DirectX 12 Can Render "up to 12 Times More Polygons" Than DX11

Direct X 12, the next graphics API for Windows devices, has been demonstrated rendering real-time graphics with "six to twelve" times more polygons than its predecessor.

Speaking at the Build 2015 conference in San Francisco on Thursday, Microsoft technical fellow John Shewchuk talked through a strikingly detailed Final Fantasy PC demo that was running from a quad-SLI Digital Storm rig.

The video demonstration, which graphics card giant Nvidia says "points a way through the uncanny valley", can be found below:

"The thing that's really incredible about what you're seeing is just the density of data that's involved in this," Shewchuk said.

In a bid to show that the demo was not pre-rendered CG, Shewchuk opened the free camera to look around the scene in real-time, as well as make various changes to the lighting.

Shewchuk claimed that each scene renders about 63 million polygons. "That's about six to 12 times more than we could do with DX11," he said.

He went on to claim that the textures were 8K by 8K, and that "every piece of hair is being rendered as a polygon - this isn't surface map stuff. I think it's an incredible example of just how far people are pushing big data."

Nvidia said the demo was "running on four of our flagship GeForce Titan X GPUs," and described it as a "stunning example" of what can be done with Microsoft's next graphics API.

Direct X 12 is due to arrive with Windows 10, which is rumoured will release in July, though no official date has been set.

“Microsoft has said Windows 10 will launch this summer. We have nothing additional to share,” a Microsoft spokesperson told GameSpot in response to the release date rumour.

In January, Microsoft claimed that DirectX 12 would not necessarily require new graphics card for its basic functions to work.