TechSpot - PC Technology News and Analysis

Rilla927 · #1 08-09-2007

DX10 hardware is already obsolete

Quote:

REPRESENTATIVES from the almighty Vole have been speaking at Siggraph over the last few days, and what they've said hasn't exactly lowered the blood pressure of many attendees.

Microserfs were there to espouse the greatness of DirectX 10.1, the next revision to the DX graphics spec, which is due to arrive with Windows Vista SP1.

Here's the thing. DX10 hardware - such as the GeForce 8800 or the Radeon 2900 - won't work with the new 10.1 features. The 0.1 revision requires completely new hardware for support, thus royally cheesing off many gamers who paid top whack for their new hardware over the last few months on the basis of future game compatibility.

But these gamers shouldn't fret too much - 10.1 adds virtually nothing that they will care about and, more to the point, adds almost nothing that developers are likely to care about. The spec revision basically makes a number of things that are optional in DX10 compulsory under the new standard - such as 32-bit floating point filtering, as opposed to the 16-bit current. 4xAA is a compulsory standard to support in 10.1, whereas graphics vendors can pick and choose their anti-aliasing support currently.

We suspect that the spec is likely to be ill-received. Not only does it require brand new hardware, immediately creating a miniscule sub-set of DX10 owners, but it also requires Vista SP1, and also requires developer implementation.

With developers struggling to justify including DX10 features in their games (see the recent comments by John Carmack and Mark Rein), they're going to be about as likely to further limit their product's market as they are to start developing NES games again. This is especially true given the incredibly limited benefits 10.1 is bringing to the party.

Simply put - if you're a developer, why bother with 10.1? Answers on a postcard, please.

http://uk.theinquirer.net/?article=41577

Rage_3K_Moiz · #2 08-14-2007

This one really pissed me off. WTF do they expect us to do, upgrade AGAIN?! I wish I hadn't bought my 8800GTX now! =@

sghiznaneck · #3 08-14-2007

I'm going to hold on to XP as long as I can. I refuse to purchase another vid card after dumping 6 bills for my XFX 8800 GTX just for minimal improvements and a Vista installation. I've had my Vista disk since January but never loaded it awaiting SP1. Now that SP1 will crash my card, guess it's time to toast it in the microwave. (Didn't pay for it so don't have to worry about a loss). This really aggravates me since us loyal tech heads are always dumping a mint into our rigs every 6 months or so, but I believe it is time for me (at least) to sit this one out and see WTF happens in the industry. Things haven't gone as expected for Microsoft with their Vista OS, now I want to see just how things go after the release of this information to the public. Quite a few of us dumped a ton of change into our pc's from December to the present expressly for DX10 gaming, and now it's a bust.

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