AMD Supports Possible Lower Level DirectX

By Kevin Parrish
published

AMD responds to talk about DirectX and OpenGL being lower in the software stack.

AMD is currently responding to reports that DirectX and OpenGL may allow low-level hardware access. An AMD rep says that the company supports and celebrates a direction for game development that is aligned with AMD’s vision.

The response stems from session descriptions pulled from the DirectX and OpenGl presentations that will take place in GDC 2014. According to one session on Direct3D, presenters will discuss future improvements in Direct3D that will allow developers an “unprecedented level of hardware control and reduced CPU rendering overhead across a broad ecosystem of hardware”.

“You asked us to do more,” the DirectX session reads. “You asked us to bring you even closer to the metal and to do so on an unparalleled assortment of hardware. You also asked us for better tools so that you can squeeze every last drop of performance out of your PC, tablet, phone and console.”

For OpenGL, we have this session description: “Graham Sellers (AMD), Tim Foley (Intel), Cass Everitt (NVIDIA) and John McDonald (NVIDIA) will present high-level concepts available in today's OpenGL implementations that radically reduce driver overhead--by up to 10x or more. The techniques presented will apply to all major vendors and are suitable for use across multiple platforms.”

In a way, AMD’s Mantle has pushed the Khronos group (OpenGL) and Microsoft (DirectX) to take the “lower level” route. However the question is: what will happen to Mantle then? Will developers no longer need Mantle with DirectX and OpenGL hovering at the same level in the software stack?

“AMD would like you to know that it supports and celebrates a direction for game development that is aligned with AMD’s vision of lower-level, ‘closer to the metal’ graphics APIs for PC gaming,” reports an AMD rep. “While industry experts expect this to take some time, developers can immediately leverage efficient API design using Mantle, and AMD is very excited to share the future of our own API with developers at this year’s Game Developers Conference.”

“We’ll be sure to share more news and detail with you closer to GDC,” the rep adds.

What will be interesting to see is where all three will go from here. Will Mantle and DirectX somehow merge ideas so that AMD gamers still get the Mantle benefits when using DirectX to run a game? As AMD points out, we’ll find out more at GDC 2014.

47 Comments Comment from the forums
  • David Dewis
    My issue is that it will be implemented into the next DirectX which is bound to be limited to Windows 9 or 8.1
    Reply
  • jwcalla
    The whole Mantle thing was a marketing ruse. OpenGL already provides a mechanism for developers to get just about whatever they want from the hardware.
    Reply
  • jin_mtvt
    YEs it was a ruset that is why Square and Dice worked hard to include it in the next games. AMD is not in a position to "force" Mantle . But if It needs to "merge" with DX or OpenGL or to be used in conjunction so we can all benefit, then so be it! I personally do not care much about their "brands" until WE ( consumer ) reaps benefit from it. So Viva AMD ( because without them we would still be playing under GeForce and Pentium 3's ) and let's hope Mantle will push everyone forward into the next stage .
    Reply
  • Shankovich
    Making lower level accessible is only a first step for Mantle. It'll only get better from here, and considering it's AMD's own for its own chips and architecture, I think it will continue to have a leg up over Direct X and OpenGL in specific areas.
    Reply
  • cd000
    OpenGL already provides a mechanism for developers to get just about whatever they want from the hardware.
    Then why don't they use it?
    My issue is that it will be implemented into the next DirectX which is bound to be limited to Windows 9 or 8.1
    But Mantle will not. AMD win.
    Reply
  • rdc85
    IMO AMD will try merge dX and mantle so they will not fight each other....If mantle is open source like they said, i can see that happen....
    Reply
  • tobalaz
    We had lower level access in DOS, Win95 and Win98.MS decided to add extra application and hardware extraction layers in the name of "security" with WinXP. Remember how bad Nvidia and ATI drivers were for close to 2 years when WinXP came out?Remember how games could get the same FPS under OpenGL and DirectX but OpenGL just looked smoother until about half way through XP's life cycle?I'd LOVE to see Mantle stick around and I'd love to see it working in Linux on most of the games in my Steam library.Man I miss 3DFX and Glide something awful. All I can do is hope Mantle is the new Glide.
    Reply
  • Kewlx25
    12782875 said:
    The whole Mantle thing was a marketing ruse. OpenGL already provides a mechanism for developers to get just about whatever they want from the hardware.

    Except OpenGL is about 10x slower, because OpenGL is nearly the same speed as DX11. But hey, if you think 10x slower is fine, you can use a lovely 300mhz CPU instead of a 3ghz.
    Reply
  • Shankovich
    12782875 said:
    The whole Mantle thing was a marketing ruse. OpenGL already provides a mechanism for developers to get just about whatever they want from the hardware.
    Except OpenGL is about 10x slower, because OpenGL is nearly the same speed as DX11. But hey, if you think 10x slower is fine, you can use a lovely 300mhz CPU instead of a 3ghz.
    OpenGL can accomplish as much, and more, than Direct X. The reason DirectX is in use so much is because Microsoft is a monopoly plain and simple. The fact that it can use vendor extensions is already a huge plus in its favour. Check this little post out http://blog.wolfire.com/2010/01/Why-you-should-use-OpenGL-and-not-DirectX
    Reply
  • CaptainTom
    I think a lot of fanboys forget that AMD consistently said it would support Nvidia in Mantle. If DirectX and OpenGL both get close to mantle, then they are just doing AMD's job for free...
    Reply