Microsoft Introduces DirectX Raytracing 1.2 with Major Performance and AI Enhancements

The update debuts technologies like Opacity Micromaps and Shader Execution Reordering, promising significant boosts in raytracing efficiency and visual fidelity.

DirectX Raytracing (DXR) 1.2, announced at GDC 2025, incorporates Opacity Micromaps (OMM) and Shader Execution Reordering (SER) to enhance raytracing performance by up to 2.3x and 2x, respectively, in specific scenarios.
Neural Rendering and Cooperative Vectors are new AI-driven features designed to improve real-time path tracing and enable advanced neural compression techniques.
NVIDIA GPUs already support OMM and SER, while AMD, Intel, and Qualcomm are working on integrating these features into future hardware.
The preview Agility SDK for DXR 1.2 is set to release in April 2025, with updates to Windows WARP ensuring advanced DirectX features are accessible on systems without GPUs.
While the performance improvements target specific parts of the rendering pipeline, their impact on overall frame rates will vary depending on game and scene characteristics.