DxDiag

Always look at the date when you read an article. Some of the content in this article is most likely out of date, as it was written on July 17, 2020. For newer information, see our more recent articles.

Table of Contents

What is DxDiag

DxDiag – DirectX diagnostics is tool made by Microsoft and included with the DirectX software that automatically installs on most systems. The tool provides detailed information about video and sound devices. The tool can be useful when troubleshooting or for obtaining general system information.

DxDiag provides a number of tabs:

System – This provides detailed information about the DirectX components installed on a system

Display – Provides detailed information about display adapters installed in a system

Sound – Provides detailed information about sound controllers installed in a system

Input – Details each input device currently used by a system

System

The system tab provides a litany of details such as Processor type/model, memory amount and current page file. These can be useful when diagnosing system errors and may be requested by your Puget Support Technician.

Current Date/Time – Recorded as the application is launched
Computer Name – This shows what name you chose for your computer
Operating System – Current OS including build number
Language – Regional language currently set
System Manufacturer – This is normally based on the motherboard manufacturer
System Model – Also identified by the motherboard model
BIOS – Identifies current BIOS version
Processor – Shows the exact model, speed, and overall cores of the CPU
Memory – Identifies how much memory is in the system, sometimes will show model information
Page File – Currently allocated and total available virtual memory as designated by the Page File settings
DirectX Version – Shows which DirectX version is currently installed

You may see multiple of each tab if your system has numerous of each device. As you can see in the image above, we have one Display for each monitor currently connected and one Sound tab for each audio device recognized by Windows

Display

The Display tab provides detailed information about the currently selected display output.

Name – This will generally be the make/model of the currently installed display adapter
Manufacturer – Identifies the maker of the display adapter
Chip Type – Shows the type of display adapter on GPU chip being used
DAC Type – Digital to Analog converter identification
Device Type – What kind of GPU/display adapter is currently being used
Approx. Total Memory – This outputs exactly how much Physical Memory the display adapter has access to
Display Memory (VRAM) – This show the amount of Virtual memory available to the display adapter
Shared Memory – Shows how much memory is shared from the physical RAM with the display adapter
Current Display Mode – Identifies the currently selected display output
Monitor – Can identify the type of monitor currently connected to the display output (if your monitor has specific drivers the model/info will show up here otherwise it will say Generic)
HDR – Indicates High Dynamic Range capability
DirectDraw Acceleration -DirectDraw is used to accelerate rendering of 2D graphics in applications
Direct3D Acceleration – Advanced software driver to improve the performance of graphics processing
AGP Texture Acceleration – Indicates support for a process when textures are swapped from system memory (RAM ) into video memory (VRAM)
Main Driver – Identifies which driver is currently used by the display adapter
Version – Shows which version of the display driver is installed
Date – Shows when the latest display driver was installed
WHQL Logo’d – Shows whether or not the driver is certified by Windows Hardware Quality Labs
Direct3D DDI – device driver interface (DDI) is a graphics interface that allows vendors to provide hardware acceleration for Direct3D
Feature Levels – Describes the functionality of the 11_0 through 12_1 hardware feature levels
Driver Model – Identifies the current driver model by manufacturer

Sound

The Sound tab provides some basic information about the currently selected sound device. Most of this information is useful to the manufacturer when working to troubleshoot with them.

Name – This identifies which sound devices are currently being used
Hardware ID – Shows exactly what hardware ID is being used by the currently selected sound device
Manufacturer ID/Product ID – Identification number associated with the currently selected hardware
Type: What audio driver type is being used. Some common ones: MME, WASAPI, WDM, ASIO
Default Device – Identifies whether or not this particular device is currently set as default
Name – Shows the friendly device name used by the BIOS and Device Manager
Version – Displays the currently installed device driver version
Date – Shows the date the device was manufactured
WHQL Logo'd – Shows whether or not the driver is certified by Windows Hardware Quality Labs
Other Files – Displays other files if any are associated
Provider – Identifies the manufacturer

Input

The Input tab shows each currently detected input device, their status, controller, vendor/product ID and Force Feedback status. Within the Input Related Devices section you can expand each section and review relevant devices. Problems will also be listed in the Notes section at the bottom.

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