SM6.0 is live!

[Carfax83]

With the latest 387.87 drivers and Windows Creators fall update RTM, SM6.0 is at long last here! Windows 10 launched over two years ago, and DX12 was unveiled over three years ago. It took them a while, but the most crucial part of DX12 is finally available to end consumers. Now we'll have to see how long it will take developers to start taking advantage of it.

Windows 10 version 1709 (build 16299)
ADAPTER 0
"NVIDIA TITAN Xp"
VEN_10DE, DEV_1B02, SUBSYS_11DF10DE, REV_A1
Dedicated video memory : 3221225472 bytes
Total video memory : 4294901760 bytes
Video driver version : 23.21.13.8787
Maximum feature level : D3D_FEATURE_LEVEL_12_1 (0xc100)
DoublePrecisionFloatShaderOps : 1
OutputMergerLogicOp : 1
MinPrecisionSupport : D3D12_SHADER_MIN_PRECISION_SUPPORT_NONE (0)
TiledResourcesTier : D3D12_TILED_RESOURCES_TIER_3 (3)
ResourceBindingTier : D3D12_RESOURCE_BINDING_TIER_3 (3)
PSSpecifiedStencilRefSupported : 0
TypedUAVLoadAdditionalFormats : 1
ROVsSupported : 1
ConservativeRasterizationTier : D3D12_CONSERVATIVE_RASTERIZATION_TIER_2 (2)
StandardSwizzle64KBSupported : 0
CrossNodeSharingTier : D3D12_CROSS_NODE_SHARING_TIER_NOT_SUPPORTED (0)
CrossAdapterRowMajorTextureSupported : 0
VPAndRTArrayIndexFromAnyShaderFeedingRasterizerSupportedWithoutGSEmulation : 1
ResourceHeapTier : D3D12_RESOURCE_HEAP_TIER_1 (1)
MaxGPUVirtualAddressBitsPerResource : 40
MaxGPUVirtualAddressBitsPerProcess : 40
Adapter Node 0: TileBasedRenderer: 0, UMA: 0, CacheCoherentUMA: 0, IsolatedMMU: 1
HighestShaderModel : D3D12_SHADER_MODEL_6_0 (0x0060)
WaveOps : 1
WaveLaneCountMin : 32
WaveLaneCountMax : 32
TotalLaneCount : 61440
ExpandedComputeResourceStates : 1
Int64ShaderOps : 1
RootSignature.HighestVersion : D3D_ROOT_SIGNATURE_VERSION_1_1 (2)
DepthBoundsTestSupported : 1
ProgrammableSamplePositionsTier : D3D12_PROGRAMMABLE_SAMPLE_POSITIONS_TIER_2 (2)
ShaderCache.SupportFlags : D3D12_SHADER_CACHE_SUPPORT_SINGLE_PSO | LIBRARY (3)​

 

[Hi-Fi Man]

What significance does this have over SM5.x and what architectures support SM6?

 

[Samwell]

I don't know exact details about it, but it brings new functions and makes programming easier. Devs seem to like it alot. Afaik every DX12_0 architecture supports it. I can imagine, that every feature level 12_0 game we will get, will support this and waiting for sm6 is one of the reasons we don't have FL 12_0 games yet. The problem is only we need to get to the point where people abandon Win 7 and Kepler/GCN1, which are still quite popular.

 

[Krteq]

The problem is only we need to get to the point where people abandon Win 7 and Kepler/GCN1, which are still quite popular.

GCN1 (Tahiti etc.) supports SM6.0 since 17.4.2 driver, not sure about Kepler.

 

[Samwell]

GCN1 (Tahiti etc.) supports SM6.0 since 17.4.2 driver, not sure about Kepler.

First time i hear that. Always got the word, that FL12_0 is essential for SM6.0. But even then it probably won't change much. Devs who will decide not to support Kepler, will might go directly to 12_0 and also not supprt Tahiti.

 

[Krteq]

Well, you can check by yourself

 

[Spjut]

Kepler supports Shader Model 6.0

 

[Krteq]

Kepler supports Shader Model 6.0

Yeah, right

• Added support for the DirectX Intermediate Language (DXIL)
  • Includes full support for DirectX 12 Shader Model 6.0, features such as Wavemath, and the DirectX Shader Compiler.
  • Supported only on NVIDIA Kepler and later GPUs.

 

[Spjut]

Forgot to say it reports Shader Model 6.0 even though I still haven't updated to the Fall Creator's update

 

[Carfax83]

What significance does this have over SM5.x and what architectures support SM6?

Directly from the horse's mouth.

Basically, SM6.0 takes much better advantage of the inherent parallelism of GPUs, which should lead to better performance.