Anybody care about directx10?

[excalibur2]

Well one of the difficult decision in building a new system and for those with direct 9 cards is what happens when games for directX10 come out.

I've got to get a graphics card for my new system and not sure what to do, a good card e.g.7950GT that will play COD2, far cry etc is about £160 +.....so will the new games coming out next year be backward compatible?

Or is it best to just get the cheapest card that will just about play the latest directx9 games out now and get a good directx10 card in a year or two.

BTW I played half life 2 and COD 2 with a gef4 ti4200 but when smoke bombs were thrown in COD2 the card went into panic mode and and it was like a movie in slow motion.

[pollaxe]

I was in a similar position and I decided I'd splurge and get an 8800 GTX, mainly because it's my 35th birthday but also because it should run DX10 games and it's supposedly very good with existing DX9 too.. I've a new system build underway and I will typically buy the best bits I can afford at the time.. it's a strategy which has lasted me fairly well over the years.

It's really down to what you want to pay, I suppose.. I wouldn't say there's a wrong or a right choice here.. for me it's worth it but it may not be the same for you.

[CrazyMonkey]

I would get a x1950Pro to last you untill DX10 properly gets used then go out and splash cash on a high end DX10 card

[s_kinton]

Dx10 wont be utilised in games for a good while yet and even those games will the dx9 backwards compatible.

So I would personally just get a good directx 9 card now. It will be all thats required for some time yet. By doing this you also get to see just how well the first gen dx10 cards perform in dx10 games. The second gen dx10 cards may be considerably faster and will be available by the time dx10 games are actually available to play

Having dx10 compatability at this moment serves no purpose at all, it will be a while before it does.

Quoted from Gamespot.com
"Aside from a handful of Windows Vista DX10 launch games, most PC games shipping in the next year will be DirectX 9 titles. Since the number of Windows XP DX9 video card system owners will dwarf the Windows Vista DX10 video card installation base for quite some time, we'd have to guess that the DX10 game developers will create DX9-compatible fallback versions of their games to make them playable on current hardware."

[dangel]

Personally - If I were in the market for a card now i'd get an 8800 of some form because they're faster than anything else DX9 full stop. The added bonus of forward compatibility with DX10 and Vista mean it'll last you longer. I'm probably going to buy a DX10 part when the new ATI card comes out - either because it'll be better than the 8800 or it'll force 8800 prices down. All bearing in mind i'm gaming at 1600x1200 all the time and cpu limiting just isn't an issue for me.

DX10 has considerable upsides to it btw - not least of which is that the driver overhead is much lower than DX9 which can only mean faster gaming for end users.

[danroyle]

if i had alot of cash to sped i would buy an 8800 as long as my current card was less than a geforce 7 series otherwise bang for buck not worth it also would only bother if i was gonna run 1600x1200 or above 1280x1024 no point a 7900gs will do it well

but i wouldn't buy a 8800 for dx10 dx10 hasnt been proven on the cards performance wise and by the time dx10 games come out the 8800 cards will be out of date and youd need a newer card anyway

[Rack]

When it comes down to it, the 8800 and the X1950Pro are both good value for money at different price points, even in DX9.
DX10 games are not going to be here until mid '07 IMO, though maybe because of Xbox360 using something similar we'll see something sooner.

If you have the cash for an 8800, it's still a good buy today.

[even steven]

Anybody care about directx10?

I'd care if it wasn't Vista-only. I've upgraded my graphics to an 8800 as part of building a new PC, but no way am I buying a new OS for a year or so.

Shame, as I'd really love to play Alan Wake.

[EtheAv8r]

I plan an 8800 in my new PC in January, even in 'DX9 mode' it will be as fast, or faster than any SLI or Crossfire pair of 19xx or 79xx DX9 cards, but in a single card so there will be no driver or configuration issues to get the full performance, and it won't really cost any more than a dual high-end DX9 card setup.

[excalibur2]

Thanks guys the x1950Pro seems to be the one on the short list (price wise), but I can pin point exactly what I need if there is something cheaper or better.

Well I don't play games every night and only play when a great game is released e.g. Half life 2, COD2, tomb raider and I'm not into doom, quake or building cities and similar Also I'm happy with 1024X768 at 32bits and of course want all the goodies that modern cards can deliver. And the card has to be excellent for digital photos on the screen.

So with these specs is the x1950 the tops? erm but scan do five versions from £123 to £180

[acrobat]

If you only game occasionally like that, and don't play all types of games, I personally would go with the x1950pro or a 7950gt.

Also, if its possible, it is well worth (for anyone) waiting until March. Sometime around March the ATI R600 will be released. There is a possibility it will be the fastest card in the world. We just don't know for sure yet because there is not much solid info about it.

But whether it ends up being the best or not, the prices of all the other cards (both low end, mid, and high end) will all drop. Some just a bit, and some will drop a lot.

So if you can wait until then, it would be well worth it. If you need to buy now though, go with either of the two mentioned above. The 8800 series is well worth having, but the cost of it may be too much if you aren't really a serious gamer. The 8800GTS is a decent price though, so its worth considering. Personally.... I couldn't bring myself to spend £180 odd on a dx9 card, when for about £250 you can buy an 8800GTS. But you have to draw the line somewhere, and that depends on what your budget is.

The 8800 series by the way, is the fastest cards available today, but because of that, they cost a fair bit. They are also DX10 compatible, but they run DX9 games really well too. A big issue to me, is how well will they do in DX10. DX10 is meant to be easier to process than DX9, so its possible they will run DX10 games like DX9 just a bit faster. But theres also a possibility that DX10 games will crank up the image quality so high, that even the 8800's will struggle. The second generation of DX10 cards will likely be much faster and much better at dealing with DX10. But its possible the 8800s are already good enough. Its impossible to know for sure just yet because there are no DX10 games.

DX10 games are due fairly soon though by the way. Crysis for example, is due in the first quarter of 2007. There are others too, and there will be patches for existing games (Flight Sim X etc...).

So basically, unless you can wait until around March, you have two options. Get something for around £160 odd, and it will last you for ages and will play any game. Even DX10 games will have a DX9 mode. Its not going to become a "requirement" for quite some time. But if you can afford to spend some more, go for the 8800series and it will serve you well.

[Oobie-]

You guys answered a question I had thought of but never voiced, thanks guys
After reading the comments, it seems logical to get a decent DX9 card (not uber) to last until DX10 gets its holdings down.

Oh and yea even steven, I wanna play Alan wake too

[JPreston]

...
So with these specs is the x1950 the tops? erm but scan do five versions from £123 to £180

yeah definitely, for occasional gaming at 1024x768 just get a cheap card as that usage won't stretch an 8800 at all. Plus the £130 on a X1950Pro will last you at least a year, but a £400 card won't last you 3+ years and you won't start using it's capabilities for 18 months anyway...

I've got this one: (£128)

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=481911

...cos it was the only one in stock. Now some ppl are having to return theirs because poor cooling on the VRMs cause it to crash repeatedly, but touch wood mine is OK (and ppl have found that fitting an aftermarket cooler and RAM sinks solves the problem). I'm happy with my card because it works, and TBH if it did have the VRM problem then I would most likely keep it and fit the aftermarket cooler myself because it's a very good card for the money

to be on the safe side, ideally I would have got this one for £144

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=481912

i.e. pay £15 extra for a pre-fitted zalman that would cost £25 otherwise, and might be necessary in any case due to VRM problem, and still keep 2 years warranty.

But, this card is never in stock so maybe consider this one:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=492010

for £123 - there was a thread on here suggesting this card has the better cooler (as long as you don't need a single slot cooler).

[excalibur2]

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=492010

for £123 - there was a thread on here suggesting this card has the better cooler (as long as you don't need a single slot cooler).

Thanks all again and it looks like this is the one to get for me.
Actually once you can nail down a type of graphics card, we need an insider guy in the computer business that can inform us the best card/cards for minimum rejects, same for other products.......Of course he would have to be absolutely trustworthy as he could be recommending stuff a company can't shift.

[DanceswithUnix]

My own take on the 8800 was that I would have to be running Vista to justify the upgrade (I don't _need_ that much performance, even if it would be nice) and I can only see me switching when 64 bit Vista settles down.

I was looking at the 7900GS on the simple basis that when I am not gaming I am running Linux, and the ATI drivers used to be laughable under Linux. Anyone here using a recent ATI card with success, preferably on a 64 bit Fedora Core Linux install?