Using phrases like "DirectX 9.0L" and "DirectX 10" are fairly meaningless
and confusing.
"DirectX 9.0c" is the latest version of DirectX that has any kind of
'down-level' installation, but as of Windows XP SP 2 it is built in to the
operating system so running the DirectX Runtime Installer doesn't install
any of "DirectX" as of then. In fact, running the DirectX Runtime has no
impact at all on "DirectX" for Windows XP SP 2, Windows Server 2003 SP1,
Windows XP x64 Edition, or Windows Vista. The only time you will get any
"DirectX" installation will be using it on Windows XP, Windows XP SP1,
Windows 2000, Windows 98 SE, or Windows ME.
Windows Vista has a new version of the DirectX Runtime itself built-in. This
version supports most of "DirectX 9.0c" plus Direct3D 10. As mentioned in
other threads, there are a few things that were removed from the Windows
Vista version of the DirectX runtime that might cause older applications
problems: D3DRM.DLL, DPVOICE.DLL, and the action-mapping interface for
DirectInput. Some people have used "DirectX 10" as a short-hand to refer to
this Windows Vista version of DirectX, and DXDIAG reports "version 10".
Running the DirectX Runtime DOES install 'optional DirectX SDK' components
like D3DX9, XACT, XINPUT, etc. When a game fails to run on a modern version
of Windows because it is 'Missing DirectX components', it is actually these
things and not "DirectX" itself. The DirectX Web Installer download page
should list Windows Vista as a "Supported Operating System", so I've filed a
bug to fix this page.
In other words: Yes, you should run the latest DirectX Web Installer to make
sure you have all the latest SDK components the latest games might use,
although the game developer should have written their installer to handle
this already. It is not going to downgrade or upgrade the DirectX components
themselves on any version of Windows Vista or on Windows XP SP2 or later.