No full feature level DirectX 12 support on AMD GPUs

AMD's Robert Hallock, head of Global Technical Marketing, confirmed to ComputerBase that the Graphics Core Next (GCN) GPUs don't have full DirectX 12 feature level support.

The firm's current high-end cards like the Radeon R9 290(X) and Radeon R9 285 are limited to DirectX 12 feature level 12_0. Basically, all AMD GCN 1.1 and GCN 1.2 based cards have DX12 Feature Level 12_0 support and everything based on GCN 1.0 is limited to DX12 Feature Level 11_1.

It's unknown which feature level is supported by the upcoming Fiji, perhaps that will be the only fully DX12 compliant card in AMD's lineup. But even that is a bit unsure at the moment as Hallock mentioned that DX12 Feature Level 12.1 support isn't important for them, claiming anything relevant to games is included in feature level 11_1 and 12_0.

The reference DirectX 12 API (Feature Level 11_0) has performance targeted features while the other two level deliver graphical improvement and this is what really matters in improving the games visually. The feature level 12_0 comes with Tiled Resources, Typed UAV Access and Bindless Textures support. Feature Level 12_1 has the Raster Order Views, Conservative Raster and Volume Tiled Raster enabled on the API.

It seems that at least marketing-wise, NVIDIA has the upper hand here as the firm's GeForce 900 series already supports DX12 feature level 12_1, but anything else from the GeForce 400 to GeForce 700 series is DX12 feature level 11_1.

What this actually means and if it's relevant at all remains to be seen, especially because this news means the current-generation of consoles doesn't support DX12 feature level 12_1 either.

AMD DirectX 12 GCN Support: