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MS Says Windows 7 Will Run DirectX 10 On the CPU
arcticstoat writes "In what could be seen as an easy answer to the Vista-capable debacle, Microsoft has introduced a 'fully conformant software rasterizer' called WARP (Windows Advanced Rasterization Platform) 10, which does away with the need for a dedicated hardware 3D accelerator altogether. Microsoft says that WARP 10 will support all the features and precision requirements of Direct3D 10 and 10.1, as well as up to 8x multi-sampled anti-aliasing, anisotropic filtering and all optional texture formats. The minimum CPU spec needed is just 800MHz, and it doesn't even need MMX or SSE, although it will work much quicker on multi-core CPUs with SSE 4.1. Of course, software rendering on a single desktop CPU isn't going to be able to compete with decent dedicated 3D graphics cards when it comes to high-end games, but Microsoft has released some interesting benchmarks that show the system to be quicker than Intel's current integrated DirectX 10 graphics. Running Crysis at 800 x 600 with the lowest quality settings, an eight-core Core i7 system managed an average frame rate of 7.36fps, compared with 5.17fps from Intel's DirectX 10 integrated graphics."
This is awesome, I can finally run a game from last year at 7FPS on my brand new eight core machine that just came out a few weeks ago. Thanks MS! But wait, why not try the same thing on my 'ol 800 mhz P3 oh man does that baby have a whole new life!
640-core CPUs should be enough for anyone.
No, seriously, MS have just pioneered a revolution in gaming. It's called "super super super slow-mo".
http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.html
sorry - forgot to put in the link
Don't be apathetic. Procrastinate!
There, fixed it for you.
Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
So we can play things at 7fps with ultra low settings. Whoopee.
Seriously, buy a goddamn graphics card.
Why? When buying an eight core system is so much cheaper (than a new graphics card)? And I get an amazing 2.19fps!!! Oh... wait... nevermind, you're right.
If this isn't the biggest waste of programming resources, I dont know what is (ok, maybe WinMe and MS Bob - but this is pretty close).
Oh, wait... by doing this, they can "standardize" all the developers on DX10 since it will "run" on every system, and finally end all the games that are coming out still supporting DX9 (and finally end XP as the system of choice for gaming).
This isnt about innovation. It's about trying to make it more appealing to game developers to finally drop XP/DX9 support so people are forced to get Windows7 to play the "latest and greatest" games.
I for one would have preferred they truly work on their performance issues instead of working on something that eats even more system performance just to push their newest OS in the hopes of finally ending the demand for XP. Instead, they foist off some UI tweaks to make things appear to operate faster, and spend their efforts on this instead.
Bravo Microsoft! I will run right out and buy that 8 core mobo with Intel integrated graphics!
And really... what gamer out there worth their joystick doesnt go out and get a decent gaming card anyway? This truly isnt marketed or designed for the gamers - but for Microsoft via the gaming companies instead.
StarTrekPhase2 - The Five Year Mission Continues!