DirectX - 10 or 11?

[DarkRuler2500]

I am a bit of a tech-noob so please forgive me a possibly stupid question.

In the latest launcher you can select between Direct X10 and Direct X11.
I am (per default) on 10... should i follow the doctrine "Never change a running system" or does 11 provide additional benefits?

[taiiat]

DirectX 11 should generally perform better.

the same could be said about 11vs9 as well.
however, exact Hardware configurations does muddy the waters. for example, on much older and also kinda potato systems, DirectX 9 in quite a few games would perform better than DirectX 11, when given a choice. so the Hardware can matter sometimes.

but, more recent midrange Platforms should all perform better on DirectX 11.
_{(disclaimer: this does not necessarily apply to 12vs11, while not mentioned here i always feel like i have to disclaim information i give since someone else will come to asinine unrelated conclusions based on it)}

Edited March 1, 2019 by taiiat

[MillbrookWest]

1 hour ago, DarkRuler2500 said:

I am a bit of a tech-noob so please forgive me a possibly stupid question.

In the latest launcher you can select between Direct X10 and Direct X11.
I am (per default) on 10... should i follow the doctrine "Never change a running system" or does 11 provide additional benefits?

I believe i recall a Dev posting that DE support DX10 for specific "legacy" cards - certain AMD cards specifically that were launched between DX10 & DX11 iirc.

For the most part, DX10 and DX11 are quite similar, at least insofar as a comparison to DX9, where DX11 would be more of an extension on the DX10 framework. The main differences predominantly are around the use of compute shaders, and native handling of tessellation through the API (though that doesn't make them unavailable to DX10).

As per MS's own Docs (MS list everything that DX11 does differently to DX10 through the link):

Quote

Converting programs written to use the Direct3D 10 or 10.1 API is a straight-forward process as Direct3D 11 is an extension of the existing API. With only one minor exception (noted below - monochrome text filtering), all methods and functionality in Direct3D 10/10.1 is available in Direct3D 11. The outline below describes the differences between the two APIs to aid in updating existing code. The key differences here include:

• Rendering operations (Draw, state, etc.) are no longer part of the Device interface, but are instead part of the new DeviceContext interface along with resource Map/Unmap and device query methods.
• Direct3D 11 includes all enhancements and changes made between Direct3D 10.0 and 10.1

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/desktop/direct3d11/d3d11-programming-guide-migrating

If you have no specific issue with DX11, just run DX11. 

EDIT:

Found the post, it was from Glen:

 

 

Edited March 1, 2019 by MillbrookWest

[[DE]Glen]

There is at least one optimization that we do with DirectX 11 that we can't do in DirectX 10 -- always prefer DirectX 11 if your system supports it.

The hotfix earlier today fixed the default; the overwhelming majority of people will be using DirectX 11 moving forward.

[Arniox]

17 hours ago, taiiat said:

disclaimer: this does not necessarily apply to 12vs11, while not mentioned here i always feel like i have to disclaim information i give since someone else will come to asinine unrelated conclusions based on it

Even with a 1080ti and an i7 8700k, some games running DX12 perform worse  than DX11. An example of this is Sniper Elite V4. It literally bluescreens me when I play on DX12 but runs way smoother and with no issues on DX11.

Same thing with Battlefield 1. It runs smoother with DX11 for some reason and had massive screen tearing and unstable frame rates with DX12.

DX12 is more about getting more out of your CPU by making stuff multithreaded, but it doesn't seem to boost the graphics cards any amount so often the game will end up being extremely intensive on my CPU

[Arniox]

2 hours ago, [DE]Glen said:

There is at least one optimization that we do with DirectX 11 that we can't do in DirectX 10 -- always prefer DirectX 11 if your system supports it.

The hotfix earlier today fixed the default; the overwhelming majority of people will be using DirectX 11 moving forward.

Speaking of that, and going forward, can we expect to eventually see the removal of DirectX 10 support and even further forward, the eventual use of Dx12/Vulkan support?

[taiiat]

3 hours ago, Arniox said:

Even with a 1080ti and an i7 8700k, some games running DX12 perform worse  than DX11. An example of this is Sniper Elite V4. It literally bluescreens me when I play on DX12 but runs way smoother and with no issues on DX11.

Same thing with Battlefield 1. It runs smoother with DX11 for some reason and had massive screen tearing and unstable frame rates with DX12.

 

DX12 is more about getting more out of your CPU by making stuff multithreaded, but it doesn't seem to boost the graphics cards any amount so often the game will end up being extremely intensive on my CPU

that's your Client system if Sniper Elite is crashing on Dx12. i would suggest cloning your Boot Drive as a backup, then install Windows fresh and try again with Sniper Elite. it'll probably work fine.
(Sniper Elite is supposed to have A+++ levels of GPU excellence on Dx12, a shining star of a product)

Battlefield 4 had fake Dx12 that was a wrapper on Dx11 so that was definitely slower - i don't know off the top of my head if Battlefield 1 was any different. Battlefield 5 is definitely not a wrapper though.

 

that is... not entirely true. DirectX 12 (and Vulkan, since that's the only other major competition at this current time, there's a couple other things but they're at a 'personal project' sort of level of completion, so to speak) brings important things like Asynchronous Computing, which.... almost entirely benefits the GPU side of the equation. 
there is also the prospect of more automated Multi-Threading(key note there, it makes it easier to Multi-Thread, not makes it possible), though games will generally see little benefit from this. games that aren't CPU bound already are generally avoiding the types of features that are really slow on the CPU, and/or focusing massively on Graphics, which obviously has little impact on the Processor. and those that do bite the bullet for the types of features that are slow on the CPU, get.... basically nothing.
being able to split small tasks wider easier when the problem is that there's very linear, non dividable tasks that are most of the limit just doesn't do much.

Edited March 2, 2019 by taiiat