This year’s GDC is coming to a close today, but not without some end-of-week announcements to talk about. Nvidia has announced a new collaboration to optimize performance through DirectX, specifically when it comes to the hardware-accelerated AI (Tensor Cores) you’ll find on any RTX graphics card, even more so on the latest RTX 40 and RTX 50 series GPUs.

New DirectX APIs are being made available to standardize hardware-accelerated AI workflows. Nvidia says this will “boost GPU efficiency, eliminate context-switching for smoother gameplay, and provide a unified workflow for the broader development community.” In other words, less time worrying about stutters, and more time enjoying gameplay backed by AI-accelerated visuals with technology such as upscaling, frame generation, and real-time ray tracing & path tracing with RTX.

Smoother gameplay, fewer stutters, and less time spent compiling shaders

In collaboration with Microsoft, we are standardizing hardware-accelerated AI through DirectX to boost GeForce RTX GPU efficiency and provide a unified workflow for the broader development community.

Additionally, we are working to address long compilation times and in-game stuttering by evolving shader handling to distribute precompiled shaders during the game download rather than at runtime.

Source: @NvidiaGameDev on X

As well as standardizing hardware-accelerated AI to help developers deliver a smooth experience when using machine learning for graphics (like DLSS), Nvidia also wants to tackle long shader compilation times. This comes hand-in-hand with stuttering issues, and Nvidia calls these “two major pain points in PC gaming”.

Again, working with Nvidia, the introduction of the Microsoft Advanced Shader Delivery (ASD) helps eliminate the current bottleneck of compiling shaders. Instead of games forcing you to download precompiled shaders during runtime (after the game is launched), these shaders will instead be delivered during the game download.

Obviously, this is great for any type of game, but we see it as a major win for live service titles. Game updates often force players to recompile these shaders, and it has become an annoying factor of modern gaming. With these shaders delivered via the download, time wasted recompiling can now be spent gaming.

About the Author

Jack Goodall

At PC Guide, Jack is mostly responsible for reporting on hardware deals. He also specializes in monitors, TVs, and headsets and can be found putting his findings together in a review or best-of guide.