14 DAY TRIAL // All Windows applications use DirectX, currently in the DirectX 11 iteration, but Advanced Micro Devices feels that there is room for improvement, or rather a different way to do things for games.
Enter Mantle, one of its latest projects that was revealed during the launch event in Hawaii, which was transmitted live just half a day ago.
Essentially, Mantle is something that AMD came up with in collaboration with DICE, the game developer behind the Battlefield games.
In fact, the newest title, Battlefield 4, will be used as a pilot program, of sorts, for the Mantle 3D API (application programming interface).
Mantle gets its name because it shares a similar role in game operation as the earth's mantle does in nature. AMD actually used that analogy in its slideshow.
If the GCN (Graphics Core Next) architecture is the “core of the planet,” then the Mantle driver is the layer immediately over that, and the mantle API is between that and the “crust,” which represents the graphics applications (the games as it were).
Mantle will be used instead of DirectX 11 by the games designed that way, and will use new rendering techniques, some from next-generation game consoles, to run PC games better. For example, the CPU overhead will be reduced and will allow nine times more draw calls per second.
It sounds interesting. Especially since this is supposed to be a low-level API with a lightweight driver and simple to port via compatibility with DirectX HLSL.
In layman terms, Mantle is a DiurectX 11 alternative that will “let you make the best of your PC.” The GPU and system won't be bottlenecked, and the “perfect” parallel rendering technology will use all 8 CPU cores at their best (even better with Gaming Evolved app).
We will find out more about Mantle in the coming weeks. As it is, the software is still being optimized. Best chance is that the API will be released alongside Battlefield 4 on October 29.
