Microsoft will improve support for mixed graphics cards in DirectX 12

With DirectX 12, Microsoft introduced a feature called Explicit Multi Adapter (EMA). This feature makes it possible to use graphics cards from different vendors, such as Nvidia and AMD, and it is also possible to mix different powerful graphics cards in one and the same computer system.

Although the feature has been available for almost a year, Explicit Multi Adapter (EMA) is not supported in very many titles. The reason for this should be that it is complicated for developers to take full advantage of the graphics cards because the support is programmed with low-level code. Microsoft wants to change this with an upcoming update to the DirectX 12 platform.

Through a so-called abstraction layer, developers will be able to more easily add support for mixed graphics cards without having to bother with complicated low-level adaptations of the code. The upcoming improvement was originally presented by Microsoft during AMD’s Polaris event in Macau at the end of May and has been further discussed on the developer portal Github.

According to Microsoft, developers should be able to take advantage of mixed sets of graphics cards with only a few lines of code. However, this is only about basic support, developers who want to take full advantage of the power of the interconnected graphics cards still need to use EMA technology.

Microsoft’s developers write that they are currently refining the final details of this abstraction layer and that it will be made available soon. An exact launch slot is not specified, but it may be part of the upcoming Windows 10 Anniversary Update, which arrives on August 2.