Maximum PC Article: Longhorn Videocard Requirements

[Jeff7181]

Latest issue of Maximum PC has some video requirements for Longhorn.

It appears longhorn will ship with two versions of WGF, 1.0 and 2.0. WGF 1.0 includes the functionality of Direct3D 9.0C, while 2.0 includes what would have been called Direct3D 10.

Longhorn's graphical user interface will be available in four tiers ranging from bare minimum to eye-candy galore. The top two tiers will be known as Aero Express and Aero Glass. Current rumor is that Aero Express will require a DirectX 9 video card with at least 64 MB of graphics memory, and will deliver some advanced features such as scaling and animations. The premium UI, Aero Glass, will deliver all of Longhorn's elaborate special effects and will require a minimum of 256 MB of memory and a DirectX 9 video card that supports Pixel Shader 2.0.

 

[Smilin]

Suweeeeeeeet!

 

[casper114]

That's no joke right there, That's awsome. I can't wait untill they come out with it. Who knows when that will be though, Weren't they supposed to come out with it this year but they didn't because they couldn't get all kinds of critical bugs out of it?

 

[DnetMHZ]

How much eye candy could anyone possibly need? 256 to display the F'n OS??? that's just stupid.
People already b!tch that XP has too much eye candy.

 

[casper114]

You won't hear me b!tchin about the OS having more eye candy. I like it.

 

[Smilin]

So use one of the lower modes.

Geez, you're probably one of the people that turn XP back to classic.

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: DnetMHZ
How much eye candy could anyone possibly need? 256 to display the F'n OS??? that's just stupid.
People already b!tch that XP has too much eye candy.

Go use a MAC to get some idea...

 

[DnetMHZ]

Originally posted by: Smilin
So use one of the lower modes.

Geez, you're probably one of the people that turn XP back to classic.

as a matter of fact I am

 

[DnetMHZ]

Originally posted by: bsobel

Originally posted by: DnetMHZ
How much eye candy could anyone possibly need? 256 to display the F'n OS??? that's just stupid.
People already b!tch that XP has too much eye candy.

Go use a MAC to get some idea...

No thanks

 

[Smilin]

Originally posted by: DnetMHZ

Originally posted by: Smilin
So use one of the lower modes.

Geez, you're probably one of the people that turn XP back to classic.

as a matter of fact I am

Figures. Go crap some other thread.

 

[lxskllr]

I'm pretty interested, but a little worried about how it will affect game performance. It would be nice if it could be downgraded on the fly to free up resources for intensive applications.

 

[ProviaFan]

...which is why I bought a cheap Gigabyte 6600 PCI-E card to go in my forthcoming X2 system, so I will have extra budget room left for a better card in a year once they all have the Longhorn video hardware requirements figured out for certain.

FWIW, I have two problems with [most] eye candy. Firstly, I have never had hardware that has been high-end enough to run as well with eye candy on as with it off (WinXP on my PCI Radeon 7200 is noticeably sluggish with menu shadows enabled, for example).

Secondly, the brilliant colors of many themes are not appreciated when I'm trying to work in Photoshop (this isn't to say that there aren't toned-down and nice looking themes, but currently that brings us back to point number one).

 

[spyordie007]

Originally posted by: lxskllr
I'm pretty interested, but a little worried about how it will affect game performance. It would be nice if it could be downgraded on the fly to free up resources for intensive applications.

It *shouldnt* affect performance of 3d applications. The GUI should be switching and running one at a time (like it would if you had more than 1 hardware accelerated app open at a time right now).

 

[thegorx]

so, we can only post how we think this is a good thing ?

Then I really have nothing to say

I don't spend my time just playing with my OS unless of course the registry database gets corrupt ..... oh wait .... that's right the OS doesn't have a utility to fix that
... silly me ....

 

[spyordie007]

Originally posted by: ProviaFan
...which is why I bought a cheap Gigabyte 6600 PCI-E card to go in my forthcoming X2 system, so I will have extra budget room left for a better card in a year once they all have the Longhorn video hardware requirements figured out for certain.

FWIW, I have two problems with [most] eye candy. Firstly, I have never had hardware that has been high-end enough to run as well with eye candy on as with it off (WinXP on my PCI Radeon 7200 is noticeably sluggish with menu shadows enabled, for example).

Secondly, the brilliant colors of many themes are not appreciated when I'm trying to work in Photoshop (this isn't to say that there aren't toned-down and nice looking themes, but currently that brings us back to point number one).

This is where some of the mac fanboys actually have it right. The problem with the "eye candy" in XP is that it is pretty much all software rendered. So while your machine certainly has the horsepower to software render the faded menus it's still power that gets taken away from the actual activity. The advantage to having the GUI rendered by the GPU in Longhorn is that you can have all sorts of eye candy and it wont have a signifigant impact on the system (since the otherwise idle GPU is doing that work).

 

[exilera]

Originally posted by: thegorx
so, we can only post how we think this is a good thing ?

Then I really have nothing to say

I don't spend my time just playing with my OS unless of course the registry database gets corrupt ..... oh wait .... that's right the OS doesn't have a utility to fix that
... silly me ....

:roll:

 

[Schadenfroh]

I hope they have a windows classic theme for it, i :heart: the way windows 2000 looks

 

[overst33r]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
I hope they have a windows classic theme for it, i :heart: the way windows 2000 looks

*shudder*

 

[Sunner]

Originally posted by: Smilin
So use one of the lower modes.

Geez, you're probably one of the people that turn XP back to classic.

What's wrong with that?
Sorry for not wanting to waste space for nothing, the classic theme is pretty darn decent.

 

[slugg]

I love eye candy aslong as it doesnt waste a bunch of space on the screen. The reason why I hate the standard XP skin is because it's all big and bubbly and takes up a bunch of space on the screen. That's why I use styleXP and choose a smaller theme, or go ahead and use the "classic" theme. Mac OS X, for example, has a VERY nice looking GUI with plenty of eye candy, but it doesnt take away from the functionality of the computer since its not all huge and bubbly like the standard winXP themes.

What I'd like to see is a 3D rendered desktop... where icons are 3d models, menus literally pop UP, and everything is animated. I'd kill for this! Is microsoft planning on going this way with longhorn with the highest GUI?

 

[DnetMHZ]

Originally posted by: Smilin

Originally posted by: DnetMHZ

Originally posted by: Smilin
So use one of the lower modes.

Geez, you're probably one of the people that turn XP back to classic.

as a matter of fact I am

Figures. Go crap some other thread.

Please tell me how expressing an opinion is thread crapping???

I guarantee you that the day Longhorn comes out there will be a rash of
"Should I change my virtual memory", "My computer is so slow", "Give me a registry tweak to speed up my computer",
"Should I try 64 bit", "how much memory do I need" threads.

And the first suggestion everyone will give will be "turn off the eye candy"

 

[13Gigatons]

1. Longhorn had better have a ton of cool Ui effects.

2. Longhorn had better have a way to disable any Ui effects I don't like.

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: 13Gigatons
1. Longhorn had better have a ton of cool Ui effects.

2. Longhorn had better have a way to disable any Ui effects I don't like.

3. Longhorn had better not have all that copyright crap they were talking about.

 

[Megatomic]

How many of you guys think you'll be using the same video card as you are right now when Longhorn comes out? That's next winter from what I've read. I'll probably have upgraded months before Longhorn comes out. I wouldn't worry today about whether or not your GPU will support it.

 

[mechBgon]

In this area, the phrase "the customer is always right" applies. If some people want a plain-vanilla GUI, it should still be an option. I like stuff to appear instantly when I click it, disappear instantly when I close it, and hold still the rest of the time so I can read it.