Will the 9800 Pro support DirectX 10?

[Roland Deschain]

Well, that's pretty much my question. I'm already hearing that directx 10 is on the horizon and wondered when it comes out if my graphics card (ATI Radeon 9800 Pro) will support it (once I download all the drivers that is).

Or are graphics card locked into a directx mode once they're build? (ie; the 9800 Pro cannot do better than DirectX 9).

Thanks for any inso

 

[blahblahblah]

DirectX 10 will be coming out 2006 (It will be released with the next major version of windows). So no, the 9800 Pro will not support DX 10.

 

[SidewinderX]

Well, first off, DirectX 10 is way off in the horizon. the closest thing now, which you might be confusing it with, is DX9.0c, which includes SM3.0.


Your card will support it in the sense that it'll still work with it. It won't, however, be able to use specific features of it.

 

[harhar]

look at the dx8.1 cards right now, they cant do dx9 can they? So yes, dx9 cards cant do dx10 features

 

[dream431ca]

when is the DX9.C coming out???

 

[VeZ]

it is out

...atleast i think :O

 

[Asus]

DX9.0c has not been released. It will be included with Windows XP Service Pack 2 when that is released.

 

[crownest]

I think mircosoft has released a DirectX 9.0c BETA, i've seen it on many sites, but didnt bother to try it out....

 

[psyno]

Go ahead. Install MS beta software. Really. I dare you. :naughty:

 

[synth]

When you buy your graphics card, it comes with all the features of the DirectX version it supports. For example, your 9800 Pro is a DirectX9 card and can give all the DX9 features games have. Once DirectX10 comes out, you will be able to download drivers so your card supports 10, but it won't have the new upgraded hardware features because it's an older card. You can run DX10 things, but it won't be a DirectX10 card.

 

[ShinRa]

will the x800 support 9.0c?

 

[psyno]

The x800 lacks SM 3.0 support and therefore is not DX 9.0c compliant.

 

[Asus]

Hehe, why would ATI support Nvidia's version of DX9.0 when it has it's own DX9.0b?
Come on Guinny, you knew that.

 

[ShinRa]

I did?

/plays it off cool

Yea..asus...psssh....i was just testing out psynos intelligence on hardware....pshh...yea.....

 

[dassbaba]

DirectX 10 will be coming out 2006 (It will be released with the next major version of windows). So no, the 9800 Pro will not support DX 10.

that's in a loong time ^_^

 

[Asus]

I did?

/plays it off cool

Yea..asus...psssh....i was just testing out psynos intelligence on hardware....pshh...yea.....

haha
:thumbs:

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

will the x800 support 9.0c?

FFS You bought an X800 and didn't know there is no SM3.0??

 

[ShinRa]

I knew it didn't have sm3, and i dont really care, because after finding out exactly what sm3 is, its pretty sad if ur going to get a 6800 for the sm3. And why are you always being an ass to me disturbed? Did i offend you by buying a good computer?

 

[SidewinderX]

I knew it didn't have sm3, and i dont really care, because after finding out exactly what sm3 is, its pretty sad if ur going to get a 6800 for the sm3. And why are you always being an ass to me disturbed? Did i offend you by buying a good computer?

I don't know... having video card that general beats the x800 at medium resolutions w/o AA/AF and that is only a tad slower at higher resolutions/ AF/AA AND supports 9.0c (which has given the 6800 a huge boost in far cry performance/will be implemneted in hl2 (see valve info thread) doesn't sound like you'll be screwed by any means when you get. And if you get a BFG card, you're covered for life

And guinny: You probably offened him by a)buying a top of the line rig a few monthes ago, and then buying another one now, and being an extreamly hardcore ATi fanboy. Just a guess.

 

[The Terminator]

I like ATI and I wanna support the x800 line but the 6800 just seems like its better, well more powerful anyway. The x800 is cheaper and requires less power etc. So its kind of a trade off, if you got teh money id say the 6800 but if your on a "budget" then the x800 PE is best.

 

[psyno]

Oh great.. Allow me to predict the next 20 posts in this thread:

Guinny: I'm not a fanboy, you're a fanboy!
Other: Then blah blah blah x800 blah?
Guinny: Did you not read my post??!one!! You're the fanboy!!
Other: nuh-uh, you!
Guinny: nuh-uh, you!

etc.

Back to the original topic...

Generally a distinction is made between compatibility and compliance. The 9800 Pro is compliant with up to and through DirectX 9.0b. Compliance generally refers to the hardware's actual capabilities. The 9800 Pro is not compliant with DX 9.0c because it lacks certain features. That won't change, and so in a sense, yes, it is forever a DX 9.0b card.

Compatibility on the other hand just means that it will work; it's good enough. For example, Unreal Tournament 2004 is a DX 8.1 game, but you don't need a DX 8.1 compliant card to run it, just one with DX 8.1 compatible drivers. I run this game on 1024x768 res with good FPS on my Voodoo5 5500 PCI, a DirectX 7 compliant card. This is because the drivers I use are compatible enough with DirectX 8.1 to run the game. It can run some DirectX 9 games too, but not all of them. Problems generally come in when a game absolutely requires the use of a hardware feature that the card doesn't have, such as large textures, high rendered color depth, pixel/vertex shaders/fragment programs, etc.

Sometimes features can be added through software, like 3dfx's ability to use bumb mapping on the Voodoo2 (and theoretically even the original Voodoo graphics). Non-native software tricks generally fall under compatibility.

As long as ATi keeps up driver support, the 9800 Pro will almost certainly be able to play games designed for DirectX 10, well enough anyway.

 

[SidewinderX]

Listen to Psyno. he explained that well

 

[bosox188]

Would having 9.0c give me a performance boost or anything? If it will, maybe I'll get that Service Pack 2 RC. (Check my sig for my sad, sad, card).

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

Did i offend you by buying a good computer?

Oh your computer is soooo great, sorry, I don't want to throw around $800+ for a processor, when it will be obselete in a year or so.

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

And guinny: You probably offened him by a)buying a top of the line rig a few monthes ago, and then buying another one now, and being an extreamly hardcore ATi fanboy. Just a guess.

Who gives a shit about top of the line rig? No I don't give a shit, if my computer plays games fine at 40 or 50fps I am happy. I am not one that wants 100fps for everything. Yeah its annoying to see ATi fanboi's shit talk the 6800 series, because its really good in itself. He just needs to keep his fanboi'ism to himself.

 

[blahblahblah]

Would having 9.0c give me a performance boost or anything? If it will, maybe I'll get that Service Pack 2 RC. (Check my sig for my sad, sad, card).

No, DX 9.0c will not give your 5200 a performance boost.

 

[Alig]

I dont know where everyone gets this nvidia = more power - costs more And ATi = less power - costs less when in actual fact the most mainstream cards, the PRO and GT are like this, ATi = 350W (i have one, i know!) - costs more And nvidia = 350W - costs less - has more features.

If i could send back my X800pro now and get a full refund on it i would. I always wanted the 6800GT but i could'nt get hold of one and there was no word on their release so i got kind of pissed off and bought an X800 pro, because it was in stock. Dont get me wrong, im not cheesed off with this card, i dont think it underperforms but its just now that i realised it wont last very long. It has nothing special about it like the nvidia does. I mean, the nvidia will run doom3 better (not only better but it will look 'better' as well) and ati will run hl2 better but make hl2 look any better than it would with an nvidia.

I need someone from valve to tell me the ati's will make hl2 look better like the nvidia's do doom3 and ill be ok.

/If only my bro wanted to upgrade his pc now and not in 5 months he could of bought it from me for £50 less than i payed for it.

 

[blahblahblah]

I dont know where everyone gets this nvidia = more power - costs more And ATi = less power - costs less when in actual fact the most mainstream cards, the PRO and GT are like this, ATi = 350W (i have one, i know!) - costs more And nvidia = 350W - costs less - has more features.

If i could send back my X800pro now and get a full refund on it i would. I always wanted the 6800GT but i could'nt get hold of one and there was no word on their release so i got kind of pissed off and bought an X800 pro, because it was in stock. Dont get me wrong, im not cheesed off with this card, i dont think it underperforms but its just now that i realised it wont last very long. It has nothing special about it like the nvidia does. I mean, the nvidia will run doom3 better (not only better but it will look 'better' as well) and ati will run hl2 better but make hl2 look any better than it would with an nvidia.

I need someone from valve to tell me the ati's will make hl2 look better like the nvidia's do doom3 and ill be ok.

/If only my bro wanted to upgrade his pc now and not in 5 months he could of bought it from me for £50 less than i payed for it.

You should've have done more research. I have an X800 Pro and I am completely happy with it.

Lets take a look at some blahblahblah propaganda.

- The X800 Pro has 3Dc. I am willing to bet that this will become an important feature in upcoming graphics card. Lets face it, normal maps aren't going away and they are only going to get bigger and require more memory bandwith.
- SM 2.0. How is this a positive? SM 2.0 can do all of the things SM 3.0 can do. While SM 3.0 is more efficient, the instruction length has been bumped up considerably (around 65,636 instructions). I don't want to be using a 6800 GT when games are using shaders that are 500 instructions long. My X800 Pro is more than enough to handle SM 2.0.
- Let's assume the 6800 GT is 5% faster than my X800 Pro. The difference at 60 FPS is a whopping 3 FPS. At 30 FPS, the difference is 1.5 FPS. Hardly an earth shatter difference.
- The X800 Pro is a great overclocker. Take a look here.
- You have an X800 Pro while nobody has an 6800 GT. Take advantage and use it, grab some new games and play them in ultra high quality with AA and AF. 6800 GT people are still dreaming about doing that.
- Take comforting in know that games that are TWISMTBP run just as fast on ATI Hardware as Nvidia Hardware.

If you are so disappointed in the X800 Pro's performance, sell it on e-bay. You can get pretty close to market value for it. I really don't know what you are so disappointed with.

 

[Roland Deschain]

Ok people, seriously, who gives a shit. 3 months back I was playing HL1 on software since my computer couldn't handle DirectX (that old, yes). Now I got a nice update (cost me a bundle) and I don't plan to update for at least another 3 years. Do I give a shit that I will play Stalker at minimum settings, no. I just don't want to get on that consumer treadmill where a game dropping below 100 fps means getting a new videocard. My two cents.

 

[Asus]

Doom3 won't look better on Nvidia hardware...
The only reason FarCry's 1.3 patch will look better is because they made that choice. If they wanted they could make the X800's run the same stuff since they also have increased instruction length for shaders.
Doom3 is Opengl, far from DX9 or SM3.0.

The reasons behind low power are small but they add up. Personally I support low power vs performance at any cost.
If I only need 1 molex connector, 1 slot and a 300Watt PSU instead of up to 2 molex connectors, 2 slots and a 350Watt PSU...that can make a difference in your choice.
Personally if I can use less power and have a card that gives off less heat and gives me the performance and features I want, I will go for that card.

 

[Alig]

blahblahblah : I didnt say i was disapointed with the card. Im just thinking about the long run, in 1 years time the 6800 will be more useful than the x800.

asus : Doom3 has shadows that only the nvidia can render. Tbh i think people are way too fussy...i mean both need the same power (yes, the x800 reccomends a 350W psu, i have one, i know, ive read it), both are 1 slot, need 1 molex except the ultra but common ffs, who the hell uses the pci slot next to the gfx card? seriously? do you? No one wants a card making a _direct_ block to the air flow of your brand new £300 - £400 card. It is just an excuse to add a con to the nvidia, a lame one at that. Now, the 2 molex connectors heh, well if you can afford a £300+ gfx card then you should already have at least a 350W psu in your pc...common, what watt psu has everyone got on here? baring in mind the more watt it is the more connectors it can handle, my 480W psu has ALOT of molex connectors...more than ill ever need nevermind if you add Y cables in there.

Using just one Y cable ive got :
7 case fans
1 gfx card (x1 molex)
2 drives
1 hdd
front panel light (x1 molex)
temp display monitor (x1 molex)
Edit/ CPU fan


Thats what? 14 molex connectors, now dont tell me 2 molex connectors is pushing the limits off the 'average' persons psu.

 

[blahblahblah]

No, Doom 3 uses stencil shadows. Any graphics card (within Doom 3 min specs) can render those. Nvidia use something called "Ultra Shadow 2."
http://www20.graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20040414/geforce_6800-13.html

(Sorry, FireFox is being really weird right now )

How Ultra Shadow 2 will affect frame rates is unkown. If you look at the FX series (which use Ultra Shadow 1 and look at the Doom 3 preview), the FX was only able to blow out the 9800 Pro in certain instances (using Nvidia created benchmarks none the less).

You make it sound like the 6800 series is a 1000 times better than the X800 series.

 

[Asus]

I don't know what the box says but I know what ATI's website says.

My AthlonXP 2800+ system ran on a 300Watt PSU which had 4 molex plugs. That is a self-built PC and isn't even a Dell or HP.
If I wanted to upgrade that machine to a 6800U, I would have some issues.
Not with a X800XT though. It was built with power consumption in mind. People can use a X800XT in a SSF or a multimedia PC in their living room and have the case quite since it does not consume as much power.

The 6800U is fine if you have a PC for it and don't give a thought to power consumption. If you like how it performs as well then that is the card for you!