Identifying the Shader Model of Your Graphics Card in Windows


Reference Number: KB-03146
Last Modified: February 19, 2024

The information in this article applies to:

Chief Architect Premier or Chief Architect InteriorsHome Designer Professional or Home Designer Architectural or Home Designer Suite



QUESTION

How do I locate the shader model of my graphics card on my Windows-based computer?  


ANSWER

The shader model can be identified using a Microsoft utility called DirectX Capabilities Viewer.


To identify the shader model

  1. Download the Microsoft DirectX Capabilities Viewer.

    The executable file for this utility will most likely be located in the Downloads folder, unless you've chosen a specific location to save it to. 


  2. Once downloaded, double-click on the dxcapsviewer.exe located on your system to open the utility.

    Double-clicking on the dxcapsviewer.exe file


  3. With the utility open, expand DXGI Devices in the top left corner, expand the folder for your video card, then click on the Direct3D 12 folder. The Shader Model version will be listed on the right side.

    DirectX Caps Viewer utility with the Direct3D 12 folder selected for the video card


  4. If the shader model is not using at least version 6.0, the driver for your graphics card may need to be updated to be compatible with newer versions of Chief Architect software. Please see the appropriate troubleshooting article in the Related Articles section below to learn more about updating drivers.

    If the shader model does not list 6.0 or greater after updating the graphics card driver, the graphics card may be incompatible. Please refer to the Related Articles section below to learn more about the minimum system requirements.

Note: Some graphics cards (e.g. NVIDIA 700 series) may support shader model 6.0, but may be lacking a critical feature called "Extended formats TypedUAVLoad". If a graphics card does not support this feature, the word "No" will be mentioned beside this feature in the image above, and the card will not function with newer versions of Chief Architect software.