8800/2900 Obsolete Already?

[Computer-Ed]

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Microsoft-Drops-the-Bomb-DirectX-10-Hardware-Won-039-t-Support-DirectX-10-1-62482.shtml

If the basic info is true this could mean that those early adpaters to DX10 where wrong all along and the video companies scammed us. The basic jist is that the next DX which is 10.1 will have new hardware instructions that the current cards will not support.

It looks like DX10.1 will be releasing quick which means that moving quickly to a DX10 card will mean you did not get the edge you hoped for.

Also since the video card companies work with MS in developing DX it is safe to say they SAW THIS COMING.

In essence this could mean that we had a push for a new generation of graphics cards that will barely if ever get used to their potential.

Again this is not 100% confirmed but this will be ugly if true.

Quick addition found a link to MS disputing this:

http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6824&Ite mid=2

However read between the lines, it extends the set, in essence it gives new features that only newer cards can use.

Even though DX10.1 will support current DX10 graphics hardware, today's DX10 hardware will not be able to support all of the features of DX10.1, which includes incremental improvements to 3D rendering quality.

So in other words for best effect we need new hardware again..

[Yellowhello]

Doesn't seem nice of Microsoft. Any word on what nVidia or AMD/ATI say about this?

[Quakindude]

Yeah, that wouldn't have made much sense now would it? A quick search reveals newer info was available when you posted that.

Updated story.

[Computer-Ed]

Actually it still says the same thing to get FULL DX10.1 support you will need new hardware. DX10 will function fine but the extra instructions will not be in the current hardware.

[Quakindude]

There's one hell of a lot of difference between a video card being obsolete as you heavily intimated and updated features being added to an existing instruction set.

For those of us who have been around computers for a few years, we have seen this before. There have been instruction sets updated in a series of DX versions that will do a few things.

1. Take advantage of newer technology that is being built into video cards.
2. Give the technology room to grow and a suggested direction by offering the hardware people software technology to build on.
3. Having fully realized the potential of video cards currently released, MS has updated their already outdated instruction sets to take better advantage of what the cards already have, are fore casted to have, or had all along, and MS just borked the DX interface code. (Personally, I vote for this third one.)

So the sky is not falling. This will not negatively affect anyone's gaming pleasure in the least.

[Quakindude]

Originally Posted by Computer-Ed

Quick addition found a link to MS disputing this:

http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6824&Ite mid=2

However read between the lines, it extends the set, in essence it gives new features that only newer cards can use.



So in other words for best effect we need new hardware again..

Oh please! Folks, ignore this crap. MS has made updates just like this through-out the life cycle of each DX instruction set series. Nothing to worry about from what I see.

Ed, stop trying to put people into a OMGWTFMICROSOFTISTEHSUXORZ! frenzy.

[Bokranator]

i have to say as a young system builder its stuff like this which would discourage me from buying stuff lol but ive though about it and ill build my pc but NOT purchase the gpu... can someone say xmas pressie? and if by xmas the 45 nm cpus r out and about and rulling the world ill just throw my hands up and give up the speed at which these companies upgrade and things is insane

[Yellowhello]

Originally Posted by Bokranator

i have to say as a young system builder its stuff like this which would discourage me from buying stuff lol but ive though about it and ill build my pc but NOT purchase the gpu... can someone say xmas pressie? and if by xmas the 45 nm cpus r out and about and rulling the world ill just throw my hands up and give up the speed at which these companies upgrade and things is insane

Yea, the DIY computer industry moves REALLY fast.

[simple_inhibition]

look back at the Radeon 9500/9600/9700/9800 series. they supported the earliest version of DX9 and were very powerful cards for their day. however microsoft released updated versions of DX9 (I.E DX9.0b, DX9.0c just as example) yet those cards still play the games that supported the later DX9 versions. hell my buddy was running a 9800XT and playing battlefield 2 with it just fine. this is nothing to worry about people, your DX10 hardware will still function, they just wont be as powerful or support every single feature as the next generation. but then again thats what the computer industry is all about: advancing technology.

which brings me to my next point. if you tried to upgrade your computer as fast as the industry, you would either be one of two things, very rich before hand or very poor afterwords. this is why we have hardwarelogic. to help aspiring and veteran computer enthusiasts alike get the most performance for their dollar.(among other things :) thats why i love this site so much. theres help for many if not all of the aspects of computing at all levels

[Stormcrow]

Technology moves fast, and the 8 series has been out for months already. R600 kept getting pushed back, so actually this is just the normal advancement of the industry. I bought my 8800 for DX9 gameplay, not really caring much about DX10 games which haven't even come out yet. And really won't be in full effect until next year. All the games nearing completion and midway through production now will be DX10, and by the end of next year DX10.1 might become standard. By then the 8800/2900 may be two generations old. The current DX10 cards will run DX10.1 just fine, the tweaks made in the revision you probably won't even notice anyway. I personally can't tell the difference between 9.0b and 9.0c, its pretty much all on the software level.