Is hardware directX9 a must for Longhorn?

[asintu]

do i need a directx9 card for the 64 bit windows or will a dx8 card be enough? will performance/quality be improved or what?

 

[hans030390]

I'm pretty sure a DX8 card will run windows xp 64-bit edition...for Longhorn, i THINK you have to have AT LEAST a directx 9.0c card (6xxx series from nvidia or next gen ATI cards)...not positive on this...

 

[asintu]

oh i thought longhorn was just the name for xp 64 bit..what's the difference?..when will it come out?

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: asintu
oh i thought longhorn was just the name for xp 64 bit..what's the difference?..when will it come out?

Longhorn is the next actual version of Windows, and is not due until sometime in 2006....Windows XP 64-bit is exactly that, just a 64-bit port of the Windows XP operating system.

 

[mwmorph]

Originally posted by: hans030390
I'm pretty sure a DX8 card will run windows xp 64-bit edition...for Longhorn, i THINK you have to have AT LEAST a directx 9.0c card (6xxx series from nvidia or next gen ATI cards)...not positive on this...

you need dx9 to use the new interface, but for those without dx9, you can run the alternate interface with a older card.

xp-64 is only supposed to be 64bit xp right? why would it need dx8, espicalyl since i run xp on a dx7 level card?

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: hans030390
I'm pretty sure a DX8 card will run windows xp 64-bit edition...for Longhorn, i THINK you have to have AT LEAST a directx 9.0c card (6xxx series from nvidia or next gen ATI cards)...not positive on this...

From what I've read, a DX9 card will be required for the best "eye-candy", but it will have a fallback path for older video cards. Microsoft wants to sell everyone an operating system and make money off of it (consider that XP is going to be 4 years old already in a few months), and it would be an extremely poor business decision not to support the large numbers of older video cards out there.

People with DX9 cards (even the "old" last-gen stuff like the Radeon 9700/9800 series) are still very much in the minority overall...

 

[PrayForDeath]

Yep, and you get WinXP 64bit for free if you already have WinXP Pro.
As for the Longhorn requiring DX9.0c, that's most probably wrong. I never heard this before, and if it's true, then Microsoft is killing itself (they're not selling their OS to 5% of the market, are they?). Even requiring DX9 as a minimum is suicide. I think it only needs a shader support in the card, that's GF3/8500 minimum, and that's still extreme imo.

 

[MonkeyWrench4000]

What do you mean you will get windows 64-bit for free when you have pro?

 

[hans030390]

Originally posted by: PrayForDeath
Yep, and you get WinXP 64bit for free if you already have WinXP Pro.
As for the Longhorn requiring DX9.0c, that's most probably wrong. I never heard this before, and if it's true, then Microsoft is killing itself (they're not selling their OS to 5% of the market, are they?). Even requiring DX9 as a minimum is suicide. I think it only needs a shader support in the card, that's GF3/8500 minimum, and that's still extreme imo.

I just heard that the next gen ATI cards will support the next directx (if it's even called that in the next version) and that Longhorn will need it/use it heavily...

i said "I THINK" so don't take my word for it. It's just a rumor i heard a while back.

 

[mwmorph]

Originally posted by: hans030390

Originally posted by: PrayForDeath
Yep, and you get WinXP 64bit for free if you already have WinXP Pro.
As for the Longhorn requiring DX9.0c, that's most probably wrong. I never heard this before, and if it's true, then Microsoft is killing itself (they're not selling their OS to 5% of the market, are they?). Even requiring DX9 as a minimum is suicide. I think it only needs a shader support in the card, that's GF3/8500 minimum, and that's still extreme imo.

I just heard that the next gen ATI cards will support the next directx (if it's even called that in the next version) and that Longhorn will need it/use it heavily...

i said "I THINK" so don't take my word for it. It's just a rumor i heard a while back.

it's called WGF 1.0 or something. (Windows Graphics Foundation)