Low-level access to memory, cpu, and graphics(through opengl or directx bindings) are all needed to approach what the hardware is capable of. Pipeline bottlene

Low-level access to memory, cpu, and graphics(through opengl or directx bindings) are all needed to approach what the hardware is capable of. Pipeline bottlenecks are the real performance killers. Vendors can spend decades trying to fix them one by one, but there's no real substitute for low-level access.