OpenCL... which means, we will finally see HD5000 series on mac around the same time as their PC counterparts? I hope that's true.

iGo

11?! Most developers aren't even using 10 yet. Is the whole world just skipping over all things vista and moving on to the next thing?... not that that's a bad idea

soccer1105

Looking at the future: something all companies should focus on doing next year.

cjcamilla

Wow every single point on that PowerPoint presentation is uberness.
I'm liking the stereoscopic display bit.

br4nd0n

i need a digital wall asap.

yungjerry703

@CommodorePerry: Microsoft changed the DirectX model with DirectX 10.

Previously, you could have DirectX N installed on your system while your hardware might not support DirectX N features. Then when you ran a DirectX N game that required DirectX N features, the game just wouldn't work (or would be buggy, or would have to switch to software rendering, or would have to use an alternate graphics engine with fewer features). There would be any number of DirectX extensions denoted by compatibility bits that would work on some cards and not others, despite the same version of DirectX being installed on those cards' computers. In short, the gaming experience was inconsistent.

With DirectX 10 and beyond, your graphics card actually has to be DirectX N compliant for you to run DirectX N. This guarantees that DirectX N games will work correctly on your computer. DirectX 10+ is entirely standardized, which is what DirectX was meant to be from the very beginning.

emag

@CommodorePerry:

err...run or utilize...take your pick :)

CommodorePerry

So I have a question...

How come for DirectX 7ish (when I started PC gaming) through 9.99999 (whatever) I never needed new hardware to support it, just download the update and maybe grab new drivers for the card.

DX10 hits, and now I NEED a new card to be able to run utilize it.

Now AMD's going to be dropping the first cards capable of DX11...will this mean my new DX10 card is now a steaming pile? Will I need to go out and buy a new new card to support DX11? Or is this going to be like old times, and I'll just need a new driver and the DX update, and off I go?

Thanks!

CommodorePerry

@emag:

Okay, but are DX10 cards themselves going to be upgradable to DX11 via drivers and such? Or will the hardware be too different and now I'm going to need a new $300 video card every year or so?

CommodorePerry

@soccer1105: 10 was basically Microsoft wiping the slate clean and coming out with a completely new implementation, ignoring backwards compatibility, and stuffing in features that they wouldn't have been able to do if they merely extended 9.

11 is just an upgrade to 10, not nearly as huge as 10 was to 9.

Mio

Microsoft indicated at XNA Gamefest 2008 that DirectX 11 games and applications can run on all existing DirectX 10 and DirectX 10.1 cards. There are new features only DirectX 11 hardware can support, like tessellation, but there are features like multithreaded rendering that can work on all DirectX 10 and up graphics cards. Microsoft broke up the different hardware versions like DX10, DX10.1, and DX11 into "feature levels" so a game developer can write something that looks at your computer, figures out what it can or can't do, and make the best experience accordingly. This differs from the extensions bit emag mentioned in that you have to fulfill the full feature set for a particular level to be allowed to expose it, not just individual features. Check out http://www.xnagamefest.com/presentations08.htm#GRAPHICS_, particularly "Introduction to the Direct3D 11 Graphics Pipeline".

HayesClymenus

@iGo: Unlikely

Xenocide