First of all; what is an API?
API stands for Application Programming Interface. It's what renders all those beautiful scenes with the bangs and booms, that you love so much (It also renders cute animals, not just explosions xD). As a result without a graphics API you can't play anything. No more Starcraft 2 or Skyrim.
However are all graphics APIs the same? Of course not. If you have, say, Directx9, you will have a higher frame rate, BUT the quality of what you see is going to be really bad. Now if you have DirectX11 or even DirectX12, your game is going to look much better, but your fps isn't going to be as high (in most cases).
OK, now that we 've got most of the difficult part out of the way, it is time to explain why DirectX12 is better than DirectX11.
With DirectX12 the game developers get a lower level access to the GPU and CPU resources. And now I bet you are asking "why the freak would I care?".
Well with that kind of access, the developers can work miracles! Better GPU and CPU utilization are just a few things that going to lead to better games.
"Microsoft's recent demonstration of a few new Windows 10 game experiences powered by DirectX12 has led some people to ask what specific hardware will be supported by the DirectX12 API," according to a statement released by Microsoft today. "While we are not yet ready to detail everything related to DirectX12, we can share that we are working closely with all of our hardware partners to help ensure that most modern PC gaming hardware will work well with DirectX12, including; NVIDIA's Maxwell, Kepler and Fermi-based GPUs, Intel's 4th generation (and newer) Core processors and AMD's Graphics Core Next (GCN) based GPUs. We'll have more to share about DirectX12 at GDC in March."
According to this statement, if you have a fairly modern gaming rig you are going to be good to go, almost. During the Press Conference, Mike Ybarra, partner director of program management, was asked:
"To get the full support of DX12 will users need to get a new graphics card?"
And he answered
To get the "full benefits of DX12, the answer is yes."
So with a decent graphics card you should be good, but only time will tell.
There was also some confusion that if you have 2 GPUs with SLI, your graphics memory will stack. That is not entirely true. With current games it is close to impossible, because in order to do that the game developers would have to go back and reprogram the whole game using the new , which really time consuming and not quite profitable. However, as new games come out it wouldn't be surprising see that kind of features! So don't go and buy a second graphics card just yet!
APIOK, one more question, when is it going to be out? Well there is no concrete information on the matter but speculations say that maybe sometime in July.
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