NVIDIA has released its first DirectX 12 Ultimate certified driver which is available for developers to try out. The Driver suite packs support for all the latest features which would be embedded within the DX12 Ultimate API, allowing developers to integrate them in next-generation AAA titles for the PC platform.

NVIDIA's DirectX 12 Ultimate Certified Driver Now Available - First Driver To Support DXR 1.1, Sampler Feedback, Mesh Shading & More

On its official Developer site, NVIDIA has published the Pre-Release Driver 450.82 For Windows 10 (standard). The drivers are separate for NVIDIA's GeForce and NVIDIA's Quadro graphics cards and anyone can download them by joining the NVIDIA Developer Program. Sure you need an account membership to download the drivers but it's free to create an account and NVIDIA will let you know as soon as an update is available. There are also several key benefits for developers in this specific program, some of which are listed below:

More than 100 SDKs and performance analysis toolsAccess to hundreds of GPU-accelerated containers, models, Helm charts and SDKs via NGCProduct and reference manuals, user guides, tutorials, white papers, and sample codeMember-only discounts on development kits & platformsAccess to NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute (DLI) hands-on training in artificial intelligence and accelerated computingRelease notifications & early access programsAccess to many developer technical sessions from GTC and other conferencesInvitations for developer-only events and activitiesDeveloper conferences, meet-ups & speaking opportunitiesProduct news & technical blogs

"DirectX 12 Ultimate is Microsoft’s latest graphics API, which codifies NVIDIA RTX’s innovative technologies first introduced in 2018, as the cross-platform standard for next-generation, real-time graphics. It offers APIs for Ray Tracing, Variable Rate Shading, Mesh Shading, Sampler Feedback, and more, enabling developers to implement cinema-quality reflections, shadows, and lighting in games and real-time applications." - NVIDIA

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Following are the links to download the preview drivers (via Videocardz):

NVIDIA GeForce Pre-Release Driver 450.82 For Windows 10 (64-bit)NVIDIA Quadro Pre-Release Driver 450.82 For Windows 10 (64-bit)

The new drivers feature support for the DXR Tier 1.1, Sampler Feedback, Mesh Shaders, VRS (Variable Rate Shading) and more. According to NVIDIA, this is the first release of a GeForce / Quadro DirectX 12 Ultimate driver that would help them use next-generation technologies in gaming titles and several other applications that can take advantage of them. There's no list of supported graphics cards mentioned but it seems like only the Turing based GeForce RTX and Quadro RTX graphics cards will be able to support the said DX12 Ultimate feature set.

We have already seen some great performance improvements with the use of Mesh Shaders by an Xbox Developer who tested them on an Xbox Series X console & a PC powered with a GeForce RTX 2080 Ti graphics card. Ray Tracing is definitely one of the key highlights for DirectX 12 Ultimate and also Vulkan API. NVIDIA is the first to land in support for both APIs for its modern GPUs and hence we can see some key performance optimizations for its existing and upcoming graphics cards.