DirectX Agility SDK 1.720 adds Shader Model 6.10
Microsoft has released Shader Model 6.10 in preview through DirectX Agility SDK 1.720-preview and DXC 1.10.2605.2. The update adds new HLSL features for matrix math, shared memory, ray tracing and command handling.
The biggest update is LinAlg (linalg::Matrix) . It gives HLSL a direct way to run matrix operations on the GPU . This is aimed at graphics workloads that use machine learning, such as upscaling, denoising and other shader-based processing.
Shader Model 6.10 also adds Group Wave Index and Variable Group Shared Memory . The first helps shaders identify wave groups more safely across different GPU architectures. The second lets developers use more shared memory when the hardware supports it instead of being limited by the older 32KB cap.
Ray tracing also gets new intrinsics, including TriangleObjectPositions() and ClusterID(). The Agility SDK update adds Batched Asynchronous Command List APIs, which can let copy, clear and resolve work overlap when there is no dependency between operations.
Supported by modern GPUs
Hardware support depends on the GPU and driver. AMD lists support across Radeon RX 7000 and RX 9000 for most features, with LinAlg limited to Radeon RX 9000. Intel lists support for several features on Arc B-Series, with LinAlg planned later. NVIDIA lists support for LinAlg and most new features on RTX hardware, while Group Wave Index is planned later.
| Shader Model 6.10 Feature Support | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| AMD | Intel | NVIDIA | |
| linAlg::Matrix | Supported on AMD Radeon™ RX 9000 series graphics products. | Planned for an upcoming release. | Supported on all RTX hardware. |
| Group Wave Index | Supported on AMD Radeon™ RX 7000 and 9000 series graphics products. | Supported on Intel® Arc™ B-Series Graphics. | Planned for an upcoming release. |
| Variable Group Shared Memory | Supported on AMD Radeon™ RX 7000 and 9000 series graphics products.Supports default memory limit size only. Higher size limits are planned for future driver releases. | Supported on Intel® Arc™ B-Series Graphics. | Supported on all RTX hardware.Values differ across hardware. |
| Raytracing intrinsics: TriangleObjectPositions/ClusterID | Supported on AMD Radeon™ RX 7000 and 9000 series graphics products. | Supported on Intel® Arc™ B-Series Graphics. | Supported on all RTX hardware. |
| Batched Asynchronous Command List APIs | Supported on AMD Radeon™ RX 7000 and 9000 series graphics products. | Supported on Intel® Arc™ B-Series Graphics. | Supported on all RTX hardware. |
Source: Microsoft
