DirectX 12 on Steam Deck: Is it Available & Should You Use it

Many want to know how DirectX 12 works on Steam Deck and whether can it improve your performance. Today we’re going to answer this and other questions that you have.

DirectX 12 on Steam Deck, everything you need to know

Does Steam Deck have DirectX?

Steam Deck doesn’t have DirectX, however, it uses a compatibility layer called Proton that allows games that rely on DirectX to run.

Does DX12 work on Linux?

DirectX is exclusive to Windows, so it doesn’t work on Linux. While DirectX isn’t available, Proton is translating all DirectX calls to Vulkan.

How to install DX12 on Steam Deck?

It’s not possible to install DirectX 12 or any version of DirectX on Steam Deck. However, the Proton layer should have all the necessary DirectX DLL files.

How do I change my DirectX on Steam Deck?

This is achieved when launching the game, simply select the DirectX version you want to use. For other games, you’ll need to change their graphics settings and select the preferred version.

Should I use DX12 or DX11?

On Steam Deck both DX12 and DX11 are processed by Proton and converted to Vulkan, so you’ll get similar results.

A few users suggested that using DX11 will give up to 5 more frames, but this can change depending on the game, so you should experiment with both for best performance.

Is Steam Vulkan better than DX11?

Vulkan is natively supported by Steam Deck, so it’s always a better choice since it doesn’t convert DirectX instructions to Vulkan.

This wraps it up, and as you can see, it doesn’t matter if you’re using DirectX12 on Steam Deck, since it’s being translated to Vulkan, but you might get slightly better performance with different versions.

To learn more about this handheld, we have a great guide on how to use Steam Deck BIOS. Also, don’t forget to update Steam Deck software regularly for the best performance.

Before you go, we also have a great guide on how to check if your graphics card is DirectX 12 compatible, so don’t miss it.