Upgrade and DX10

[Boomslang]

Many of us are thinking on upgrading. If we do this now we will have to do it again in 6 months if you want DX10



http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTA0NSw0LCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==


Our Thoughts


So what does all this mean for us? The potential for it all sounds great on paper. Since DirectX 10 is tied to Windows Vista, this means if you want to experience DirectX 10-powered 3D games you are going to need Windows Vista, a DirectX 10 video card, and a DirectX 10 game at the least. Windows XP users need not apply for DirectX 10. That said, given the advances with DirectX 9 gaming in the last year, we fully expect to see more of its potential realized as well for those of us “left behind.”


Given the expensive and extensible upgrade path that will have to be traveled in order to support DirectX 10 gaming, we think there are going to have to be some tremendous gaming experiences for sale to get those beyond the early adopters to facilitate a move to DirectX 10 and the needed hardware. The transition to DirectX 10 is going to be interesting to say the least; and we are certainly curious about how it is going to be accepted by the gaming crowd. Windows XP can easily be seen as the best operating system Microsoft has ever produced and we think that PR promises of a usable 3D desktop is not going to be enough to motivate people to leave the XP operating system behind. Much like Ageia’s PhysX, Windows Vista needs that elusive “killer app.”


ATI is very confident and certain that their unified GPU architecture will be a match made in heaven for DirectX 10 and Windows Vista. ATI thinks the pairing will bring about a whole new revolution of gaming on the PC. We can’t wait to see if this really is so. Obviously none of this matters if there are no games for sale, and there won’t be any amount of DirectX 10 games on the market until DirectX 10 along with Windows Vista itself is released.


The DirectX 10 API is a move in the right direction when it comes to gaming. It looks as though it is easily going to allow future GPUs from ATI and NVIDIA to shine in the gaming arena. Given ATI’s and NVIDIA’s quick advancements in GPUs as of late, we think that the DirectX 10 gaming era will truly be one that reaches the next level as it is shaping up to be exactly what the game content developers have been wanting for years now. And when the game content developers are happy, that means us gamers are happy.



Discussion


Join us in the Hardforum, in this thread dedicated to this topic.

[ZWarrior]

Yeah, but the initial DX-10 equipment will probably be buggin, as will the code.  I have no problem getting DX-9 equipment and upgrading the video card again in a year or 2 for the DX-10.  I don't see most of the game making full use of it until mid '07 anyway.

[Boomslang]

Microsoft Will Not Release DirectX 10 for Windows XP – ATI.
DirectX 10 Hardware Will Fully Utilize Itself Only Under Windows Vista

Category: Video

by Anton Shilov

[ 05/25/2006 | 10:40 AM ]


Microsoft Corp., the world’s largest maker of software, will not release next-generation graphics application programming interface (API) called DirectX 10 for the currently shipping Windows XP operating system (OS), instead, the company will keep the new API strictly for the forthcoming Windows Vista OS, despite earlier assumptions about DirectX 10 for the XP.

During a DirectX 10-related event in London, UK, Richard Huddy, ATI Technologies’ software developers relations chief, said that Microsoft’s Vista will integrate DirectX 10 and DirectX 9 APIs for different types of hardware, but the current Windows XP will not get DirectX 10 support, as suggested some rumours earlier. For end users this means that to get the most advantages of the new-generation graphics processing units (GPUs), the new OS will be required.

Both ATI Technologies and Nvidia Corp. planned to release hardware that supports DirectX 10 capabilities as early as in the second half 2006, however, if there will be no API, which unveils the features of the hardware, the companies may reconsider their plans.

Microsoft Windows Vista is expected to be available in very early 2007.

DirectX 10 API, which is also referred to as Windows Graphics Foundation 2.0, solves numerous performance-related problems, particularly, it shrinks overhead time spent by API and driver on execution. Additionally, ATI says its first DirectX 10 graphics processor – code-named R600 – will have unified shader micro-architecture, which will allow to boost performance even further compared to currently existing micro-architectures and . The performance improvements are conditioned by a special built-in arbiter processor, which will “tailor” rendering of every frame across the 64 unified shader pipelines. Such an approach, according to ATI, allows to utilize all execution engines within the chip, while in traditional architectures – where pixel shaders and vertex shaders are calculated by dedicated units – some of the arithmetic processors may stand idle waiting for others to complete their tasks.

Microsoft Corp., who develops DirectX API collaboratively with companies like ATI and Nvidia, did not comment on the news-story.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/video/display/20060525104034.html

[Boomslang]

DX10 shots. down load the vedios to see the difference between DX9 vs DX10


http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/431/17/
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/505/1/