Nvidia releases driver with support for DirectX 12 Ultimate

For almost two years, Nvidia’s Geforce RTX 2000 series has offered users the opportunity to enjoy realistic lighting effects via dedicated hardware for ray tracing. In addition to special graphics cards, however, the technology is completely dependent on support from game developers and also requires additions to the DirectX 12 graphics interface, something Microsoft recently remedied.

The software giant’s response to the development on the graphics front is called DirectX 12 Ultimate and is basically old ray tracingAdvanced DirectX Raytracing (DXR) interface, expanded with features variable rate shading, sampler feedback and mesh shading. Nvidia is currently alone in providing graphics cards that support the entire battery of features and now the company is releasing the first driver for this.

With the Radeon DNA 2 (RDNA 2) graphics architecture, new AMD graphics cards will also be able to support the expanded graphics interface, and Microsoft’s new collective name will serve as a label that guarantees at least the same range of functions as the upcoming Xbox Series X console. Under the hood of this lurks just RDNA 2 graphics, there ray tracingsupport is one of the more familiar features.

With variable rate shading, short VRS, it is instead a method of earning performance without compromising perceived image quality, by lowering the level of detail in certain areas of the image. Mesh shading is a new model for how the level of detail in geometries in the gaming world should be taken to the next level, without sacrificing performance.

Also sampler feedback is about performance gains and enables fewer calculations by shaderprocess can be recovered from a previous frame. Hardware-accelerated scheduling of data on the graphics card is also added through the updated driver model WDDM 2.7, which reduces latency and improves performance.

► Technology Focus: Flexible image quality with Variable Rate Shading

The name of the new driver is Game Ready Driver with version number 451.48 and unlocks the new DirectX features on systems running Windows 10 version 2004 or later. As mentioned ray tracingsupport is mandatory to take advantage of the graphics interface, so the Geforce GTX 1600 and GTX 1000 series will have no effect on that front.

Regardless of the graphics card, however, the update means twelve new titles where the graphics settings can be automatically optimized, but also nine extra screens that are awarded the G-Sync Compatible certification. Among these is the 240 Hz piece AG273F1G8R3 from AOC, but the largest both physically and in terms of news is the game screen Odyssey G9 from Samsung, which has now been launched globally. The 49-inch and ultra-wide story gets adaptive image synchronization in the range 60 to 240 Hz.

The Game Ready Driver 451.48 driver is available for download via Nvidia’s website and the update weighs in at 562 MB. As usual, it is also available through the extra software Geforce Experience.

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