Widescreen Gaming Forum

Apparently Nvidia still has not release a line of hardware that is DX 10.1 compatible. Anyone hear any news of nvidia's next move and if they will get around to DX 10.1?

285 and 295 are supposedly coming out on the 5th. They're just die shrink and GX2 version of the 200 series though. nVidia will most likely skip 10.1 and go straight to DX11 cards. DX11 is already encorporated in the Win 7 Beta 1.

_________________
Brad Hawthorne
Product Manager
Nthusim Pty. Ltd. | www.nthusim.com

Yeah, from what I've read they're electing to skip DX 10.1. It doesn't add much and no games use it yet anyway. They're going to garner more consumer interest if they can manage to release the first DX11 GPU, as DX11 brings much more to the table. Seems it's going to be a close race with ATI though.

They are doing pretty well from latest reports. The preliminary tests of the GTX 295, a sort of GX2 version of the GTX 260 Core 216, is probably going to take the top card crown when released.

I'm eagerly awaiting their DX11 GPU though and hope they can make a single GPU card that will edge out ATI's upcoming 4970. If I wait that long I'll have kept this old P4 3Ghz, X1950Pro, 2GB RAM rig for 5 yrs, 3 of that being with an X800XT and 1GB RAM.

I'm still finding there are games that are supposed to be minimum dual core requirement that I can play on it though. So far Stranglehold, Assassin's Creed, Far Cry 2, GTA IV, and Prince of Persia 2008 all play on it. OK, truthfully GTA IV ran painfully slow, but now that I have the patch installed it's not a slide show anymore.

I'm eagerly awaiting their DX11 GPU though and hope they can make a single GPU card that will edge out ATI's upcoming 4970. If I wait that long I'll have kept this old P4 3Ghz, X1950Pro, 2GB RAM rig for 5 yrs. Four of that being with an X800XT and 1GB RAM.

I'm still finding there are games that are supposed to be minimum dual core requirement that I can play on it though. So far Stranglehold, Assassin's Creed, Far Cry 2, GTA IV, and Prince of Persia 2008 all play on it. OK, truthfully GTA IV ran painfully slow, but now that I have the patch installed it's not a slide show anymore.

wow that's awesome dude, almost had to read it twice. I wish my setup's lasted that long. I have an old Dell 9150 that was a PD830 2GB and 7900GTX it's now my media server... I'm not sure I colud game on it.

_________________
I still visit occasionally.

wow that's awesome dude, almost had to read it twice. I wish my setup's lasted that long. I have an old Dell 9150 that was a PD830 2GB and 7900GTX it's now my media server... I'm not sure I colud game on it.

It hasn't been without it's frustrations. I don't exactly get ideal frame rates in certain spots of some of those games, but overall it's done better than I expected. Games are definitely getting more CPU reliant. I guess I should be happy about that because part of what's kept me from building a new rig for so long is lack of multi-core CPU support in games until recently.

Yeah, from what I've read they're electing to skip DX 10.1. It doesn't add much and no games use it yet anyway. They're going to garner more consumer interest if they can manage to release the first DX11 GPU, as DX11 brings much more to the table. Seems it's going to be a close race with ATI though.

Doesn't add much? Then why do Nvidia require an extra API call just for their cards to use DX10.1 features? ;) I am suprised that you didn't know games are using it already.

There are some games of today that uses DX10.1. Assassins creed (before patch, giving 30% increase in performance with AA), FarCry 2 (where Nvidia had a special rendering call to use some DX10.1 features on their DX10 cards) and Stalker - Clear sky.

Several game developers have already announced that they will use DX10.1 in upcoming titles. Blizzard(diablo 3 is announced as 10.1), Sega(Stormrise) and EA(Battleforge) being among those in addition to others.

Windows 7's desktop features like Aero will use natively DX10.1 and will also incorporate a software version (by CPU) for those who don't have support for 10.1 on hardware:

Windows 7 Aero Will Use DX10.1

http://www.cpu3d.com/news/6404-1/windows-7-aero-will-use-dx10-1/story.html

Windows 7’s new WARP system can run Direct3D 10 and 10.1 on the CPU,

http://www.custompc.co.uk/news/605271/windows-7-allows-directx-10-acceleration-on-the-cpu.html

The support has come far, considering 10.1 was first publically available with Vista SP1. :)

Hehe Tamlin I seen you over on the HardForums in the nvidia 185 driver release thread. I was just reading through the bickering, and all a sudden someone made so much sense, kept reading then WSGF caught my eye and I realized that it was you :)

Hehe Tamlin I seen you over on the HardForums in the nvidia 185 driver release thread. I was just reading through the bickering, and all a sudden someone made so much sense, kept reading then WSGF caught my eye and I realized that it was you :)

Thanks Dafox! :)

And good morning (I'm off to work now).

Hard to discuss with some there, when they are more about ATI vs. Nvidia, while I want to focus more about what it gives us gamers. ATI and Nvidia are only in it for the money and Nvidia's decition about not using DX10.1 took away a lot from us games, since its a better code with no bad sideeffects at all. Gamers only win on DX10.1 and Nvidia had both 9000 and GTX200 series to implement it on.

AO we have already. Its a faking of Global illumination, while GI gives us more then AO in terms of realism. DX10.1 is scalable and can give us more. The feature in Nvidia drivers is nothing more then to manipulate whats already there. Though I welcome new features, I wish Nvidia would focus more on new ones giving us more.

All the games that driver supported already supports AO through their engine. Here's the original photos from Crysis posted a long time ago already regarding the ingame support of AO which already is there:
http://www.incrysis.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=17733

People who earlier downplayed DX10.1, where one of the advertised major features was that its now finally capable of realtime GI, are now cheering for some AO feature we already have. A bit ironic really. :P

Doesn't add much? Then why do Nvidia require an extra API call just for their cards to use DX10.1 features? ;) I am suprised that you didn't know games are using it already.

OK, I admit, I didn't know FC2 and CS support it, but CS only via patch. Also, it really doesn't bring much other than a bit more effective use of AA. Assassin's Creed only had it via a demo Ubi launched, then they pulled support for it. I maintain, DX10.1 is no big deal compared to what DX11 will bring, otherwise Nvidia would have jumped on it sooner.

Anyone that thinks a few games supporting DX10.1 is a realistic reason to insist on DX10.1 hardware is missing the point I think. It's ongoing support that really matters to most gamers. You know, the type that feel upgrading every 6 months to a year is rather exorbitant. Ongoing support is more a mindset of Nvidia than ATI. ATI, from my experience owning their cards for the last 4 yrs, is mainly intent on a generation or two of support. After that you can forget about any driver attention concerning your card.

It's kind of funny and ironic how many DX10 card owners were saying the same thing about not being all that concerned about DX10.1. Now there are many whom originally thought DX10.1 cards were a noticeable improvement preferring to go DX11. And keep in mind, enhanced AA doesn't mean squat in games that don't even support AA at all like GTA IV.

In the scope of DX advancements, DX10.1 will probably not be remembered or used very long.

ATI and Nvidia are only in it for the money and Nvidia's decition about not using DX10.1 took away a lot from us games, since its a better code with no bad sideeffects at all. Gamers only win on DX10.1 and Nvidia had both 9000 and GTX200 series to implement it on.

Yep very true, I'm sure they saved a good chunk by not having to upgrade to DX10.1. And honestly since they have the power with all of their partners it really ended up bringing ATI Down since there is such a limited number of games with DX10.1 It hurts what ATI was wanting to do by saying "Only with ATI can you get the latest DX10.1 graphics" Well the message means little to most gamers considering Nvidia wont even let a huge number of game company's use it. [Like Ubisoft - Assassins Creed for example]

Sad.


As for the OP:

Nvidia's next plans as said before are the GTX285 and GTX295 which are nothing more than die shrinks and one board SLI in the 295's case. Then we are moving to DX11 this summer when both company's should be launching their new architectures.