DirectX 10 & The Future of Gaming

by Marco Chiappetta — Tuesday, May 02, 2006, 09:00 AM EDT

Brent from [H]ard|OCP / [H]Enthusiast has written an article regarding DirectX 10 and how it will impact gamers next year when Vista finally ships. There are some major changes coming with DX10, and a whole new generation of GPUs are on the way that are required for full support. For a taste of what's to come, check out what Brent has to say.

"DirectX 10 will be available to Windows Vista users only at its introduction. You will not find DirectX 10 being released for the Windows XP operating system. DirectX 10 is deeply embedded into Windows Vista operation and we currently know of no plans by Microsoft to allow Windows XP to officially support the new API. Also embedded into Windows Vista is DirectX 9.0L to allow for compatibility with DirectX 9 components. Think of it like two separate DirectX systems. We will have DirectX 9.0L for DirectX 9 hardware and we will have DirectX 10 for DirectX 10 capable hardware. If you want DirectX 10 you will have to go with Windows Vista as your OS. Because of this we will see an expensive upgrade path associated with the experience of DirectX 10. You will need Windows Vista, DirectX 10 hardware and of course some DirectX 10 coded games."

Tags: Gaming, DirectX, ECT, Future, Gamin, AM

Marco Chiappetta

Marco's interest in computing and technology dates all the way back to his early childhood. Even before being exposed to the Commodore P.E.T. and later the Commodore 64 in the early ‘80s, he was interested in electricity and electronics, and he still has the modded AFX cars and shop-worn soldering irons to prove it. Once he got his hands on his own Commodore 64, however, computing became Marco's passion. Throughout his academic and professional lives, Marco has worked with virtually every major platform from the TRS-80 and Amiga, to today's high end, multi-core servers. Over the years, he has worked in many fields related to technology and computing, including system design, assembly and sales, professional quality assurance testing, and technical writing. In addition to being the Managing Editor here at HotHardware for close to 15 years, Marco is also a freelance writer whose work has been published in a number of PC and technology related print publications and he is a regular fixture on HotHardware’s own Two and a Half Geeks webcast. - Contact: marco(at)hothardware(dot)com