Advanced Shader Delivery Adds Nvidia GPU Support Later This Month To Banish Shader Compilation Stutter
Advanced Shader Delivery (ASD), a cloud-based shader distribution service developed by Microsoft, is expanding its GPU support later in October. The service, which aims to eliminate shader compilation stutter and accelerate initial shader compilation during game launches, will soon support devices powered by Intel, Nvidia, and Qualcomm processors, according to an announcement by DirectX Program Manager Wendy Ho on the Microsoft blog.
Currently, ASD is limited to recent AMD Radeon GPUs, such as the RX 9000 series. The expansion represents a significant milestone as the technology gains broader hardware compatibility. The service has already seen notable adoption with the recent PC release of Gears of War: E-Day, which leverages ASD to improve player experience by reducing shader compilation stutter at game startup.
Shader compilation stutter has been a persistent issue for PC gamers, particularly during initial game launches and when new shaders must be compiled on-the-fly. By distributing pre-compiled shaders from Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure, ASD allows players to avoid these performance interruptions, resulting in smoother first-boot experiences and faster load times.
The expansion of GPU support signals Microsoft’s commitment to making this technology widely available across the PC ecosystem. With Intel and Nvidia GPU owners soon able to access ASD, the service is positioned to reach a substantially larger portion of the PC gaming market, potentially becoming a standard feature for future game releases that prioritize launch performance optimization.