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DirectX 12 promises to deliver a number of tangible improvements to gaming later this year, for both developers and the end users. By allowing a greater ease of communication between multiple cores, the software promises to improve CPU usage significantly, allowing developers to harness more power than ever before when creating.
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With the news now broken that Unity will be offering support for DirectX 12, these capabilities are going to become far more widely available. By allowing developers to build command lists on multiple threads and retain them over multiple threads, Direct 3D 12 (the new graphics API) will save CPU cycles, something which has the potential to increase battery life on devices.
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Indeed, after having ported a benchmark to DirectX 12, 3DMark has found a 50% improvement in CPU usage over its previous form.
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Intel have also shown the battery life improvements possible on a Surface Pro 3, running Intel HD4400 integrated graphics, which prove to be significant as CPU power drain drops considerably.
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With support coming for Unity, Direct3D 12 will come to all devices which can utilize the engine. This means that it will be available across all Windows 10 capable devices, maximizing its impact overall.
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Currently Unity developers are working on compatibility, with their tests currently being passed 95% of the time. When this cycle completes, further work on utilizing the new features presented by the software shall be commenced. DirectX support will first be made available to users at the beginning of the Unity 5 cycle, which will coincide with the release of Windows 10 in the second half of 2015. Standalone builds and Windows Store apps will be targeted first, following which releases will expand to cover the Xbox One, and Windows Phone support.
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Are you excited for the release of DirectX 12? Let us know in the comments below.
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