In case you are looking to play Cyberpunk 2077 on the PC version, then you need not only a relatively new graphics card, but also the appropriate operating system. It was confirmed that the new title of CD Projekt RED will run on DirectX 12 only.
If you are planning to play Cyberpunk 2077 on your PC, then before the release of the game you have to make sure that you will definitely be able to launch the title of CD Projekt RED on your Rigs. However, it is not about the computing power of the components themselves and whether they will download graphics generated by the engine. It turns out that Cyberpunk 2077 will run only on DirectX 12. This means not only the need for a suitable graphics card, but also the operating system.
Well, maybe in the case of graphics cards this is not such a big problem, because several generations of AMD and Nvidia models support DirectX 12 libraries. The situation is complicated in the case of the operating system. At this time, DX12 is only supported on Windows 10 and Windows 7. This means that you need one of these operating systems to play Cyberpunk 2077. Interestingly, Windows 8 does not support DirectX 12.
In an interview with the German website PC Games Hardware, CD Projekt RED Lighting and FX Art Director Jakub Knapik and Lead Graphics Programmer Marcin Gollent stated the following: “Thanks to the introduction of DX12 support for Windows 7 SP1 that Microsoft introduced last year, the game will run on this system. We do and will continue to test Cyberpunk 2077 on Windows 7 in an attempt to iron out any edge-cases that might arise. Unfortunately, Windows 8 didn’t receive its variant of DX12 libraries.”
Why the decision to make Cyberpunk 2077 work only with DirectX 12 libraries was made? It was taken for two reasons. In the first place, via Xbox, for which these are the default libraries. Also, because of Ray-Tracing support, for which DX12 is also a requirement.
“Regarding DX12 Ultimate, Cyberpunk 2077 will work absolutely fine with all DX12-compatible GPUs. What the “Ultimate” feature set does is it allows us to do more if the hardware allows for it. We opted to go with DX12 for two main reasons. Firstly, it is the standard API for the Xbox platforms, and with the game also coming to Xbox One, we naturally wanted to have it implemented as soon as possible. Secondly, it is the birthplace of DXR and given we had plans to invest in DXR very early on, that made the choice to go with DX12 a pretty straightforward one,” CDPR declared.
Importantly, no graphics card with DirectX 12 Ultimate support will be required to play Cyberpunk 2077. The game will also work on standard DX12 libraries.
Cyberpunk 2077 will release on November 19 on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. The title will also launch on next-generation consoles of PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, and Google Stadia.
