However yesterday, Intel has released a major driver update for its Arc Alchemist GPUs. As a result, he nearly doubled his FPS (frames per second) on DX9-based titles. Now, according to Reported by GamingOnLinux, We know how Intel was able to accomplish this task in some games. Intel has added another conversion layer to its latest graphics driver featuring his DXVK conversion layer on Steam. This is the same conversion layer that Steam uses with the Proton API to convert Windows games to Linux ( steam deck), allowing Intel to convert DX9 code to the open source Vulkan API.
According to yesterday’s Intel blog post, Intel apparently only uses the DXVK conversion layer in some cases. That driver takes a hybrid approach that opportunistically utilizes combinations of API technologies that leverage translation layers using one or more modern API implementations. As a result, Intel never uses his DXVK for the entire DX9 process, and he only uses it if it can provide better performance than Intel’s DX12 emulation technology.
Intel never mentioned using DXVK in their official blog posts, but thanks to Gaming On Linux, we now know that the DXVK translation is what Intel is referring to. readme document Intel published on the same topic. Unfortunately I don’t know how effective his DXVK really is in Intel’s implementation, but Intel’s implementation of a translation layer in their latest drivers must be a very effective solution.
Intel’s Arc GPU – and associated Xe integrated graphics, No native support for DX9. Instead, Intel chose to rely solely on the translation layer to replicate native rendering. One such example is Intel’s use of the Microsoft D3D9On12 mapping layer to translate DX9 commands to DX12.
Relying on Intel’s translation layer may not be ideal, but it actually gives the company a shortcut to getting great DX9 GPU performance quickly. The translation layer will allow Intel to use his DX12 optimizations for both his latest DX12 titles and older DX9 games, greatly reducing the development time required to optimize both new and old APIs. This was a necessary move for Intel. Because with nearly 20 years of experience in developing his DX9 drivers for discrete GPU hardware, he needed a way to compete with Nvidia and AMD.
The beauty of DXVK is that Intel no longer has to rely on Microsoft’s DX12 emulation layer to play DX9 games on Arc. With DXVK, Intel will allow other operating systems such as Linux to run he DX9 games, with additional performance benefits that may not be available with Microsoft’s emulators.
