DirectX 11 and Ray Tracing to debut at the end of 2008

[NoStateofMind]

Ray Tracing To Debut In DirectX 11

According to a confidential source, Microsoft has decided to switch to ray-tracing in DirectX 11. They also plan to have DirectX 11 ready in time to debut with Windows Vista Service Pack 2. To do that, they have also decided to base it on the x86 architecture and Intel's ray-tracing engine. There are rumours that Intel did more than just "suggest" it to Microsoft, but that's another story altogether.

As DirectX 11 is a work in progress, Microsoft does not have an exact timeline. But the source claims that DirectX 11 could be part of Windows Vista by late 2008. Development is expected to be very short as much of the work had already been done by Intel. Coincidence?

You need not worry about your old raster-based DirectX 10 or older games or graphics cards. DirectX 11 will continue to support rasterization. It just includes support for ray-tracing as well. There will be two DirectX 11 modes, based on support by the application and the hardware (see table on the right).

Obviously, DirectX 11 would be a great boon to everyone, especially Microsoft and Intel. AMD and ATI would come out pretty well too. But NVIDIA might be in some trouble.

As the ray-tracing component of DirectX 11 will be designed around the x86 architecture, Intel and even AMD-ATI would have no problem coming up with processors and graphics cards that support DirectX 11. NVIDIA, on the other hand, will have to start from ground up or licence some technologies from Intel or buy up VIA's x86 team (ex-Cyrix). Obviously, they cannot do any business with AMD!

My guess is we really won't see this till Q1 of '09. This is pretty exciting news for gamers looking for a more realistic gaming experience. If this is true, then nVidia will have no choice but to buy VIA. I say the sooner they act on it the better because later VIA's asking price will go up knowing nVidia will NEED them. Comments?

if this is a repost, please feel free to lock

This is an April Fool's joke. It's not in violation of the rules but I'm going to lock this thread before it gets out of hand.
-ViRGE

 

[n7]

Oh wow. :Q

This is huge if true.

Huge.

All of a sudden, Intel's foray into the graphics market gets a massive boost...in fact i'd have to agree that there's no way the timing is coincidence.