DirectX questions (need help)

[.jayderyu]

bugrimmar said:

I'm still running an XP, DirectX 9.0c. Questions:

1.) What is the purpose of DirectX?

2.) Will XP still get later versions of DirectX?

3.) What is the difference between DirectX 9 and 10 (or 11)?

4.) Will higher versions of DirectX make my games run better?

5.) Is it worth buying Windows 7 if my only concern is to run games better?

6.) I must be an idiot for asking these questions, but should I be ashamed of myself?

 

1. Already covered.

 

2. No, however you can find groups that hack the registry and installation to run DX10 on XP. The downfall is that since it's not official this can screw up your DX during install. IF you MUST run DX10/11 you are better off installing Windows 7.

 

3. You won'y find DX Shaders in DX5. DX10/11 is I believe are using Shaders 2 or 3. I also believe in some cases some there has been some design improvements to speed up and simplfy development.

4. The original promise of DX improvements from a single source was that if any code improvements were made all games even old ones could benefit. There really hasn't been any performance since DX1-6 days where a lot of the backend was overhauled.

5. Honestly no. Unless you are required to play a game in DX10/11. Then I would suggest passing.

6. No, but you could probably find the answers somehwere on the net. 

 

MS ran a smear campaign against DX9 in hopes to lure people to buy Vista. The developers were "requested" to offer modified images of there games with features disabled. This isn't to say that some of the tools in DX10/11 aren't easier to use, but for the most part DX9 can perform the same stuff, just with some more work.