DirectX 10

blue chuzzle

So whats the deal then?

ive heard that DX10 cards are coming out at some point in the next few months and i asssume DX10 is going to be as big a leap as 8 to 9 was.

would it be a good idea to wait for them?

will it be necessary to have vista to use them in DX10 mode?

will it only be high end models that have support for the first ages?

thanks

Kintarō Hattori

It is supposedly only just around the corner, and it is most definetly worth hanging on if you can be patient. To get the full benefit of it you'll need Vista.

8T8

Yes DX10 is a complete rewrite of the DX API now that doesn't mean much to you or I but to developers it will allow some pretty amazing effects that just couldn't be possible on previous generation hardware (either through capability or for performance reasons) in the years to come. The other big improvement I suppose is a performance improvement by lowering the I/O overhead in the OS which wastes some of the performance of existing GPU's but this is tied to Vista's new driver architecture.

Supposedly no more DX9 SM2.0, SM2.0a, SM2.0b, SM3.0 or any vendor extensions MS have been much more strict with the specification so you're either SM4.0 or your not no wiggle room you have to support everything in the DX10 specification. A lowest bottom of the barrel DX10 GPU will still be able to render every effect in a game even if it only does it at 1FPS. This should hopefully make life easier for game developers though of course performance profiling will still have to be done on some level in order to gauge the right settings for the system and it's GPU but WinSAT may come in useful here (a built in benchmark in Vista).

Would it be a good idea to wait, I'd probably say so if you can stick it out. NVIDIA are rumoured to be launching G80 at the end of this year which will be their first DX10 GPU, ATI's time frame is an unknown but it shouldn't be too much trouble for them to do it seeing as they are already ahead of NVIDIA in this field so I would guess it wont be long after NVIDIA's part shows up.

[Edit: Looks like ATI are aiming for the same time frame as NVIDIA with this Christmas as the launch target for R600 which will be their DX10 GPU, a French site even wormed it out of an ATI rep to say this September!!! that's awfully too soon I think but if only the high end model was available first for some time like what happened with the introduction of the GF7 series that could pan out as ATI still have a lot of X1K parts selling.]

Yes Vista will be necessary for DX10 as the new driver model, performance improvements and removal of legacy support for DX7-9 from DX10 are all tied into Vista (Vista will ship with a standalone version of DX9 for compatibility/legacy support).

In WinXP the DX10 cards will act just as turbo charged DX9 cards, DX10 is not being back ported to XP it would lose some of it's performance benefits if it did, anyway DX9 will still be around for a long time to come.

High end models will almost certainly be the first ones out it is difficult to gauge what cards in a lower price range will launch at, could write a post longer than this just on that topic.


Wild cards:
Intel, S3 & ImageTech (formally PowerVR) are all rumoured to be working on or contemplating high end DX10 GPU's if one were to beat the big two to launch or offer a more compelling solution they may get their foot in the door of the 3D players club again, Intel has already announced a DX10 IGP.

^whitey^

Have ATI or NVidia announced any release dates yet. Im hoping to build in september.

8T8

No official release dates only rumours;

NVIDIA - rumours that NVIDIA's DX10 part will show in September time frame but I wouldn't read to much into that however if concrete information starts to leak around the September then the likelihood increases. NVIDIA may also want to gain a head start on ATI*.

The current time frame and which NVIDIA has actually stated is that around November it will launch its DX10 GPU which is the more likely scenario.

ATI - rumours popped up of an early launch however these have now since been extinguished and the estimates point to end of this year perhaps next year as the launch time frame.

*It is widely assumed that NVIDIA's DX10 GPU will be based on a traditional architecture not a unified one like ATI's this may allow NVIDIA to get it's part out the door a lot quicker than ATI. Of course what matters is the performance at the end of and no-one can say for sure which is better until both are out.