Questions regarding Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 7, DirectX 12

[BLanX24]

So recently Windows been giving free Windows 10 upgrades along with DirectX 12 update, and I know that its still new and some software and games have some compatibility issues (In rare cases). So my questions are:

 

1.) Does Windows 7 and 8.1 support DirectX 12?

 

2.) Since I upgraded to Windows 10 and decided to revert to Windows 8.1 does my copy of Windows still valid? (After the installation of Windows 10 I accidentally deleted the files of my old os using CCleaner) I still got the installation cd of Windows 8.1.

 

3.) Widows 10 is free to Windows 7 also, my laptop is 4 years old now and I am wondering if upgrading to Windows 10 will have a significant performance increase or it will only have some issues? (Cortana don't support the area I am currently living though)

 

Laptop specs:

 

CPU: Intel Core i7 2670QM 2.20 GHz

RAM: 8gb

HDD: Toshiba 750gb

GPU: Geforce GT 540M 2gb

 

Thanks in advance.

 

[Godlygamer23]

1.) No. Only W10 supports DX12.

 

2.) Yes it is still valid.

 

3.) I have not really noticed any performance differences between W10 and W7.

[Sharp_3yE]

So recently Windows been giving free Windows 10 upgrades along with DirectX 12 update, and I know that its still new and some software and games have some compatibility issues (In rare cases). So my questions are:

 

1.) Does Windows 7 and 8.1 support DirectX 12?

 

2.) Since I upgraded to Windows 10 and decided to revert to Windows 8.1 does my copy of Windows still valid? (After the installation of Windows 10 I accidentally deleted the files of my old os using CCleaner) I still got the installation cd of Windows 8.1.

 

3.) Widows 10 is free to Windows 7 also, my laptop is 4 years old now and I am wondering if upgrading to Windows 10 will have a significant performance increase or it will only have some issues? (Cortana don't support the area I am currently living though)

 

Laptop specs:

 

CPU: Intel Core i7 2670QM 2.20 GHz

RAM: 8gb

HDD: Toshiba 750gb

GPU: Geforce GT 540M 2gb

 

Thanks in advance.

1. No

2. Yes

3. Depends. It may boot faster, may. Windows 8 and 10 generally boot faster. Overall speed probably won't be to noticeable. It's more about having the new features is what will give the upgrade a good value.

[Delicieuxz]

Windows 7 / 8 don't support DX12, but they will support Vulkan, which accomplishes the same low-level communication between software drivers and hardware to achieve improved performance.

 

It will be interesting to see how many games incorporate DX12 support, compared to how many incorporate Vulkan support:

 

 

Valve: DirectX 12 does not make a lot of sense, Vulkan does

 

“Unless you are aggressive enough to be shipping a DX12 game this year, I would argue that there is really not much reason to ever create a DX12 back end for your game. And the reason for that is that Vulkan will cover you on Windows 10 on the same class of hardware and so much more from all these other platforms and IHVs that we’ve heard from. Metal is single platform, single vendor, and Vulkan… we are gonna have support for not only Windows 10 but Windows 7, Windows 8 and Linux.”

[Tsuki]

Valve: DirectX 12 does not make a lot of sense, Vulkan does

 

“Unless you are aggressive enough to be shipping a DX12 game this year, I would argue that there is really not much reason to ever create a DX12 back end for your game. And the reason for that is that Vulkan will cover you on Windows 10 on the same class of hardware and so much more from all these other platforms and IHVs that we’ve heard from. Metal is single platform, single vendor, and Vulkan… we are gonna have support for not only Windows 10 but Windows 7, Windows 8 and Linux.”

i have no doubts that valve would support Vulkan over DX12. even if you completely ignore which one actually makes sense, and ignore performance, just the fact that Vulkan will be support on Linux gets Valves panties wet. they arent wrong of course, having a cross platform backend would be fantastic and give Micro$oft some competition. just saying Valve is incredibly bias on this point considering how much GabeN hates Windows.  even if DX12 vastly out performs Vulkan, Valve would still support Vulkan.