News DirectX 12 rumoured to bring cross-vendor multi-GPU support

does it add support for intel integrated GPU's as well?

oops just reread the intel bit :-s

 

The most interesting thing for me is that it may mean a less divided GPU market, no longer will consumers have to choose between either AMD or Nvidia technologies, we could have a main GPU and a cheaper one as a coprocessor for the best of both worlds.

 

There was the short-lived Lucid Hydra ship line that combined (to a very limited extent) GPUs from multiple vendors by intercepting API calls.

 

An unnamed source and an unspoken API, does not fill me with confidence in this story.

 

Is it not also up to nVidia and AMD to implement this in to their drivers? If so then I can't see them playing ball.

 

Does this mean I could potentially shove four dual GPUs into a system and reap the benefits?

 

And everyone here forgetting that SFR was there in the original SLI spec from 2004 with the GeForce 6000 series (!). Sadly, nobody built their games for it, and now suddenly it's everyone's load and saviour.

Pardon me while I remain cynical and skeptical over here, far away from the hype.

 

The only interesting thing for me here as a single GPU user, is whether this would finally tip the better performance categories in favour of AMD apu's. It is consistently the case that you want an Intel CPU and discrete GPU if you are going to get the best overall performance (usually by quite a margin too). The main beneficiary i can see from this is if AMD could really leverage their APU's obvious graphical prowess in the CPU market to put them back as a gamer's choice for the next build. They would be mad not to try surely?

 

Agreed. Also, ever the cynic, it seems AMD and Nvidia have a hard time making their own GPUs work together well in many cases, hence constant moaning to release SLI and CF optimised drivers for new titles. I can't believe that DX12 is so radical a departure from previous versions that it makes it so easy...

 

Looks like this will be used to "encourage" gamers to move away from older windows

 

I'm curious to find out how this will work - I'm betting the overhead required to get two dissimilar cards talking will outweigh much of the benefit.

 

Sceptical.. Also, how do we know that the source isn't talking about the 'GL Next' (Can't remember it's exact name..) API that's in the works?

 

First the rumor from an unknown source would have to turn out to be real.
Then on top of that it would have to scale well beyond two gpus unlike sli / crossfire.
Them on top of that nvidia / amd would have to release dual gpu cards in the future.
Then on top of that whatever software you use has to make use of it too.

With those odds I'd buy lottery tickets instead.

 

does this mean barring putting amd and nividia together, that you can put two different models (960 and 680 nvidia) together?

im sure they will put a generation "wall" in the way and say its impossible...

 

I don't like multiple graphics cards anyway. Too many games that I like have problems with it or don't support it at all.

 

NVidia will simply write its drivers to stop this happening ala PhysX cards

 

Even IF DX12 makes it easier to use AMD and Nvidia cards together, I'd be very surprised if having both sets of drivers didn't cause problems. Have to wait and see I suppose, but I won't hold my breath.

 

You know this is never going to work, just cause something is *theoretically* possible doesn't mean it's going to happen.