{"id":4908,"date":"2020-08-27T13:54:18","date_gmt":"2020-08-27T20:54:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/pix\/?p=4908"},"modified":"2020-08-27T13:54:18","modified_gmt":"2020-08-27T20:54:18","slug":"pix-2008-26-perf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/pix\/pix-2008-26-perf\/","title":{"rendered":"PIX 2008.26: Performance Improvements"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier today we released PIX on Windows version 2008.<\/span><\/span>26<\/span><\/span>, featuring a 100,000+ line rewrite of our component that takes GPU Captures. Morgan has described this release\u2019s functional improvements in her\u00a0<\/span><\/span>blog post<\/span><\/span><\/a>, but\u00a0<\/span><\/span>here we\u2019ll<\/span><\/span>\u00a0take a closer look at\u00a0<\/span><\/span>the<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>new\u00a0<\/span><\/span>performance improvements.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Recap: GPU Captures in PIX on Windows<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

As a reminder, developers can use\u00a0<\/span>GPU Captures<\/span><\/i>\u00a0in PIX to record the D3D12 GPU work\u00a0<\/span>performed<\/span>\u00a0by a region of their game or application, and then later play back the work in a controlled environment. This controlled environment allows developers to debug their GPU work or to analyze its performance.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To take a GPU Capture in PIX on Windows, you must first launch your\u00a0<\/span>game or\u00a0<\/span>application under GPU Capture through the PIX UI. You can then interact with your\u00a0<\/span>game\/<\/span>application (for example: by playing the game) until you reach a region that you would like to capture. When ready, you<\/span>\u00a0can<\/span>\u00a0trigger a PIX\u00a0<\/span>capture,<\/span>\u00a0and PIX will start to serialize the D3D12 GPU work into a capture file.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Capture-Time<\/span>\u00a0Framerate<\/span>\u00a0Improvements<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

We\u2019re proud to share that we have dramatically increased the framerates of games launched under GPU Capture in PIX on Windows<\/span>. In all cases that we\u2019ve seen, DirectX 12 games\u00a0<\/span>that<\/span>\u00a0used to run at low framerates\u00a0<\/span>under GPU Capture<\/span>\u00a0now run\u00a0<\/span>at much higher framerates. They will typically run fast enough that you won\u2019t even notice that PIX is present<\/span>, which\u00a0<\/span>will<\/span>\u00a0make it<\/span>\u00a0a lot easier to\u00a0<\/span>play the game\u00a0<\/span>and\u00a0<\/span>get<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>to the<\/span>\u00a0region that you\u2019d like to capture.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u00a0<\/span>is\u00a0<\/span>a selection of games and the improvements they’ve seen:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(Each game’s numbers were taken with the default settings for each GPU, except that VSYNCs were turned off and any dynamic settings were changed to a fixed value.)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

We have seen\u00a0<\/span>similar improvements<\/span>\u00a0in many other AAA games, including games from third<\/span>-party studios<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>who\u00a0<\/span>have tried out p<\/span>review builds over the past few months.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As you\u2019d expect,<\/span>\u00a0PIX on Windows continues\u00a0<\/span>to\u00a0<\/span>support all D3D12 functionality that we\u2019ve seen DirectX 12 applications use, including:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n