ESRAM Performance Improves By 15% & DX12 Info For Xbox One | Analysis

The Xbox One will be receiving a nice boost in performance thanks to additional tools available for developers to profile the best way to use the ESRAM memory. Regarding Microsoft’s new API, the Xbox One has been said to benefit largely from lower overhead, a new API for running the ESRAM and greater parallelism.

[Mr Lahey]

Hopefully dx12 is the end of sub-hd games on xone!

[MasterBaker]

Well, Technically 720p is HD lol

[alexg587]

Lol good one.. in all honesty im cool with 900p cause sunset overdrive blows mind everytime I play....but 60fps is where its at halo mcc plays so smooth man

[tuglu_pati]

In a nutshel,

"Covering old ground, it’s important to remember this isn’t going to give the Xbox One’s GPU specs a ‘boost’ the hardware still puts out 1.3TFLOPS of performance, thanks to the 768 shaders. It also still has fewer ROPS and TMU’s than the PS4. But what Microsoft can do is get more out of what they have in the system – and that’s the key point here.

Ironically, the PS4 will possibly benefit a little from all of this too – Wardell has confirmed the PS4’s API is already very low level. The API, (GNM) does also have a higher level cousin API, known as GNMX (which we’ve known for some time). We’ll delve more into the PS4’s API and how Vulkan will interact with it in the next few days, but for now it’s best to tackle one thing at a time. The PS4 will possibly benefit because multi platform developers (EA, Ubisoft and so on) will likely be more willing to invest in time to optimize engines which are multi thread orientated for rendering. We know that the Order 1886 uses multi core command buffer generation for example… so the impact of DX12 and other API changes will possibly be interesting to be felt on the PS4.

Still, it’s very positive news for both PC gaming and the Xbox One… which is good for everyone involved."

This summarized really well this whole topic.

[GameNameFame]

@tuglu_pati

In Vulkan slides, it says Sony funded(among others) Vulkan project.

So prob is benefiting from it.

[nicksetzer1]

Idk how much it will improve things overall, but great to hear it effects (for the greater) the gpu, cpu and memory capabilities for XB1.

[Bigpappy]

DX12 isn't for resolution,even though that may be a side benefit, it's for better more efficient processing of draw calls between the CPU and GPU. So thinks fps, lighting, texture mapping, independent ai, particle effects, physics... Don't know who the trolls are from who just don't have a clue. But that should help.

[Stiffler]

@GameNameFame

Still banging that drum dude?

DX12 will help improve X1's performance and efficiency as well as PC, FACT.

I've seen you in almost every single DX12 article trying to downplay the facts while also trying to substantiate your claims with 1-2 year old tweets.

You're wrong and you're evidently desperate with some weird motivation to try and downplay the inevitable improvements on the way for both X1 and PC. Carry on though.

[GameNameFame]

@Stiffler

Not me. And he did it again at this GDC. X1 fans kept saying wait for GDC.. wait for GDC... We did. What did we get? PC upgrades. Not X1. LOL

"“On the DX12 question, I was asked early on by people if DX12 is gonna dramatically change the graphics capabilities of Xbox One and I said it wouldn’t. I’m not trying to rain on anybody’s parade, but the CPU, GPU and memory that are on Xbox One don’t change when you go to DX12. DX12 makes it easier to do some of the things that Xbox One’s good at, which will be nice and you’ll see improvement in games that use DX12, but people ask me if it’s gonna be dramatic and I think I answered no at the time and I’ll say the same thing.”

Thats from spencer.

[PistolsAtDawn]

When was the last game on X1 to be under 900p? Also, typically when a game is under 1080p on X1 (esp after the launch window), it's cause it was developed with PS4 in mind first, then practically just ported over to X1. This is why you get all those eSRAM bottleneck/blessing discussions. If you don't develop a game with eSRAM in mind, it becomes a bottleneck and you don't get much out of it. If you develop a game with it in mind, it's a TON of help. So if DX12 makes it so Devs will find it financially beneficial to make a game ground up designed for X1....1080p already isn't a problem. I mean, how are games like Destiny, FH2 1080p, but pure pool wasn't? Even SSOD was running at 1080p on X1, but they decided to push it down to 900p so they could have more chaos on screen (the right choice for that game...it gets REALLY hectic at times and is what the game is all about).

[GameNameFame]

Uhhh. Most games are not fullHD. or true 1080P.

Instead of 1980 x 1080 resolution. Xbox One has 1500 x 1080 resolution.

Which is identical to 900 or 850P resolution.

LOL. 1500 x 1080 is not really 1080P.LOL

[UKmilitia]

well it dont matter because with the 44% increase on ps4 ,xbox owners cant tell the difference between 720p and 1080p so it dont matter.
there is no point with dx12 because it resolution and fps dont matter according to xb1 owners.
yet the 15% increase on xb1 through new api/dx12 is a game changer??

crazy world

[Software_Lover]

720p?

[GearSkiN]

@ukmilitia
Do you even have an xbox one to make all these claim?

Jesus, fanboy like u really need to stop being one sided.

[UKmilitia]

@gearskin in every article talking about ps4 being 1080p and xbox being 900p xb1 gamers say it isnt noticable and it doenst matter.

also extra blades of grass on gta5 made no difference.
im not a fanboy and last gen it was same shit but different direction because when xb360 had extra blades of grass and slightly higer res it made a huge difference.

im not a fanboy its just xbox gamers have double standards it seems.

oh and last gen i was on xb360 from day one and loved my 360 but i didnt live in the world of bull like most.

[Skate-AK]

If people can't see the difference between 720p and 1080p then they need to see an eye doctor or put more carrots in their diet. I remember the first time I saw a Blu Ray movie. It was the Simpsons Movie. It blew me away. Was so clear and colorful it actually hurt my eyes.

[DLConspiracy]

You keep saying 720p in these articles and post comments to point out some sort of hypocrisy. DX12 is more about the CPU. I seem to recall a lot of those people you are pointing a finger at also saying that frames were more important to them than resolution anyway. So this would be well within that same point. As this will help out the physics and frames of games.

Personally I would love there to be more parity on resolution so that people would stop shoving 720p in peoples faces in every article that threatens them or every chance they get. It does tend to get pretty old.

[Azzanation]

anything over 720p is HD.

[MSBAUSTX]

But there have been some 1080P games for XB1 so I dont understand your statement

[Blackleg-sanji]

I'm so lost on this dx12 stuff. Is it 50%(I believe I fan said that not an actual developer can't remember) it's 20% or it's 15% which one is it? If any of u guys could have a non tech guy out it's appreciated

[Fireseed]

Just know its an improvement. The yield varies between developers but everyone is seeing an improvement.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

@blackleg-sanji DX12 has impacts on PC and Xbox One...and as stated by Fireseed it will vary between developers based on what they are trying to do. DX12 also has a varying degree of impact on different components. So for the CPU they are seeing upwards of 50% improvement of its performance, again depending on what they are doing. GPU also is seeing gains of up to 20% performance increase depending on the situation and finally.... the Xbox One ESRam is seeing a 15% efficiency boost (as discussed in this article).

Bottom line DX12 is a tool set that makes software running on it use the different components of your computer much more efficiently than any previous tool sets.

[Blackleg-sanji]

Thanks for ur help and my God what's with the disagrees what's wrong with you gamers?! Jus trying to find out how this works this site man..

[PistolsAtDawn]

As of right now there is no solid answer, but this article is just specifically about the eSRAM aspect of the system, just one small part.

If I were you, I wouldn't worry as much about the hardware efficiency %'s as much...any gain will be nice, but the real advantage to X1 will be the tools helping devs make it easier to make games designed specifically for X1. If Devs use it like it was designed, it's already a great system. That's why all these quotes and things are about "if the dev uses them".

[Blackleg-sanji]

Again thx to u as well

[bleedsoe9mm]

"For the PC, Wardell points out that “Ashes of the Singularity” (a new title from StarDock, his studio) has received a 70 percent boost in performance on rendering the same scene. "
holy crap

"Ironically, the PS4 will possibly benefit a little from all of this too"
if you just love gaming on every platform you can get your hands on , this is just great for gaming in general

[Death]

Here's the rest of the quote if anyone is interested,

"Ironically, the PS4 will possibly benefit a little from all of this too – Wardell has confirmed the PS4’s API is already very low level. The API, (GNM) does also have a higher level cousin API, known as GNMX (which we’ve known for some time). We’ll delve more into the PS4’s API and how Vulkan will interact with it in the next few days, but for now it’s best to tackle one thing at a time. The PS4 will possibly benefit because multi platform developers (EA, Ubisoft and so on) will likely be more willing to invest in time to optimize engines which are multi thread orientated for rendering. We know that the Order 1886 uses multi core command buffer generation for example… so the impact of DX12 and other API changes will possibly be interesting to be felt on the PS4."

[OC_MurphysLaw]

So I do question this comment: "The PS4 will possibly benefit because multi platform developers (EA, Ubisoft and so on) will likely be more willing to invest in time to optimize engines which are multi thread orientated for rendering."

I say I question this because if these developers feel the PS4 is already at an acceptable level of performance that they are able to achieve fairly easily then why would they invest more money & time? These companies are all about the bottom line...I question what kind of additional investment they would make.

[Death]

If multithreading is being performed on the Xbox One and PC via DirectX 12, then the chances of affecting the PS4 is pretty slim. If developers create custom tools for multi-threading than it's a pretty easy task doing so for the PS4 also. The low level API's are already doing this to a degree so the benefits for the PS4 aren't as great since they are already further ahead.

You are right as far as the bottom line goes, but if investing in better tools reduces the time to make games than it helps the bottom line in the long run. Microsoft is the company responsible for DirectX. If they can create the tools to make their platform more competitive and also more attractive to developers than the investment is well worth it. It's much harder for a single dev to justify the expense which is why we see some games struggle.

[RegorL]

EA (Frostbite) already does this, they are one of the driving forces behind Vulkan API.

Any serious game engine for a console would use its lowest level API.

[bleedsoe9mm]

sorry about that DP

[kurruptor]

That article is poorly written. They wrote it as if ESRAM has a permanent 15% boost. At the very end it even says "minimum 15%", which they made up and no one ever said.

I'm not sure what is so hard to understand about this PIX tool. It is for debugging and analyzing.

ESRAM can be utilized in many different ways. Figuring out how to best utilize it is the main problem developers have.

The PIX tool basically tells you whether "Method A" or "Method B" is better.

So maybe a developer makes their game thinking they used ESRAM pretty well. This tool may show them that there are better methods. So, you implement a different method and saw a 15% performance boost. That is what happened in these examples.

It only shows that the ESRAM wasn't utilized properly in the first place.

There is a performance ceiling in the system. This tool may help you reach the upper limit, but it doesn't raise the limit.

[PistolsAtDawn]

"There is a performance ceiling in the system. This tool may help you reach the upper limit, but it doesn't raise the limit."

I see your point, but in a way that WOULD be a 15% boost. It's like in a car, it may already have the power, but if you remove a limiting factor like an inefficient exhaust system....the car will see a hp gain. So, this is the kind of gain software updates would provide...it's not adding a nitrous tank to the car, it's helping the car use what it already has more efficiently.

[kurruptor]

In your example, the inefficient exhaust system was limiting the potential (less say taking it down to 90%). Removing it, the potential is back to 100%.

That's not the same situation we have with ESRAM and the PIX tool.

There's no limit on the ESRAM currently. What was possible now was possible before.

[IGiveHugs2NakedWomen]

@kurruptor

I agree with you. The only thing that "may" happen is eSRAM being optimized and becoming more efficient, but there won't be any sort of performance boost as in increased bandwidth. The only way you'll get that is to swap the 32MB eSRAM for something larger.

[Gilgamesh15]

I don't understand why there are so many people rushing to downplay and marginalize seemingly any good news about DX12 when pertaining to the Xbox One. What is there to gain from it?

[kurruptor]

I have an issue when data is misinterpreted and single-case scenarios are overblown and made out to be facts.

This article literally said there is a "The Xbox One's PIX (profile investigator for Xbox) has an upcoming update allowing ESRAM performance to increase at least 15 percent".

That's such a completely wrong twist on what was said.

[Sm00thop]

15% increase is good and they say it could be even more, with a boost to CPU and GPU also, things should be really good. Quite clear now Xbox One was designed with Direct X12 in mind.

[RegorL]

More than anything Xbox One was developed with Xbox 360 in mind.
- Xbox 360 used 10MB eDRAM (512 MB main memory) to great effect lets put in something bigger and faster - eSRAM 32 MB (8GB main memory)

If you look closely you might spot a potential problem
10/521 (2%) v. 32/8000 (0.4%)

At the same time (Februari 2013) PC graphics card GeForce GTX Titan released with 6GB of GDDR5 (OK extrem gaming boards were more modest at 4GB) A normal gaming PC would then be 8GB system memory 4GB graphics memory 4/12 (30%).

Then Sony announced PS4 designed as a graphics card with a CPU...

[Automatic79]

Overall, great news.

[SuicideKing]

Improvement is always good to see. I'm sure we will see more and more of this as thIs console generation moves along.

[halfblackcanadian]

The interesting thing to me is that these are based on porting up, not creating from scratch. Can't wait to see what the hardware can do when all of the tools are used fully.

[Vahlok]

%50 Cpu for PC , % 20 Gpu for PC again and %15 esram for XBO . Am i wrong ?

[GMR_PR]

Yes you are wrong. Read the article.

[ManiacMansion]

DX12 will be a milestone i game developing!!

I am not saying a milestone for the xbox one... i just would like to repeat that a milestone for game development!

The new API will allow Devs to reduce the costs, to maximize the hardware and to port games from a PC made game to the xbox one in a very easy way.

The future will show its real power and since mosts multiplatform games are developed first for PC (lead platform) i do believe that the xone will benefit from the port power of DX12...

If you will get the best version on PC, followed with an easy port on the xone i dont think that devs will invest much more time to optimize a game for a other API???

Maybe MS just wants to have the xone at least in the multiplattform sector on the second place after the PC??

[sovkhan]

Pc is a lead platform? Where???

Using pc never meant it's the lead platform, nor that it will be.

Consoles use unique set of low level api not found on pc on most games, only then they are ported to the pc exec, not the other way around...

[RegorL]

"If you will get the best version on PC, followed with an easy port on the xone i dont think that devs will invest much more time to optimize a game for a other API???"

I do never think there will be such a thing as an easy port from PC to Xbox One - in reality PS4 is a lot closer to PC than Xbox One...

[jhoward585]

Dx12 + less development time = better games.

Devs can spend more time making the game instead of fighting with lines of codes/optimizing to rid of the bugs.

[Dewitt]

+bubs, this is the best take on DX12 to me besides the power increase. Being able to port Shovel Knight in a day. We should be able to see alot of PC exclusives come to XB1 because of the ease of the porting process.

With the W10 app store being one unified store, games announced for the store like Divinity OS, The Long Dark, and Pillars of Eternity should be coming to XB1.

[hasamalaha]

Agreed. Like Dewitt said, if people would explain it this way... you can't argue against it.

Similar with the PIX tool. It doesn't make the Xbone any stronger, but it does make it easier for the developer to get the best out of the system. Which will mean better games and less time developing.

[R4J]

does dx12 unlock some drivers in X1. And will it eventually be better optimised than the ps4? Also does the X1 have a dual gpu?

[poor_cus_of_games]

No it will not be better optimised than the ps4 because it's tools are also getting better. It's not like sonys ICE team are just sitting around lol. Also no the x1 doesn't have a dual gpu. That was all just secret sauce rumours that where going around at the start of this generation. Same goes for the drivers.

[22CobraKing]

They just talk

[alice2015]

do people hate the fact the xbox one seems to be getting better at the end of the day a boost is a boost end of