DirectX Minimum Requirements Confusion :: Hardware and Operating Systems

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CoolFlyz100 Oct 4, 2023 @ 8:49am

DirectX Minimum Requirements Confusion

Games show DirectX 11 or Direct X 12 as the minimum requirement. People say that the Feature Level is different than Direct X. So, are these minimum requirements actually the feature level? Does DirectX 12 (11_1) qualify for Direct X 12 games? I've heard no, but not an explanation.

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Showing 1-14 of 14 comments

Cathulhu Oct 4, 2023 @ 8:56am

No. It does not. DX12 with Feature Level 11.1 is literally just DirectX 11.1.
If a game requires DX12 support, it won't work.

What game are you asking about and what is your videocard?

CoolFlyz100 Oct 4, 2023 @ 8:59am

All games, really. Most of what I got is DX11, but I checked out Cyberpunk and it said Directx 12.

Cathulhu Oct 4, 2023 @ 9:00am

What is your videocard?

CoolFlyz100 Oct 4, 2023 @ 9:05am

At the moment, I have older cards: NVIDIA GeForce GT 730 "DX12 (11_0)" and GeForce GTX750 "DX12 (11_0)."

Last edited by CoolFlyz100; Oct 4, 2023 @ 9:05am

nullable Oct 4, 2023 @ 9:06am

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/direct3d11/overviews-direct3d-11-devices-downlevel-intro

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feature_levels_in_Direct3D

And to go along with Cathulhu, what is your video card?

Feature level is different as it might define what features are being targeted within the DirectX version. Most games will define the DirectX version required. Feature level isn't some alternate piece of information that negates the DirectX version stated in the requirements. It just tells you somewhat how that version of DirectX is being used.

And if you're near the minimum requirements I suppose knowing what the highest version of DirectX, and latest feature level your hardware supports might be useful in some cases.

nullable Oct 4, 2023 @ 9:07am

Originally posted by CoolFlyz100:
At the moment, I have older cards: NVIDIA GeForce GT 730 "DX12 (11_0)" and GeForce GTX750 "DX12 (11_0)."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feature_levels_in_Direct3D#Direct3D_12 seems like you can only run DirectX 12 games that support/target the lowest feature level. If a game requires feature level 11_1 or newer your hardware wouldn't support it, as you've described it.

Last edited by nullable; Oct 4, 2023 @ 9:08am

Cathulhu Oct 4, 2023 @ 9:08am

Both of these are wildly underpowered to run Cyberpunk, even if they had DirectX12 support, which they don't.

https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-750-vs-Nvidia-GTX-1060-6GB/3162vs3639
See the GTX 750 compared to the GTX 1060 listed as the bare minimum. It's not even close.

And both of these cards are only DX 11.0 capable. So any DX12 game is out of the question. Even some DX11 games won't work as they may require DX11.1 support. And yes, that is crucial.

CoolFlyz100 Oct 4, 2023 @ 9:13am

Awesome. Thank you both!

CoolFlyz100 Oct 4, 2023 @ 9:19am

Any card suggestions under $200 that suffice? I could always get a used one perhaps if I need to. I'm not concerned about motherboard requirements for cards right now.

Last edited by CoolFlyz100; Oct 4, 2023 @ 9:23am

Obsessive Power Oct 4, 2023 @ 9:29am

Originally posted by CoolFlyz100:
Any card suggestions under $200 that suffice? I could always get a used one perhaps if I need to.

A second hand RTX 2060 perhaps. Not sure if they can be had for $200 as I'm British.

There are also other problems here though. The GTX 750 came out in 2014, if your PC's CPU is also from the same time, you're not going to be playing modern CPU heavy games like Cyberpunk 2077 well. Plus, GPU's like the RTX 2060 need additional power from your PSU. Does your power supply have the power to run it?

#10

CoolFlyz100 Oct 4, 2023 @ 9:30am

I would be upgrading everything for the new card.

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_I_ Oct 4, 2023 @ 10:21am

gt 730 comes in so many flavors, some are dx11 or dx12 depending on what chip the actually used in it

gf108 ddr3 2g-4g
gk208 ddr5 1g-4g

all of them are too weak for any demanding 3d game even from 10 years ago

Last edited by _I_; Oct 4, 2023 @ 10:22am

#12

Bad 💀 Motha Oct 4, 2023 @ 10:17pm

MINIMUM requirement works like this.
If a Game needs DX12, then this REQUIRES.

> Win10 64bit / Win11
> DX12 GPU such as GTX 960 or later

Most games do not support both DX 11 and 12. Usually it is Vulkan + DX11 or Vulkan + DX12. Vulkan is what replaced OpenGL. So In older games like Euro Truck Sim 2 you might see OpenGL as an option, where as in newer games like Doom (2016), Doom Eternal and Red Dead Redemption 2 instead of OpenGL you have Vulkan as an option.

A still decent GPU for cheap (under 250) for 1080p/60 gaming with DX12 would be AMD RX 580 or 590. Might get a good price on used RX 5700 / 5700 XT as well.

Otherwise you can get RTX 3060 nowa days for around 250

Any RTX 20 would be terrible with its outdated specs for RT/DLSS and it's high power consumption

Last edited by Bad 💀 Motha; Oct 4, 2023 @ 10:20pm

#13