Which Directx

[Marthos]

Hi All

 

I've just managed to shoehorn an ATI Radeon 4870 1 gig into my PC (had to shift a hard drive to get the bally thing in) and on reading the bumf it says it supports Direct x 10.1

 

I'm currently running XP 32 bit with Directx 9.0c as the Oblivion bumf states as required, if I install 10.1 will it be better and faster, the same or will it goose my game?

 

Thanks in advance, -M

[Nexus Set]

Just stick with DX9, as Windows XP does not support DX10.

[Marthos]

Thanks for the prompt reply and thanks for clearing that up.

 

:thanks: -M

[Pronam]

Even if you have vista or 7, you need directx 9 to play most games the best. Like Fallout3 and Oblivion. You actually have to download/update it as dx9 isn't included with vista or 7 :). (with fallout3 it gets installed.)

[Thor.]

Ah actually fallout 3 takes advantage of dx 10 but very little, But Oblivion doesn't, it uses dx 9. Thats coming from me of course sense i tested it on windows 7 and compared it to xp, and there is a difference.

[Pronam]

Yeah, that's true.... I had vista before and noticed a improvement in vista! :happy: While it requires more memory...and me only having 2 gb :)....that's special.

[Vagrant0]

Generally, you should approach DX updates in this order... Will the card support the higher version? Was the OS made or updated recently enough to support the higher version? Does anything I am playing/using utilize anything found in the higher version? Has the higher version been out long enough for major issues to be worked out?

 

Although cards support DX 11, only windows 7 utilizes it. Most games are using DX 9 or 10, and will probably continue to do so for another few years. DX 11 is the newest version, so although current cards support it, they may only do so partially; like how in previous years lower-end cards, or cards which were made when DX 9 came out, which supported DX 9 only did so by disabling things like bumpmapping.

 

As you're still using XP, you can't utilize DX 10, unless they decide to release an update for it. As the 2 games you're using are only based off DX 9, a higher version won't necessarily give you any benefit. Just as how playing a game designed for DX 4 on system with DX 9 installed won't really look any better without some other, more significant engine changes.

[Pronam]

As you're still using XP, you can't utilize DX 10, unless they decide to release an update for it.

They probably won't, their reason is obvious and they're probably going to do the same trick with 7 to Vista.

 

It's true, there's more than dx that causes any speed gains and unless the game is build for it to support it will probably not show any graphical/quality benefits.

[TheTerminator2004]

DX10 allows you to play DX9 games, remember, and even if it isn't taken advantage of in the actual games, it has been improved enough to be potentially faster in some cases. So, if you have Vista or 7, theres no reaosn not to install it. In fact, I think it comes preinstalled with the OS anyway. All versions of DirectX are backwards compatible with previous ones - thats why its still possible to play ancient games using DirectX 6 on a modern PC.

[Pronam]

That's not always the case. Sure, almost games are compatible but I've got few single games/programs that required certain DX9-files that didn't came with Vista or Win7. That's actually the only reason I still download it :)...

But I agree on the faster thing, the newer OS have developed around/on all DX it so the boost is assured. You basically never need to download it for programs that are less than..3 years.. I guess and for 95% of the times in general. You'll recognize if you need it anyway as it says ..%% dx9 %% .ddl is missing.