DirectX 12 Mixed Multi-GPU Actually Works

One of the biggest features you will see talked about with DirectX 12 is asymmetric multi-GPU, which lets you mix and match different GPUs from both AMD and NVIDIA as long as they support a consistent feature-level. In the case of “Ashes of Singularity” that is Direct3D 12_0. In order for this to work you need two DirecX 12 graphics cards and of course a DirectX 12 application, don’t expect this to work on DirectX 11 games. Anandtech put the asymmetric multi-GPU to the test by building a multi-GPU setup using a Radeon R9 Fury X and a GeForce GTX 980 Ti.

DirectX 12 Mixed Multi-GPU

For starters alternate-frame rendering does work, which is the most common multi-GPU method. Anandtech did see >50% performance gains, but nothing close to what you would expect from the proprietary multi-GPU configurations we are used to like SLI or CrossFire. Another interesting thing is that the primary impacts performance. Anandtech’s findings shows that if t hey had the Fury X is the primary (plugged into the display) and the GTX 980 Ti as secondary it yielded better results than the other way around.

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Even better is that Anandtech found no stability issues in mixing the R9 Fury X with the GTX 980 Ti. It will be interesting to see how long this will remain stable as GPU vendors could see this competing with their multi-GPU optimization standards.

Source: Anandtech | News Archive

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