An update to the DirectX 12 API will improve performance under Windows and more specifically in video games. It allows the processor and the graphics card to simultaneously access the VRAM (Video Random Access Memory).
VRAM is a component of the graphics card. It is special and especially dedicated to certain works such as video games, graphics processing and others. Simultaneous access by the CPU and GPU duo is a major change. Until now only one or the other might access it, automatically putting the second on hold. Concurrency was not possible which might lead to bottlenecks and performance losses.
With this update the DirectX 12 API Microsoft corrects the situation. Our duo can work more efficiently and in parallel in some cases. It is to be expected with software with high graphics requirements such as games a significant improvement in performance.
Windows and the GPU Upload Heaps feature
This advancement has a name: GPU Upload Heaps which works in conjunction with Resizable-BAR. Its use should favor DirectX 12 titles while reducing the use of the PC’s memory, the RAM. The advancement is part of the Agility SDK, Microsoft’s software development kit that’s supposed to help developers build apps for Windows platforms.
Since the size of the data exchanged between the graphics card and the processor is constantly increasing, the GPU Upload Heaps should prove to be more and more impactful. For the moment, caution all the same because we have no details concerning the potential performance gains.
Note that the Resizable-Bar is a feature that allows Windows to directly access the VRAM (Video Random Access Memory) of the graphics card and to use it more efficiently. At AMD we find SAM, a contraction of Smart Access Memory, a similar technology but designed to be used with its own CPUs and GPUs.
GPU Upload Heaps is already supported by Nvidia and Intel drivers. For AMD you have to ask.
