Direct X 10

[kevinbeall]

I keep reading on different misc. hardware review sites that DirectX 10 will
require new hardware. Anyone have any idea when we will begin to see any of
this new hardware? I know that Vista will supposedly make great use of
DX10. Also, many of the review sites make reference to quotes from ATI and
NVIDIA as having these new graphics cards ready for late fall, 2006. I'm
thinking of putting together a new system (Core 2 Duo E6600) and I am
thinking about the Radeon X1959XTX. Hate to sink that much money into a
card when a new platform is a month away... Anyone hear anything, or is it
all just speculation based on Vista being released in 2007? Always seem to
be waiting for something right around the corner...

kev

 

[Bill]

I keep reading on different misc. hardware review sites that DirectX 10 will
require new hardware. Anyone have any idea when we will begin to see any of
this new hardware? I know that Vista will supposedly make great use of
DX10. Also, many of the review sites make reference to quotes from ATI and
NVIDIA as having these new graphics cards ready for late fall, 2006. I'm
thinking of putting together a new system (Core 2 Duo E6600) and I am
thinking about the Radeon X1959XTX. Hate to sink that much money into a
card when a new platform is a month away... Anyone hear anything, or is it
all just speculation based on Vista being released in 2007? Always seem to
be waiting for something right around the corner...

kev

If I were you I'd wait a year or for SP1 before migrating to Vista.
I've run RC1 and have loaded RC2. RC1 at least booted though it was
touch and go running games. Probably screwy beta video drivers.

RC2 blue screens with an error and immediately reboots. Haven't waved
the correct dead chicken at it yet.

I'm sure any game that comes out for DirectX 10 in the next year will
also run on a DirectX 9 card in a DX9 system. I can't imagine a game
designer stupid enough to ignore a huge installed DX9 user base.

Bill

 

[William]

I keep reading on different misc. hardware review sites that DirectX 10
will require new hardware. Anyone have any idea when we will begin to see
any of this new hardware? I know that Vista will supposedly make great use
of DX10. Also, many of the review sites make reference to quotes from ATI
and NVIDIA as having these new graphics cards ready for late fall, 2006.
I'm thinking of putting together a new system (Core 2 Duo E6600) and I am
thinking about the Radeon X1959XTX. Hate to sink that much money into a
card when a new platform is a month away... Anyone hear anything, or is it
all just speculation based on Vista being released in 2007? Always seem to
be waiting for something right around the corner...

kev

Kevin:

I'm going through the same thing. My old system is getting long in the
tooth and I have been shopping around for 2 months now. I have an old AGP
system and am looking for a new mobo, cpu, ram, and vid.

Tom's Hardware had a good review on 975X based mobo's this last week. I was
leaning toward the AUSU P5WDH, but now I'm leaning towards the MSI 975X
Platinum V.2. It has a parallel port I need and costs about $50.00 less.
It's dual and quad core ready. It's features match my Antec Sonata case
better too. (Uses the 4 pin extra power connector instead of the new 8 pin
one. Has front panel firewire, usb, audio i/o I need.)

As far as DX10 and Vista is concerned, Bill's advice is sound. Give Vista
some time to stew, at least 6 or more months, maybe RC1. I'm hoping we
might see MS relax its activation policies, and maybe DRM management too.
(Fat chance - wishful thinking).

I plan to purchase a mid-range graphics card and wait for a year before
updating to a DX-10 vid card. Currently I'm looking at the ATI X1900GT256
for my choice.

Watch your specifications carefully. Lots of bad information out their.
Many pit-falls as well.

William

 

[kevinbeall]

Kevin:

I'm going through the same thing. My old system is getting long in the
tooth and I have been shopping around for 2 months now. I have an old AGP
system and am looking for a new mobo, cpu, ram, and vid.

Tom's Hardware had a good review on 975X based mobo's this last week. I
was leaning toward the AUSU P5WDH, but now I'm leaning towards the MSI
975X Platinum V.2. It has a parallel port I need and costs about $50.00
less. It's dual and quad core ready. It's features match my Antec Sonata
case better too. (Uses the 4 pin extra power connector instead of the new
8 pin one. Has front panel firewire, usb, audio i/o I need.)

As far as DX10 and Vista is concerned, Bill's advice is sound. Give Vista
some time to stew, at least 6 or more months, maybe RC1. I'm hoping we
might see MS relax its activation policies, and maybe DRM management too.
(Fat chance - wishful thinking).

I plan to purchase a mid-range graphics card and wait for a year before
updating to a DX-10 vid card. Currently I'm looking at the ATI X1900GT256
for my choice.

Watch your specifications carefully. Lots of bad information out their.
Many pit-falls as well.

William

I appreciate the advice given. I'm actually leaning that direction. It
seems like we are always waiting just a few more months... I did see the
review you were referencing, William (
http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/10/11/four_975x_motherboards_for_core_2_duo/ )
.. I had been looking more at the Intel D975XBX, but I'm having to
reconsider. The MSI looks like it may turn out to be a much better bargain
(and mb to boot).

kevin

 

[Gotta Have It]

I keep reading on different misc. hardware review sites that DirectX 10 will
require new hardware. Anyone have any idea when we will begin to see any of
this new hardware? I know that Vista will supposedly make great use of
DX10. Also, many of the review sites make reference to quotes from ATI and
NVIDIA as having these new graphics cards ready for late fall, 2006. I'm
thinking of putting together a new system (Core 2 Duo E6600) and I am
thinking about the Radeon X1959XTX. Hate to sink that much money into a
card when a new platform is a month away... Anyone hear anything, or is it
all just speculation based on Vista being released in 2007? Always seem to
be waiting for something right around the corner...

kev

I wouldn't bother with Vista until at least service pack 3.

You've got plenty of time to enjoy cheaper technology that works.

 

[JLC]

I keep reading on different misc. hardware review sites that DirectX 10
will require new hardware. Anyone have any idea when we will begin to see
any of this new hardware? I know that Vista will supposedly make great use
of DX10. Also, many of the review sites make reference to quotes from ATI
and NVIDIA as having these new graphics cards ready for late fall, 2006.
I'm thinking of putting together a new system (Core 2 Duo E6600) and I am
thinking about the Radeon X1959XTX. Hate to sink that much money into a
card when a new platform is a month away... Anyone hear anything, or is it
all just speculation based on Vista being released in 2007? Always seem to
be waiting for something right around the corner...

kev

I'm sure there's a lot of us that are finding themselves in this situation.
My current rig is a 2Ghz P4, 1gig of PC 2100 ram, and a 9800pro. I've been
putting off a full upgrade for 4 years! I used to upgrade at lest every year
or so, but the CPU has been OK so I've only been upgrading my video cards
and hard drives.
I finally decided to go ahead and take the plunge last week. I've always
built my own rigs, but this time I seriously looked into buying a Velocity
Micro system. But after I had configured the PC I wanted the price came to
over $2,200 and that's not including shipping! I knew that I could build one
cheaper then that! I always buy from Newegg, so I sat down last Tues. and
started doing some serious research and picking out the parts.
Like you I knew I wanted the E6600 that was a no brainier for me. But then
came the PS,MB, and RAM. I spent 4 hours Tues, and 6 hours Wed going crazy
trying to decide which parts to get. After hours of reading and hair pulling
I finally decide on these parts:
CPU: E6600
PS: Antec TPII 550 watts
Case: Lian Li PC-7B Plus Black
MB: Asus P5B Deluxe Intel P965
Sound Board: SB Audigy 4
HD: Two Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (Perpendicular Recording Tech) 320GB
7200RPM
SATA 3.0 Gb/s drives.
RAM: 2GB of Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800
Video Card: Sapphire X1900XT with 256 MB of RAM.

The total was $1,614 but I saved another $140 in rebates, so I was able to
get all this for only 1,474! That's including a new copy of XP home upgrade
that I bought for $100 with a $50 rebate.

The parts that really took time was the MB, video card and the RAM. I
decided on the P965 chipset after much reading and knowing I wasn't planning
on SLI or Crossfire.
The RAM was a total bitch because I couldn't decide if I should just stick
with DDR2 667 or spend a little more for the 800. There's also been some
problem with the Asus P5B and the Corsair RAM. So after about three hours of
hair pulling I decided to give Corsair a call and find out from them what
the deal was. I got right through to a guy that actually does the memory
testing and I talked with him for about 30 min. He explained that they had a
bad batch of RAM go out, but that's fixed now. I was really impressed that
Corsair has that kind of support.
So that left the video card. I picked the X1900XT 256 because after looking
at so many graphs my eyes where bleeding and reading for hours, the X1900XT
256 seemed the best deal for the money. I looked over all the new Nvidia
cards, and yes they do use less power, but as far as performance goes ATI
still has an edge over Nvidia in this price range. I paid $260 for my card
and that's just about as much as I wanted to spend.
My plan is to wait when it comes to Vista. I never upgrade my OS right
away. I always wait at lest a year for most of the major bugs to get fixed
before I upgrade. I'm excited about DX10 but at what cost? From all that
I've read it's going to be at lest two years before DX10 really takes off
when it comes to gaming. So by that time I should be able to pick up a kick
ass DX10 card for around what I just paid.
I should get all my parts by tomorrow and then I can spend some fun times
putting the beast together! I hope this might help some of you guys that are
trying to figure out what parts to get. Happy shopping! JLC

 

[William]

I'm sure there's a lot of us that are finding themselves in this
situation. My current rig is a 2Ghz P4, 1gig of PC 2100 ram, and a
9800pro. I've been putting off a full upgrade for 4 years! I used to
upgrade at lest every year or so, but the CPU has been OK so I've only
been upgrading my video cards and hard drives.
I finally decided to go ahead and take the plunge last week. I've always
built my own rigs, but this time I seriously looked into buying a Velocity
Micro system. But after I had configured the PC I wanted the price came to
over $2,200 and that's not including shipping! I knew that I could build
one cheaper then that! I always buy from Newegg, so I sat down last Tues.
and started doing some serious research and picking out the parts.
Like you I knew I wanted the E6600 that was a no brainier for me. But then
came the PS,MB, and RAM. I spent 4 hours Tues, and 6 hours Wed going crazy
trying to decide which parts to get. After hours of reading and hair
pulling I finally decide on these parts:
CPU: E6600
PS: Antec TPII 550 watts
Case: Lian Li PC-7B Plus Black
MB: Asus P5B Deluxe Intel P965
Sound Board: SB Audigy 4
HD: Two Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (Perpendicular Recording Tech) 320GB
7200RPM
SATA 3.0 Gb/s drives.
RAM: 2GB of Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800
Video Card: Sapphire X1900XT with 256 MB of RAM.

The total was $1,614 but I saved another $140 in rebates, so I was able to
get all this for only 1,474! That's including a new copy of XP home
upgrade that I bought for $100 with a $50 rebate.

The parts that really took time was the MB, video card and the RAM. I
decided on the P965 chipset after much reading and knowing I wasn't
planning on SLI or Crossfire.
The RAM was a total bitch because I couldn't decide if I should just stick
with DDR2 667 or spend a little more for the 800. There's also been some
problem with the Asus P5B and the Corsair RAM. So after about three hours
of hair pulling I decided to give Corsair a call and find out from them
what the deal was. I got right through to a guy that actually does the
memory testing and I talked with him for about 30 min. He explained that
they had a bad batch of RAM go out, but that's fixed now. I was really
impressed that Corsair has that kind of support.
So that left the video card. I picked the X1900XT 256 because after
looking at so many graphs my eyes where bleeding and reading for hours,
the X1900XT 256 seemed the best deal for the money. I looked over all the
new Nvidia cards, and yes they do use less power, but as far as
performance goes ATI still has an edge over Nvidia in this price range. I
paid $260 for my card and that's just about as much as I wanted to spend.
My plan is to wait when it comes to Vista. I never upgrade my OS right
away. I always wait at lest a year for most of the major bugs to get fixed
before I upgrade. I'm excited about DX10 but at what cost? From all that
I've read it's going to be at lest two years before DX10 really takes off
when it comes to gaming. So by that time I should be able to pick up a
kick ass DX10 card for around what I just paid.
I should get all my parts by tomorrow and then I can spend some fun times
putting the beast together! I hope this might help some of you guys that
are trying to figure out what parts to get. Happy shopping! JLC

JLC:

Why do you like Newegg? I've purchased from Frys before, but not Newegg.
Have no idea how they are.

I went to their site and my head started to explode. They don't carry much
ATI but allot of Sapphire. What's the difference, besides prices? Example:

ATI X1900GT 256 - Frys - $299.00
Sapphire X1900GT 256 - Newegg - $196.00

Big difference. Am I missing something? I can go the Sapphire X1900XT and
still save $40.00 over the ATI X1900GT from Frys. What's up?

Newegg doe not show the new MSI 975 Platinum V.2, aka Platinum PowerUp
Edition. Only some odd number thing. The specks do seem the same. I don't
know. My head hearts.

CPU is the same price. Mem is approximately the same.

Help, my mind is going foggy - I need a cup of coffee. Or stronger.

William

 

[First of One]

Newegg is just a massive online retailer of PC parts with some of the lowest
prices and good customer service. Sales in 2005 were $1.3 billion, which
technically makes Newegg half the size of ATi before its acquisition... Read
about Newegg and its automated warehouse here:
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=2694&p=1

And yes, stores like Frys, Best Buy, Future Shop, etc. have much higher
retail markups than Newegg does. There's no difference between ATi and
Sapphire. Sapphire's parent company actually builds some cards for ATi and
the other brands.

 

[JLC]

Newegg is just a massive online retailer of PC parts with some of the
lowest prices and good customer service. Sales in 2005 were $1.3 billion,
which technically makes Newegg half the size of ATi before its
acquisition... Read about Newegg and its automated warehouse here:
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=2694&p=1

And yes, stores like Frys, Best Buy, Future Shop, etc. have much higher
retail markups than Newegg does. There's no difference between ATi and
Sapphire. Sapphire's parent company actually builds some cards for ATi and
the other brands.

That you First of One! I figured someone could answer that question for me.
I've bought almost all of my PC hardware from Newegg over the last 7 years.
They have great support and three day shipping. I bought my parts for my new
PC on Wed and I received them today. For me it's a great place to shop
because I know that I'm getting the best price and that I'll be able to find
everything I need at one place. When I was putting together all the parts I
needed, I called them twice to ask questions and they answered both times on
the third ring. And the people I talked to were very nice and helpful. And I
could understand what they where saying which is a big plus! JLC

 

[Fidelis K]

Why do you like Newegg? I've purchased from Frys before, but not Newegg.
Have no idea how they are.

I went to their site and my head started to explode. They don't carry much
ATI but allot of Sapphire. What's the difference, besides prices?
Example:

ATI X1900GT 256 - Frys - $299.00
Sapphire X1900GT 256 - Newegg - $196.00

Big difference. Am I missing something? I can go the Sapphire X1900XT
and still save $40.00 over the ATI X1900GT from Frys. What's up?

Newegg doe not show the new MSI 975 Platinum V.2, aka Platinum PowerUp
Edition. Only some odd number thing. The specks do seem the same. I don't
know. My head hearts.

CPU is the same price. Mem is approximately the same.

Help, my mind is going foggy - I need a cup of coffee. Or stronger.

William

I've ordered probably $8,000 worth of equipment from Newegg during the past
3 or 4 years. They never screwed up my order even when I ordered more than
15 different items. Delivery is ultra fast (usually one business day).
Prices are low and the selection is great. I don't see why I would buy from
other stores.

 

[First of One]

Living in Canada, I can't actually use Newegg. However, NCIX.Com seems to be
just as good. I've spent over $4000 there since 2001. The highlight was when
I ordered a 19" Samsung CRT. The large item shipped 90 minutes after I
placed my order, then showed up at my door in three days via ground
shipping. The wonders of capitalism.