{"slug": "dxvk", "name": "DXVK", "category": "media", "category_name": "Media and creative", "description": "", "recommenders": 3, "commenters": 6, "warners": 1, "score": 2.159, "rising": -0.98, "first": "2026-02-10", "latest": "2026-10-27", "why": "I didn't know about `DXVK_CONFIG` before. It's the DirectX-Vulkan translation layer with its own framebuffer and latency.", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 2, "compare": 0, "warn": 1}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "I didn't know about `DXVK_CONFIG` before. It's the DirectX-Vulkan translation layer with its own framebuffer and latency.", "kind": "", "icon": false, "domain": null, "github_repo": "github.com/doitsujin/dxvk", "official_url": "https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["DXVK"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 783495904, "item_id": 48968494, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48968494", "by": "cl3misch", "date": "2026-07-19", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I didn't know about `DXVK_CONFIG` before. It's the DirectX-Vulkan translation layer with its own framebuffer and latency.", "excerpt": "Inspired by my own comment I looked into it again and came up with this combination in the game's \"launch options\", which feels much better: DXVK_CONFIG=\"dxgi.syncInterval = 0; dxgi.maxFrameLatency = 1; dxgi.maxFrameRate = 60\" gamescope -f --immediate-flips -- %command% I didn't know about `DXVK_CONFIG` before. It's the DirectX-Vulkan translation layer with its own framebuffer and latency. I also manually disabled vs", "context": "Linux gamer", "use_case": "reducing input lag for Windows games on Linux", "switched_from": "", "story": "Measuring Input Latency on Linux: X11 vs. Wayland, VRR, and DXVK"}, {"id": 753211632, "item_id": 47075727, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47075727", "by": "chrisdfrey", "date": "2026-02-19", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "you can put DXVK DLLs in its folder and get better performance", "excerpt": "With a lot of games you can put DXVK DLLs in its folder and get better performance: https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk/releases", "context": "", "use_case": "Direct3D to Vulkan translation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Minecraft Java is switching from OpenGL to Vulkan"}, {"id": 753164482, "item_id": 47072780, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47072780", "by": "theandrewbailey", "date": "2026-02-19", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I suspect that a lot of that is due to the dxvk library that Proton uses", "excerpt": "I use Unigine Heaven to benchmark Linux systems. A colleague's friend has an epic spreadsheet of Heaven benchmarks across many configurations, and he submitted a few I've done. I ran it at home on my Linux desktop. For shits and giggles, I also downloaded the Windows version and ran it in Proton, and got a 30% performance boost! I suspect that a lot of that is due to the dxvk library that Proton uses, and the multith", "context": "Linux user", "use_case": "D3D11 to Vulkan translation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Minecraft Java is switching from OpenGL to Vulkan"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 804102849, "item_id": 50256428, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50256428", "by": "Pannoniae", "date": "2026-10-27", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "I've had to debug dxvk-only perf problems a bit too many times", "excerpt": "dx11 isn't bad but it has a looot of cruft around it, writing a good constant buffer manager is witchcraft (remember, there's no \"loose uniforms\" injected into the command stream, it's all constant buffer updates, drivers do all sorts of writecombining magic to mitigate it, but the naive map / unmap cycle without any driver optimisations would absolutely tank.... Look at a GDC talk (https://d29g4g2dyqv443.cloudfront.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "I still teach OpenGL ES 3.0"}]}], "who": [{"by": "cl3misch", "context": "Linux gamer", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48968494", "date": "2026-07-19"}, {"by": "theandrewbailey", "context": "Linux user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47072780", "date": "2026-02-19"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["reducing input lag for windows games on linux", "direct3d to vulkan translation", "d3d11 to vulkan translation", "playing games"], "compared": [{"slug": "umu-launcher", "name": "umu-launcher", "co": 1, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 1}, {"slug": "proton", "name": "Proton", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "wine", "name": "Wine", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "vulkan", "name": "Vulkan", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47068948", "title": "Minecraft Java is switching from OpenGL to Vulkan", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50253939", "title": "I still teach OpenGL ES 3.0", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48909424", "title": "Measuring Input Latency on Linux: X11 vs. Wayland, VRR, and DXVK", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47609564", "title": "Steam on Linux Use Skyrocketed Above 5% in March", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46959418", "title": "Simplifying Vulkan One Subsystem at a Time", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {"neutral": 1, "recommend": 2}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {"warn": 1}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "quotes": [{"id": 804102849, "item_id": 50256428, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50256428", "by": "Pannoniae", "date": "2026-10-27", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "I've had to debug dxvk-only perf problems a bit too many times", "excerpt": "dx11 isn't bad but it has a looot of cruft around it, writing a good constant buffer manager is witchcraft (remember, there's no \"loose uniforms\" injected into the command stream, it's all constant buffer updates, drivers do all sorts of writecombining magic to mitigate it, but the naive map / unmap cycle without any driver optimisations would absolutely tank.... Look at a GDC talk (https://d29g4g2dyqv443.cloudfront.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "I still teach OpenGL ES 3.0"}, {"id": 783495904, "item_id": 48968494, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48968494", "by": "cl3misch", "date": "2026-07-19", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I didn't know about `DXVK_CONFIG` before. It's the DirectX-Vulkan translation layer with its own framebuffer and latency.", "excerpt": "Inspired by my own comment I looked into it again and came up with this combination in the game's \"launch options\", which feels much better: DXVK_CONFIG=\"dxgi.syncInterval = 0; dxgi.maxFrameLatency = 1; dxgi.maxFrameRate = 60\" gamescope -f --immediate-flips -- %command% I didn't know about `DXVK_CONFIG` before. It's the DirectX-Vulkan translation layer with its own framebuffer and latency. I also manually disabled vs", "context": "Linux gamer", "use_case": "reducing input lag for Windows games on Linux", "switched_from": "", "story": "Measuring Input Latency on Linux: X11 vs. Wayland, VRR, and DXVK"}, {"id": 762046226, "item_id": 47627889, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47627889", "by": "functional_dev", "date": "2026-04-03", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "DXVK converts DirectX calls into Vulkan in real time", "excerpt": "what surprised me is how Proton works under the hood... no emulation at all! wine translates win API -> Linux. Then DXVK converts DirectX calls into Vulkan in real time, and VKD3D-Proton for DX 12. so it always native Vulkan.. no wonder performance is even better than in windows! this laid it out it for me visually - https://vectree.io/c/how-proton-runs-windows-games-on-linux-wine-dxvk-vulkan-bridge", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Steam on Linux Use Skyrocketed Above 5% in March"}, {"id": 753211632, "item_id": 47075727, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47075727", "by": "chrisdfrey", "date": "2026-02-19", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "you can put DXVK DLLs in its folder and get better performance", "excerpt": "With a lot of games you can put DXVK DLLs in its folder and get better performance: https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk/releases", "context": "", "use_case": "Direct3D to Vulkan translation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Minecraft Java is switching from OpenGL to Vulkan"}, {"id": 753164482, "item_id": 47072780, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47072780", "by": "theandrewbailey", "date": "2026-02-19", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I suspect that a lot of that is due to the dxvk library that Proton uses", "excerpt": "I use Unigine Heaven to benchmark Linux systems. A colleague's friend has an epic spreadsheet of Heaven benchmarks across many configurations, and he submitted a few I've done. I ran it at home on my Linux desktop. For shits and giggles, I also downloaded the Windows version and ran it in Proton, and got a 30% performance boost! I suspect that a lot of that is due to the dxvk library that Proton uses, and the multith", "context": "Linux user", "use_case": "D3D11 to Vulkan translation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Minecraft Java is switching from OpenGL to Vulkan"}, {"id": 751456289, "item_id": 46966018, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46966018", "by": "bvjgkbl", "date": "2026-02-10", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "with DXVK to play games", "excerpt": "I use Vulkan on a daily basis. Some examples: - with DXVK to play games - with llama.cpp to run local LLMs Vulkan is already everywhere, from games to AI.", "context": "", "use_case": "Playing games", "switched_from": "", "story": "Simplifying Vulkan One Subsystem at a Time"}]}