Owners of Mankind Divided may not have noticed that this update also brings the first preview of the DX12 version of the game. To try out the DX12 preview, load up Steam, right-click the game in your library, select "Properties," and click over to the Betas tab. The DX12 codepath has been released as a beta branch of the game because it isn't ready for prime time yet, and developer Nixxes wants to get the community's help with testing its implementation of the new API ahead of its September 19 release.
Given the beta status, there are some caveats about running the game in DX12 mode. Multi-GPU systems aren't supported yet, although Nixxes says they will be by the final release. The developer also says that while DX12 can offer better performance in some cases, it may cause problems for some users. Nixxes advises users having trouble to simply switch back to the normal build, because there are no gameplay or visual differences between the two render paths. Of particular note with the new DX12 backend for the game is a known bug that causes performance regressions on "some very high-end cards." As always, make sure you have the latest graphics drivers before loading up bleeding-edge graphics code.