DX 11.2 and Mantle Support
All of the graphics card being launched today, in addition to the Radeon HD 7000-series, are going to have support for two APIs that NVIDIA can’t claim to have. The first is DirectX 11.2, a small update to the Windows gaming API that adds in support for tiled resources.
By enabling hardware managed virtual memory for the GPU game developers can create large logical resources that really only take up small amounts of physical memory. Microsoft itself claims that this new features will be useful for terrain and application user interfaces. There are several other features that DX 11.2 adds to PCs with Windows 8.1 and you can read up on them here if interested.
Of course the more interesting API support being added this year is support for AMD’s very interesting, yet still controversial, Mantle low-level interface. Josh already wrote up a very good editorial focusing on the Mantle API and I am going to have you read it for a lot of the debate about its utility moving forward, but the idea behind it is quite simple. AMD is giving developers a specific API that allows them to target the GCN architecture of the Radeon HD 7000-series as well as the R9/R7 series of GPUs without having to go through the likes of OpenGL or DirectX. The result is a more efficient and higher performing game if everything goes to plan.
The real question of course is how many developers are going to actually spend the time to develop for it, as it essentially leaves NVIDIA out in the cold. Battlefield 4 is already confirmed to implement a Mantle-patch in December of this year but it will of course still have a DX11 path natively. The Frostbite 3 engine is going to be used in a quite a few EA games going forward so AMD will likely get a few more design wins in 2014 with Mantle. In the long run though, is the performance advantage offered by Mantle enough to ask developers to spend the time on it and possibly cut out the current market share leader in discrete PC graphics?
ugh, pre-order sites have it
ugh, pre-order sites have it at $650-729.
this is not good. hope they are wrong
Great Review and Video
Great Review and Video Showcase Ryan. That Asus 280x looks amazing. The price /performance of the 7970, I mean the 280X makes it even better as Im looking to upgrade from my 1gb 7850 to play Battlefield 3 at Ultra at 1080p, which is essentially the only game I play. Bf4 beta isnt to kind to it(7850) either, hopefully I will upgrade son.
Anyhow, keep up the great work, waiting anxiously for the Juggernaut 290X and 290 review!
I don’t understand what all
I don’t understand what all the hate with these cards is about. If you are someone that is coming from say a card 3 gens ago then this is a good deal. The price is 300 for a card that can max out any game right now at 1080p and even at 1440p depending on the game.if your not going to buy it then just Waite for the 290x which is expecting to be 600. Not everyone has that type of money
Agree 100%.
Agree 100%.
i heard the r9 280x can be
i heard the r9 280x can be crossfired with the 7970
is it true?
Yes, they can be put into a
Yes, they can be put into a crossfire configuration.
I wish AMD would get there
I wish AMD would get there shit to together and fix their drivers before bring out a new card I am very disappointed with AMD having said that I do like the way the new cards look.
does msi r9 280 include
does msi r9 280 include mantle?
Yeah,
The wait is over.
Yeah,
The wait is over. Right now there is a 7770 in my system.
And i was waiting for the new chips so the 7970 would drop in price.
I dont mind that it is called a 280x now.
Finaly my rig is complete, high end cpu, SSD and now a good GPU.
(lol a complete rig.. that does not exist..)
I always find it strange how
I always find it strange how close these cards are. I find it hard to believe that this by chance. Clearly AMD and Nvidia are working together, at least at some levels, to ensure maximum profit. There is no competition here.
I think you are right.
But
I think you are right.
But when the prices are to high for to long there will come a thirth party.
Maybe Intel wil come in a few years with good parallel processors.
Who knows
No Hawaii…false advertising
No Hawaii…false advertising by AMD…BOO !
Ryan has my dream job.
Ryan has my dream job.
Mantle is a diversion for
Mantle is a diversion for their not fixing their frame rating issues.
Believe or not I don’t play
Believe or not I don’t play any games, however, I do a lot of animation, which is best NVIDIA OR AMD, I can’t find an answer anywhere? Do you know. Thanks Steve
I understand you put work
I understand you put work into this, But why did you have to use graphs like that to show FPS, Many people are just going to search for other reviews that show simple numbers instead of having to strain their eyes following a stupid line just to learn a cards performance. C’mon man!