In other words, they both provide the same functionality and they can be used in parallel on the same system. What’s the difference between DirectX 11 and DirectX 12?ĭirectX 11 and DirectX 12 are two different versions of the same thing. Luckily, more titles are being added all the time. It’s also important to note that DirectX 12 is not compatible with all games yet. Windows 11 has been named the best OS yet for gaming and it is easy to see why. You can still use DirectX 11 on Windows 7 and 8, but you’ll get better performance out of your PC if you upgrade to Windows 11.

The most obvious difference between the two is that you need a PC running Windows 10 or 11 to use DirectX 12. When should I go for DirectX 12?ĭirectX 12 has several improvements over previous versions of DirectX 11. It’s unlikely that you will see any improvement if you don’t have the right hardware. DirectX 12 is designed for high-end gaming PCs built with newer hardware.

This is because if your games are slow or laggy, this move will make it worse. If your CPU is not multicore, it is best to stay away from DirectX 12. Upgrading your CPU may be required as well. This means that if you have an older PC that’s struggling to keep up with modern games’ demands for visual fidelity, upgrading your graphics card might not be enough. The biggest advantage that DirectX 12 brings is lower CPU overhead.īecause it uses less CPU time than earlier versions of DirectX, it allows your PC to run games more smoothly by handing off work from the CPU onto the GPU instead. With this in mind, it should already be clear whether you should go for DirectX 11 or 12. Instead of having to process every frame on your computer’s graphics card, you’ll only have to do it once, then send it to the GPU for processing. The main difference between the two APIs is that DirectX 12 can improve performance by reducing CPU usage. You can download DirectX 12 on Windows 11 as it is designed for use on systems with multiple GPUs. The main difference between DirectX 11 and 12 is that the former is designed for use on systems with single GPU configurations. Both have different capabilities and performance characteristics. Home › Reviews › DirectX 11 vs DirectX 12: Complete Performance ComparisonĭirectX 11 and DirectX 12 are the present and future of gaming graphics API.

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