When will I *need* a Directx 9 card?

[John]

Anybody know when you'll absolutely need a Directx 9 card to have any
fun with games? It seems that games like Halo and Max Payne 2 use
Directx 9 features sparingly, and therefore, it's no big deal if I
play them on my Directx 8.1 card (which is a GeForce 4 Ti 4200).

Are we talking 3-4 months maybe?

I'm just trying to get a handle on when to spend the bucks for an
upgrade.

thanks.

 

[Joe Hayes]

Of course you don't absolutely need one. Games will run just fine on your
current card, but you won't be able to see some of the fancy eye candy.
Most of that stuff is way overhyped anyway, IMHO.

 

[Frodoh]

Upgrade 6 months after Doom III comes out.

 

[John Lewis]

Anybody know when you'll absolutely need a Directx 9 card to have any
fun with games? It seems that games like Halo and Max Payne 2 use
Directx 9 features sparingly, and therefore, it's no big deal if I
play them on my Directx 8.1 card (which is a GeForce 4 Ti 4200).

Are we talking 3-4 months maybe?

I'm just trying to get a handle on when to spend the bucks for an
upgrade.

Do not confuse the need for DirectX9.0b software and
the hardware support in the game. Read the game-box
for a list of the supported hardware. If your (old) video
hardware does not support DX9.0 hardware functions,
some will be automatically emulated by the CPU
(with slow-down), others will be ignored.

Games that have hardware support for earlier video cards
generally have option-settings that eliminate the emulation
of hardware functions (and restore speed), which are all
graphics-enhancements not essential to the game-play.

Recommendation:-

1. Install the latest updates to your OS. If the OS is
obsolete and not supported, then upgrade.

2. Update your audio and video drivers to the
latest version.

2. Install the latest official version of DX.

Your old games should not break unless you have not
updated your <audio and video> drivers to the latest
versions.Set System Restore points if you are
paranoid about 1, 2, 3.

4 Try the new game out on your hardware. Not
satisfied, then consider a new card. Only takes a
couple of days to ship in the US, with free Fedex
shiipping on the upper-end cards.

Updating hardware before the software is available
is not a clever use of monetary resources.

Consider those who rushed out to buy cards specifically
for anicipated HL2 needs. With HL2 delayed for 6 months,
another generation of video cards will be here, and the
current generation will be much less expensive.

John Lewis

 

[Derek Baker]

Anybody know when you'll absolutely need a Directx 9 card to have any
fun with games? It seems that games like Halo and Max Payne 2 use
Directx 9 features sparingly, and therefore, it's no big deal if I
play them on my Directx 8.1 card (which is a GeForce 4 Ti 4200).

Are we talking 3-4 months maybe?

I'm just trying to get a handle on when to spend the bucks for an
upgrade.

thanks.

The Geforce 3 and 4 are DirectX 8, not 8.1.

I've been thinking about a video card upgrade, I guess the real answer is
when your current card can't run the games you want the way you want. For me
that might be Half Life 2, looking a bit less likely now that it will be
Deus Ex 2.

 

[Darthy]

Anybody know when you'll absolutely need a Directx 9 card to have any
fun with games? It seems that games like Halo and Max Payne 2 use
Directx 9 features sparingly, and therefore, it's no big deal if I
play them on my Directx 8.1 card (which is a GeForce 4 Ti 4200).

Are we talking 3-4 months maybe?

I'm just trying to get a handle on when to spend the bucks for an
upgrade.

Do the upgrade when your games become slow. You still have a decent
video card.

I just replaced my Ti4200 with the ATI 9800PRO, for my current games -
there isn't much difference in performance.

Halo looks a little bit better with the DX9 ATI card, the SUN effects
in the trees is kinda cool - but adds little to the game itself. I
had finished HALO with my Ti4200 with good frame rates in 1024x768.

When Half Life2 comes out, then that WILL BE THE TIME to upgrade, well
most likly anyways. By then, the ATI-9600XT should be about $150, or
replaced with something else.

Check this out: http://www.ati.com/gitg/promotions/hl2offer/index.html

Hows that for a killer deal? I got my "coupon" for free, a friend
who doesn't play games much but wanted a good card got a cheap 9600se
which came with it

But as of this time, I have yet to see a game that really looks vastly
better on an DX9 card vs DX8.... now HALO on a GF2 looks like PURE
CRAP.

 

[Darthy]

Updating hardware before the software is available
is not a clever use of monetary resources.

Agreed... because sometimes, the hardware is outdated.

Consider those who rushed out to buy cards specifically
for anicipated HL2 needs. With HL2 delayed for 6 months,
another generation of video cards will be here, and the
current generation will be much less expensive.

John Lewis

How about those who bought 5900 / 9800 to play Doom3 or even Unreal2
engined games? Doom3 is way late, and for the most part - my Ti4200
handled the modern games quite well... not getting 100fps, but still
good.

Now days, the 5900 is finally hitting below $200... think of those
suckers who blew $500 on those first GF-5800 Ultra cards almost a year
ago - which has trouble playing real DX9 games faster than ATI's $175
video card.

 

[Robert Pendell]

Agreed... because sometimes, the hardware is outdated.


How about those who bought 5900 / 9800 to play Doom3 or even Unreal2
engined games? Doom3 is way late, and for the most part - my Ti4200
handled the modern games quite well... not getting 100fps, but still
good.

Now days, the 5900 is finally hitting below $200... think of those
suckers who blew $500 on those first GF-5800 Ultra cards almost a year
ago - which has trouble playing real DX9 games faster than ATI's $175
video card.

Which is why I don't jump the gun on hardware upgrades. I watch and see
where it goes first.

 

[Max Longman]

Anybody know when you'll absolutely need a Directx 9 card to have any
fun with games? It seems that games like Halo and Max Payne 2 use
Directx 9 features sparingly, and therefore, it's no big deal if I
play them on my Directx 8.1 card (which is a GeForce 4 Ti 4200).

Are we talking 3-4 months maybe?

I'm just trying to get a handle on when to spend the bucks for an
upgrade.

That's easy, when your games are too slow to play.

 

[Mark Morrison]

Which is why I don't jump the gun on hardware upgrades. I watch and see
where it goes first.

I wait until a game I want needs an upgrade, and then do it.

Upgrading in aticipation of a game's release is a waste of money -
especially it the game doesn't actually come out for another 6 months.

6 months is a long time in the PC hardware world, and prices dropa
lot.

On Friday I say a graphics card with 256mb of onboard memory for
£100...

--

Bunnies aren't just cute like everybody supposes !
They got them hoppy legs and twitchy little noses !
And what's with all the carrots ?
What do they need such good eyesight for anyway ?
Bunnies ! Bunnies ! It must be BUNNIES !

 

[Tim Miser]

I wait until a game I want needs an upgrade, and then do it.

Upgrading in aticipation of a game's release is a waste of money -
especially it the game doesn't actually come out for another 6 months.

6 months is a long time in the PC hardware world, and prices dropa
lot.

I couldn't agree with you more.

 

[Jago Illustration]

On 23 Nov 2003 12:27:35 -0800, (e-mail address removed) (John) wrote:

I just replaced my Ti4200 with the ATI 9800PRO, for my current games -
there isn't much difference in performance.

Halo looks a little bit better with the DX9 ATI card, the SUN effects
in the trees is kinda cool - but adds little to the game itself. I
had finished HALO with my Ti4200 with good frame rates in 1024x768.

Any idea what kind of visual improvement I'll see going from a Geforce 2MX
to a 5900 Ultra, in terms of what Halo will look like? It was quite playable
for the most part on the MX but not exactly pretty.

Cheers

Jago

 

[Mark Morrison]

Any idea what kind of visual improvement I'll see going from a Geforce 2MX
to a 5900 Ultra, in terms of what Halo will look like? It was quite playable
for the most part on the MX but not exactly pretty.

The jump from a GeForce 2 to a GeForce 3 or higher is quite a big one
- significantly faster, more memory, T & L in hardware.

I bought a GeForce 3 Ti not long after they came out (I had a GeForce
256 at the time, IIRC) and it was a huge step up.

My next card will be at least a GeForce 5 (or whatever brand name they
gave it) but that won't be for a good long while. The DE2 demo ran
fine, and looked lovely. Along with Thief 3, this is the most
graphically intensive game I'm looking forward to.

Hopefully, my next upgrade will be a year or so away.

(Well, I have just got a 160 GB hard drive and a 4x DVD Writer...)


--

Bunnies aren't just cute like everybody supposes !
They got them hoppy legs and twitchy little noses !
And what's with all the carrots ?
What do they need such good eyesight for anyway ?
Bunnies ! Bunnies ! It must be BUNNIES !

 

[Andrew]

The jump from a GeForce 2 to a GeForce 3 or higher is quite a big one
- significantly faster, more memory, T & L in hardware.

All GeForce cards have T&L in hardware.

 

[Geronimo_work]

That's easy, when your games are too slow to play.

what about 9500 (saphire) moded to 9700. i'm planning to buy this card this
week. is it going to be fast enough for some time, or HL2 and DoomIII will
require a faster one. is it a good card for 165$. thanks.

 

[Mark Morrison]

All GeForce cards have T&L in hardware.

Sure ?

I thought it was from the GF3 onwards...

--

Bunnies aren't just cute like everybody supposes !
They got them hoppy legs and twitchy little noses !
And what's with all the carrots ?
What do they need such good eyesight for anyway ?
Bunnies ! Bunnies ! It must be BUNNIES !

 

[Andrew]

Sure ?

Yes thanks, I just won the same dull argument in another thread in
alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia

 

[kevins_news]

Anybody know when you'll absolutely need a Directx 9 card to have any
fun with games? It seems that games like Halo and Max Payne 2 use
Directx 9 features sparingly, and therefore, it's no big deal if I
play them on my Directx 8.1 card (which is a GeForce 4 Ti 4200).

Are we talking 3-4 months maybe?

I'm just trying to get a handle on when to spend the bucks for an
upgrade.

thanks.

I was trying to figure this out a couple of months ago. What someone
needs to do is take a few screenshots and record a few gameplay demo
movies to show off the differences between DX8 and DX9 hardware.

From what i've seen so far, there really isn't much visual difference
seen yet. That just means no game has made use of the DX9 hardware
enough to show a real difference. I've seen a few screenshots of
Halflife 2 that supposedly showed the differences. It was only
apparent in the way the water reflected images or obscured objects
underwater. There was a *slight* difference between dx8 and dx9
cards. But barely noticeable.

The high density lighting is a bit more impressive but i think only
halflife 2 has this feature so far. Imagine standing in a dark room
that has a hole in the roof, and sunlight is streaming through the
hole. with dx8 hardware you get a sunlight colored beam coming in.
with DX9 high density lighting you really see sunlight pouring through
the hole. so far it's the only dx9 effect i've been impressed by.

I guess the dx9 shaders and whatnot must allow some things to be done
faster than their dx8 equivalents but i also know that the new dx9
features can slow your framerate just because they are so intensive.

So unless someone else has other examples, i'd say that there's no
visual quality reason to upgrade specifically to a dx9 card except
that they also happen to be more powerful and will therefore get you
faster framerates than your current out of date card. But once
halflife 2 is out, maybe that will change.

 

[Lynley James]

Anybody know when you'll absolutely need a Directx 9 card to have any
fun with games? It seems that games like Halo and Max Payne 2 use
Directx 9 features sparingly, and therefore, it's no big deal if I
play them on my Directx 8.1 card (which is a GeForce 4 Ti 4200).

Are we talking 3-4 months maybe?

I'm just trying to get a handle on when to spend the bucks for an
upgrade.

thanks.

If you want all the eye candy, probably when Doom3 or Half-Life 2 is
finally released. I'm not sure when that will be, as IIRC HL2 has
been pushed back indefinitely and Doom3 never had a firm release date.
All D3 had was the vague 2004 date.

Lynley

 

[Mark Morrison]

Yes thanks, I just won the same dull argument in another thread in
alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia

Fair enough.

--

Bunnies aren't just cute like everybody supposes !
They got them hoppy legs and twitchy little noses !
And what's with all the carrots ?
What do they need such good eyesight for anyway ?
Bunnies ! Bunnies ! It must be BUNNIES !