DirectX 12 boosts frames per second by 600% on AMD hardware

An early look at Microsoft’s DirectX 12 graphics API has shown that AMD graphics cards – and potentially Xbox One – could be in line for a significant performance boost.

An analysis over at Anandtech shows that AMD’s flagship R9 290X GPU enjoyed a near 600 per cent boost from 8.3 frames per second using DirectX 11 to 49.2 fps using DirectX 12 on Stardock’s Star Swarm demo. Nvidia’s GTX 980 enjoyed a 250 per cent performance jump to 66.8 fps.

These gains far exceed the performance gains offered by AMD’s own Mantel API, the reception to which has been somewhat muted – a fact not helped by its limited support by developers.

An important thing to note here is that while DirectX 12 will be exclusive to Windows 10 on PC (although Windows 7 and 8 users will be able to upgrade for free), it will be coming to Xbox One. And Xbox One, much like PS4, uses AMD graphics technology.

There are of course a host of factors to consider meaning that Xbox One is unlikely to ever see performance gains in the hundreds of per cent, but a significant graphical performance upgrade still seems very possible.

DirectX 12 will roll out later this year.