3DMark 2001 SE: can DirectX 8.1 and DirectX 9.0 co-exist ?

[syzygy]

i'm running an abit ic7, 2.4c, 9700np, and 1 gig of mushkin. i received an error from 3DMark 2001 SE when it
failed to detect directX 8.1 specifically. the error message reads that 3DMark 2001 needs DirectX 8.1.
to run. i have 9.0 installed. my vid card and sound card (guillemot hercules 7.1) run beautifully.

aren't they backward compatible ? if not, will the later override the newer ?

 

[pelleplu]

If you update with the latest 3dmark 2001 patch you can run it with DX9