Nvidia’s latest driver lays the groundwork for next-gen games

FIRST PUBLIC DRIVER RELEASE TO SUPPORT MICROSOFT’S DIRECTX 12 ULTIMATE API.

DX12 Ultimate is a collection of technologies which Microsoft say deliver “an unprecedented alignment between PC and Xbox Series X.” The API supports next generation graphics hardware features, including DirectX Raytracing [DXR], variable rate shading, mesh shaders and Sampler Feedback. At this very moment, Nvidia’s GeForce RTX stack is the only one to support each and every one of those features. That will change when AMD’s next-generation RDNA 2 graphics architecture arrives, which will power the Xbox Series X, PlayStation 5 and PC graphics cards.

Nvidia does not mention any specific game optimisations in the release notes for its latest 451.48 driver package, so there is not a whole lot to be gained in the here and now.