I want to use DirectX 12 Ultimate (FeatureLevel_12_2) Mesh Shaders with my Intel NUC 11 Pro Kit - Intel i5-1135G7 with Intel Iris Xe Graphics.

But the new graphic driver (DRIVER VERSION: 30.0.100.9684 DATE: July 14, 2021 ) only supports some DirectX 12 Ultimate (FeatureLevel_12_2) features like D3D12-VariableRateShading and D3D12-Sampler Feedback and perhaps DirectX 12 -DirectStorage.

But in the graphic driver release notes i found DirectX*12 Shader Model 6.6 compiler support in the developer highlights. Does this theoretically means in the near future there could be Mesh Shader support?

DEVELOPER HIGHLIGHTS: • This driver is WDDM 3.0 compliant. • DirectX*12 Shader Model 6.6 compiler support • Support for DirectML enhancements and optimizations • Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)*6 Driver Update

https://downloadmirror.intel.com/30579/eng/ReleaseNotes_100.9684.pdf

Just asked the same question, and got answered this link:

https://software.intel.com/content/dam/develop/external/us/en/documents/pdf/july-gdc-2021-developing-for-intel-graphics-today-and-into-the-future.pdf​

Maybe the drivers are not ready yet, but seems the HW features are there.

@JoeJ Thanks for your answer.

So Intel Iris Xe Graphics hardware supports DirectX 12 Mesh Shaders. Now we only need patience (perhaps 6 months or so) and some luck to get a new graphic driver with Mesh Shader support.

I could not believe current iGPUs already support raytracing and looked for more info.
Found some sites reporting Intel has announced HW RT for the upcoming discrete GPUs.

So, i do not really know what's the situation for RT or mesh shaders (more optimistic for that, though).
The PDF seems more about marketing but may lack some specific details.

@JoeJ At least Intel Iris Xe Graphics supports Sampler Feedback (it works on my Intel NUC 11 Pro Kit - Intel i5-1135G7 with Intel Iris Xe Graphics):

Sampler Feedback Streaming

This repository contains a demo of DirectX12 Sampler Feedback Streaming, a technique using DirectX12 Sampler Feedback to guide continuous loading and eviction of reserved resource tiles. Sampler Feedback Streaming allows scenes containing 100s of gigabytes of resources to be drawn on GPUs containing much less physical memory. The scene below uses just ~200MB of a 1GB heap, despite over 350GB of total texture resources.

See also:

GDC 2021 video (alternate link) which provides an overview of Sampler Feedback and discusses this sample starting at about 15:30.

GDC 2021 presentation

Sampler Feedback is supported in hardware on Intel Iris Xe Graphics, as can be found in 11th Generation Intel® Core™ processors and discrete GPUs. This sample requires driver version 30.0.100.9667 or later.

https://github.com/GameTechDev/SamplerFeedbackStreaming​

And also DirectX12 Sampler Feedback Streaming is working.

But in this sample the DirectX 12-DirectStorage source-code-path is empty until now, because of the DirectX 12-DirectStorage NDA or so.

Yeah. I assume raytracing only comes with DG2, while i'd hope for eventual mesh shader support with future drivers.

What's your impression so far? Can you ran any game or does it feel like lots of driver issues?

@JoeJ I can play the first Tomb Raider Reboot from 2013 with D3D11 and UHD-Monitor-Resolution (allmost 4K resolution) but with low resolution Textures only and without Post-Processing features with my Intel NUC 11 Pro.

I did not see any driver issues in this game so far.

I also tried Tomb Raider 3 Reboot (Shadow of Tomb Raider i think) with D3D12 and my UHD-Monitor:

D3D12-Tomb Raider menu works and also the loading screen. But fails when level geometry is loaded and level is started (perhaps i only have one 4 GB DDR4 memory modul installed in my Intel NUC).

But it works with D3D11.

My conclusion is:

Intel NUC 11 Pro Kit - Intel i5-1135G7 with Intel Iris Xe Graphics is fast enough for me to play some newer games. But i have to buy a second 4 GB DDR4 memory modul sometimes later.

Hmm, does not sound that bad. I hope for Intel to succeed.

On the long run (but better on the short), the future seems APU to me. So back to iGPU, but high bandwidth memory to enable larger iGPUs, just like consoles do.

Discrete GPUs with data center features for gaming should go to the museum quickly, or we'll go there ourselves and remember about PC gaming soon. >: )

@JoeJ Sorry i wrote the wrong installed RAM size.

I verified my installed RAM in my Intel NUC: I have two 4 GB modules installed.

So the overall memory is 8 GB. But this 8 GB RAM seems to be not enough for D3D12 Shadow of the Tomb Raider.

Discrete GPUs with data center features for gaming should go to the museum quickly, or we'll go there ourselves and remember about PC gaming soon. >: )

Yes of course!

I also hope for Intel to succeed!

DirectX 12 Storage also seems to work with Intel Iris Xe Graphics:

We have been collaborating close with Intel on Direct Storage for Windows, and are really excited about new experiences developers will be able to unlock with it

• Damyan Pepper, Development Lead (DirectStorage for Windows*), Microsoft

https://software.intel.com/content/dam/develop/external/us/en/documents/pdf/july-gdc-2021-sampler-feedback-texture-space-shading-direct-storage.pdf​

But we have to wait for a D3D12 DirectStorage source code sample to test.