when's the next top cards due out? and question about directX 10

[Vesper8]

Heyas.. so I've decided that I'm gonna buy whatever is the best card out there when the game TES IV : Oblivion comes out and it's due around febuary/march 06

right now i've got my aim set on a 7800 gtx 512 but am wondering if any cards are due to beat the current king of the mountain by Q1 2006 ?

also.. I was wondering if anyone knew just how "left behind" the current GPUs will be when vista comes out with directx 10... will no current card support directx 10 whatsoever?

how long do you think after the release of vista before it's an obligation to own a directx 10 compatible gpu ?

will a 7800 gtx 512 still make vista look pretty good ?

 

[JPB]

R580 and maybe G71 ? Anyone ?

 

[johnnqq]

directx10 comes out for the r600 which will be ready a year from NOW...i'm pretty sure that the g80 comes out in about 6 months and WON'T have it (don't quote me...).

 

[Murd0ck]

I Probably won't be in a big hurry to run Vista. Maybe after 6 months of updates. Hopefully there will be some backward compatibility options for people not running the latest hardware when DX 10 games start comming out.


I read some 'predictions' at the INQ, but you know you have to take their info with a grain of salt most of the time.

The Inquirer

 

[Acanthus]

im not upgrading to vista until they do more than interface and cab updates. The same reason i dont use XP today.

Every good feature they had in the OS has been "postponed" until later service packs.

 

[Gamer X]

Originally posted by: johnnqq
directx10 comes out for the r600 which will be ready a year from NOW...i'm pretty sure that the g80 comes out in about 6 months and WON'T have it (don't quote me...).

I think G80 will support DX10

 

[Kalessian]

I heard that it would, also.

 

[BenSkywalker]

Heyas.. so I've decided that I'm gonna buy whatever is the best card out there when the game TES IV : Oblivion comes out and it's due around febuary/march 06

Not likely to be much different then what we have now, although it may be that the R580 will be in some state of launch by that point(likely paper, maybe shipping). Oblivion is targetting R600's feature set(via the R500), that won't be available until some time later next year.

right now i've got my aim set on a 7800 gtx 512 but am wondering if any cards are due to beat the current king of the mountain by Q1 2006 ?

SLId slower boards would be a better option unless the price point on the 512MB GTX changes considerably between now and when you are looking to buy. 7800GTs SLId will outperform the 512MB GTX and cost quite a bit less(~$150 as of now).

also.. I was wondering if anyone knew just how "left behind" the current GPUs will be when vista comes out with directx 10... will no current card support directx 10 whatsoever?

DX10 isn't a 'major' revision- the shift is much smaller then DX7-DX8 or DX8-DX9 was. Vista's GUI should run full featured on any current DX9 board.

how long do you think after the release of vista before it's an obligation to own a directx 10 compatible gpu ?

Much like today, a high end DX9 GPU will be better then a low end DX10 GPU for a very long time.

will a 7800 gtx 512 still make vista look pretty good ?

Without a doubt, as will anything remotely decent available today.

 

[destrekor]

is DX10 going to be required for HD-content in Vista? I heard there are going to be many requirements for Vista for all the features to be enabled.
edit:
when i say HD-content, I mean, like for blu-ray and hd-dvd playback high-def video.
i know HDCP-compliant monitors will be required for Vista to play those mediums, I'd expect DX10 to be required as well. Just because its Microsoft.

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: destrekor
is DX10 going to be required for HD-content in Vista? I heard there are going to be many requirements for Vista for all the features to be enabled.
edit:
when i say HD-content, I mean, like for blu-ray and hd-dvd playback high-def video.
i know HDCP-compliant monitors will be required for Vista to play those mediums, I'd expect DX10 to be required as well. Just because its Microsoft.

There will be a hack before vista even goes retail, mark my words.

I will NOT upgrade displays because MS says so, and im sure millions of others wont either.

 

[EightySix Four]

HDCP IS ONLY FOR THE BLURAY AND HD-DVD PLAYBACK

MS has no choice on this, both devices require it on any device. MS may be M$ but they'd have a hard time breaking even these rules. They're rules within the hardware.

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: crazySOB297
HDCP IS ONLY FOR THE BLURAY AND HD-DVD PLAYBACK

MS has no choice on this, both devices require it on any device. MS may be M$ but they'd have a hard time breaking even these rules. They're rules within the hardware.

Yeah, im sure theres no way the signal could be converted, having to upgrade a $1000 display to the exact same thing with HDCP to see content YOU BOUGHT is a joke.

 

[gunblade]

Originally posted by: BenSkywalker

DX10 isn't a 'major' revision- the shift is much smaller then DX7-DX8 or DX8-DX9 was. Vista's GUI should run full featured on any current DX9 board.

how long do you think after the release of vista before it's an obligation to own a directx 10 compatible gpu ?

Much like today, a high end DX9 GPU will be better then a low end DX10 GPU for a very long time.

Without a doubt, as will anything remotely decent available today.

Well, I don't think that is the case. DX10 is a very major overhaul of the DirectX system as a whole. The featureset is now mandatory instead of optional like today's dx9. Besides, some API and driver model changes makes it very significant. Dx9 will only be running on a emulate layer which implies sacrificing perfromance.

More detail can be found in the DX10 SDK.

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: Acanthus

Originally posted by: destrekor
is DX10 going to be required for HD-content in Vista? I heard there are going to be many requirements for Vista for all the features to be enabled.
edit:
when i say HD-content, I mean, like for blu-ray and hd-dvd playback high-def video.
i know HDCP-compliant monitors will be required for Vista to play those mediums, I'd expect DX10 to be required as well. Just because its Microsoft.

There will be a hack before vista even goes retail, mark my words.

I will NOT upgrade displays because MS says so, and im sure millions of others wont either.

sure it'll be hacked, but image quality may be lower since it is a hardware-based encryption, which might require an external breakout box to hack it. im thinking image quality of the first hacks may not be as great as the source quality.
that and the fact that it can be hacked still means nothing. its required one way or the other, just like i am thinking dx10 may end up being required for HD playback in vista.

 

[BenSkywalker]

DX10 is a very major overhaul of the DirectX system as a whole. The featureset is now mandatory instead of optional like today's dx9. Besides, some API and driver model changes makes it very significant. Dx9 will only be running on a emulate layer which implies sacrificing perfromance.

All of the changes you are discussing are dealing with the programming interface, driver model and API/OS level interaction- not feature support. WGF 2.0 changes a considerable amount as fas as machine level operations- in terms of feature support DX10 is a very minor step.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: BenSkywalker

also.. I was wondering if anyone knew just how "left behind" the current GPUs will be when vista comes out with directx 10... will no current card support directx 10 whatsoever?

DX10 isn't a 'major' revision- the shift is much smaller then DX7-DX8 or DX8-DX9 was. Vista's GUI should run full featured on any current DX9 board.

how long do you think after the release of vista before it's an obligation to own a directx 10 compatible gpu ?

Much like today, a high end DX9 GPU will be better then a low end DX10 GPU for a very long time.

Ben, are you really so sure about that? I thought that one of the requirements for a DX10/Vista-compatible GPU, was specific support in hardware for a couple of new features that weren't present (or at least required) in prior GPUs, in order to run the full-blown "Aero" interface UI. The details were on MS's WHQL site, talking about new ISV hardware requirements for Longhorn (now Vista).

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: Acanthus
Yeah, im sure theres no way the signal could be converted, having to upgrade a $1000 display to the exact same thing with HDCP to see content YOU BOUGHT is a joke.

Sure. All you have to do is break some uber-large encryption key. One that's stored in hardware, and isn't retrieveable/accessable by software. Good luck. (*)

(*) AFAIK, that's the basic premise on how it works. I have no actual knowledge of the specifics. If someone does - drop me a note.

 

[mehmetmunur]

Strangely enough, and more off topic, I have in some places that some HDMI devices that have HDCP compatibility issues with one another. So even if you have HDCP, you still might have trouble using your monitor/TV for HDCP content, whether on HDDVD, BR or WMP-HD.

 

[Hammer67]

Originally posted by: Acanthus
im not upgrading to vista until they do more than interface and cab updates. The same reason i dont use XP today.

Every good feature they had in the OS has been "postponed" until later service packs.

What are you using...ME?????

XP is actually a great OS for a product that was release 4 years ago.