was downloaded to do the update. Cant say how it will be with an update from 7 to 10 but it should not be much longer.
Kikmi
April 8, 2015 at 13:13
Idk hey, sure CPU thresholds might be lowered, but when was the last time a game even used more than a core or two. MS has never had a good opening season with any OS release for the last decade or so, I still took about 2 years before changing up from XP to 7.
As for making it a minimum spec, EA you can go fuck yourselves. Your market isn’t the >2% of gamers that can afford 4k setups for fuck sake. Even rudimentary research will show you most gamers are between the low to middle class bracket (Steam has some really nice tools for you to get the exact numbers). How are people that can barely afford a 1k upgrade going to shit out 3k for a new d12 ready card? Fuck off man, seriously.
Geoffrey Tim
April 8, 2015 at 13:15
DX12 is essentially low level DX11 – so pretty much al DX 11 complaint cards can work with DX12. On the green team, that means everything from 2010’s Fermi stuff and up. If you’re still on DX10, you have bigger problems than a windows upgrade.
Admiral Chief
April 8, 2015 at 14:14
“Complaint cards”
Do they moan a lot?
Kikmi
April 8, 2015 at 16:54
D10 was in all fairness non existent. But it doesn’t abscond this lackadaisical attitude. Not every gamer has their parents pay for their 30k rigs.
Masyer
April 8, 2015 at 17:13
why do u need a 30 k rig when I built my pc for 550 and it runs all games just fine and now your telling me making developer use dx12 to get more out of my cheap rig is bad.
Skitz
April 9, 2015 at 21:14
Kikmi, you’re fucking dumb. Basically what they are trying to say is if you can run DX11 then you can run DX12. But if you are still running DX10, then you need to upgrade. And if you would’ve done more research on DX12, if you have a 260X and get 40 FPS on games, and then DX12 comes out, you’ll get double the FPS. I mean so what if you have to upgrade a few things. Your current GPU won’t stay modern for long. You’ll always have to upgrade no matter what. at one point or another.
Lord Chaos
April 8, 2015 at 13:36
At some point a decision will have to be made to move up minimum requirements as tech progresses.
Like saying your fine with a GPS that only has PE maps.
Kikmi
April 8, 2015 at 14:28
Or just code better? GTA V min req is a 9800. A DECADE old card. You still want to tell me that we NEED to up min req? Nah dude. This is what we call in the industry “LAZY AS FUCK”. PS3 lasted for almost a full decade, they didnt bring out a new console every two years so that devs could have an easy time, they kept the (powerful) hardware and just coded better. Upping min req is just a lazy cop out and always will be. Nevermind the fact that this coming from EA, who are well known to be one of the WORST companies in the industry whose games are perma broken, released buggy AF amongst many other issues. “Cant code properly? Just chuck more power at it” is not an acceptable ethos for any software house.
Lord Chaos
April 8, 2015 at 14:37
As Milesh states below. The new consoles are out and they’re already making current gen games only.
Another example is clearly seen in remasters.
To be able to move on to have 4k or higher as the highest system settings they will have to cut some out, cannot expect any development house to cater for everything from 640×480 to 4k+
Kikmi
April 8, 2015 at 16:34
You’re completely missing the point of affordability and above that, longevity.
Masyer
April 8, 2015 at 17:11
what doe affordability have to do with it when win 10 and dx12 is free its not lazy its a push forward
IwatchUtube
April 9, 2015 at 21:19
If you want to bitch and complain about having to upgrade to better parts, then wait 5-10 years and buy equipment that can run 4k on every game at 60+ FPS when it’s a lot cheaper. Stop fucking trolling the comments and trying to get people to feel bad for you because you can’t get a fucking job and buy your own shit.
Richard
April 9, 2015 at 07:22
There is so much new tech coming at the end of 2015… Intel Skylake, NVME SSDs, Freesync Monitors, Radeon 300 Series. I hope game makers move ahead with this minimum specification to justify this hardware!
Kikmi
April 10, 2015 at 08:52
On point dude, entirely. .
Guest
April 9, 2015 at 18:18
C’mon man…planned obsolescence in the tech world is the name of the game, otherwise they wouldn’t bother making new stuff all the time. Get over it.
DX12 is going to be compatible and beneficial with some 75+% of existing graphics cards when it launches. That has been stated officially.
You should research things rather than assuming and ranting on things that have already been answered.
Kikmi
April 10, 2015 at 08:50
I’m not countering that point at all, you’re absolutely right, planned obsolescence is entirely part of the game, but as I’ve mentioned in previous posts we’re talking about EA, whose track record of releasing completed games over the last few years has been dismal. If we were talking about 2K, Valve or any other semi decent pub I’d have less of an aversion. This is unfortunately not the case. This is, IMO, not a question of providing the client more quality or content as much as it is there for the developers to have an easier ride. It’s much easier to run 4k model map textures on poly’s than having to right on the fly bitmap converters for those running anything other than a medium flagship 760/R270, and in turn having less points of failure in the long run. I think EA is trying to polish a turd in this case. Why are no other pub houses suggesting the same increase?
Guest
April 10, 2015 at 14:02
Probably because most devs haven’t even seen DX 12? Plus this announcement is dealing with a timeline almost 2 YEARS away. You’re acting like it’s going to happen tomorrow.
Ryanza
April 8, 2015 at 13:26
I already don’t buy EA games. Last EA game I bought was SimCity 5. Do you really think that DX12 being mandatory for EA games will get me to buy EA games. lol. Yeah. Fuck EA.
Don’t Support DRM. Don’t Support EA.
z1n
April 8, 2015 at 13:58
We missed you dude! How was your easter?
Deceased
April 8, 2015 at 14:04
It’s EA trying to ship Win10 on us, even though it’s not nearly consumer ready …
Masyer
April 8, 2015 at 14:49
Technically its pretty close I have the preview beta and it already stomps 7 and 8 plus im always being updated and with them taking suggestions from the fans its will be pretty much built by the consumer. Just how they are bringing in what fans are asking to see on the Xbox one a lot things are there because fans want it.
Deceased
April 10, 2015 at 09:51
Wait, no …
The joke was in line with the following:
Pieter Kruger
April 8, 2015 at 15:16
Don’t Support DLC. Don’t Support CDPR.
Guest
April 9, 2015 at 18:20
So sorry that DRM prevents you from getting pirated games. Damn them and such…
Ryanza
April 8, 2015 at 13:30
I wonder if the DX11 version will be cheaper than the DX12 version. EA will adopt that in the future.
Greylingad
April 8, 2015 at 13:35
This has more to do with future proofing than anything else, making it mandatory would push games a little further, but as a business model…yeah…not going to happen, in the mean time though, maybe EA should focus on making good quality games instead of building a gameplay experience around downloadable content such as weapons packs or the like… I have never been a fan of EA as a publisher…never… they cater for the minority of people with unlimited budgets and largely uncapped internet connections, it is appalling…
Klipkop1980
April 8, 2015 at 13:43
Damn Extremists….
Milesh Bhana
April 8, 2015 at 13:59
i don’t see an issue with this tbh. This is kinda the same thing as devs not bringing their new titles to PS3/360 forcing peeps to upgrade to the newer consoles. (or if the title isn’t in big demand, loss of sales, but that’s their gamble to make).
Most DX11 hardware will support DX12 and they’re saying end 2016, which sounds reasonable.
Spathi
April 8, 2015 at 13:59
As far as I know you may even upgrade with a illegal copy of Win 7 or 8?
Pieter Kruger
April 8, 2015 at 15:13
Correct!
CCninja86
April 9, 2015 at 01:09
Yes, but if you upgrade an illegal copy of Windows 7/8, your copy of Windows 10 will also be illegitimate.
z1n
April 8, 2015 at 14:00
Pfft. Win 10 is free? F-IT I will still pirate you out of tradition! I still know a XP key off the top of my head bitches!
Deceased
April 8, 2015 at 14:06
How to upvote multiple times? XD
You beat me to it 😀
z1n
April 8, 2015 at 14:14
You have to know your shit 😀 Most LANs used to start with installing XP again. Ahh those times…
Deceased
April 9, 2015 at 10:17
Maaaaan I remember those days … XD
Masyer
April 8, 2015 at 14:32
People who complain about moving to windows 10 are idiots Im in the preview program and 10 already destroys 7 or 8 and project Spartan kills internet explorer all you have to do is look at dx11 vs dx12 in the new bench marking and say wow I get this for free if you complain for free improvements then you can be left behind because you didn’t get 10 for free within the first year. Why the hell would you argue about this free upgrade completely dumb.
Masyer
April 8, 2015 at 14:36
check this out and its what you get for free
string_slinger
April 8, 2015 at 14:36
Not sure where the ‘MS has never had a good opening season with any OS for the last decade’ comes from. Upgraded to 7, 8 and 8.1 on release days and 0 issues. Fresh install every time, sure, and a few moans from friends re look and feel, but no driver or performance issues. Same story for all three PC’s I’m responsible for (mine, my wife’s and my dads). 8 is frankly the lightest on resources, most efficient Windows since XP – been a pleasure to use it – in both my gaming and audio production capacities.
Looking forward to 10, apart from the idiotic naming convention – seems like a load of good ideas being well implemented. Plus a free upgrade, what’s not to like…?
P.S. They did download as an ISO for 8.1, so sure they’ll do this again for 10. When it comes, just find someone who’s got it and get a DVD burned. I’m in CT, and I’ll have it when it comes out if anyone wants to hook up.
Masyer
April 8, 2015 at 14:40
The name windows 10 is there by the way because of windows 95 and 98 they wanted to make sure the code wouldn’t make programs see the new windows as a outdated version. the code will now be set with 10x instead of windows 95and98’s 9x code
Kikmi
April 8, 2015 at 16:47
I assume you were trying to aim this at me
You say you don’t know of any issues with MS launching OS’s but in the same sentence you say there were UI issues that your friends experienced. To me thats still a problematic launch. 8 getting released without a start button was borderline insane.
I’ve been gaming for the best part of 23 years, the only OS that worked out the box was win98. Xp had a few niggles and win7 was nigh on hopeless. Each OS had their first service packs released and that fixed many issues. To me, that is not a successful product. We can call on Blizzard and the inital release of D3 as a perfect example of the process of broken > > > Fixed
I’ve just moved over to 8 on my work laptop and the only thing worse I’ve seen are the tears of orphans. It’s hopelessly inoperable at the best of times, start ups are slower than I had with my SSD on win7 (by a good 20s). Desktop barely functions as such, the built in photoviewer, filecopier, compression plugins etc are all built like utter shit and poorly tested.
So yes there were some pretty major issues with the new iterations of MS products from my and many of my colleagues experiences (unless theyre MS for mac products, then surprisingly they work without a hitch)
Though this is not at all my issue. My grievance is against lazy developers shouting “UP MINIMUM SPEC” because they can’t code for shit and are now making it the consumers problem, which isn’t at all fair. Then again, we are talking about EA who hasn’t released a bug free game (not inclusive of mobile since that not at all my interest) for a good few years.
Masyer
April 8, 2015 at 17:09
So you have a problem with a developer saying up minimum spec which all games have a minimum spec they are not lazy they just want to push more power they want to have convenience of puching more fps without kill performance they want more draw calls how is that lazy wouldn’t lazy be to sit back with old software and say naw I already know this im good. dude how is this he going to give the consumer problems when the win 10 os is free in the first year and how can you say windows will still have launch problems the company hasn’t seen as many changes as it has had since last year with the beta version being tested by consumers why would you complain about a fully tested free windows better yet have you joined the preview program to te test it then tell them what needs to change don’t complain help fix it if you don’t like things.
Kikmi
April 8, 2015 at 16:59
Also, just as an example
Darren Peach
April 8, 2015 at 14:39
Always been a fan of new DirectX iterations. Being on a console kinda made it less relevant but it would be nice to see it implemented on consoles if that is even possible.
Masyer
April 8, 2015 at 14:45
How does being on a console make it less relevant unless your using a ps4 it’s very relevant to Xbox which was brought into the world because the guys behind DX said hey lets put it in a dedicated game consoles hence the console’s name.
Darren Peach
April 8, 2015 at 23:46
The static nature of consoles.
Masyer
April 9, 2015 at 17:19
static as in hardware because graphics are never static
Darren Peach
April 10, 2015 at 02:11
What do you think ? PC hardware gets better over time. In a consoles lifespan, The hardware and software remain static. Graphic improvements on a console normally stem from the fact that developers learn how to use them more efficiently. I have never ever updated a api for my console. Direct X on a console is not the same as Direct X for PC. Stop looking for validation about your Xbox if you bought one and if you are a PC gamer trolling me, have fun. My original comment reflects a opinion of the progression of graphics over a couple of decades. DirectX and Open Gl have a history of including functionally that current generations of hardware of the day did not or do not support, Often at the request of game developers. So, When I commented on this article, I had all those factors and others in mind. To elaborate further on PC hardware, in the seven year life cycle of a PS4 you will probably have multiple upgrades for PC hardware in the same period. A luxury exclusive to the fast paced PC market.
Galbedir
April 8, 2015 at 14:49
Honestly cant wait for Windows 10, if its anything from what I’ve seen so far, Im super keen. Not to mention I even saving some cash for a Windows 10 tablet for the syncing.
Galbedir
April 8, 2015 at 14:57
Also…who in their right mind doesn’t want to be able to say “Cortana! (Insert command)” with voice commands…
Masyer
April 8, 2015 at 15:32
Ill be even more happy if they bring her to my xbox one
Matthew Holliday
April 8, 2015 at 15:07
i wanna try it.
if its good, il stick with it.
if its not, il go back to win 7.
pretty simple.
Masyer
April 8, 2015 at 15:18
O if your on 7 you will love it actually you can go to windows.preview.com and it has a roll back feature if you don’t like the beta form you can go back to 7.
Pieter Kruger
April 8, 2015 at 15:17
No need to make it mandatory, some will never see the benefit and will prefer to stay in the dark…..let them!????????????
Matthew Holliday
April 8, 2015 at 15:20
if making it mandatory will help devs release more optimised games, Id be all for it.
making a game for one OS instead of multiple operating systems could come with benefits.
im not exactly an expert though.
Victor "Vicky" Moolman
April 8, 2015 at 16:02
Why is there no option to say I already have it??
Masyer
April 8, 2015 at 16:07
Right!!!!!!!!!!
K1FF J1MB0B (sizzle edition)
April 8, 2015 at 17:01
Does anyone know if DX12 will unlock the non-disclosed CPUs and GPUs within the Xbox One?
Masyer
April 8, 2015 at 17:21
first there are no hidden CPUs or GPUs in in the Xbox one if that’s what you mean by non-disclosed if not never mind. but for what’s in the box it was all custom made with Microsoft and amd with dx12 in mind and win 10 so this will push the box to full potential since running on win 8 and dx11 is not what its built for.
Luieburger
April 8, 2015 at 17:33
There are no non-disclosed CPUs and GPUs in the XBox one. They’re already running that thing at max capacity and optimization.
If you want a better gaming experience, get a Steam Machine later this year.
K1FF J1MB0B (sizzle edition)
April 8, 2015 at 17:44
hehehe… ya I know bro, just taking the piss out of those Xbox guys genuinely believed (some still do) that the X1 has hidden chips in it. Honestly the biggest reason why they are pushing DX12 is probably just cause it’s easier to code for and perhaps more stable.
Luieburger
April 8, 2015 at 17:31
Heck… if we’re going to be aggressive, let’s just take the plunge and move over to Vulkan, Linux, and Steam Machines now rather than later. Screw DX12. Design and optimize your games and engines for Vulkan so we can stop waiting around for Microsoft to refresh their graphics platform every 8 years.
Masyer
April 8, 2015 at 18:26
you stand with the 2% so not going to happen long live windows long live dx12
Kromas is drunk with power!
April 9, 2015 at 00:11
DX12 makes sense and win8 was heaven for gaming despite what Lord GabeN said.
finnewar
October 7, 2015 at 07:04
EA is dead to me
i will not oppgrade to win 10
david robot
December 3, 2016 at 05:19
Fuck you and windows 10 mister director or faecal matter, Vulkan is superior in its vast portability Directx 12 is different from PC to console why push a giant locked up turd which was created in panic by Microsoft just as they crippled OpenGL on by creating windows vista to shift the market this bullshit needs to stop, Vulkan is the only sensible API and balanced for it allows true competition between hardware vendors console do support it.