Hardware
AMD shows off DirectX 11 GPU at QuakeCon
Moving one step closer to release, AMD’s graphics unit showed off some DirectX 11 hardware at QuakeCon 2009 last week. The sneak preview involved a look at the demo for the upcoming Wolfenstein title, which uses just DirectX 9 so there was really not much new to highlight in terms of performance or functionality, but also included some tech demos showcasing new DirectX 11 features.
Both PC Perspective and Legit Reviews stopped by AMD’s private suite at the hotel where QuakeCon was hosted and got a glimpse at tessellation, soft shadows, and ambient occlusion running in DX11 mode. Although no one was able to actually see the “Evergreen” reference card that was inside the demo system, Nathan Kirsch over at Legit reports that it is a dual slot solution with a pair of dual DVI outputs and both DisplayPort and HDMI connectors.
He also posted several pics from the demos, describing three different rendering modes and noting how turning on some advanced texture-based shadowing effects like High Definition Ambient Occlusion (HDAO) takes a significant toll on gaming performance – but can be offset by enabling DX11’s compute shader. Additionally, you can catch a video after the jump (originally posted by PC Per) where AMD’s Neil Robinson walks us through these features and answers some questions regarding DirectX 11 adoption.
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User Comments (11)
Post a comment| TomSEA on August 17, 2009 11:34 AM | Impressive with just static shots. Would have liked to see some animated demonstrations. I found the response to the "who is developing DirectX11 games right now" pretty weak. "We work with Microsoft and there's one game being designed right now specifically for DirectX11." For me, that translates to, "don't bother upgrading to a DirectX11 card until very late next year (or even early 2011) because very few games will support it." |
| Guest on August 17, 2009 1:07 PM | People are such fools.If nobody upgrades why would developers star making DX11 gamess until next year?They may very well wait 2-3 years.But if a lot of people upgrade they-'' start sooner. "don't bother upgrading to a DirectX11 card until very late next year (or even early 2011) because very few games will support it." that's not a good answer.No upgrade no DX11 game...and guess what that's a very big news when Vista was out we waited a lot of time until a game with DX10 was available and now they are already working at it(Grid 2 I think) and Win7 it's not even out.That's a fast pace of evolution.Not wait 1000 years until everybody got a DX11 card or you'll slow down the adoption of DX11. |
| TomSEA on August 17, 2009 1:34 PM | Be my guest, Guest. Go ahead and drop the $500+ for a brand new DX11 card as soon as they're released when there will be no games to take advantage of it. Avid PC gamers upgrade their cards every 2-4 years as is. DX11 hardware will be very well represented as that evolution continues. |
| Guest on August 17, 2009 2:34 PM | A true gamer upgrade it's video card every year or at least once at 2 years.Nobody said you have to pick the top, a 200-250$ video card works on even the biggest monitor coupled with a quad core.And if it's not in range(expensive at launch), you can wait a couple of month. |
| TomSEA on August 17, 2009 3:01 PM | Well Guest, first you say we have to buy DirectX11 cards immediately to support the technology so more games will be developed. Then you comment that mid-ranged cards will do. Well, I have news for you, the new DX11 cards aren't going to be any $200-$250. They WILL be in the $500 range. So which is it - buy the new DX11 cards immediately at $500 to support the technology or wait until they've been out 10-12 months and buy them at $250 and not support the technology? |
| captain828 on August 17, 2009 3:52 PM | IMO, this is the same BS as with DX10... when've been promised a lot with DX10, and yet one of the best looking games, if not the best, Crysis, looks pretty much the same on DX9 as on DX10 with some minor .ini tweaking. In conclusion, until we get some real deal stuff to test out, then it really doesn't matter and it's all speculation. Regarding price on DX11 launch, ATi suggested something in the $350-400 range, while nVidia said to expect GT300 to be "Ultra-high End", which means $$$. |
| 9Nails on August 17, 2009 6:36 PM | GPU's have gotten so fast that they're running about even until you turn up the resolution to 16 billion x 12 quadrillion. Anything typical like 1680 pixels x 1050 (22" 16:10 monitors) and the GPU's leave a bit of power wanting data that is never touched. Mostly from a new GPU, I want one thing, the ability to render clothing. I'm tired of my character looking like a plastic action figures, with semi-stretchy torso's or joints. But I'd also really enjoy characters or items that correctly rest on a surface when they're supposed to. I don't much care for these rigid statues that don't bend to the ground or impossibly cut through a wall or terrain because of lazy surface collisions. Graphics and performance are acceptable now, but I'd like some more realism in my games of the future. |
| onearmedscissor on August 19, 2009 2:10 AM | Well, I have news for you, the new DX11 cards aren't going to be any $200-$250. They WILL be in the $500 range. DX11 GPUs aren't going to be in the $500 range. Where the heck did you get that? The first DX11 cards are going to be even cheaper to manufacture than the Radeon 4000s. The chips are absolutely tiny.The MOST they will be when they come out is about $250, just like with the Radeon 3000s and 4000s. AMD doesn't even do $500 dual cards. There will very likely be a $100 version almost immediately, just like how the Radeon 4770s were $109 right at launch. |
| Teklord on August 20, 2009 2:49 PM | Sweetness, I wanted to stick a DX 11 card in my future rig, be it nVidia or ATI. |
| Guest on August 22, 2009 11:17 PM | Different guest posting. Why bother discussing the price at the introduction? I buy computers, TVs and phones well after the intro, and at a lower price. I think intro pricing pays for the advertising. Development of this stuff can only be sustained with reasonable prices. |
| red1776 on August 22, 2009 11:50 PM | DX11 GPUs aren't going to be in the $500 range. Where the heck did you get that? The first DX11 cards are going to be even cheaper to manufacture than the Radeon 4000s. The chips are absolutely tiny. I agree OneArmedThe MOST they will be when they come out is about $250, just like with the Radeon 3000s and 4000s. AMD doesn't even do $500 dual cards. There will very likely be a $100 version almost immediately, just like how the Radeon 4770s were $109 right at launch. Im not sure about the die shrink relating to lower prices, so far the 40nm yields have been terrible for AMD, witness the shortage of HD 4770's. however I think there is a couple reasons that the DX 11 cards will not be outrageously priced at launch. 1) AMD has what looks like a 6-12 month jump on Nvidia with DX11 and they are going to want to get as many DX11 cards in the hands of the public to make them the going standard, and make Nvidia's products look like a third class option. 2) AMD has never been a 'gouge em at launch' type of company. they have traditionally put out the better value and Nvidia is forced to lower their prices. 3) as long as AMD is the only one having DX11 product on the market, there will be a perceived association that AMD/ATI = DX11, and im sure they want to exploit that to boost CPU sales. another reason to try to get DX11 technology in hands of every last one of us they can...and that means offer them affordably, right out of the gate. oh yeah...IMO 
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