This Square Enix tech demo shows DirectX 12 in all its glory

[Shawn Knight]

Microsoft has had plenty to say about Windows 10 over the past several months leading up to its Build conference that wraps up today. While we’ve heard some details about DirectX 12 and how it’ll be exclusive to Windows 10, we haven’t yet seen it in action… until now.

Microsoft commissioned Square Enix to build a real-time “Art&Tech” demo to show what’ll be possible with DirectX 12. Using a high-end Digital Storm system with four graphics cards, the demo – dubbed Witch Chapter 0 [cry] – is incredibly impressive.

The presenter was able to run through the scene manually and adjust various settings like lighting on-the-fly. We’re told that there are over 63 million polygons per scene which is roughly six to 12 times more than is possible in DirectX 11. Perhaps most impressive is the hair as every single strand is being rendered in real-time.

Keep in mind, however, that this is just a tech demo and it’s running on a very high-end system. Even still, it gives a glimpse into the future of PC gaming which has already come a very long way in a relatively short amount of time.

Over time, we’ll reach a point where this sort of performance is possible via a single, affordable graphics card. But for now, all we can do is dream.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/60546-square-enix-tech-demo-shows-directx-12-all.html

 

[treeski]

Looks like the character was pulled directly from Morrigan (Dragon Age)...

 

[insect]

Very neat! Now they just need to get the motion right - seemed like her movements were a bit jerky.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

Kinda makes you wonder why anybody would waste their money on those Titan X thingymajigs when you'll be able to pick up a mainstream card two years from now with the same level of performance. Hell, four years from now your entry level cards will be able to render these scenes without breaking a sweat.

 

[Adhmuz]

Kinda makes you wonder why anybody would waste their money on those Titan X thingymajigs when you'll be able to pick up a mainstream card two years from now with the same level of performance. Hell, four years from now your entry level cards will be able to render these scenes without breaking a sweat.

But for those who want that kind of power now they have the option of spending a ludicrous amount of money and then having mainstream gamers surpass them in 2 years, meanwhile for those 2 years they will be happily enjoying their $4000 worth of video cards. While the rest of us wait patiently for the mainstream cards to trickle out. Thus is the world of PC gaming. Regarding the video, very cool, love that hair, although I would never pay attention to it while playing the game, it's more to make the overall experience that much closer to reality.

 

[Guest]

Individual hair rendering.....wow just wow

I would love to see what the load was on those 4 Titan X cards

 

[Peter Farkas]

Impressive graphics on an impressive hardware. Good to see what kind of graphics we can expect in the near future.

Have you guys seen the flame in the Youtube comments? Console fans took the graphics topic sensitive again. Sigh....

 

[tj122]

Looks great. The only problem I have is 4 Titan X cards. Those things are not cheap. How many people out here have that much money to play one game? It's over $1000 a peace. I know more games will come out that can use this and use every last bit of 4 Titan X cards. I love seeing technology grow and grow, but I hope one day (for the sake of my wallet and my sanity) to hear "That's it we can't go any further." and the "Brick Wall" they keep talking about that we just keep breaking through turns out to be 10 foot thick solid adamantium (yes I show my other geek side.) Maybe just so us regular people out here can catch up. Just for a little while.

 

[LNCPapa]

We won't hit that brick wall in your lifetime. After the graphics become indistinguishable from reality there will be other places to focus attention such as material characteristics and behaviors so external forces and interactions become more accurate.

 

[Vocnar]

Rumor has it that the New R9 390X cards are going to be re-chipped with a Samsung 14 nm chip making them Faster, Cooler & More Power Efficient for the same price as the GTX 980's. Thats why they havent come out (REMEMBER this is just the rumor). I currently have 2 R9 290X's one 8 GB card & one 4 GB card in Crossfire. They say both Direct X12 & Vulcan will treat EACH card & CPU as assets to be used as needed. SO you can I think have BOTH a R9 390X in slot one with a GTX 980 in lot two & it will run them as individual units. OR so they claim, IF so then it would be SOOOO Sweet ! But I would LOVE to see a game like Skyrim at this level of detail...I would PAY the $5,000.00 for a system just for that.

 

[Peter Farkas]

Rumor has it that the New R9 390X cards are going to be re-chipped with a Samsung 14 nm chip making them Faster, Cooler & More Power Efficient for the same price as the GTX 980's. Thats why they havent come out (REMEMBER this is just the rumor). I currently have 2 R9 290X's one 8 GB card & one 4 GB card in Crossfire. They say both Direct X12 & Vulcan will treat EACH card & CPU as assets to be used as needed. SO you can I think have BOTH a R9 390X in slot one with a GTX 980 in lot two & it will run them as individual units. OR so they claim, IF so then it would be SOOOO Sweet ! But I would LOVE to see a game like Skyrim at this level of detail...I would PAY the $5,000.00 for a system just for that.

just pay 5 grand to have more compatibility and driver issues than anybody else... I believe it's working when I see it with my own eyes...