Importance of DirectX 9 compatability

  • Thread starter Thread starter Steve
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Steve

Hi,
I'll be ordering a system with the ATI All-in-Wonder 9000 Pro
(http://www.ati.com/products/radeon9000/aiw9000pro/index.html). I like the
card because it is relatively cheap, has on screen TV viewing capability, and
enough memory (64 MB) to drive the somewhat low-fi games I plan on using (Sim
City 4000, Age of Empires) but I am worried because it only states having
DirectX 8.1 capability. Is this something I should worry about or is DirectX 9
not an issue for most users? I do plan on doing some basic home video editing
if that is an issue.
Thanks for the help, Steve.
 
Hi,
I'll be ordering a system with the ATI All-in-Wonder 9000 Pro
(http://www.ati.com/products/radeon9000/aiw9000pro/index.html). I like
the card because it is relatively cheap, has on screen TV viewing
capability, and enough memory (64 MB) to drive the somewhat low-fi
games I plan on using (Sim City 4000, Age of Empires) but I am worried
because it only states having DirectX 8.1 capability. Is this
something I should worry about or is DirectX 9 not an issue for most
users? I do plan on doing some basic home video editing if that is an
issue.
Thanks for the help, Steve.
Click to expand...


If you like FPS games, the first answer that would come to my mind is Half
Life 2.
 
I'd say "not an issue" unless you're gaming, and even then, most don't take
advantage of DX9's newer functions yet.
 
the radeon9000 will be fine for a year at least. albeit you'll probably have
to drop the resolution on future games to keep them playable.

it won't be an issue to upgrade to DX9 hardware for awhile yet, all games
stating that they use DX9 will have fallback to at least DX8. Doom3 doesn't
care if you have DX9 hardware, it uses the feature set of OpenGL 1.4 which
all DX8 cards support.

also note enter the matrix doesn't use DX9 features, it uses the DX9
sosftware from microsoft, but does not make use of the DX9 shaders, or DX8
shaders for that matter.
 
Hi,
I'll be ordering a system with the ATI All-in-Wonder 9000 Pro
(http://www.ati.com/products/radeon9000/aiw9000pro/index.html). I like the
card because it is relatively cheap, has on screen TV viewing capability, and
enough memory (64 MB) to drive the somewhat low-fi games I plan on using (Sim
City 4000, Age of Empires) but I am worried because it only states having
DirectX 8.1 capability. Is this something I should worry about or is DirectX 9
not an issue for most users? I do plan on doing some basic home video editing
if that is an issue.
Thanks for the help, Steve.
Click to expand...

The speed of the card will be more of an impact than DX9 support..
it's passable for today's games but only without all eye-candy,
moderate resolutions, and tomorrow's games will be too demanding.

Most people experienced in video editing stray away from the AIW
cards, in favor of a separate PCI capture and/or tuner, and the
traditional AGP video card. Don't those 9000 AIW cards still cost
upwards of $150? For $150 you could get a more full-featured
tuner/capture card and a significantly faster AGP card, then the next
time you want to upgrade the video card the capture card is still
viable.


Dave
 
Could you recommend a tuner/video capture card and significantly
faster AGP board that cost less than $ 150 together?

(I've had very bad luck with Pinnacle products, so I hope you're
not going to recommend their capture board).
 
Could you recommend a tuner/video capture card and significantly
faster AGP board that cost less than $ 150 together?

(I've had very bad luck with Pinnacle products, so I hope you're
not going to recommend their capture board).

kony wrote:
Click to expand...

I don't know your exact needs or whether you need software with the
tuner/capture card... many cards have prices reflecting the software
more than the card (editing software). Otherwise the cards in this
price range are quite similar, with Conexant chipsets and phillips
tuner. I also try to avoid recommending particular products because
these are hit-or-miss in specific situations, as you apparently found
out already with (whichever) pinnacle product.

As for the TV tuner function, I still haven't found an interface as
clean and straightforward as the now-aged Matrox G-series, and they're
more than a little too old to recommend today. The ATI AIW uses a
tuner interface resembling an odd VCR front, which works but isn't as
intuitive and makes worse use of the space since the video window has
space "left over" on the side(s) for a vertical interface.

You might try a more video-oriented newsgroup, online reviews, or read
some customer feedback at online vendors like http://www.newegg.com


Dave
 
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