New Graphics Cards won’t be essential for DirectX 12

Following Microsoft's recent Windows 10 press conference last week, there has been some confusion surrounding the DirectX 12 API and current GPU compatibility. However, Microsoft is hoping to clear things up a bit and has said that you won't need a new graphics card for the basic features.

Following last week's press event, Xbox executive, Mike Ybarra, said that “There will be DX 11.1 cards that take advantage of a lot of the driver and software tech that we're bringing in Windows 10, but if you want the full benefits of DX12, you're going to need a DX12 card.”

Microsoft has since elaborated on Ybarra's statement, in an email sent to various press outlets a company spokesperson said:

“While we are not yet ready to detail everything related to DirectX 12, we can share that we are working closely with all of our hardware partners to help ensure that most modern PC gaming hardware will work well with DirectX 12, including; NVIDIA's Maxwell, Kepler and Fermi-based GPUs, Intel's 4th generation (and newer) Core processors and AMD's Graphics Core Next (GCN) based GPUs.”

It sounds like Microsoft is still working hard to nail down compatibility itself, so final details aren't ready just yet. Microsoft probably doesn't want to force PC gamers to go out and buy new DX12 specific GPUs when games start taking advantage of the new API late this year/early next year.

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KitGuru Says: Microsoft will be revealing more at the Game Developers Conference in March. DirectX 12 was always pegged for late 2015 so the company has plenty of time to work things out.

Source: Gamespot

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