DirectX 12: Microsoft Shows Ray Tracing at 79 FPS Instead of 1.2

TVS News AI, editorially supervised, presents DirectX 12: Microsoft Shows Ray Tracing at 79 FPS Instead of 1.2.

From 1.2 to 79 frames per second: Microsoft published a preview for DirectX 12 on Wednesday, October 28. In the accompanying demo, the ray-tracing frame rate rises from 1.2 to 79 FPS.

To you, that sounds like an enormous jump. What matters, however, is what lies behind the two numbers: They come from a Microsoft demonstration and therefore do not automatically represent a result you can measure with every DirectX 12 application or on every system.

The report is aimed at everyone interested in ray tracing and possible advances in animated scenes. Microsoft promises less computational work when rendering moving content. Its own headline, however, explicitly points out that the accelerated performance does not apply to everyone.

Microsoft’s 66-fold acceleration comes from a single demo

The preview shown

Microsoft published a pre-release version of DirectX on October 28 that is intended to significantly reduce the computational work required for ray tracing in animated scenes. In the company’s demonstration, the frame rate improved from 1.2 to 79 frames per second.

The comparison initially appears almost incredible: A very low figure gives way to a noticeably smoother display. The ratio of the two measurements is approximately 65.8. Microsoft describes the effect in the report as 66-times faster ray tracing.

The key point is that both figures refer to the same demonstration environment. To that extent, they say more about the specific preview and the scene shown in it than about the performance of arbitrary DirectX 12 games.

79 FPS is an impressive demo figure, but not a blanket verdict

What the numbers prove

With the preview, Microsoft demonstrates that ray tracing in the selected animated scene can be rendered considerably more efficiently. The jump from 1.2 to 79 FPS makes the progress of the demonstrated technology more tangible than an abstract percentage.

The stated limitation remains central: The higher frame rate does not apply to all users. This means that you should not read the figure shown as a guarantee for every system, driver, or application.

The source report presents the accelerated performance as the goal of the DirectX 12 preview. In doing so, it announces a potentially significant improvement, but does not make a general promise that automatically raises ray tracing to 79 FPS in every configuration.

What the DirectX 12 preview means for you in practice

A preview rather than a general product promise

With a preview, the decisive practical test is still ahead: How does the improvement perform outside the demonstration scene and in specific applications? The figures of 1.2 and 79 FPS come from the test setup shown and therefore cannot be transferred to your setup without qualification.

Looking at the development provides useful context: According to Microsoft, it is reducing the computational work required for ray tracing in animated scenes. That is the core of the report. The FPS figures show how strongly this approach affects the demo.

If you are currently considering whether an upgrade or a new system makes sense for graphics-intensive applications, you should therefore not look at the Microsoft demo’s 79 FPS alone. The most reliable conclusion remains: The preview shows great potential, but the higher frame rate does not apply to everyone.

Conclusion: A major jump in the demo, not a universal performance figure

DirectX 12 is facing an interesting update: Microsoft reports a 66-fold increase in frame rate in its ray-tracing demo, marking the change from 1.2 to 79 FPS. DirectX is expected to require less computational work, particularly for animated scenes.

The correct interpretation is: A strong demonstration figure with limited applicability. The numbers are technically remarkable, but they come from a controlled preview. Whether you benefit depends on your specific environment and the applications that become available later.

More for you

The full report from Frandroid summarizes the DirectX 12 preview and the most important limitation again.