- WinSAT: Is Your Computer Ready for Gaming Under Vista?
- How to Check Your WinSAT Score
- The Perfect CPU
- How Much RAM?
- DirectX 10 Graphic Cards: What? When?
- Fast Hard Disk
- Gaming Performance and Compatibility Under Vista
- Compatibility Mode
- Example: Age of Empires III
- DirectX 10 Changes the Way We Look at Hardware
- Geometry Shader
- Unified Architecture
- Where Are the Other DirectX Features?
- Games Explorer
- Bottom Line
DirectX 10 Graphic Cards: What? When?
In November 2006, NVIDIA released the first generation of the GeForce 8x series—the GeForce 8800 GTS and GTX. Both chipsets fully support the new DX10 platform introduced in Windows Vista. However, as with quad-core CPUs, until the end of 2006 we just saw high-end versions of the 8 series. The GTS will cost around $500 and will be approximately 10% slower than the $650 GTX version. ATI has also made its R600 series fully DX10-compliant.
Again, hardcore gamers might want to invest the money in the first 8800 releases, whereas other users might wait until a midrange DirectX 10 version is out in early 2007.