AMD demonstrates multi-core performance enhancements and DirectX 12

With Mantle, AMD paved the way for the next generation of graphics interfaces. The main numbers are lower overhead and better use of more processor cores (threads), something that makes it possible to make more drawing calls than DirectX 11 and earlier. This is now on the way to the next version of DirectX and also the sequel to OpenGL; Volcano.

Now Techpowerup publishes a secret presentation from AMD, which shows what improvements are to be expected with DirectX 12. First and foremost, the company shows how inefficient DirectX 11 is in using several cores and that it is currently a core that carries the heavy load.

With slimmed-down abstraction layers in DirectX 12, more efficient use of more than one thread is possible. AMD’s example shows how all eight cores contribute, halving the rendering process from 29 milliseconds (34 frames per second) down to 15 milliseconds (66 frames per second).

Another presentation screen shows how the number of draw calls per second (draw calls) increases when AMD switches to the new interface. Examples include the quad-core A10-7850K and a “secret” test – most likely the upcoming update to 3DMark. Here, performance is raised by 469 percent, while power consumption is declining slightly. It is worth mentioning that this is a best case scenario for DirectX 12 and that the performance boost can vary greatly depending on the game.

The ability to use more processor cores is not the only thing added with DirectX 12. Another addition is an improved rendering process for the graphics part with the possibility of asynchronous scheduling and execution, which gives higher performance by dividing previous serial calculations into parallel ones.

DirectX 12 will be launched with Windows 10 during the summer months.